Patriots cut John Lynch, announce roster moves and practice squad

Fresh off the heels of cutting Chad Jackson, the Pats have now also released safety  John Lynch.  Lynch who was signed a couple of weeks into camp after Tank Williams went down for the season after the first preseason game.  With Brandon Meriweather still not on the practice field, the Pats depth at safety is low behind Harrison and Sanders.  Lynch could be resigned at a later time, as this could be a move as any veteran player who is on the week one roster has their salary guaranteed, so there is a chance Lynch could come back after next weekend.

The Pats did fill the two open roster spots with a couple of waiver claims.  They claimed TE Jason Pociask from the Jets, a third year player who has one reception, and also claimed tackle Mark LaVoir from the Rams, another third year player who has yet to see action in a NFL regular season game.  Ben Watson has been dinged up and the Pats offensive line depth has been the big story of camp so for, so that could be why these moves happened today with the Lynch and Jackson cuts.

The Patriots also announced their practice squad today.  Titus Adams, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Vince Redd, Mike Richardson and Antwain Spann were signed to the practice squad.  There are two more slots open

Chad Jackson released

Numerous sources are reporting that Chad Jackson was cut this morning.  Jackson, a second round pick three seasons ago, was never really healthy until this year, dealing with hamstring issues his rookie year and an ACL tear last year.  This move comes on the heels of yesterday being cut day and rosters being reduced from 75 to 53 players.  The Pats didn’t need to make another roster move until next week when Kevin Faulk would have been activated from his one game suspension, so making a move now makes me think that there is somebody out there either on the waiver wire or as a free agent who will help the Pats now, maybe at corner or offensive line, two areas the Pats look thin at after cuts yesterday.  This leaves the Pats with 7 players at the  WR position and chances are Wes Welker will be ready next weekend from his rib injury he suffered versus the Eagles last weekend.

Pats announce cuts

Today was cut down day in the NFL, here are the roster moves the Pats made today.

Placed on injured reserve were Bo Ruud and Kenny Smith.  Both players will miss the season.

Oliver Ross was placed on the reserve/non football injury list.

And the following players were cut

Titus Adams

Fernando Bryant

Tyson DeVree

Mark Dillard

Mike Flynn

BenJarvus Green-Ellis

Matt Gutierrez

Victor Hobson

Vince Redd

Mike Richardson

Stephen Sene

Antwain Spann

Santonio Thomas

John Welbourn

There were some surprises.  Matt Cassel outlasted Matt Gutierrez in the battle of the back-up quarterbacks.  A surprising move since the Cassel led offense stalled all preseason.  Also Fernando Bryant started all of the preseason games, and while he looked unimpressive, it looked like that was more of the Pats playing a vanilla defense.  Victor Hobson was a player I had high expectations for, but Jerod Mayo’s impressive play made Hobson expendable. Most of the other players cut were camp bodies who had little chance of making it past today on the roster.

Faulk suspended for season opener

The NFL today suspended Pats running back Kevin Faulk for violating the substance control rules.  Faulk was busted at a concert back in Feb. for having two joints in his pocket.  Faulk will miss the opener next week vs Kansas City, but will be back for game two.  Faulk will also forfeit two game checks.

Pats end preseason with loss to Giants

The New England Patriots ended the preseason 0-4 after falling to the Giants 19-14.  The Pats offense continued to struggle, not scoring a point until the 4th quarter.  Matt Cassel played two drives and looked unimpressive, but Matt Gutierrez, coming off of a great performance vs the Eagles, also looked bad out there under fire and throwing one interception.  Kevin O’Connell threw for the only touchdown pass hitting Chad Jackson, and O’Connell also scored a touchdown with his legs.

The defense looked very bad out there.  On the first Giants touchdown, Darcy Johnson carried Fernando Bryant 10 yards into the end zone and the Giants had over 300 yards of total offense and allowed almost 66% of 3rd downs to be converted.

Tomorrow is cut down day, 22 players will be removed from the roster, either through cuts, being put on IR or being put on the PUP.  And with the 0-4 preseason, there might be surprising cuts.  I will not be doing “Who’s Hot, Who’s Not” this weekend due to the holiday weekend and prior commitments, along with the cuts coming tomorrow.

Preseason Preview-Game 4 @ the New York Football Giants

Tonight the Patriots conclude preseason action by visiting Giants Stadium and taking on the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.  While the media and some fans might try to hype this up as some sort of Super Bowl rematch, this is far from a rematch, as the fourth preseason game is more about finding out about the bottom half of your roster than running your starters out for them to risk injury in a meaningless game, even more so after the Giants lost Osi Umenyiora last weekend to a season ending knee injury.  The starters for both teams might maybe see one drive, but chances are the guys who are locked into a roster spot will not see the field as tonight is more about finding out who will be a back-up, who will make the practice squad, and who will be looking for a job after cut day on Saturday, along with avoiding an injury which will cripple your team, like the Umenyiora loss.

