Trimmings to 75: Woes persist on O-line, more secondary shuffling for Pats

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, August 26, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

New England Patriots
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To trim down the roster, the New England Patriots took five players off active duty Tuesday, including a recognizable name or two that’ll shake things up for the on-the-bubble/off-the-bubble Thursday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles. A look at these last tweaks to the 75-man roster reveals a bit about what’s going on in the development of the Pats for 2008.

Gone is Jason Webster, a veteran who might have been the penciled-in starter at cornerback when first picked up this offseason, but a hamstring injury kept him from any serious action whatsoever throughout August. In cutting losses with Webster, New England is apparently happy with Ellis Hobbs and Lewis Sanders at the top of the depth chart. The word on rookie Terrence Wheatley has been good enough (and injury-free enough) to figure he’ll make the team, while a free-for-all will be had among other competitors for the lower spots. After missing some time thanks to injury this month, certain to be tested in the Eagles game is fourth-rounder Jonathan Wilhite.

From the running game goes Kyle Eckel, who was given his release after injuries generally kept him from showing much this offseason. Observers will have to take this as a sign that Sammy Morris’ injury of last season is no longer questionable, a suggestion that got some play around New England way early in training camp. And this season may see Heath Evans contributing more yards rushing than ever; Evans has toted the rock 112 times in his 38 games over two-plus seasons as a Patriot. In seven years he has never missed significant playing time because of injury.

All the bad news came out of the offensive line, an area whose medical charts and listless play should be making Foxborough faithful at least a tad nervous. Third-year man Ryan O’Callaghan, slated to back up RT Nick “The Narc” Kaczur, is done for 2008 with his placement on injured reserve. Long undrafted free agent Ryan Wendell was cut.

Worst of all was the placement of Stephen Neal on the physically unable to perform list. Neal had offseason knee injury and won't see action until October. So, Tom Brady’s right edge is tentatively to be protected by 33-year-old Oliver Ross ... but hasn’t he been on PUP since like July? Isn’t he still PUP? Yep, believe so. Yeesh.

Some lines of interest for the Eagles game? Despite the unlikelihood of most starters playing at all Thursday night, you have to believe that some top-dog cornerbacks will be seen: The No. 1 spot may still be up for grabs, in fact. And with Baltimore Ravens castoff Mike Flynn newly aboard and the O-line going through this shuffle, it’ll be worth seeing what (and where) he plays on his seventh day as a Patriot – not to mention who’s playing alongside him.

Training Camp: An entirely new kind of fantasy game!
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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