Curtain, Giants Drop on Pats

by Scott Benson
scott@bostonsportsmedia.com

The Patriots finished their 2006 pre-season with a thud tonight, as both their starters and reserves were bettered by the New York Giants in a 31-23 loss at the Meadowlands.

New York piled up nearly 400 yards of offense while limiting Matt Cassel and the Patriots to their lowest output of August. The Giants were by far the more physical and aggressive club tonight, regardless of who was on the field.

As far as New England’s starters, you can chalk most of this up to the evening’s playing-out-the-string vibe. But for the reserves, many of whom were fighting to stay on an NFL roster, it was a disappointing performance. Particularly within the hashmarks, on both sides of the ball.

Giant backs averaged more than 5 yards a carry (Brandon Jacobs was a terror), and porker QB Jared Lorenzen kept the Patriots retreating with quick, accurate passes.

Matt Cassel had his moments, but he wasn’t as impressive as the lumpy lefty. He managed to lead the Pats on four scoring drives, but only one (the first) was a touchdown. Even with the bulk of the playing time tonight (and for the entire pre-season), Cassel remains young, raw and inexperienced. But he’s hit enough sharp third down throws, and extended enough scoring drives with playmaking runs, to get a passing grade for his first camp as the backup quarterback.

Steven Gostkowski was probably the offensive star, with three field goals - including a mindroasting 54 yard laser - that brought him to a perfect 9-9 on the pre-season. At the moment, the rookie is striping it. And 34 year old Adam Vinatieri is nursing an injury. You never know.

With 116 yards on six catches, Bam Childress proved he belongs with the big club. Like Cassel, he’s young, and you can see where experience will bring a certain needed economy to their game. But the raw materials are there. In the case of Childress, they come in a small package. It remains to be seen how he’ll fare against the front-line players, but he’s done everything that has been asked of him so far.

Patrick Cobbs led the Patriots in rushing (12-45-TD) but fumbled early to set up a Giant field goal. Its hard to get a read on what will happen with the rookie free agent; he’s shown some promise (as both a runner and receiver) at what happens to one of the Patriots deepest positions. He’s another young kid that still has to develop, and he may be in the wrong place to do it. Versatile Heath Evans was solid again this week, seemingly leaving little room for Cobbs to move up.

The stat sheet says Johnathan Sullivan led the Pats in tackles, just above Monty Beisel, Jeremy Mincey and Antwan Spann. I can’t think of a single goddam thing any of them did. It’s like Coach Lombardi used to say. “GRAB, GRAB, GRAB! NOBODY’S TACKLING OUT THERE!” They sure weren’t. To be fair, its hard to tackle when you’re laying on your back.

Once again, terrible luck for Barry Gardner, a guy that worked hard to make the team. As noted before, with Mel Mitchell lost for the season and Tebucky Jones hurting, that’s three veteran special teamers (acquired for just that purpose) on the shelf. Will we eventually see an impact on the coverage teams?

That’s for another day, I guess. It should be an interesting weekend, with the cuts - and an unhappy Deion Branch - looming. I’ll look forward to talking with you again next Friday, as the roundtable gets ready for opening weekend and the Buffalo Bills.

Late field goal ties Pats with Giants at half

by Scott Benson
scott@bostonsportsmedia.com

I have to admit. I feel like I’ve seen almost none of this game because I stupidly arranged to have my fantasy football draft tonight.

So I have no idea what’s going on. At either place.

I noticed Tom Brady wasn’t dressed and that Matt Cassel was the quarterback. Hey, you’ll think this is funny - at once point, I’m staring at my computer watching my fantasy team go to hell, and I looked quickly at the TV screen, and it looked like Troy Brown was playing quarterback. Crazy, huh? I’m telling you, I’m no multitasker.

I saw an awful lot of starters on both sides of the ball for New England. I saw Cassel move the Patriots offense against what looked like the Giants first team defense. I saw Rosevelt Colvin continue his excellent pre-season with a blocked field goal.

I noticed the Giants second team offense push the Patriots around for a field goal and a long Brandon Jacobs TD run. I saw Cassel lead the Pats to the halftime tie off a Giants turnover, as the half grew sloppier.

I saw Patrick Cobbs, in a bid to make the team, cough up a fumble, and receiver Kelvin Kight nulify a long Cassel scramble with a holding call.

I noticed young Bam Childress having himself a night.