The main focus on the Pats once again this week will be the back-up quarterback, Matt Cassel has one last chance to show he can run the offense.  He has struggled all preseason and the Matt Gutierrez train is picking up a lot of momentum after his two touchdown passes last week.  Both guys will have a chance to earn the back-up spot tonight, and chances are the loser will be getting cut this weekend when rosters are reduced from 75 to 53.

There are other players who are playing for roles, either on the bottom end of the roster or for a chance on the practice squad, guys like Ray Ventrone and C.J. Jones, both had some good plays last week vs Philly, and both have been working hard in camp.

On defense, there are less question marks.  The cornerback situation and the linebacker situation look like they are settled, as rookies Jerod Mayo and Terrance Wheatley have showed they are worthy of their high picks.  Mayo has been a starter throughout camp and has looked good, while Wheatley has played the nickel and could be pushing for a starting role by mid season.  Most of the people we see tonight will be looking to win a spot, either as a back-up or even through special teams play.

All in all, tonight isn’t going to be the most exciting night.  The last preseason game is more about getting out of it as healthy has possible and getting ready for the season opener.  Tonight will be more about the guys who are fighting for a job more than the guys like Brady, Eli, Moss and Burress.

Pats announce five roster moves

With today being the first cut day, a day in which rosters had to be trimmed from 80 to 75, the Pats have announced five roster moves.

Stephen Neal was placed on the reserve PUP.  This is the version of the PUP in which a player is not allowed to practice or play with the team for at least the first six weeks of the season.

Ryan O’Callaghan was placed on injured reserve, which will end his season, with a shoulder injury.  O’Callaghan was going to be looked upon this season to provide depth on the line.

Then there were three cuts announced, Jason Webster, Kyle Eckel and Ryan Wendell.  Webster was brought in to provide depth at corner, but he wasn’t able to stick on the roster after Terrance Wheatley was able to step into the nickel role with very little trouble.  Eckel figured to be cut after the Lamont Jordan signing.  Eckel was a solid special teams player and could fill in at fullback if needed, but was a victim of the numbers game at the position.  Wendell is camp fodder.  It is interesting to see a lineman cut with the issues the Pats have at the line.

An in-depth look at the quarterback situation

The biggest story of training camp has been the battle for the back-up quarterback position.  Tom Brady has not seen the field all preseason and chances are he won’t see the field Thursday night at Giants Stadium, as he is nursing a foot injury, but, this has allowed the three key back-ups to battle it out for a roster spot and the job as primary clipboard holder.  Here, after three game, is a summary on all three quarterbacks, and my prediction on who stays and who goes.

The first player I will look at is Matt Cassel.  Cassel is going into his fourth season, but he hasn’t started a football game that mattered since high school, as at USC he was a back-up to both Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.  Cassel was the primary back-up last season, and this pre-season he has been the #1 quarterback with the Brady injury.  His stats have been very pedestrian, 15/28, no touchdowns. 1 interception, but the stat that stands out, 4.8 yards per pass attempt.  This includes one game with Wes Welker and two games with Randy Moss, and while the offensive line has been less than stellar, Cassel at times looks like a statue under fire and seem unable to find his check downs, and even when he does get the ball off, he hasn’t been accurate down the field, throwing more passes at defenders than offensive players.  And on top of that, the teams has not scored an offensive touchdown with Cassel under center.  Using almost the same parts of one of the greatest offense in history, Cassel has neutered them better than almost any defense could.

The second player I am going to look at is Matt Gutierrez.  Gutierrez has played in two games, he missed the Tampa game after missing a couple of practices the during the week, and in two games he is 24/36 with two touchdowns and one interception.  He leads the team in yards per attempt with a very nice 8.1 yards.  Gutierrez showed some very good poise vs. the Eagles this past weekend and his two touchdown strikes were the only points put up by the offense that night.  Gutierrez also showed some very good pocket presence and the ability to hit his check downs, as he hit Ventrone and Evans multiple times to avoid taking negative plays and to move the chains and keep drives alive.

And finally, the third player of this triad is rookie third round pick Kevin O’Connell.  O’Connell has worse stats than Cassel, with 12/28, no touchdowns as well, along with two interceptions and 4.2 yards per attempt in two games, as O’Connell didn’t play vs. Philadelphia.  While O’Connell’s numbers are worse than Cassel’s, keep in mind that O’Connell is a rookie, in his first camp, seeing his first game action, while Cassel  is in his fourth year with more time spent in the system.  O’Connell has shown some good mobility in getting out of the pocket and has potential to make plays with his legs if needed.

