Yes, most football writers only do five things to watch for each game, but for this preseason contest I’m taking my blogging game to the next level. That’s right, you not only get an extra thing to watch, you get a half of one too!
The third game of the preseason is always the highwater mark of the summer before the real bullets start flying. We should see Jimmy Garoppolo into the third quarter, along with the starting defense. Though there won’t be any gameplanning (thanks coach), it’s still a chance to see (most of) our best versus (most of) someone else’s best, so it’s an intriguing game.
Just one reminder, even for this kinda-important third preseason game, all that really matters tonight is that no one gets a season-ending injury. I’ll take Garoppolo looking terrible and the defense getting lit up over anyone (on either team) going down with a major boo boo. That’s really the only thing that can stand between the Patriots and another deep playoff run — a key injury.
So let’s get through this one, stay healthy, wrap things up with a meaningless game next Thursday against the Giants and get the train rolling for the regular season.
Here are the 6.5 things I’ll be watching closely.
1. Jimmy Garoppolo
What a perfect test for Jimmy G in the third preseason game. He faces a great defense on the road just like he’ll have to do two weeks from Sunday in Arizona (Is it really that close? Gulp). Most importantly I want to see how he handles some adversity. How does he bounce back after getting blasted? Does he try to force things that aren’t there? Is he seeing ghosts after taking a big hit? These are the kind of plays that truly tell you how good a quarterback is, so some adversity would actually be a really good thing. Third-and-longs. Four- and two-minute drill situations. Getting points before the half or off a turnover. We’ll learn a lot about Jimmy G in this one and I’m hoping we see the same calm, cool, collected quick-trigger man we’ve seen develop over the last two seasons.
2. Offensive Line Progress
The offensive line’s improvement from the Saints game to the Bears game was impressive. Garoppolo wasn’t sacked at all and generally had all the time he needed to get the ball out on-time. Obviously protection is always critical. The only games the Patriots ever lose is when their protection breaks down. We’re never sitting around after a loss lamenting that Brady had all kinds of time but just could find the open guy. So it would be great to build on the Bears game. To show the same kind of protection and open the same kind of holes in the run game. Still, I remind everyone, the offensive line is always a work-in-progress early in the season. Just look at 2012’s dreadful loss to the Cardinals as an example. And that’s when we had Dante Scarnecchia! But it would be empowering to see another solid performance, especially out of Josh Kline and Marcus Cannon, aka the starting right side of our line for the foreseeable future.
3. Winning One-on-Ones
There isn’t much scheming going on for this one, so what this game comes down to on a football level is who wins one-on-one matchups. When you boil things down, that really does tell you a lot about your team. Especially your defense, where winning those battles is what makes a consistent pass rush. Any team can come up with a crazy scheme and surprise a quarterback with a rusher he didn’t see coming once in a while. But the great teams don’t have to generate pass rush with scheme. They generate it with dominant players. Let’s see how many dominant players the Patriots truly have.
4. Brady Sighting?
Brady wants to play in the preseason and he really should. Last time he didn’t see a preseason snap was 2008 and uh, yeah let’s just drop this here. Would be great to see 12 out there though, especially to see how he does with the new weaponry, Chris Hogan and Martellus Bennett. I’d prefer to insert him after Garoppolo but still with the first line. We don’t need him out there with Waddle et al blocking for him. There’s always next week as well, and maybe that makes more sense. Very curious how that game gets managed from the quarterback perspective.
5. Position Battles
Touched a lot on these yesterday so I won’t re-iterate them all here but the fifth cornerback spot, the third tight end spot, the slot corner spot and the starting defensive tackles spot next to Malcom Brown are still very much up for grabs. I think Alan Branch probably still has the inside track on the defensive tackle job, but behind him I still don’t know what to think of Terrence Knighton, Anthony Johnson, Markus Kuhn and Vincent Valentine. What does the rotation look like? I’d love to see one of the second-level guys tear it up like Johnson did last week. Knighton needs a good game. Not convinced Kuhn is anything more than a JAG.
Justin Coleman has been picked on this preseason while filling in for Logan Ryan. Now with Ryan back, does Coleman still start in the slot, or does Cyrus get a look?It’s a hugely important role with the prevalence of spread passing attacks. Behind them there’s one more spot for Darryl Roberts, Cre’Von Leblanc and Jonathan Jones to duke it out over. The late-game snaps featuring those guys are hugely important.
AJ Derby has been spectacular this preseason and I have him on the roster at this point. But Clay Harbor hasn’t been cut yet, as so many other vets already have been. That tells me this competition isn’t over yet. Derby needs to seize the job.
6. Is Gaffney Good?
As I wrote yesterday, I just don’t know what to think of Gaffney. Jonas Gray‘s quick departure after a solid preseason last year has me questioning what I know (or think I know) about the Pats and running backs. I want Gaffney to make the team. I want him to be a combo threat who can grind out tough yards on early downs early in the game. I think that benefits both LeGarrette Blount and James White, at least until Dion Lewis comes back and then all bets would be off for Gaffney and White. Gaffney needs a good game. No. He needs a great game. He needs to seize that roster spot. Because I still think there’s a chance any roster spot we’re giving him could just as easily go to some running back who’s about to get cut.
6.5. Intro to Mingo?
No, he hasn’t even had a practice yet, so that’s why this only gets a half thing to watch, but I’d be curious to see how the Pats get Mingo’s feet wet. The schemes are vanilla, so why not throw Mingo in there on a third-and-long at defensive end and see if he can chase Cam Newton down? However I am curious if the Pats use Mingo more in a linebacker role like Collins, where they rush him sometimes but he’s also used in coverage a bit. Yes, this is a linebacker role, but if the Browns couldn’t figure out where Mingo could excel I expect the Pats will try him in a variety of places.