I saw Barry Gardner, another veteran special teams player, lost for a good long time with a gruesome leg injury.

I’ve seen enough to know I’ve seen too much. Let’s wrap this thing up, fellas. The draft, and the pre-season.

GDRV Game Blog - Patriots at Giants

by Scott Benson
scott@bostonsportsmedia.com

In just about an hour, the Patriots will take the field at the Meadowlands to play the Giants in their final pre-season game of ‘06.

The game will be broadcast locally on Boston’s WCVB and sent throughout the six state region via the Patriots regional television network.

Tonight seems almost like an afterthought to the high drama that will play out over the next few days in Patriots-land. Tomorrow is the deadline set for Deion Branch and his agent Jason Chayut to carve out a sign/trade agreement with another club. It’s presumed they won’t be able to do it, and there’s little doubt that the next week will be dominated by anticipation of the other shoe dropping. Will Branch be in the lineup a week from Sunday when the Pats open the season with the Bills? Or will the most contentious holdout in recent history continue?

Meanwhile, back on the field, the Patriots will try to continue the momentum of their largely successful pre-season, which has seen them outscore their last two opponents by a combined score of 71-3. The Giants, no slouches themselves, have won all three of their August practice games.

Many of the Pats starters are expected to leave the game in the hands of those who will be scrambling to make sure they’re still in Foxboro when the sun comes up Sunday. Among those will be rookie runner Patrick Cobbs, who’s turned more heads than Linda Blair lately, rookie linebackers Jeremy Mincey, Pierre Woods, and Corey Mays, rookie guard Dan Stevenson, and 1st year free agents like corner Antwan Spann and receiver Kelvin Kight. Among the veterans still playing for jobs is former Kansas City corner Eric Warfield.

The Patriots must trim back their roster to the final 53 by Saturday, and establish their eight-man practice squad by the following day. Tonight may tell the tale for those players that are still in the margins.

See you at halftime.

GDRV Roundtable - Pre-Season Closes Tonight

by Scott Benson
scott@bostonsportsmedia.com

The 2006 pre-season will mercifully come to a close tonight when the Patriots travel to the Meadowlands for a curtain-dropping practice game with Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

No matter how good a pre-season goes (and this one’s been goooood), they’re largely equivalent to impatiently checking your watch for a month. Except for the whole Meghan Vasconcellos serving hot dogs thing. Why is that not its own show? We insist.

Anyway, the games need to start counting, and now. Let’s clean our desk off before the regular season begins:

At this writing, Deion Branch and Jason Chayut have a couple of days to kick loose a bombshell contract/trade offer to substantiate their claims and force the Patriots hand. There’s no end of theories on how this will all work out – most favoring the Patriots, at least in the short term. Will Deion Branch find a dance partner in the wee hours? If he returns, will he sign a new deal with the Pats, or will he simply play out his existing deal and head for free agency in the spring?

Scott: As we all know by now, its unlikely that Branch can swing this deal, finding a team that will pay him what he wants AND fork over draft picks to the Pats. Conventional wisdom says Branch returns, hat in hand, ready to accept what now seems like a very fair offer to our humbled holdout. Why do I think it can’t possibly be that easy? It’s not even logical for Branch to play for short money and risk injury in the process, all in hopes of a monster deal on the horizon. That’s exactly why I’m afraid it will happen.

Bruce: Scott, you clearly don’t have a clue. Maybe if you stopped blindly supporting every move that the Patriots make you could see that Chayut is a genius agent and has already lined up several great offers for his client. Teams are lining up to pay a Super Bowl MVP millions and millions of guaranteed dollars. The Patriots bungled this whole situation just as they did they did the rest of the offseason. They’re so cold and calculating (and cheap) with every move that they make that I’m afraid that in the future players won’t want to come here. They messed this Branch situation up, and it might cost them the Super Bowl this season. I hope I’m proven wrong.( This response was brought to you by our good friends at contrarians-R-us. Now back to your regularly scheduled Bruce Allen responses.)

I have no idea what to think. I’m just going to wait it out and see what happens. The offense seems pretty good so far, although as some knowledgeable scribes warned us this week, its only a matter of time before defenses gang up on the Patriots tights ends AND running backs and completely shut down the Branch-less Patriots offense. I still hold out that he’ll get a deal done to stay in New England the next few years. The coaches and his teammates love him, he likes it here, he’s just got the wrong agent to deal with the Patriots.

