Stephen Gostkowski, left, stands with rookie long-snapper Jake Ingram Tuesday. (Bill Greene / Globe Staff)
FOXBOROUGH – A few nuggets of note from Gillette Stadium today:
Long snapping competition. When asked about the long snapper competition ending – with rookie Jake Ingram getting the nod over veteran Nathan Hodel – Bill Belichick said the time was right to make a decision so the in-season operation could be together for the final preseason game. Belichick believes Hodel will snap in the league this year. In the locker room, Ingram drew a large media crowd and was asked about the well-known player he is replacing, Lonie Paxton. "I know he had a long, successful career here," he said. "I can only hope to be half as successful as he was."
Kevin O’Connell follow-up. Belichick didn’t go into much detail on the decision to release quarterback Kevin O’Connell. He said that the team wanted to evaluate the other two quarterbacks, but left unsaid was that there was nothing that would have hindered those evaluations from taking place with O’Connell still on the roster. It might be a case of where O’Connell wasn’t a fit for the offense, but Belichick wasn't revealing any information along those lines.
Where’s Welker? Receiver Wes Welker, who has been sidelined with an undisclosed injury, answered questions from reporters and said he’s working hard to return. He hopes to be ready for the season opener, but cited team policy in deciding not to answer a question about his level of concern with his health situation. “We really don’t speak about those things,” he said.
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Mike- How is ESPN reporting on how many passes Brady threw in practice? Are they watching from Patriot Place? I thought reporters were only allowed for stretching.
Hi Andrew. We see stretching and individual drills where players are broken down by position. So we saw Brady take some light tosses in a one-on-one setting, with a ballboy and/or equipment manager on the recveiving end.
--Mike
RE: O'Connell
It seems like a case where Belichick doesn't want to do harm to the kid's future by saying anything negative about him. His play in the preseason games and from reports from practice seem to indicate that he wasn't progressing as quickly as they thought he would, so better to get rid of him now than go through the charade of keeping him for another week or more. That just isn't the Patriots' style.
Is Steve Williams going to make the team?
Half as successful as Paxton? We can't afford half of the snaps to be bad.
"nuggets" sounds gross
On O'Connell, he may have failed out in the Patriots guide to QBs. I mean, Tom Brady practically wrote the book for the coaches, and if you don't live up to that standard, you won't work out in NE. Just speculating, but Cassel struggled in Preseason games but worked out just well last year, and was said he did as much as Tom Brady did. Maybe O'Connell's grade as a 3rd rounder got to his head and he wasn't working as hard, and Belichick decided to send this kid a message.
Do you think there are more than just football angle to O'Connell's waiver? It is so swift and so out of the blue. It is not deadline for trimming roster and with the 4 teams claiming his right, he could have been traded.
O'Connell was a mobile QB. Think Edleman, but a bit slower and a better arm. The Pats are built for a pocket passer ie Brady, Cassel, and even Walter. The mobile QBs just never worked out here (one example Rohan Davey)
Vince, RE: Steve Williams --
I noticed him, too. Solid contributor with the 2s and 3s late in the games - a bit better than Titus Adams who's been on the Pats practice squad. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a spot for him with the 53 and with the D-line guys ahead of him. Even more unfortunately, I don't think he's practice squad eligible, having been active for 11 games with KC in '06. He was in camp with Carolina in '07 and ;08 and they're currently looking for D-line help/depth. I'm guessing he's cut and gets picked back up by the Panthers real quick.
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