Monday Morning Pats Regroup

We were scheduled to shoot our second episode of Patshow this morning, unfortunately a sick kid is forcing us to reschedule to Wednesday. I’ll post a full announcement in the next day or so with all we have planned for Patshow. First episode was a total blast, excited to start cranking them out twice a week during the season. Big things planned!

In the meantime, we’re just a little over two weeks away from the season opener and plenty is going to go down in that timespan, including at least one or two jaw droppers.

I remain underwhelmed by the Texans preseason game and these last two “games” on the schedule only reinforce how there are way too many games in the summer. The hardest part of the NFL season is battle against attrition and four preseason games only makes it harder.

The weather’s getting cooler and I just want real football!!

Here’s a bunch of regroup thoughts on where the Pats are at…

 

On that note, it’s somewhat of a big week as far as injuries go. I know the third preseason game is supposed to be the full dress rehearsal (though I think we shouldn’t get too carried away, especially with the results), so it would be nice to get some of the key missing Patriots back like:

• Nate Solder — As I said last year, there might not be a more critical player on the offense outside of Brady than Solder. It’s understandable why they’re handling him with kid gloves, but I just hope he’s not battling something that could linger into then regular season.
• Antonio Garcia — Looked like he’s going to need a red shirt year before getting hurt with an undisclosed injury. Would really like to see him in one of these last two games though. Everyone’s handing him a roster spot, but if he really needs that much work it might make sense to keep Cannon and Fleming and IR Garcia.
• Shea McClellin — It’d be nice to get a glimpse of McClellin in a game this preseason as well. Very curious if he makes any strides on defense in year two. I’m not the biggest fan of his game, but I’m trying to give him a chance to develop like someone like Ninkovich did.
• Mike Gillislee — Not too worried about Gillislee at this point given the Pats depth at running back, but again, it’d be nice to get a glimpse of him before the regular season. I’m guessing they give his hamstring as much time as possible to get right.
• Dont’a Hightower — Hightower remains on PUP and if he doesn’t come off this week I’m going to start wondering if he’s dealing with more than just offseason recovery. I don’t doubt Boomtower could start the regular season and be ready to go, but I’d prefer to not feel like he’s already starting the season battling some lingering problem because it’s hard to see that kind of issue going away. Do your thing, Alex Guerrero!

Now some more quick hits as we pass the mid-point of the preseason.

• I can’t get over how Lawrence Guy never found a permanent home since entering the league in 2012. He’s just such a perfect fit for the Patriots’ defense, a big body inside guy who can be moved around the line and gets great push. Such a vital element and Guy is going to be hugely important to the pass rush. I just love those big physical defensive linemen like him and Branch. Those are the kind of guys offensive lineman hate playing against.
• Right now my biggest scheme question is how much they use three big bodies upfront this year — Guy/Branch/Brown instead of the usual two. This could make up for a lack of depth at DE. Or do those three, along with Valentine, make an interior rotation while Flowers and Wise handle the defensive end duties?
• It’s so hard talking Pats defensive scheme these days because of how much fluidity there is between the all the OLB/DE types. I guess we could call them all “edge” players, but they exist on a spectrum that isn’t easily defined. Some are better on their feet, some are better holding the point or going forward, but just about all can do a little of everything. There’s a big line between the “base” package and the “sub” package. Some are usually hand down in both cases, others stand at OLB in “base” then go hand down off the edge in sub. Or guys like Hightower who are mostly stand up guys, even when coming off the edge. Yes, it can be confusing, and that’s kind of the point — making it hard for offenses to know who’s doing what.
• Harvey Langi is getting the most thorough look of all the undrafted rookies and he just seems to keep getting better. My early analysis of him left me wondering where exactly he fit but now seeing him play mostly a standing outside linebacker role, there are really more elements to his game that I like better than McClellan’s. The biggest question is how well he can hold up against the top line offenses when they run right at him. He’s shown great hands and quickness/energy. For the special players that can be enough to overcome a lack of size. Is Langi special? I haven’t ruled it out yet. He always just seems to find his way to the middle of the action.
• Stephon Gilmore sure looks smooth and comfortable out there. His presence reminds me a lot of Logan Ryan‘s, very comfortable and even-keeled. That’s a good balance for the fiery Butler who should be playing with a chip on his shoulder all season (though he didn’t really on Saturday night).

Will be taking another look at the Texans game today and posting some thoughts tomorrow on whatever I might’ve missed. It’s amazing how quickly the preseason gets old, but meaningful football and all the stress that comes with it is just around the corner. And then it’s four months of excitement!