Greg: I tend to doubt it. My feeling is he’ll be back with the Patriots, play well and re-sign with them at some point. I think he wants to be here and you can see it in his statements and everything you know about him and, at some point, that has to win out over the agent. I would think so anyways.

Reche Caldwell has seemingly done nothing so far with his opportunity in New England, despite the absences of Branch and rookie Chad Jackson (nursing a hamstring pull that has cost him his rookie training camp), which have left a clear field for the former Charger to establish himself with the Patriots. If the pre-season games are any indication, he hasn’t. Most alarming have been a couple of drops (actually, ricochets) that called into question how effective his Jugs training has been. Considering that Caldwell has never caught more than 28 passes as a pro, why should Patriots fans expect he can elevate his game to a new level?

Bruce: Caldwell’s got me wondering if Gary Tanguay actually does know more about football than the container of Cool Whip in my fridge. It is still early, but man, he just hasn’t done anything to inspire confidence that he can be anything more than Donald Hayes redux. I’m patient enough to give him some more time to get comfortable and establish himself. I think more attention is being paid to Caldwell than is actually warranted, and that’s because: 1) He was the team’s first and only real spring free agent signing, right in the midst of the Givens, Vinatieri and McGinest defections and 2) The current lack of depth at the wide receiver position. Had this been another season, his signing probably would’ve been given the attention that say, Tim Dwight or Dedrick Ward received when they were signed. Caldwell should be viewed as a minor signing…a complimentary piece, rather than a huge free agent bust. I think when/if Deion Branch and Chad Jackson ever take the field for the Patriots, the heat will be off Caldwell to an extent, and he might actually get better. If not, I’m never eating Cool Whip again.

Greg: Well, one reason is he’ll likely get more opportunity here. He’s called on to have a bigger role and will, just by pure opportunity whether he plays well or not, most likely get more production. But his drops are somewhat concerning, if also slightly overblown at this point. I still have hopes once he is a bit more comfortable with everything, he’ll be productive….he definitely has talent….and its simply a case of adjustment. I think he’ll put up similar numbers to David Givens when all is said and done because he will get the opportunity to and I see nothing to indicate he is a complete bust as of yet. Lets give him at least a few real games first.

Scott: They shouldn’t. I’m usually one to preach patience (denial?) in these situations, especially with the considerable talents of this coaching staff supporting these players. But this game does not come easy to Reche Caldwell, if appearances count for anything. Even early on, it’s hard to imagine that the player we’ve been watching will become much more than an inconsistent second-team receiver, doing very little to mitigate the absence of the former starters. Problem is, the expectations are higher than that. Of all the years for a receiver like Reche Caldwell to join the Patriots.

The Patriots entered the pre-season with several key position issues to be resolved - the depth (and quality) of the wide receiver, linebacker and defensive back positions, the rehab and return of some key veterans, and whether a rookie kicker can fill the void left by Super Bowl legend Adam Vinatieri. As the pre-season closes, have the Patriots successfully resolved any of these issues?

Greg: I think so, though some tweaking is needed still at receiver. They need Jackson to play and Branch back or they’re dangerously thin. At linebacker, I think things are fine once Bruschi is back….they’re really not that thin there and same can be said at defensive back as they have lots of quality players there. Of course, this has also been a position they’ve looked good at before only to be hit by huge injuries at that area. At kicker, there is simply no way to tell until the regular season comes. He’s made all the kicks, has a good leg….but its impossible to tell how he’ll react to pressure of real games.

Scott: ‘Resolved’ might be a strong word. ‘Addressed’ is more benign and gives me some wiggle room. I’d say with Tully Banta-Cain stepping up on the outside, allowing Mike Vrabel to move inside, the acquisition of Junior Seau and the expected return of Tedy Bruschi, they adequately addressed the linebacker position this month. Belichick says his d-backs have had a good camp, and it is looking like Asante Samuel, Ellis Hobbs and Randall Gay have all stepped up their games. Rodney’s back. But we still don’t know about Eric Warfield and Chad Scott, really, and they’re what amounts to depth. We don’t know whether Harrison may have a setback (God forbid). This one is sounding like a push the longer I talk about it.

