PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

2017 Pats Will Need Some New Clutch

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With the retirement of Rob Ninkovich and the injury to Julian Edelman, the 2017 Patriots must replace two players who came through in some of the biggest moments over the last few season. Whether it was Ninkovich’s timely takeaways or Edelman’s clutch catches, the team would not have two more Super Bowls if not for those two players.

Even Chris Long and Jabaal Sheard had their moments, as did Martellus Bennett. Taken altogether and it’s clear the 2017 will have a different flavor to them, and nowhere will it be more apparent than in the biggest moments. Because as we learned the difference between 42/46 and 49/51 were whether or not our players made the plays with the season on the line.

Will a new crop of players be able to step up and into then spotlight? Let’s take a look at some Patriots who need to find their “clutch”.

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Pats Posits: No. Not Edelman.

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Injuries. For the 2017 Patriots, they’re all that stand between them and another Super Bowl run, and in Friday’s preseason win over the Detroit Lions, their championship hopes might’ve taken a significant a hit.

Julian Edelman went down in a play eerily reminiscent of Wes Welker‘s non-contact fall in Houston 2009. Now, we wait for official word with an estimate of how long he’ll be out.

There’s plenty to unravel if Edelman’s lost for long. But at least on the surface, with Chris Hogan and Brandin Cooks leading the way, the passing attack is somewhat prepared to absorb this.

Otherwise it was the tale of two halves. Both the Patriots starting offense and defense played a complementary and often dominant first half. Then the back ups and roster hanger-ons stunk the place out in the second half.

It’s hard to talk about the good and the bad without a depressing undertone from seeing the engine of the offense go down in a non-contact heap. But let’s do our best to figure out what it all means in the Posits.

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Five Patriots Things to Watch vs. Lions

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The Patriots take on the Lions tonight in their third preseason game of the summer. While there are plenty of players to keep an eye on, it’s important not to get too worked up about what happens tonight (outside of major injuries). Because let’s face it, you’re more likely to hear a Patriots fan praise the work of Roger Goodell than you are to see the Patriots miss the playoffs this season.

Still, the stage is set for plenty of individual players to show what they’ve got and there are still expectations of what we’d like to see from the team before things get real.

Here are five things to watch tonight as the Pats can hopefully get through one final preseason game without a significant injury before turning the page to what is surely shaping up to be a scrubfest next week against the Giants.

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5 Do or Die Patriots in Detroit

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We’re just two weeks away from the kickoff of the 2017 regular season, but those two weeks are going to be jam packed with two more preseason games and plenty of roster moves, at least a couple of which should make our collective heads spin.

The immediate focus though is on week three of the preseason, the most hyped game of the summer where we can expect to see the starters play into the second half. Disclaimer — don’t get carried away with the results. The Patriots have had good week threes and bad week threes and neither result ever really told us anything about how the team would be in the regular season.

However, for individual players, there’s a lot on the line in Detroit.

Let’s take a look at five Patriots who are very much on the bubble and could solidify their position on the roster (or depth chart) based on their showing in this game.

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Today Patshow #102!

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Very excited today as we will be shooting episode number two of Patshow — a new Facebook live show with yours truly alongside the hardest working man in Boston, Nick Stevens aka “Fitzy” and WAAF’s Matty and Nick show.

Keep an eye out around 11am EST, when we’re aiming to go live.

You might’ve caught episode one, we purposely kept it a bit quiet as we worked out the bugs. But it went far better than we hoped and now we’re thrilled to ramp Patshow up.

The plan is to make Patshow a bi-weekly event, a recap show on Mondays and a preview show on Fridays. But it will be so much more than just me and Nick talking Pats. We’re going to put the full might of our creative skills behind Patshow, including digital shorts, sketches and tons of other fun things that I can’t wait to share.

I promise there is nothing else out there like this and our aim is to make being a fan fun again. We’re not going to spew angry hot takes at you. We’re going to take down those hot takes with smart analysis and the kind of entertainment that embraces being a fan.

The creative team behind Patshow is second-to-none. We’ve partnered with Ian Barrett, Erin Hayes and Paul Bouley of MediaBoss in Framingham to deliver a polished production that looks like it belongs on real television. MediaBoss can do everything — remote location shoots, green screen, etc. and we hope to utilize all their talents in helping us create Patshow.

So run now and like our Facebook page and our Twitter handle. Pencil in episode #103 comong Monday, August 28 before we start banging them out twice a week.

Thanks for tuning in and spreading the word to your Pats pals!

Pats Welcome Some Important Injured Players Back

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwpIJF26_U0

I had a feeling there would be some injured players returning to practice today as the Pats lock in on their most-hyped third preseason game in Detroit this Friday and I was right.

The headline is Dont’a Hightower coming off of the PUP list, rocking some Ninja Turtle socks and going through drills with the defensive linemen (?). Others to return to the padded practice included Nate Solder, Mike Gillislee, LaAdrian Waddle and Deatrich Wise.

Obviously it’s always good news to get players back from injury, especially now as we’re closing in on the regular season kickoff in just a little over two weeks. Most of the starters should get a half-plus of work against the Lions before the team shuts just about everyone of importance down for next week’s preseason finale against the Giants.

However it wasn’t all great news, as Rex Burkhead and Malcolm Mitchell were both new absences from practice. They join previously missing players Matthew Slater, Shea McClellin, Matt Lengel and Tony Garcia.

Incredibly, Elandon Roberts, last seen getting carted off in considerable pain with a rib injury, was at practice but rocking a red “no contact” jersey. No question, Roberts is old school tough. This makes multiple times he appears to sustain a significant injury in a game only to be right back out there shortly thereafter.

Injuries become more and more important to monitor at this time of year. There are some extremely important players amongst those dealing with something at this point, none more important than Solder and Hightower, so today has to be seen as a positive step forward.

 

The Curious Case of Belichick Praise

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Every now and then Bill Belichick sings the praise of an individual player. Usually he deflects specific player questions into team generalization. You know the drill. A reporter asks about a certain player who’s struggling or shown promise and Belichick responds with something along the lines of “the player did some good things, needs to improve on things, we all need to improve on things, including the coaches.”

If you’re like me you just tune these responses out by now. Not that they really bother me. I get it. All of Belichick’s answers are well-crafted, not for the reporter, but for the specific player and for the team. Belichick doesn’t coach through the press, at least in a negative sense.

But every now and then Belichick throws some glowing praise at a player and more often than not it’s some random guy you never really gave much thought to.

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