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Pats Posits: Time to Get the Jimmy Thing Over With

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2016, here we go.

That’s my biggest takeaway from Thursday night’s win/loss (?) over/to the Giants. Yes, there were some injuries to talk about, because those can affect the regular season and there were some interesting performances to consider, but otherwise let’s put a nice little bow on the 2016 preseason and get the Jimmy Garoppolo 2016 Four-Game Tour over with.

On paper, I’m not sure I can remember being more excited about a squad headed into a season. What 2007’s offensive promise was, 2016’s defensive promise is.

I’d put this defense up man-for-man against the hallowed 2003 and 2004 defenses. All are deep, versatile and talented all over.

Now injuries can quickly change things, but going in they have mostly players in their prime, most of them homegrown. And that’s at every position. There’s a sprinkle of hungry and/or misused veterans, who bring just a little of that outside hunger that staves off complacency.

Put it all together and oh boy.

The starting offense is almost as talented on the frontlines, but have their holes and a frightening lack of depth along the offensive line.

So will this be one of those years where the defense has win ’em? Well, unless you’ve been asleep for the Patriots’ last four Super Bowls, it almost always comes down to the defense having to get a stop.

We just hope that Tom Brady comes back in October looking like Tom Brady and Dante Scarnecchia can work his magic one more time and nobody on offense, especially Nate Solder, goes down along the way. Dion Lewis comes back and peaks as we hit the playoffs and number five here we come.

But let’s face it, despite whatever holes we think the Pats have, I promise you every other team has holes that are just as significant, if not bigger. And they don’t have Tom Brady starting Week 5.

All things considered, the Pats are locked and loaded to kick some ass in 2016 so strap in.

Here are the Posits on the preseason finale.

— I gotta start with the defense because I’ve been waiting for this season since 2008 when I really started blogging the Pats to see how Belichick turned his defense over with total control. Yeah, 2014 was exciting because we got to watch one of the all-time great cornerbacks in Darrelle Revis. But even that defense had some flaws that were (fortunately) never exposed. There was no, none, zero depth at defensive end behind Rob Ninkovich and Chandler Jones. Somehow they went the distance. Wilfork miraculously came back from what could’ve been a career-threatening achilles inury and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. This defense is more experienced, deeper and more talented across the board.

— The 2016 defense starts with Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins. Two ridiculous linebackers who are hitting their prime and essentially interchageble. Every preseason the Pats have advertised Hightower as a pass rusher, then Jerod Mayo got hurt and High ended up in a more off-the-line role. Once again he looks like an uber-strong beast off the edge this preseason and I’m praying he’ll get to stay there.

— Barkevious Mingo could help that. Mingo flashed in his Patriots debut, displaying great quickness and solid aggression attacking the line. He had a tackle for loss, and two QB hits to go with what should’ve been two forced fumbles. Mingo will be a fun toy for Belichick, but his lack of size can be a detriment. He’ll head into traffic hard but he’s easily tied up once he’s inside if he doesn’t make the intial play.

— While I thought they’d use Mingo at weakside linebacker, the actually had him at strongside outside linebacker, over the tight end, covering running backs. This is more often Dont’a Hightower’s spot. He also played linebacker in sub as well as some hand down pass rusher snaps in obvious passing downs. So the Pats got a look at Mingo in all the different ways they might use him. He’ll be at his best in subpackages as a linebacker, but he’ll esentially be a designated pass rusher in-season. I wonder if he could even be used as a strong safety in certain packages.

— Another designated pass rusher should be Anthony Johnson (#65 ugh) who showed up strong at defensive tackle again. Instead of just being a sub interior rusher, Johnson played some base downs as well. I’ll be interested to take a closer look at these snaps because it will tell us how much versatility Johnson has. If he holds his own two-gapping, he’s a roster lock.

— I’m not leaving DJ Foster off the Posits this week. He’s inserted himself into the roster conversation in the last two weeks with two flashy performances. Despite a fumble against the Giants, he finished with nine catches for 110 yards and looked electric. Though his rushing stats are James White-ish (nine carries, 22 yards), I’d say he appears just a little bit of a tougher runner than the vet. Yes, with Lewis that’d make three sub backs, but that’s the game now. If he can catch the fade better than White he probably could’ve gotten us through Denver last year. Sigh…

— Tyler Gaffney, I wanted to love you and you had some flashes but I just don’t think it was enough. Gaffney could get through to the practice squad and, as much as I’d love to have a guy to compliment LeGarrette Blount, I just can’t use a roster spot on him, risking one of the more promising rookies. Still think we watch the waiver wire on Saturday for a potential addition to go with Blount.

— Alan Branch was back at his starting DT spot next to Malcom Brown. They’ll be the top duo in Arizona.

— Why did the Giants keep trying Malcolm Butler up the right sideline? Yeah, they got him last year, once, with Odell. Butler then shut Odell down for the rest of the game. The Giants should now realize how good Butler really is. Sterling Shepard, a rookie? Get outta here!!

— The offensive line was a rotation station last night. Guys got looks at multiple spots so the Pats could get them all on film and figure just how versatile they really are. Thuney saw snaps at center, Barker was at right guard and Fleming was at left tackle. Waddle saw his first snaps at right tackle. It seemed like everyone was playing out of position. And they still didn’t get Tom Brady killed. Yay.

— Yeah I saved the Solder hamstring injury scare till now because I’m trying to forget it. There might not be a player not named Tom Brady who is more important to this offense. If Solder goes down, it’s Marcus Cannon and Cameron Fleming and hold the fuck on. But Solder didn’t leave the field, and was just hanging out like nothing was wrong so I’m just going to assume it’s all fine until the injury report comes out next Tuesday. Then I’ll brace myself.

— Other injuries: Elandon Roberts (ankle, returned), Keshawn Martin (leg), Devin Lucien (hip?) and Gaffney (toe/foot). Roberts is right on the bubble and for him to return after being in obvious pain shows toughness. He led the team with nine tackles. I think he sneaks on. Martin is also on the bubble, but he’s lucky Aaron Dobson had another uneven performance. This team will need Malcolm Mitchell to show something this year. If he’s not the fourth WR by the end of the year it will be a disappointment.

— I didn’t like that Martellus Bennett fumble. Maybe it’s the sunglasses visor but it’s hard to read his eomtion on the field. That can be frustrating when he just walks away like Robocop after making a bad play. I don’t know, I’m still excited to see Bennett and Gronk together, but I sure wanted to see more connection between him and Brady than I saw this preseason. They looked flat together. And Bennett almost seemed non-chalant at times. Bennett’s best work came in the first two games with Jimmy but he was quiet with Brady.

— I never thought Bennett could be on the roster bubble but Thursday night made me wonder just a tiny, tiny bit. Yes, the Pats knew the salary they were taking on so that shouldn’t be an issue. But if Bennett is more disconnected behind the scenes, or too vocal in front of the scenes, they just might send him packing. It would be disappointing and I’ve really enjoyed Bennett’s social commentary, but BB be ruthless.

So that’s it’s folks. Here we go with Belichick and Brady (minus-four) once again. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts because it’s not lasting forever.

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