Bruce: I think Gostkowski will not be put in many positions to fail this season, especially early on. Come to think of it, how many times last season did the Patriots pass up what we thought were makeable Vinatieri field goals only to go for it (and convert) on fourth down? They seemed to do that quite a bit, and I think they’ll do that again this season, protecting the rookie and allowing him to grow into the job. Linebacker still might be an area to watch. As my good buddy Mike from Portsmouth NH keeps saying, Seau hasn’t been able to stay on the field the last two seasons, and the Patriots general recent record in free agent linebackers isn’t great. (Chad Brown, Monty Beisel) I like Banta-Cain, and have high hopes for him. Barry Gardner has looked better than Matt Chatham did, and Pierre Woods might make the squad on special teams ability alone, which would give him the chance to grow into a linebacker role. D-backs…again recent history tells us that at least three of those rotation guys will be on IR by week six. Let’s hope hammerin’ Hank Poteat is available to ride in on his white horse once again late in the season.

Thursday night is the fourth and final pre-season game. Historically, this is a game played by reserves and players on the margin. What will you be looking for?

Bruce: All I know is that if I don’t see Tom Brady, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, Matt Light, Corey Dillon, Ben Watson, Mike Vrabel et all for the entire game, I’ve got my consumer fraud paperwork ready to file.

Greg: Good back up players and no injuries. Guys I’m interested in seeing is whether Jonathan Sullivan continues his progress, can someone come forward at receiver like John Stone or Kelvin Kight and how does Matt Cassel play? Does he improve his play for the fourth straight pre-season game?

Scott: Ten fingers and ten toes. I just want to see them come out whole. The starters won’t be in jeopardy, but the Thin Blue Line of capable backups will be. You drop one or two of those guys and it will screw with your handicap. I’ll tell you what position battle interests me - did you know that Jeremy Mincey is listed (on the Pats depth chart) as the third team defensive end, along with being listed at outside linebacker, the position he was drafted to play? I just thought that was interesting because the second string guy behind Ty Warren is Marquise Hill.

And now, please rise for our Mediot of the Week:

Bruce: Count me as the most puzzled and disappointed individual in New England about the transformation of Mike Felger from competent, insightful reporter down to “Shrieking Panic Monger”. Do we blame it on his radio show and the need to get attention and try to attract listeners to his show by drawing attention to himself? I don’t know what happened to this guy. His articles from the weekend exemplify how far he’s sunk. In the wake of Rodney Harrison returning to the field less than a year after having his knee ripped completely apart, Felger wrote about how the “real” Harrison would’ve made a lot more plays in the game. Did anyone expect the 2003 Harrison to instantly appear on the field? Felger took a feel-good story and tried to inject worry into it - something he’d never have done in the past. While others were saying that the Patriots were shrewd in forcing the issue with Branch, Felger said they bungled it up. Maybe he really believes that, but I think he’s just trying to stir things up and get people calling his radio show.

Greg: There are no idiots in the media. Its sports!!!! We can’t judge them on things like the way they argue their opinions, how they ask concise questions on Randy Moss to Bill Belichick, or how prepare themselves and well-versed they are when going on Tennessee radio about Boston College, or how professional they are, or whether they go on the air drunk. That’s unfair. But of course, its fair game for WEEI to call their callers “nitwits” and blow them up and insult the fans and talk over them even if they’re talking sports. We won’t criticize that, that would actually be consistent!

I kid, I will go with myself (not that I actually qualify as “media”….though I do have idiot covered sometimes)….for an error I made in a GDRV column identifying Barry Gardner as James Darling. I always mixed them up for some reason. Must be an Eagles thing.

Scott: Far be it from me to hammer away at the Patriots-produced pre-season telecasts on WCVB, considering that I come from a time when even some regular-season games weren’t telecast. So the fact that the Pats have a house organ of their own now is much appreciated. But I had to laugh like hell when Don Criqui and Randy Cross (talking over an incorrect on-screen graphic) told viewers last Saturday night that “neither team has had a turnover tonight” just SECONDS after rookie Garrett Mills had coughed up a 4th quarter fumble to the Redskins. Pay attention much? And look, despite my aforementioned admiration for Ms. Vasconcellos, I have to say I’m not a big fan of shrinking the game action down to the size of a small postage stamp in the corner of the screen so that the team can shill for its hot dog line. That was a textbook Red Sox move. Blecch.

