by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
October 4, 2009

Thoughts while wondering if it will be the Ravens offense or defense that poses the greatest threat to the Patriots today…

• Really, I’ve been back and forth on this over the last few days. First I wonder if the Pats can get their cranky passing game up to snuff with people like Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs getting in their way. It seems like they’ll have to spread out and throw to move the ball on a defense that’s surrendering only fifty yards rushing per game so far.
• Then I wonder about New England’s defense, which this week was grudgingly acknowledged as ‘maybe, possibly improved, sort of’ by the sporting press. It was the nicest thing they’ve said all year. Are we being set up? The Ravens second-ranked offense (in points and yardage) will be a pretty good test.
• Speaking of the maybe, possibly, sort of improved Patriots defense – the eleven players most often on the field over the first twelve quarters of the season include Leigh Bodden (99% of the snaps), Gary Guyton (also 99%), Brandon Meriweather (88%), Shawn Springs (86%), Jarvis Green (85%), Adalius Thomas (81%), Ty Warren (71%), Vince Wilfork (68%), James Sanders (62%), Mike Wright (61%), and Brandon McGowan (58%). Five DB’s, four DL’s and two LB’s.
• Naturally, after all this, the game will be decided on special teams. It’s a Final Thoughts tradition.
• So Mike Reiss says Junior Seau took a physical while he was in town for his new TV show. Well, he was recently gored by a bull, or something. Junior hasn’t shut up about playing for the Patriots for months now (get the results of this Google News search), so as they used to say on the old KFFL message board, “makes sense.”
• Actually I’m not sure it does given the reports that old friend Chris Price was on Comcast Sports Net this week suggesting that Jerod Mayo could play today. He did practice on Friday, just eighteen days after he was injured and allegedly lost for up to eight weeks. I’m not getting too crazy with this notion this morning; last week there were similar thoughts on Wes Welker, who ultimately sat for the Falcons anyway.
• Reiss mentioned in his mailbag this week that Welker could even be shut down for a few weeks so a clean-up procedure could be done on his knee. That is frankly an unappealing notion as long as Tom Brady struggles to synch up with nearly everybody else. Welker also practiced Friday, as did Wilfork, who the Pats could sure use today if they’re going to stall Willis McGahee and Ray Rice (both over five yards a carry so far). It seems like most everyone took the field on Friday, so maybe there’s a chance some of these nagging early season troubles are coming to an end (cross fingers).
• You know, Lawrence Maroney has been getting a bad rap of late. It seems the prevailing opinion is still that he’s an indecisive tap dancer with the ball. That’s not what I’ve been seeing. I see a guy that’s trying to pick a lane and go with it, and it seems to me he’s been pretty willing to lower his shoulder and keep his feet moving when the time comes.  Say what you want about his production this season (small sample size) or his durability overall (it stinks), but we’ve all forgetting what kind of player he was down the stretch in ’07 (see video on right). It’s worth the shot to see if he’s still there under all that baggage.
• The inactives are out – Joey Galloway and Terrance Wheatley are apparent healthy scratches. I’m not sure what it means that Galloway is out on a day they figure to pass. There will be no Mayo, but Wilfork, Welker, Matt Light (ankle) and Nick Kaczur (ankle) are all, evidently, in.

E-mail Scott Benson at [email protected]

by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
September 29, 2009

I don’t want to be that guy. I really don’t. You know the guy – “fahking Galloway SUCKS, man…they gotta CUT his ahss.” But I am becoming that guy.

It’s been painful watching Joey Galloway try to play wide receiver for the Patriots – allegedly a field stretcher, he’s had the opposite effect.

But this is already becoming a tired subject – as ‘that guy’, I don’t even really know what I expect the Patriots to do. Yeah, they boxed themselves in all right, by choosing a receiver that hasn’t yet demonstrated that he understands his responsibilities (even though he’s been a Patriot since March 14^th) or shown that he could execute them even if he did. They filled a hole (the third man in with Moss and Welker) with a void.

What do I expect them to do about it now? So really what I’m doing is howling about that choice in the first place, which is okay, but I really have to get off Joey Galloway’s ass.

I say that because I was getting ready to tee up one of my new catchphrases, “how are you in the league fifteen years and you can’t run a fucking route?” when I was reminded that Galloway has had six seasons of a thousand yards (and a couple of near misses) over the past fourteen years – and ten thousand in all. He’s been in the end zone 77 times. That’s 5 ½ a season every season for the last decade and a half. He’s been doing something right.

If all we’re seeing here is simply an old dog without enough left to learn a new trick, then Galloway shouldn’t have to listen to our shit while he – or somebody else- figures it out. So I’m heading out for a run.

