Another day, another bullet seemingly dodged for the Patriots. Yes, I’m leading with Malcolm Mitchell’s injury scare because as I said before the game started, ALL I TRULY CARE ABOUT IN PRESEASON IS AVOIDING INJURIES.
Mitchell’s arm looked like it had been broken in half, bringing back memories of Jeremy Lane in the Super Bowl. But yet again, for the the third time in a week, it wasn’t quite as bad as it initially seemed, and we narrowly avoided losing a promising young player for the season.
Malcolm Mitchell suffered a dislocated elbow and could be back in four weeks, sources tell me and @kguregian.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) August 12, 2016
Otherwise it looks like the Patriots escaped any other significant dings and went on to beat the Saints, 34-22, showing a lot of promise.
Here are the very first Pats Posits of the new season!
— Gotta start with Jimmy Garoppolo who actually looked better than I thought he would. No he didn’t tear the Saints apart, but he kept confident and made some nice throws. He also showed some good awareness. I’m not expecting the guy to be Brady, but he’s a competent NFL quarterback at this point, year three of his career and he’ll keep the Pats in all four games he starts. He just has to do what he did on Thursday night, avoid the critical mistake. Yes, I know he made a couple bad throws, but that’s what he needs to learn from. I’m excited to see how he progresses in the preseason, where he’s sure to get a lot more action. Let’s remember this guy didn’t play a meaningful snap last year.
— Yesterday I posted five guys I was most excited to see, let’s see how they did:
- Tyler Gaffney: 9 carries, 64 yards, 44-yard TD.
- Malcolm Mitchell: 4 catches, 55 yards, dislocated elbow 🙁
- Kamu Grugier-Hill: 5 tackles, 1 pass defensed
- Shea McClellin: 4 tackles, strong edge setting.
- Trey Flowers: 6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FF-TD, 2 QB Hits
— Flowers was everything that I hoped he would be and now I feel confident the Patriots have three good defensive ends without Rob Ninkovich. Chris Long, Jabaal Sheard and Flowers should be the rotation. And Flowers is poised to be the one who benefits most with playing time. He certainly looks like he deserves it.
— I didn’t see McClellin play any defensive end except when they were using him as a pass rusher on third down. He’s playing strong-side outside linebacker, while Hightower seems to now be settling into the middle linebacker spot, while also being used as a pass rusher like McClellin in sub. I thought McClellin looked athletic and he seemed to fit into things well. He set a hard edge a couple times.
— Grugier-Hill was playing the Hightower middle linebacker role and some Collins’ weakside spot, covering running backs and snuffing out the run. He showed good awareness and speed, I just wonder if he has the frame to hold up at linebacker in the defense. He looks more like a bigger safety to me. We’ll see how he progresses but he was calling the defense when he was out there and that indicates he’s picked things up pretty quickly. That’s a great sign. If/when Jonathan Freeny returns it will bump him down the depth chart.
— Grissom flashed some athleticism and looked good in space. But he’s behind Flowers. His special teams ability makes up for it.
— Mitchell looked great before getting injured, it looked like he was primarily on the outside but that’s something to take a closer look at. He’s got good hands and had the ability to pick up some extra yards, something we haven’t seen from Aaron Dobson.
— I give Dobson a lot of shit, but he looked a little better to me this year. A little leaner and quicker. Mitchell’s injury almost bought him a roster spot, but who knows now.
— I’ve said it a billion times over the years — the offensive line always sucks in August and September, even when Dante Scarnecchia was here. They’re out of sync usually, everyone gets worried and then they solidify and end up amongst the best in the NFL. It’s a building process. I’m not saying Marcus Cannon is suddenly going to turn into a Pro Bowler, but I wouldn’t get too worked up overall about these early bumps.
— The great news is that Joe Thuney looks like a stud and that should lock down the left guard spot well into the 2020’s. Yep.