The Curious Selection of Laurence Maroney

By Bill Barnwell, Football Outsiders - special to BSMW Patriots Game Day

The Patriots selection of Laurence Maroney in the first round of this year’s draft was a curious one. That’s not to say that Maroney was a reach - it’s just that, well, Bill Belichick is not too amused by men who can shop at department stores. Belichick’s first round picks:

picks.jpg

That’s a lot of beef. At 210 pounds, Maroney’s a full fifty pounds lighter than Ben Watson, the lightest of those selections. Clearly, the Patriots organization has identified tight end and defensive line as positions that are both undervalued and worthy of multiple high draft picks. So then, why Maroney?

Well, there’s the need aspect. Corey Dillon’s ill-advised extension (and that’s not hindsight talking - if you’d like to understand why, take a look at the Seattle chapter in this year’s Pro Football Prospectus 2006 and the essay on running back workloads) took about three months to metamorphosize from the spoils of a successful Super Bowl run into something galling and regrettable; the thirty dollar cheese you bring home for a dinner party, only to see two guests take nibbles, leaving a giant block sitting on your countertop. Corey Dillon and his contract comprise that block, the mess that should really be thrown out but because of its price, gets a slice taken out of it each time you pass by in an attempt to justify its lavish price. Corey Dillon, as a featured back, is done. Finished. That’s not to say he won’t have some use: he can still be a useful back on passing downs, picking up blitzes and (as you may have seen in the game against Washington on Saturday) catching screen passes. He might be a useful back for 150 carries but, well, if you give him the ball 300 times this year, he’s either going to break down or suffer the fate of all aging cheeses: stink.

As a team closely associated with extended, insufferable metaphors, the Patriots foresaw this and obviously saw a running back as a good fit for them in the first round this year. It’s more of a scouts’ debate to determine whether trading up to grab Chad Greenway would’ve been a smarter move, so with that in mind, I wanted to take a look at Laurence Maroney’s past and see if we can ascertain anything from it for his future play.

First, though, a suggestion. If anyone wants to become a real beloved person on this internet thing, they should compile a college football statistical database. Not only is the data from before 2002 or so non-centralized and difficult to find, there are varying levels of accuracy and completeness available depending upon the team. I wasn’t looking for Division I-AA data here or anything - Big Ten running back statistics should be real easy to find, but it took hours to get the even limited data I did. If someone does this, I’d be a real happy guy, and I wouldn’t be the only one. End of rant.

Anyway, what I did was create a list of all the running backs who have been drafted out of a Big Ten school since 1996. From that list, I had to remove those who were fullbacks (Cecil Martin, Mike Alstott, and others), as well as those who I couldn’t gather data on (Sedrick Shaw and the four-headed Penn State hydra from 1996). In addition, while I wanted to gather both senior (or final) year and career data for all the running backs, I could only get one or the other for some of them. Finally, as I mentioned, some of the data occasionally doesn’t match from one site (CNNSI) to another (the Big Ten site) to another (school archives). This can be chalked up to some counting bowl games and others not, along with just plain different interpretations of history. Not to say anyone would ever act irrationally over college football or anything.

What I was left with were 33 backs of varying career lengths and success levels. From there, I chopped up the backs for analysis and comparison to Maroney in several ways.

1. Big 10 First Round Picks

backs.jpg

The column headings beginning with “Lst” are for the players’ last year in college, while “Tot” columns contain players’ career totals in college.

That list is a little scary: there are a couple of studs (George and Johnson, although the Patriots and anyone else could’ve had him for a first day pick in 2004), a couple of players the jury is still out on (Perry and Duckett), and several busts (Enis, Biakabutuka, Bennett, and the very-possibly-soon-to-be-released Dayne). The player who Maroney most closely matches, to an almost eerie degree, is Duckett - the numbers from their junior seasons (they both declared for the pros afterwards, coincidentally enough) are awful similar. While Maroney’s higher yards per carry number over his career may point to him being slightly superior as a college back to Duckett, look who had the worst average carry figure on the entire chart: George, the most successful back.

There are those of you whose initial response to me pointing out Biakabutuka as a bust will be that he was injury-prone. That’s entirely true, but it doesn’t excuse Biakabutuka from our study; in fact, it brings up a second, extremely relevant lens to look at Maroney’s career through.

2. Big 10 Backs with 550+ Collegiate Carries

550_carries.jpg

This chart swaps out the studs (Johnson and George, although George is only because I don’t have actual freshman and sophomore year data for him - I’d estimate him to have about 700 carries) for some more scrubs: Irvin, Davis, Betts, and someone who the jury isn’t out on - Marion Barber, coincidentally, the back Maroney shared time with and then replaced as the starter in the Minnesota backfield. Their stat lines are also pretty similar. Barber, playing against a schedule full of tough rush defenses, had a pretty decent year last season: his -8.8% DVOA had him at 34th in the league, while Julius Jones was at -7.4%, for 30th. Those are good, if not great, numbers for a rookie.

