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The biggest rule of preseason is not to take too much, good or bad, from what happens in the games. Offensive and defensive game plans are vanilla, and some personnel decisions are made not because those players are at the top of the depth chart but because the coaches want to see them play with and against the best players. Really the only thing you can judge is individual performances within the frame work of the game. 

So with that in mind here are the quick hit thoughts…

– There are a lot of impressive youngsters on the Patriots, on both sides of the ball. Just like that they’ve gone from old and slow to young and inexperienced. But with the good coaching the young Pats are sure to receive we are looking at the foundation of the next decade of dominance.

– Tom Brady looks uber focused this year. He wanted to beat the Saints eventhough it was just a preseason game. 

– Randy Moss is in incredible shape. Him and Brady could connect for 20 TDs this year.

– Julian Edelman is legit. So so dangerous in the open field. He is similar to Wes Welker but he’s got his own bag of tricks that make him possibly more elusive that WW.

– Brandon Spikes is exactly the kind of player this defense needed so badly. He blew up more than a couple running plays last night, something that Gary Guyton is really suited for. 

– Jerod Mayo looks blazing fast again. Last night really put it into perspective how limited he was last year after his knee injury.

– Patrick Chung had a great tackle on 3rd and 4 to prevent the Saints from picking up a first down. It looks like he still needs work on his coverage.

– Time to get to know Rookie Free Agent Dane Fletcher, looks like coaches wanted to see more of him than Tyrone McKenzie last night. Should be interesting to see who gets more reps against the Falcons.

– I like the decision to start Benjarvus Green-Ellis. The Patriots need to find out what they really have in him. With all the running backs having their contracts expire this year it’s time to see if BJGE is a keeper or just an average stop-gap. Looked to me like he’s just a stop-gap.

– Dan Connolly looked pretty good, and should hold his own at the LG spot. He had a nice block to set up BJGE’s TD.

– Alge Crumpler could be seen on the sidelines counseling Aaron Hernandez after Hernandez was unable to escape a tackle for loss. You can’t underestimate the effect of having a veteran like Crumpler around for these young TEs.

– Speaking of the TEs Rob Gronkowski looks like a blocking force out there. Many times the Pats ran right off him at the point of attack. With this dangerous 3 TE set I wonder if the Pats will use a lot more power to defeat these smaller spread offense-defending defenses.

– I don’t want to hear one peep about how great McCourty looked out of anyone who complained when the Pats selected him. He is an impact four down player and those don’t come around very often.

– Still unimpressed with Wilhite, would like to see more of Wheatley and even Arrington (who was laying fools out) as the nickelback with the top defense.

– I think that Sam Aiken and Brandon McGowan will both make the 52 man roster.

– Brandon Tate had a good confidence-building catch with Brady. Hopefully he can continue to progress.

– I was really impressed with Gerard Warren and Mike Wright. If we can get Ty Warren back I actually think we’ll be okay along the defensive line.

– Marques Murrell did a pretty good job, but I’d still like to see what Jermaine Cunningham can do at OLB.

So below is a quote from the great (and by “great” I mean worst) Michael Felger’s mailbag, I chime in with my thoughts below….

The Patriots “insiders” tell me the rush is going to come from a more aggressive scheme. I’ll believe it when I see it. The personnel is what it is at this point, and when it comes to getting after the quarterback, it’s not pretty. The only prayer is for Mayo to turn into a real force attacking the pocket and for McKenzine, Crable and/or Cunningham to emerge beyond what we expect. I’m not optimistic.

Overall, I think the Patriots are managing this season for what it is: A transition year. The single most important factor over this period will be how many of their draft picks pan out. The Pats had four selections in the second round in 2009 (Patrick Chung, Ron Brace, Darius Butler, Sebastian Vollmer). They had a first (Devin McCourty) and three seconds (Rob Gronkowski, Jermaine Cunningham, Brandon Spikes) in 2010. They have two firsts next year. If a title-contending core doesn’t emerge out of that group, it’s over.

