6 Sunday Pats Posits

Sorry for the slow couple of days here on the blog, especially after a preseason game. In case you missed it, I was helping launch our latest venture, Patshow. If you haven’t had a chance to check out episode 101 you can get it here in all its glory.

Follow @Patshow6 on Twitter for all kinds of show updates and giveaways. Things will keep ramping up over the next couple weeks.

With over 10K views in the first 24 hours, we’re thrilled with the response and can’t wait for episode 102, coming Monday 8/21. This was supposed to just be a soft launch to work out the kinks, but other than a couple audio glitches on Facebook’s end, things went about as smoothly as could be expected.

Thank you Nick Stevens and Ian and Erin at Mediaboss for their awesome work bringing Patshow to life. We’re all excited to share everything that we have planned, which will include two shows per week once the regular season starts.

Okay, enough about Patshow, let’s talk some actual Pats and get caught up on the fallout from the first preseason.

1. Aside from the wrong injury at the wrong position, it’s hard to find a way the 2017 Pats get derailed, at least in the regular season. Sure, they’ll lose a couple games (I’m not a 19-0’er), but it’s hard to imagine a world where this team isn’t in their seventh-straight AFC Championship game.

However, if I had to say a spot on the team that worries me, it is in the front seven, where turnover has left more questions than people are readily discussing. When Deadrich Wise went out with a concussion (that is only supposed to keep him out a week per Jeff Howe (ugh anyway)), it showed how much lack of depth the Pats have at defensive end. It seems like they’re going to have to rely on rookies like Wise, Derek Rivers and possibly Adam Butler to replace Nink, Long and Sheard. Those are important roles, especially against the run, and right now, if I was an opponent I would avoid the strength of the NE defense (secondary) and stick to a rush-heavy attack.

The run defense was the best DVOA under BB last season. Alan Branch and Malcom Brown were, and still are excellent, but on the edges, where there will likely be rookies, and at outside linebacker, where depth is uninspiring after Hightower, I’m a little concerned.

Can run defense be a critical flaw in today’s NFL? If it can produce for four quarters, keep Tom Brady off the field and keep the clock moving, it might be.

2. This isn’t the full defensive reset of 2009, but it’s certainly a half step backwards in certain spots. Now if Wise plays like he’s been playing in camp, Rivers brings the off-the-line explosion we saw in college and Trey Flowers builds on last season, they should be okay. But there are definitely questions about stopping the run on the edges and generating the kind of pass rush the trio of departed players provided, most especially in key moments of big games.

3. Speaking of Hightower, I caught some talk this week of people being excited that he can move to the edge more now that Harris is on the team? Um, yeah that’s what he’s been doing for his whole career. Sometimes fans are so clueless about this stuff that even starts to confuse me. Yes, Harris allows Hightower to stay on the outside where he’s best, but we’ll still see him in the middle on passing downs at times. The front seven is so fluid and Hightower is a huge part of that, but let’s not act like he’s suddenly going to be in a new role that he hasn’t been able to play. He’s been at OLB plenty and came off the edge on passing downs as well. Remember his strip sack in the Super Bowl?

4. A no commentary 53-man projection:

QB (3) T.Brady, J.Garoppolo, J.Brissett
RB (5) M.Gillislee, J.White, J.Develin, R.Burkhead, D.Lewis
WR (6) J.Edelman, C.Hogan, B.Cooks, M.Mitchell, D.Amendola, M.Slater
TE (3) R.Gronkowski, D.Allen, M.Lengel
C (1) D.Andrews
G (3) S.Mason, J.Thuney, T.Karras
T (4) N.Solder, M.Cannon, C.Fleming, T.Garcia
DE (5) T.Flowers, D.Rivers, D.Wise, G.Grissom, A.Butler
DT (4) M.Brown, A.Branch, L.Guy, V.Valentine
ILB(2) D.Harris, E.Roberts
OLB(4) D.Hightower, S.McClellin, K.VanNoy, H.Langi
CB (5) M.Butler, S.Gilmore, E.Rowe, J.Jones, C.Jones
SS (3) P.Chung, B.King, N.Ebner
FS (2) D.McCourty, D.Harmon
ST (3) S.Gostkowski, R.Allen, J.Cardona

Total players: 53
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5. Okay, some commentary

• Can’t believe how bad Kony Ealy looked against the Jags. He’s an easy out for me now, despite the lack of depth and experience there. Just no pop to his game, easily blocked one-on-one. He’s got to be my biggest disappointment of the summer.
• Cyrus is hanging by a thread right now, and I really wanted to put Coleman on over him but I just can’t bring myself to cut him, especially with his punt return value (in theory?).
• Cutting Jordan Richards was tough, I think he would be needed if Chung got hurt, just don’t let him out of the box.
• I think Lengel is still the best option at third TE, he’s just more well-rounded than Hollister, especially blocking.

6. As for everyone’s favorite rookie weapons, Austin Carr and Jacob Hollister, I still think they’re practice squad guys unless there’s a significant injury. Carr is a player, clearly and I’d love to hold on to him, but I just can’t see him ever getting on the field. As for Hollister, are you really going to pull Amendola or Hogan or Mitchell to put him on the field? Is he going to stress a defense in a unique way? Not really. And if he can’t block yet he’s too one-dimensional to be a real factor. Maybe with a year to develop he can develop, he’d be smart to stick in New England to get the right kind of coaching instead of chasing playing time with a team that won’t know how to help him become a well-rounded tight end.