The reason I brought up this chart, though, should be familiar to Chicago Bears fans; there’s (at the very least) anecdotal evidence that runners who get a lot of carries in college tend to wear out quicker and perform at a below average rate in the pros. Guys like Thomas, Cedric Benson (1112 carries in college), and Ricky Williams (781) are good examples of this. The Big Ten guys above are no different: if you happened to have a few hours free, I could tell you a thousand inept Ron Dayne stories… or you could watch Ron Dayne try to switch holes once. They’d take equally as long, and you’d get the idea equally as effectively. While big things weren’t really expected of Irvin or Davis, they were featured backs at big schools that had a combined 45 carries in the NFL, all by Irvin over the course of two seasons. Thomas had a big season and then fell off the map. Betts has been a reserve back for four years, and the Redskins had such a lack of faith in him to back up Clinton Portis that they traded for T.J. Duckett, another player on this list, who couldn’t grab a starting job. Chris Perry was another block of cheese selection, and while he’s carved out a role, he’s not usurping Rudi Johnson anytime soon. Curtis Enis’ workload caused him to go clinically insane. Well, maybe that wasn’t his workload. The point is that not a single one of these backs went on to have a career in the NFL that was really worth a damn or, legitimately, the pick that was spent on them. Even if we stick Eddie George in this chart, that makes one back (George) out of ten that became a starter in the NFL and experienced sustained success. That leaves Maroney to buck some pretty significant odds, and the Patriots with the only thing worse than having a block of uneaten expensive cheese not being eaten on their countertop: a second one.

Washington at Patriots Second Look

Patriots Second Look
by Greg Doyle
greg_AT_bostonsportsmedia.com

A second look at this game on tape was even more revealing, in terms of how badly the Patriots dominated Washington Saturday night at Gillette Stadium, than it was the first time live. Again, Dean Pees work with the defense, and admittedly its very early to draw any definite conclusions, continues to impress. In addition to that, stellar play could be found among numerous players at every position on the field.

QUARTERBACK: Tom Brady is in midseason form. He did miss a couple throws he could have made, but overall he picked apart the Redskins with accuracy and good decision making. Its amazing, for a basically slow footed quarterback, how he can slide and step up in the pocket to buy just the amount of time he needs to make a play. A healthy Brady and the Patriots are automatically among the favorites for the Super Bowl this year. Matt Cassel had a very good performance. It does come with the slight caveat that he was playing against Redskins backups that, in addition to being overmatched, didn’t look too interested by the time Cassel came in. Still, Cassel made some good throws, in particular an out pattern to Reche Caldwell for a first down throw in the fourth quarter that was as good a throw as you’ll see any quarterback make in the NFL this year.

RUNNING BACK: Not much work for Laurence Maroney, but he did display some power on his touchdown run that shows there is more to him than mere shiftiness. Corey Dillon ran hard, but hasn’t broken away as Maroney has this preseason. There is an obvious difference in quickness between the two, but Dillon still looks to have well above average power in his running. Kevin Faulk looks healthy for the first time since 2004 and that can only be a bonus to the team this year.

WIDE RECEIVER: Another disappointing night, to some degree, from this unit. Troy Brown was good and Bam Childress showed some things again late. But Reche Caldwell had a couple drops early on. I still feel Caldwell will be a good player this year, but it appears he’s coming along slightly slowly on his new team. He did make some nice catches later in the game and displayed some nice hands on catches from Matt Cassel. No one else stood out and in fact, John Stone had a difficult time doing much of anything even with extended playing time.

