Let me be clear: the 1st preseason game is trash every year for every team. I can only thank God that Troy Vincent is so pathetic at his job that we weren’t subjected to the Hall of Fame game last Sunday night. Sure, it’s a chance to watch humans play a reasonable replication of football and for deep divers (like me) who want to evaluate back of the roster talent it can be interesting.
But rarely is the game itself remotely watchable for more than a quarter because the gameplanning is non-existent, the plays are telegraphed and the execution is bad. And even more rarely do the performances of record have any real consequence in the real world. Anyone remember last year’s Jonas Gray 55-yard TD sprint that all but guaranteed his roster spot and HOF jacket?
This Saints-Patriots preseason game is made even more pointless by days of scrimmaging, which are where most of the fact-finding and scouting by the coaches has been done. The Hoodie likes scrimmages because they allow him to do the analytical work of a preseason game without generating tape for opposing coaches. And I’m convinced an ancillary benefit of these and last year’s scrimmages with the Saints is the “eft-you” it sends to the league office.
The two teams most affected by the cronyism in the New York offices can justify rolling out a dumpster fire for an exhibition game because they’ve already gotten what they needed out of the experience. So I’m officially declaring this the most pointless (Is it most pointless or pointless-iest?) game in Patriots history. Even Rod Rust’s miserable game-to-game coaching ultimately led to New England acquiring Scott Zolak’s gravelly voice (84th pick, 1991).
So why watch? Well there are some of the things that we will be looking for:
1.What the hell is happening on defense, specifically at LB? With Ninkovich (now out 4-6 weeks) and McClellin exchanging their traditional positions, Belichick has clearly spent the offseason in the lab. Versatile defenders in the front 7: Sheard, Collins, Hightower, McClellin, Chung (hybrid LB) probably won’t play, but who are the depth players that emerge as reliable decision-makers behind the big boys? I want to see Grungier-Hill live and I’m curious if Freeny can make the leap. Also Flowers was outstanding last year in preseason before injury, can he make a mark?
2. Other Defensive areas of interest: the Jones boys in the secondary (Cyrus and Jonathan) going up against Harris, Bell and Snead, decent NFL talent at WR. Also up front, can the younger DTs Valentine, Kuhn, Hamilton muster a challenge to the veterans like Branch and Pot Roast?
3. At RB, where do we stand behind Lewis and Blount: What does Tyler Gaffney have in the tank? He was an outstanding athlete in college before injury and now he’s trying to put the pieces back together of his career. He wants to be a ‘ground and pound’-type rusher and this team could certainly use an infusion of youth at Big Back. Also what’s James White’s future with the club? And what about… wait, is that it? DJ Foster’s out. Lewis is out. Brown is out. Guess we’ll see more of Bolden. Yeeps.
4. Who’s behind Edelman and Amendola? We should see a decent competition for the latter part of the Depth Chart with Harper, Mitchell, Dobson, Martin and Nate Washington who is apparently playing himself into shape. Brissett will likely be tabbed with the majority of the passing duties so not sure what to expect in terms of catchable balls.
5. Maybe most importantly, who doesn’t play? Besides much of the starting 22, we also won’t see Edelman, Ninkovich, Lewis, Ebner, Williams, Jackson, Cooper, Vollmer, Foster and Amendola due to injury. Who doesn’t play will give us a sense of where the back half of the depth chart stands at nearly every position more than who does play. For example, if James Develin, who has been called the best FB in the league by Brady, isn’t out there, I think it’s a good sign that the Pats will keep the FB on the roster and manage his health after he suffered a broken leg in the preseason last year. Is this the year the Pats keep a FB on their roster? I think his roster spot is an important one for helping Garoppolo’s early season development.
So there you go, in the NFL even the games that don’t have meaning mean something.
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