E-mail Scott Benson at [email protected]

by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
September 29, 2009

There is any number of individuals who could have taken this prestigious (cough) award for their play in Sunday’s eminently solid win over the Falcons at Gillette Stadium. Despite what that asshole Mike Freeman says, I’d start with: Randy Moss (Freeman had more credibility when he was lying about his resume), who came off Friday’s injury list to almost singlehandedly create a Pats passing attack; Fred Taylor, who started on the sidelines but came to the lean-forward rescue with some tough inside running; Stephen Gostkowski (when will it be all right to shorten that to Steve?) who drilled some top-notch kickoffs while making four-of-four on field goal attempts; or Brandon McGowan, who gets primary credit (though he usually had help) for limiting perennial all-pro Tony Gonzalez to just one catch on the day.

Yet this august panel will go ball-less this week (you know what I mean) as this game was won up front, on both sides of the ball.

The offensive line hit me where I live by clearing the way for 39 rushing attempts, and even better, 168 yards of production. Not only was their movement startling (they had no trouble getting to the second level, or to the flats for well-blocked screens), they cut way back on those awful clusterfucks that occur when all six men end up pushed into the backfield at about the same time the running back is taking the handoff. You know when you see that there will be precious few clouds of dust on that day. But it was a rare occurrence on Sunday, thankfully; instead, they were so capable that their head coach had no compunction about going for a 4^th and 1 from his own 24 yard line – with a six point lead. Be still my heart. They were so good on the ground I barely noticed that they ran their streak to 134 straight pass attempts without a sack. Special recognition goes to veteran Matt Light, who acquitted himself well against John Abraham, one of the league’s top pass rushers.

The defensive line lost their best player when Vince Wilfork went down and Mike Wright rolled up, yet they really facilitated the rest of the team’s defensive success by shutting off the point of attack and removing ace running back Michael Turner from the game entirely, for all intents and purposes. Atlanta had just 17 rushing attempts, thanks in large part to a monster game of space-eating by the always underrated (and now double-teamed) Ty Warren, who led his colleagues in helping linebackers Adalius Thomas and Gary Guyton to flourish. It is the decision of the Game Ball judges that safety McGowan and his rotating partners – nor the corners, often left out on an island to battle Roddy White and Michael Jenkins – would not have remotely been in contention for this coveted (cough) award had Turner been allowed to post his usual 100 yard game.

So, you fat hairy guys on both sides of that line, this ball is for you.

E-mail Scott Benson at [email protected]

by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
September 22, 2009

I think I have a way to help Tom Brady get through his early season struggles.

Take the ball away from him.

As noted yesterday, the Patriots have leaned heavily on the pass through the first eight quarters of the season – calling 2.37 pass plays to every run. That may not seem like such a bad idea for a team that is quarterbacked by the 2007 MVP, but there’s the little matter of a few torn ligaments and a lot of timing and accuracy problems that call into question that approach, at least as we stand today.

So far, opponents are throwing everything they have at the still-rehabbing and tentative Brady, sometimes sending as many as six or seven rushers with little fear they will pay a price for it. Opposing corners play tight to the line knowing there won’t be time for the Pats to throw it over their heads. Aside from five great minutes on opening night, the end result has been a formerly high-octane passing attack reduced to a comedy of errors that produces a puny 5.9 yards per pass attempt (25^th in the league through last night).

The Pats have played right into their opponents’ hands.

I shouldn’t have to tell you what they need to do about that going forward. Instead, I’ll share a couple of pertinent facts about next weekend’s opponents, the Atlanta Falcons.

• Last season, despite a Cinderella-style campaign that took them from 4-12 to 11-5, the Falcons ranked 25^th in run defense by surrendering 127.5 yards per game; through two games in 2009, they are 19^th (120 YPG).
• In 2008, they allowed an average of 4.9 yards a carry; so far in 2009, they are surrendering 5.1.
• Last Sunday, the Falcons lost first round pick Peria Jerry – their primary response to their defensive woes of 2008 – to a season ending knee injury.

Jeez, I wonder what the Patriots ought to do next Sunday.

E-mail Scott Benson at [email protected]

by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
September 21, 2009

You can complain all you want about Joey Galloway but nobody played worse than Tom Brady yesterday.

His accuracy was for shit. Communication with his receivers was in disarray. He was blitzed like a rookie, and made pre-snap adjustments like one too. He presided over an unbalanced, pass-first morass of mediocrity that by the end had Randy Moss looking like he’d just witnessed a horrible accident.

The other guys have their foot on the neck of the Patriots quarterback right now, and they’re not letting up. Save for a two-touchdowns-in-five-minutes high wire act last Monday night, the Pats could be sitting on 9/21 at 0-2 with two division losses, largely because their opponents now fear no reprisal for committing as many as six and seven pass rushers to the harassment of the former league MVP. The situation is untenable.