TIGHT END: Obviously a completely dominating performance by Ben Watson. Brady appears to look to him first on big plays where they need to convert. Not sure that trend will continue, Brady has never been one to lock onto a single receiver consistently, but its clear Watson is primed for a breakout year if he can stay healthy. A review of his tape reveals his blocking is much improved this year as well. He at times blew the man he was blocking several yards downfield, even at times bigger guys. Speaking of blocking, Daniel Graham was his usual force in this area as well. Its says something about how good at tight end the Patriots are when Graham is somewhat of an afterthought in the passing game. This is a guy who can be a very effective weapon in that area, as he displayed on the one nice down the seam catch he had from Brady. Opponents are going to forget about Graham this year worrying about Watson and he has the speed and hands to burn them for big plays.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Extremely impressive debut from Dan Koppen. He showed no ill-effects at all from his shoulder injury and opened some gaping holes up the middle for Patriots runners, while also stonewalling any pass rush up the middle on passing plays. Ryan O’Callaghan had another nice game. All in all, the line has gelled better than at any time in recent years with Matt Light, Stephen Neal, Logan Mankins and Dan Koppen all pretty much in the prime of their careers. Add in one of the bigger, more physical and talented linemen they’ve had at right tackle in O’Callaghan and it appears Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli have developed their best line seven years into their tenure. Rookie Dan Stevenson did some nice blocking later in the game and appears to be another draftee with good long-term potential

DEFENSIVE LINE: Another very encouraging performance from Ty Warren. He is on the verge of becoming a near Pro Bowl player if he keeps up this level of performance. But the story of the game on the d-line was Mike Wright. The Patriots really have found a diamond in the rough with this undrafted free agent from last year. He was a load to handle on both running and passing plays and caused a ton of disruption for the Redskins. He even showed up on special teams on the Patriots top coverage units and had a tackle there as well. Its unusual to see a defensive lineman covering kicks, but Wright does a nice job. Expect to see him receive regular playing time this year.

LINEBACKER: A nice debut from Junior Seau. He seems to be picking things up quickly and plugged his lanes and made any running difficult for Washington. He also did a nice job in coverage. Roosevelt Colvin had a dominating night and looks to be picking up this year where he left off last year during an outstanding season.

DEFENSIVE BACK: Eugene Wilson is back to playing at Pro Bowl level. Maybe its the return of Rodney Harrison that has taken the weight off his back, but he is back to his 2004 form after a so-so season last year. Ellis Hobbs had a nice night, he’s earned a starter position and Asante Samuel has had a nice camp too. He’ll have his occasional hiccups, but is a good player overall and a solid starter. Of the backups, Randall Gay and James Sanders stood out the most. There will be good players cut from this group, it looks like Gay and Sanders have gained an upper hand on making the roster.

KICKING: Nothing spectacular here of note, but as of yet, no reason for concern either.

It would be easy, I suppose to get caught up in a completely dominating performance. But it is, afterall, only preseason. It will mean nothing in a month. But its a good sign to see the team relatively healthy, with most of their players out there playing at a high level. It just reinforces that if they can avoid an inordinate amount of injuries, they’re probably a better pick for the Super Bowl than any other team in the AFC. But its a long season. Injuries will happen. A few players won’t play as well as they are now. But that will happen to every team and, at least for now, the Patriots are clearly functioning at a higher level than they did for much of the season last year. Or at least seem to have potential to do so.

The last preseason game will likely not be too revealing. I expect very limited playing time from the starters. It may help to decide some of the last spots on the roster though, such as at linebacker, defensive back and defensive line. So it will be interesting to watch those battles Thursday night versus the New York Giants.

Patriots Continue to Have All the Answers

I don’t want to make too big of a deal about this.

But isn’t it about time that we hear a little less about what’s wrong with the Patriots, and a little more about what’s right?

If it isn’t the holdout, its the wide receivers, or the inside linebackers. If it isn’t them, its the rookie kicker, the injured list, the aging running back, the fatso defensive lineman, and the ones that got away.

Meanwhile, in two pre-season games at home, the Patriots have outscored their opponents 71-3.

Tonight, they outplayed and outclassed the Washington Redskins in every respect of the game, winning 41-0. The Patriots starters (and Washington’s) played about 40 minutes, and New England simply demolished every square inch of the Redskins. Washington was barely competitive, and the Patriots did what they wanted, when they wanted. Anticipating the regular season as I am, all I could think of the entire time was “how’d you like to be a Redskins fan tonight?” Maybe it won’t end up being that big of a deal for them in the long run, but I also know what it would be like around here if the Patriots had been on the wrong end of a skunking like this.

There was just no comparison between the two teams. One looked disinterested, underprepared, and ultimately, unarmed, despite being only days away from their opener. The other - despite an allegedly bumbled off-season and a camp marred by a dispute with one of its most talented, productive players - looked for all the world like a Super Bowl contender.

My ass the Miami Dolphins are winning this division this year.