— Hightower and Collins. Wow. Just praying we can squeeze a healthy season out of the two of them. If that happens this defense is gonna be fine. Collins’ TD was yet another example of his freakish athleticism. Holy hoodie, I love watching those two players.
— I really like what Chris Long is bringing to the party. Even more so with Ninkovich going down, but the guy looks locked in. And it doesn’t hurt that he just has the elite look of a badass pro football player. I continue to believe he’s going to have a huge season.
— Jabaal Sheard and Malcom Brown are right up there too. This is one of the most exciting front sevens the Pats have had since 2007. And if Flowers keeps elevating, the sky is the limit for this squad.
— Hightower might have 130 tackles.
— Cyrus Jones looks dangerous as a punt returner and fits right into the secondary. He’s fast and aggressive, a hallmark now of the Butler-Ryan-Coleman core.
— Speaking of Coleman, I like the kid and he’s going to get too much shit for the two long passes he was in coverage for. Those were two freak plays. He was right there. That’s all you can ask. We are so far gone from the days of Jonathan Wilhite being in another zip code when balls were getting completed on him. Coleman plays with a physical edge and I think he’s an important player no matter how good Cyrus the Virus ends up being.
— Quick-hit defense scheme notes:
- The defensive ends all played both sides and in the middle.
- Similarly there was a lot of fluidity in the linebacker spots. It’s a 4-3 Under, but also shifts to both OLBs on the LOS. Hightower is the MLB.
- All Cover-1 Man/Cover-2 Man. Vanilla yogurt.
- Pass Rush Front: 54-93-95-58, 91 cover flat.
- McClellin SLB, rushes as a defensive end in sub.
— If Ninkovich was playing linebacker, I assume it was SLB. This likely would mean he’d rotate with McClellin at the spot. Just a little more standing up than having a hand down, but generally the same role he’s been playing at the end of the line. He’d then move to pass rusher with a hand down in sub like McClellin was doing. Not groundbreaking stuff despite the fervor of some of the early reports.
— I hope Gaffney left something in the tank because I was getting sick of seeing LeGarrette Blount fail to get things started in the first quarter. Yes, Blount had some good runs, but he’s best as the late-game hammer. They need someone like Gaffney who can pick up 4 yards on first down against a tough front. That’s not Blount’s thing.
— Impressed by downfield blocking by Butler on Collins’ interception and Bennett on James White‘s screen almost-TD.
— Will I get tired of Pot Roast’s thunder thighs? I think not.
— Jordan Richards is a guy who keeps showing up and I wondered on twitter if Belichick had maybe just cloned Matthew Slater. I said it earlier this offseason, if Patrick Chung gets dinged at all, Richards is the next man up in that role, and I think he’s ready for the challenge. He could end up being quite the player that not enough people are noticing yet.
— Martellus Bennett sure does look menacing out there in his #88 and black visor. Oh yeah, I am excited excited to see Brady throwing to him and Gronk at the same time. It’s good he saw so much action, the better he knows the offense the quicker the offense can go.
— AJ Derby showed up in a big way in the second half. He was the sixth man on my ones to watch. A former quarterback with really good size at 6-5, 255 and he flashed good hands. He only played one season of tight end at Arkansas and was injured last season. He’s close to surpassing Clay Harbor as the third TE in my book.
— Jacoby Brissett? He was fine. Welcome to the NFL. He made some throws, was a little late on his reads at other times. Still like his skill set, but it’s going to take some time.
— The Pats didn’t have a turnover and forced five. That’s about a good sign as you can have in the preseason. They’re playing safe with the ball and they’re taking it away. That’s honestly like 75 percent of the battle in the NFL.
All in all it’s a good start. It doesn’t look like anyone was lost for the season. Mitchell had a setback, but by the time it all really counts he should be okay. For the JV squad there were ups and downs as you’d expect. The important thing is that the campaign is underway and opening day is getting closer by the minute.