Untenable, but understandable. No matter how many Super Bowls and MVP’s he’s won Brady was still out of football for a year. His passing inaccuracies yesterday – not the screw ups with Galloway, but the open receivers that were simply missed – only prove that returning to action is not the same as reclaiming it. Especially when an underrated third receiver has disappeared in your absence and replaced by a well-liked but confused person who seems to have given the rest of the squad a “we suck” bug.

Brady’s lack of composure in the face of a howling Meadowlands crowd showed what happens when shit gets running downhill, as it certainly did on the Patriots yesterday. The biggest question for their quarterback now is how far to higher ground?

My suggestion: start running. Tom, why don’t you get us all started?

E-mail Scott Benson at [email protected]

by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
September 21, 2009

It figures that the first time I have to bite it and give the PD Game Ball to a Pats opponent, it ends up being Jets coach Rex Ryan.

Say what you will about his off-field antics (I ended up thinking he was kind of funny by the end of the week, much less so now), he delivered where it counts yesterday. After a tentative, bumbling start, his Jets wrested complete control of their tormenters with a third quarter spurt that gave Ryan’s swarming defense all it would need to put down Tom Brady and the Patriots. The Jets had assured themselves of at least a split with New England in their season series, and perhaps reassured themselves of a lot more.

That third quarter said something to me about where the Patriots are two weeks in. Remember the August storyline that had this as one of Belichick’s most demanding training camps? Explain to me then how a team that has undergone such rigorous training still can’t get a play off in the time that is allotted to them. How is it that the veteran receiver still does not know where the quarterback is throwing the ball? How is it that opposing receivers are still so comfortably finding the soft spots in the Pats’ secondary?

The Jets won the third quarter 10-0, and outgained New England 132 to 18, thanks to a mélange of errors both unforced and forced, and for all intents and purposes the game was lost then and there.

For most of the first eight quarters, the Pats offense has been disorganized and chaotic, painfully searching for some kind of momentum and – cliché alert – identity. I mean, what’s their identity now? Delay of game? No, here’s their identity; in eight quarters, the Patriots have thrown the ball 101 times and run it 43 times. And they’re getting killed for it.

On defense, the temptation may be to think of yesterday effort as respectable; in the end they surrendered only 250 net yards and just 16 points. But they really got run over in that third quarter; Jerricho Cotchery burned them on two straight drives before the Jets took off on an eight minute march to a Jay Feely field goal and a margin-of-victory touchdown lead. In all cases, the Jets seemed to easily exploit wide open spaces in the New England defense.

The Patriots played right into Ryan’s hands yesterday and the point of this post was supposed to be that it ain’t bragging if you can back it up. Even with all the bluster he – unlike his opposite – had a plan that would work. So here you go, Rex. Stick this in your trophy case.

E-mail Scott Benson at [email protected]

by Scott Benson, Patriots Daily Staff
September 20, 2009

Final thoughts as we prepare for another epic Border War battle:

• I was thinking this morning that I always get a knot in my stomach when it comes to this game, the Patriots’ annual visit to the Jets. The particular circumstances change by the year, but the feeling is always the same. It’s sort of “God, please don’t let them lose to these guys,” mixed with “the Patriots are 8-1 at the Meadowlands since the 2000 season.”
• I bet they have an equally favorable record in games played when the opponent has spent the preceding few days making all kinds of wild promises.
• That said, you have to respect what the Jets did last weekend. Not just the 24-7 opening day beatdown of the Texans on their home field, but all the preparation that went into it. They proved to be focused and ready to execute – which is important as we wondered about their discipline under the freewheeelin’ Rex Ryan.
• Last week I poo-pooed the pass and lobbied once again for the ground attack. The Patriots ended up throwing something like 87 times. At one point in the third quarter, all the running backs quit the team. Anyway, we now know that Bill Belichick isn’t checking PD right before kickoff.
• So it’s funny that this week I’m hoping they once again throw the ball all over the lot. New York’s front seven was disruptive as hell last weekend, and the Pats’ best response to the pressure may be their quick perimeter passes. It’s like a running play!
• Check that – the inactives are out and Wes Welker will not play today. This has not been the healthiest of starts for Welker, who was in and out for all of training camp and the pre-season. I think the Pats have a great coaching staff, but if this critical piece of their offense is going to struggle to stay on the field this year, they’ll have to be better than great to overcome it.
• It seems to me that after Tom Brady, Gary Guyton is the most important player on the field for New England today.
• Of course, I thought the Pats would grind it out last Monday. FWIW.

E-mail Scott Benson at [email protected]