ANALYSIS
A few quick-hit thoughts at halftime:
Rookie WR Julian Edelman has a Wes Welker-like style to him. The quickness he's displayed has been evident on the practice fields, but the big thing is that he's taken his practice performance into live game action. He struggled to return punts early in camp, but in a credit to him, he spent time working on it every practice. Wes Welker is on the sidelines in street clotches (edited 9:12 p.m. -- reflecting Welker being on the sidelines)
A lot of four-man line on defense. It would be too early to say that the Patriots are moving away from a base 3-4 alignment, but they've spent a lot of practice time on the four-man line and that was their primary package tonight. Rookie Myron Pryor, a sixth-round draft choice out of Kentucky, received a lot of playing time at defensive tackle.
Impressive two-minute type of drive in the second quarter, with Tom Brady working out of the shotgun and a three-receiver package with Randy Moss, Joey Galloway, Julian Edelman. The package included TE Chris Baker and RB Kevin Faulk. Baker played every snap, an indication of where he stands on the tight end depth chart.
The Patriots spend a lot of practice time on special teams and it showed (punt return for TD, blocked FG).
Laurence Maroney was rewarded for a consistent training camp by getting the bulk of the early work (12 of the first 14 snaps, including penalties). His best run was picking up a first down on third-and-short out of a three tight end package.
Comment
Permalink
Email
Wes is on the sideline -- been on shown on tv about 5 times.
mike,you cant even tell brady has an injury,or missed a year of football.this is just the first pre-season game.just think what the team will be like once the season starts.
Lots of rookies showing up tonight! Edelman, Pryor, Chung, Butler, Ingram all looking good!
Lots of rookies showing up tonight! Edelman, Pryor, Chung, Butler, Ingram all looking good!
Mike:
Is Ben Watson playing tonight? I didn't see him at all in the first half. If he's healthy, Baker catching two TD's and his limited playing time can't be good news for him.
Cut Alexander
Props to Gary Guyton.
Starting offense looked surprisingly sharp. It's early, but Edelman sure looked like Wes Walker reborn! Defense still looks like it has a long way to go. Eagles pretty much marched up & down the field at will but had trouble in the red zone in the 1st half when it was 1st team vs 1st team. It's great to see Brady look so focused.
The way BB was subbing whole rafts of players on nearly every snap, I can't justify any judgment on the overall performance of the front seven. I think this was all for purposes of experimentation and evaluating where individual players are in their development and grasp of the calls. In that regard, Guyton and Pryor really stood out. Pryor chase down RB McCoy from behind - TWICE (though he only got credit for one of those).
Agree that Alexander looked lost.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
Patriots Twitter
ask reiss
Questions will be considered for Mike's mailbagbrowse this blog
by categoryINside Boston.com