So now after reviewing the games and looking at the stats, I think that the Matt Cassel experiment will be coming to an end next week.  Matt Gutierrez has out played Cassel and O’Connell and deserves a shot as the primary back up behind Tom Brady.  O’Connell is very raw, and being a third round pick I think gets O’Connell a shot as the quarterback, learning the offense behind Brady and Gutierrez and maybe overtaking Gutierrez next season after a year on the team, learning the offense and the pro game.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not Week 3 of preseason

Well, looking back at last night, there were some positives to take out of last night’s game.  A lot more than Sunday’s game vs Tampa Bay.  Here is a list of who’s stock went up last night, and who’s stock went down.

Who’s Hot

Matt Gutierrez-14/20, 2 TDs last night in a quarter and a half of play.  Even though it was against second string players, he showed great poise in the pocket, an ability to hit the hot route to counter the blitz, and looked a lot better than Matt Cassel.

C.J. Jones, Chad Jackson and Ray Ventrone-The second string WR corps all had strong performances last night.  Jones and Jackson had a TD each.  Jones made a nice play to jumpstart the first TD drive and Jackson drew a key pass interference call that lead to the second touchdown.  Ventrone made a couple of nice catches to keep late drives alive.

Who’s Not

Wesley Britt-Matt Light is a player a lot of Pats fans bag on, after last night, I can’t wait to get Light back in the line-up.  Britt was used as a turnstile by Trent Cole all night, including a key drive in the last two minutes of the first half which lead to DeSean Jackson’s punt return for a score.  The line was bad all night, but Britt was the worst of the bunch.

Special team coverage-Two touchdowns in a hundred second span which turned a close game into a blow out.  The kickoff return it looked like Heath Evans lost his containment allowing Avant to break it.  On the punt return, Chris Hanson couldn’t angle the punt out of bounds and the ability of Jackson allowed him to catch the ball and take off untouched to the end zone.

Matt Cassel-The bright side, he didn’t turn the ball over, and he did have a 22 yard rush, the longest run of the night for the team, but the offense once again stalled under his watch, only scoring three points, and again they were late in the half.  The offense might have been slowed with the early departure of Wes Welker with the rib injury he suffered, but Cassel has been awful all preseason.

Pats fall to Eagles 27-17

The New England Patriots continued their awful preseason, falling to the Eagles 27-17.  And in what has been the story of the preseason, another game, another key player injured, this time Wes Welker, the team’s leading pass catcher last year, was injured returning a punt in the first quarter.  The Pats said it was a rib injury last night, and nothing else has come out as of now on if he will miss any time.

The offense continued to struggle under Matt Cassel, only putting up three points while he was under center, again late in the first half, but the offensive line did Cassel no favors as an aggressive Eagles defense seemed to be in the Patriots offensive backfield at will.  Matt Gutierrez played the 4th quarter and was able to throw a couple of touchdown strikes, one to Chad Jackson and the other to C.J. Jones, on 14/20 passing.  Gutierrez looked a lot more comfortable in the pocket and was able to make plays down the field despite the pressure by finding and using his checkdowns and movement in the pocket, something Cassel looked incapable of doing.  The running game was stalled all night long.  Sammy Morris was the leading rushing, with 5 carries for 24 yards and Matt Cassel did have a 22 yard scramble during his time in, but the Eagles defense was tough to get yards against the ground against.

The story of this game was special teams, or should I say not so special teams.  The Pats allowed two special teams scores in the last two minutes of the first half.  Quintin Demps ran the kickoff after a Stephen Gostkowski feild goal 101 yards for a score, then after a three and out, and Chris Hanson failed to get a punt out of bounds on the last play of the half, allowing rookie DeSean Jackson ran a punt back 76 yards to end the half with a touchdown for the Eagles.  Hanson was lit up on the sidelines by Bill Belichick for failing to execute.

The Pats defense continued to play a very vanilla brand of football, playing a bend but don’t break style which only gave up 13 points in the game as a unit.  It could have been worse but James Sanders forced a Hank Baskett fumble on the goal line when he was going in to score in which the ball went out of the end zone giving the Pats a touchback.  It was disheartening to see the Eagles driving the field at will though, but the Pats with only two days to prepare already said that this game wasn’t going to be your typical third preseason game, which is usually a dress rehearsal for the regular season.  I expect to see a different style of defense vs Kansas City on September 7th.

The Pats close out the preseason on Thursday night at Giants Stadium against the New York Giants.  With the first batch of roster cuts coming Tuesday, the fourth preseason game is one where the back-ups get one last shot of staying on the roster, and the starters sometimes won’t even dress, so Thursday night there will be a lot of bubble players getting a long look at by the coaching staff.