Once again I sit here yawning, wondering why my coffee cup is empty, but I am a MUCH happier Patriots fan.
Now, we know that it is only preseason, but I gotta say I don’t think it looked exactly “pre” to me. Granted this may be more of an emotional reaction from a sleep deprived fan in the UK, where the game didn’t start until technically today but Patriots football is back and I take the wins!
As with last week there are still some unanswered questions and there are many kinks still to be smoothed out, but seven days has made a difference. So let’s check out some of these differences, shall we?
The run game, OH the run game! Coach Bill has some serious deliberations when it’s time to hit the 53 on how many running backs he’s going to take when we have a pure smorgasbord of deliciousness!
A steady diet of Rhamondre Stevenson was interlaced with a merry-go-round of spin moves from J.J Taylor and a very balanced-looking Sony Michel who even had four catches on four targets. Perhaps Sony heard some fans murmuring about using him in a trade but he looked really good! Don’t you just love it when players are versatile?
I know we don’t really have any healthy tight ends at the moment, but if we did, I would be hard pushed not to fill the roster with just tight ends and running backs! (I’m kidding folks.)
Whilst we are on the subject of tight endage, I gotta say I have heard a lot of good about Devin Asiasi but I haven’t seen a lot of good from Devin Asiasi. There are many reasonable reasons why, from a short first year to contracting COVID, but he was targeted once, and my tight end radar was very “meh”.
The high topic is the quarterback, so I will touch on it, but only a little bit. Both guys went out and looked good. Cam Newton had a great improvement from much we have seen, and that’s reassuring.
Mac Jones had some serious zipping balls, hitting Gunner Olszewski and N’Keal Harry, unfortunately one to Harry resulted in a dropped pass and a plough into the ground. The way he seemed to go limp as he fell was concerning. I have no official details to confirm at the time of writing this other than the social media photo from last night of Harry with his arm in a sling. We all hope he is going to be okay.
So he isn’t a mobile quarterback but Mac can move. He had some scrambles and the kid looked pretty good One play he had to move around plenty and he did well to target successfully, unfortunately the penalty monster rose its head again a little and Korey Cunningham undid Mac’s good work with a holding call.
A seriously high snap by the Eagles resulted in a turn over which lead to a touchdown by Damien Harris. Continuing the night of crazy catches, the ball bounced from Joe Flacco to Justin Bethel into the arms of Harvey Langi. And the Patriots weren’t done there. The third turnover of the night saw a tipped ball off the Eagles tight end Jack Stoll into the hands of Adrian Colbert.
Like last week it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but there was plenty of sparkle in Philadelphia for the Patriots. The dark clouds, well there were still some penalty problems and I was a bit disappointed in my defense guy Henry Anderson with a poor choice, lowering his helmet to initiate, resulting in a penalty early on in the game. Stevenson played a fabulous game until he fumbled, giving the Eagles the ball back with just a handful of minutes left. Justin Herron was called for several holding penalties. Still too much dirty laundry!
But the glaring smudge… Quinn Nordin.
I hate having to write this because I am so in on this new guy, but Nordin had some serious wobbles last night that many people are saying has cost him his roster spot. His consistency was non-existancey. Field goal miss, extra point miss. He did make an extra point later in the game, so I’m still holding out hope but it may be fruitless. I stand on my little soap box (reused from my Izzo days) and say I’m still in on this guy but this one is a time will tell.
I want to end on a positive note. Again, its not about the 35 to 0, although 35 to nothing looks nice on the page. The back-up offensive line did some good. Blowing out holes for the run, and credit to the defence even if they weren’t playing against a full number ones starting Eagles team, they deserve a “good job!” Not to single out one guy, but I’m gonna, and its good don’t worry. With the lack of tight endage at the moment Jakob Johnson was in the spotlight a little bit perhaps and I watched him blocking and he was great. Teams may be moving away from fullbacks but I seriously hope the Patriots don’t move away from using Blockab Johnson (I’m going all Cam Newton and giving Jakob a new nickname.)
Have a great day everyone and will someone purlease pour me some caffeine?!
Go Pats!
