Chris Harper signs autographs for fans during practice.
If you are going to judge NFL teams and players on the outcome of their preseason games, you should probably reconsider. Preseason games are just big organized practices. While it's easy to get excited about certain players and concerned about others, unless you are part of the team and know what was expected of each individual on each play, your perception may be far from reality. Trust me, I've been real excited about players in the past only to see them completely fizzle out once the real games started. I referred to Zach Sudfeld as Studfeld for crying out loud!! Nevertheless, here are my takeaways from the first preseason matchup for the Patriots.
PLAY CALLING- If you've read by blog during the season you know that I like to complain about Josh McDaniels' play calling. Once in a while I'll even compliment him. While it irks me to no end when the Patriots mess around in the first half of games calling plays just to see how the defense responds, I'm totally cool with the randomness during the preseason. Of course the randomness of play calling during the preseason is more of a needing to see what our eleven players can do and not trying to get into the head of our opponents.
DEFENSE- Overall the Patriots defense looked pretty good last night. Just like in practice, Darryl Roberts has not looked like a rookie and Malcolm Butler does not look like a one hit wonder. Here are the flaws I saw that will undoubtedly be improved upon in the next couple of weeks. A few untimely penalties leading to extended drives (offsides, roughing the passer). Lack of communication or familiarity with each other and allowing the Packers to turn a loss into a gain while having multiple players in good position. Inexperienced players getting beat off the line.
DEFENSE- Overall the Patriots defense looked pretty good last night. Just like in practice, Darryl Roberts has not looked like a rookie and Malcolm Butler does not look like a one hit wonder. Here are the flaws I saw that will undoubtedly be improved upon in the next couple of weeks. A few untimely penalties leading to extended drives (offsides, roughing the passer). Lack of communication or familiarity with each other and allowing the Packers to turn a loss into a gain while having multiple players in good position. Inexperienced players getting beat off the line.
SPECIAL TEAMS- Need to clean up the penalties on punts. Chris Harper needs to be careful taking a kick out of the end zone.
OFFENSE- It was a hodgepodge of players, so there isn't too much to gather unless you are privy to the Patriots' film room (no, I'm not). When given the opportunity, both Chris Harper and James White brought to the table what they've been showing in practice. While Jimmy Garoppolo sure likes to throw the ball downfield, his timing with Josh Boyce wasn't very good last night. While he has made some deep connections with Boyce in practice, I think he's more comfortable with Aaron Dobson.
OFFENSE- It was a hodgepodge of players, so there isn't too much to gather unless you are privy to the Patriots' film room (no, I'm not). When given the opportunity, both Chris Harper and James White brought to the table what they've been showing in practice. While Jimmy Garoppolo sure likes to throw the ball downfield, his timing with Josh Boyce wasn't very good last night. While he has made some deep connections with Boyce in practice, I think he's more comfortable with Aaron Dobson.
INTRIGUED- The following young players do have me intrigued in a good way. Keep an eye on them in the upcoming weeks:
Jonathan Krause WR- good hands
James Morris LB - injured last year, also played RB in high school, smart kid, I'll admit it he looks like Tedy Bruschi
Jonathan Krause WR- good hands
James Morris LB - injured last year, also played RB in high school, smart kid, I'll admit it he looks like Tedy Bruschi
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