But if you insist, focus on ‘The Questions’ all you like. Whip together your most fervent fretting. I’ll just point out that many of these ‘questions’ are already being answered. On the Gillette Stadium scoreboard.

So in closing, let’s hear a few good things about the Patriots:

Josh McDaniels isn’t having a bad camp, huh? His offense is averaging 450 yards a game, and tonight they scored touchdowns on five of their seven red zone possessions. They’ve dominated with the running game and the passing game. Deion Branch is one of my favorite players, and there’s no question he makes the Patriots better, but I’ll be damned if I can see where his absence has had any adverse effects. McDaniels ought to get some credit for that.

Of course, his quarterback might be the best player in the league. I mean, for God’s sake. When Tom Brady retires, I think I’m just going to go ahead and give up football altogether. It’ll never be as good as this.

Rodney Harrison took live snaps in a football game tonight, his first since that gut-wrenching day in Pittsburgh. I feel pretty stupid now for worrying that he’d never make it back, but I’m thinking Rodney Harrison’s made a lot of people feel that way. He was one of the first starters to leave the action, but how long he played isn’t that important. He had to start somewhere, and that somewhere was tonight. That’s good enough for me.

Ace pivot man Dan Koppen and franchise end Richard Seymour also saw their first action of the pre-season. Seymour even wiggled in to block a first-half John Hall field goal, saving the shutout.

The New Guy, Junior Seau, started with the first team and, honest, he’s a little crazy out there. A lot of energy, let’s say. He got a freaking taunting penalty in a pre-season game. He did make one nice play, slashing through a row of blockers to dump a Redskins back for no gain. And by the way, notice Junior popping that hat kinda quick? What did I tell you? That guy’s a pip.

It’s not that Ben Watson runs free on half of his routes that makes our pulse quicken. It’s that on the other half, he’s drawing holding penalties. They can’t stop Ben Watson, they can only hold to contain him. This guy may be the rare player that actually ends up being as good as everybody says he is. Who said the Pats don’t have a number one receiver?

In fact, Old Friend Troy Brown was having such a good night that they finally had to start hauling him down too.

The Pats didn’t want to run the ball in the first half, but after the starters bowed with a TD drive halfway through the 3rd, they plowed it to Washington. Kevin Faulk averaged 6 yards a carry. Patrick Cobbs suddenly started peeling off 30 yard runs. Heath Evans got eight carries and moved the pile an eighth of an inch, but he held on to the ball and the clock. The Pats have a solid duo at the top, but their running back talent doesn’t end there. How does Patrick Pass make this team?

I can’t say enough about Rosevelt Colvin these last two weeks. I don’t know that he hasn’t been the Pats best defensive player over those eight quarters, in which they’ve held opponents to a single field goal. He has been a holy terror off the edge. I think Patriots fans have always been paranoid about Colvin, even before he got hurt (”He’ll be nuthin’ without URLAC-AH”), and there wasn’t much patience as he slowly came back from a near-crippling hip injury. I’m thinking he’s all the way back now. In fact, he may be better than ever.

Seven sacks from the Patriots defense tonight. Mike Wright, who can play, had two. Meaning we really don’t have to care whether Marquise Hill is a bust or not.

Hey, Asante Samuel had his consecutive-games-with-an-interception streak broken. But he held down one side of a defense that held Washington QB’s to under 50% passing. Speaking of the defensive backs, have you noticed how infrequently quarterbacks throw towards Ellis Hobbs?

Like I said earlier, the third pre-season game is generally viewed by most teams as a dry run for the season opener. So how about it? Have the Patriots coaches and players done a fair job of preparing their team this month? Look, they still have to play the games, and anything can happen when the season starts on September 10. We’ll see how it works then, but right now it would be hard to ask for anything more from the Belichick & Co. They’ve obviously had a very good camp, one and all.

Just to show we can ‘go negative’ (for you conflict junkies out there), we should mention that Tebucky Jones went down in the 4th with what appeared to be a serious right leg injury. If Jones is sidelined for an extended period, neither of the two imported special teams aces (Bucky and former Saint Mel Mitchell) will be able to help at all.

And Reche Caldwell. In the second half, starter Caldwell was left out there to work with Team Cassel in the game’s latter stages. And he finally did something, making two nice grabs. But when the first team was whipping up and down the field earlier on, Caldwell was a non-factor. I don’t think it necessarily means he can’t play, but I think it means not everybody walks off the street and into New England’s playbook without a hitch.

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