Ok first, we’re all well aware of the pass rush problems, but a “more aggressive scheme” doesn’t make sense. You can be more aggressive with your play calling, you can blitz more, you can send guys from different areas which is probably what Felgie means. But the Patriots aren’t all of a sudden playing the attacking Jets or Steelers’ 3-4 defense.

We saw the 5 LB, 6 DB package last year and that produced some decent results, but Jerod Mayo ain’t gonna be the answer for pass rush. He’s a three down linebacker, but if he’s going to be run stopping on first and second down, he ain’t gonna have much left in the tank when it comes to pinning back his ears and screaming in on the QB.

The answer is a simple one. Our pass rushers (note, pass rushers.. NOT blitzers, there is a difference) need to be better. The Patriots were 9th in the NFL in blitzing last year, but when you have to blitz (sending additional rushers than your standard four) you can get burned. So what it comes down to is on passing downs our four down lineman, be it Damione Lewis, Myron Pryor, Derrick Burgess, TBC, or newcomers like Cunningham or Crable need to beat the offensive lineman and get to the quarterback.

You can scheme all you want, but it comes down to our guys need to beat their guys without having to send extra blitzers. This is how good defenses work. See what the Giants did to the Patriots in the Super Bowl for an example.

On to the second point… a transition year? Well what was last year, Felgie? Year 10 of the dynasty? Not quite. The transition started in 2009 and will continue in 2010, but the Patriots D should be in far better position this year than they were last year. But one thing he is right, an elite defense needs to emerge from all these draft picks.

As we close in on another season there’s a new set of talking points that all the national sports news outlets are hitting on when it comes to the Patriots. The biggest question they like to ask is whether or not the Patriots “window of opportunity” is closing.

In true national media fashion this is just a lazy way to talk about the Pats. Remember just a couple short years ago when the talking points were all about our old and slow defense? For those who have been paying attention you know that the “window of opportunity” phenomenon is exactly what Bill Belichick is trying to avoid. 

We all knew that Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel and others weren’t going to play forever. It was inevitable that the defense at the end of Tom Brady’s career was going to look much different than it did at the start.

So let’s say your in Bill Belichick’s shoes. What’s a logical way to approach this changeover?

Stockpile draft picks. Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Richard Seymour, Ty Law and Willie McGinest were just a few Patriots draft picks that formed the core of the dynasty defenses. Now, when you look at the past few seasons of draft picks you start to see the base for a new core to emerge. 

Jerod Mayo, Gary Guyton, Brandon Spikes, Tyrone McKenzine, Tully Banta Cain and Jermaine Cunningham form the linebacker core. Brandon Meriweather, Darius Butler, Patrick Chung, and Devin McCourty the defensive back core. Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, Ron Brace, and Myron Pryor are all former draft picks locked up long term on the defensive line.

As you can see much of the re-build is in place with high round draft picks at every level of the defense. Will all these players turn into all stars? No. But based on potential this should be the start of another very good defense that was hand picked by Belichick. And let’s not forget the Patriots have two picks in both the first and second rounds of the 2011 draft.

Sprinkle in some free agents like Rob Ninkovich, Leigh Bodden, and Damione Lewis and you have the potential of finding the next Mike Vrabel, Ted Washington or Rodney Harrison. But the long term core of the team has already been drafted, and has already been gaining valuable experience like the embarrassing playoff loss to the Ravens, or the blown lead against the Colts. Let’s just not forget that this is still a team that won the AFC East in 2009, and the defense is guaranteed to be better in 2010.

The only “window of opportunity” that closed in 2009 was the one for Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Rodney Harrison, and Richard Seymour to go to a fifth Super Bowl with the Patriots. New England remains a well coached and uber-prepared team, with an elite quarterback and a talented, albeit largely unproven defense.

The dynasty is indeed over. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start another one this season.