Patriots preseason report card

By Os Davis  |   Friday, August 29, 2008  |  Comments( 4 )

New England Patriots
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Extreme loathing of hyperbole in today’s sportswriting notwithstanding, the 2008 New England Patriots may just have undergone the most-watched preseason in NFL history: Every reported injury was speculated on, every step Tom Brady made scrutinized for a limp, every draft pick picked apart as this team prepares to enter uncharted waters for the nth time this decade.

A brief summary of this observer’s notes on Patriot preseason 2008 follows. The results are given in report-card format, which admittedly is akin to receiving a cheesy “certificate” after attending a two-day seminar on using the latest Microsoft product. (When does the season actually start, again ..?)

Quarterback. Despite public support from Bill Belichick and Brady, Matt Cassel remains Matt Cassel. Matt Gutierrez showed his limitations against the New York Giants in the fourth exhibition match and while rookie Kevin O’Connell demonstrated his progress on the learning curve with a couple of nifty TDs, is this really the guy the Pats’ll be throwing to the wolves in a pinch? Meanwhile, everyone assumes that Brady is still Brady, but little evidence has been given either way. Grade: B, assuming Brady is still Brady, of course.

Running backs. Common wisdom has it that New England will be running the ball much more in 2008 – after all, how could the Patriots throw it more after tossing the record books last season? – and, boy, do they look primed. Leading rusher for the Pats in the Giants game was Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis, who plowed forth for 28 yards on six carries, and this guy may not make the final 53. LaMont Jordan’s preseason appears to indicate an excellent pickup there and Laurence Maroney may indeed be set for that breakout year. Grade: A.

Wide receivers. Well, Randy Moss is still the ultimate godly receiver. As for Wes Welker, last year’s folk hero, he’ll be an X factor after granted invisibility for preseason 2008. Chad Jackson has not amazed, despite hauling in an O’Connell pass against New York, and one has to wonder if he’s done in New England. Jabar Gaffney will be seeing much quality time this year after his preseason performance, to be sure. After that, um, what happened to Donte’ Stallworth ...? Grade: C-plus.

Offensive line: On one hand, maybe there’s still some trauma here after getting the repeated deer-in-highlights treatment from the Giants in Super Bowl XLIII, as the Patriots’ protection against the pass rush has been just as bad as it was in that February game of lore. On the other hand, the run blocking has allowed anyone and everyone in the ground game’s Scylla to gain yardage at will while the backup quarterbacks have exhibited a decided lack of decision-making ability in taking waaaaaaaaaaaay too much time to throw. Trumping all hands, however, is Stephen Neal’s status as physically unable to perform That’s gonna hurt. Grade: C.

Defensive line: We didn’t need to see four games’ worth of preseason to know that this may be the best part of the Patriots’ game right now. Grade: A.

Linebackers and secondary. For all the hype about how the back seven would need a nearly complete makeover soon, what with the LB corps and the departures from the secondary, things may have been made perfectly OK here and mostly done the old-fashioned way -- through the draft. Shawn Crable and Jerod Mayo have shown nice aggressiveness and should only improve against the NFL passing game. New England fans have to be excited about two-way guy Matt Slater, who turned in a wicked game in preseason Week 4 on the defensive side.

And who was that, getting the best workouts and running up the tackles Thursday night? Rookie free agent Gary Guyton, plus veteran acquisitions Victor Hobson and John Lynch. Guyton may have earned himself a spot on the 53-man roster for a few years to come this preseason, while the latter two look to have been terrific acquisitions. Grades: Linebackers, B-plus; secondary, B; overall defense, B-plus.

Outlook, based on preseason results. Extreme loathing of echoing popular sentiment notwithstanding, the 0-4 preseason belies the potential, yes, greatness of these Patriots again. The schedule is indeed very easy, as is the in-division competition. But worst of all for the AFC East and the NFL in general is that, should what we’ve seen from some of New England’s new additions transfer to fruition in the regular season, this team could win 12 to 14 games per year through the decade.

Assuming Brady is still Brady, that is.

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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