Pats beat Broncos 41-7

For one night in 2008, it looked like the 2007 Patriots were back.  The Patriots were able to take advantage of five Broncos turnovers and an early injury that limited the effectiveness of Jay Cutler to romp the Broncos at The Razor last night.  Last night’s game was a war of attrition as both teams suffered injuries, Cutler hurt his finger on the first drive, Denver also had cornerbacks Champ Bailey and Dre Bly suffer injuries which allowed Randy Moss to unleash for two touchdowns.  The Pats also suffered injuries, hours after Laurence Maroney was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, Sammy Morris, who in the first half ran for 138 yards and a score, missed the second half with an undisclosed injury, and Pats safety Rodney Harrison suffered a torn quad, which will have him miss the rest of the season, if not be a career ending injury with Harrison at 35 years of age, he might not want to rehab this injury, as it is his second season ending injury in the last few years.

The Pats will face the red hot St. Louis Rams Sunday afternoon.  The Rams are coming off a dismantling of Dallas on Sunday.

Bolts fry Pats 30-10

Last night in San Diego, the New England Patriots were beaten by the Chargers 30-10.  The game started off rough as Vincent Jackson opened play by catching a deep ball over Deltha O’Neal which became the story of the night, the Chargers bombing the Pats on both sides of the ball.

While the defense was bad last night, allowing the Chargers to drive the field at will all game long, either through the air or on the ground, the offense was just as lethargic.  No Lamont Jordan or Laurence Maroney last night, and Matt Cassel having to play in catch up mode looked bad, getting pressured while completeing 22 out of 38 passes for a hair over 200 yards, and not scoring a touchdown until the 4th quarter on a one yard plunge by Morris.

It was an awful performance from the Pats, and this could be the start of a long stretch with Denver and the Colts coming up and the Pats defense looking awful against the pass and generating now rush at all.  I shudder to think how Brandon Marshall will be stopped next Monday night if Vincent Jackson had this type of game, with 5 catches for 134 yards.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not, Week 2

Another week, another win.  The team looked great yesterday.  Here are the people who looked good, and the people who need some reps last week.

Who’s Hot

Lamont Jordan-Could be this year’s version of Corey Dillon from two years ago, an older vet who can’t carry the load, but will grind clock.  11 carries and 62 yards, all in the second half and all after Maroney missed time with an injury.

Stephen Gostkowski-Usually 4/4 on field goal attempts is reason enough for a mention here, but the five touchbacks yesterday pinning the Jets at their 20 and taking Leon Washington out of the return game might be the more impressive feat.  He made the defense’s job yesterday a lot easier by not having the defense have a short field to defend.

Richard Seymour-Welcome back Big Sey!  Seymour is one of the best defensive lineman in the game, but hasn’t been healthy for a few years, now at 100%, he looks like he is returning to dominating form.  Had a huge sack and 3 tackles all going against Jets off season pick up Alan Faneca.

Adalius Thomas-Made the play of the chasing and sacking Brett Favre while Leon Washington was trying to block him costing the Jets almost 20 yards and letting the Pats ice the game.

Who’s Not

Chris Hanson-From hot to not hot for Hanson.  This week he was needed to pin the Jets deeper inside their territory after the Pats would stall, instead he had a couple of touchbacks.

Red Zone offense-1/5 in converting red zone chances for touchdowns.  This could be Josh McDaniels not wanting to pass the ball with Cassel in, playing conservative instead of aggressive, but the play calling was very predictable and hopefully they have more faith in Cassel in the red zone next week vs Miami.  Usually we see packages with Mike Vrabel in at tight end and direct snaps to the running back, or even the famous Statue of Liberty play vs Jacksonsville in the playoffs last year.  The Pats will need touchdowns, not field goals, so the Pats will need to work on that.

Cassel, Pats beat Lord Favre and the Jets 19-10

The Tom Brady-less New England Patriots all week had to hear the doubters.  The people thinking now it was the Jets time, with them making wholesale changes in the off season and bringing in Brett Favre.  Well today in Matt Cassel’s first start in almost eight years, he walked into enemy territory and picked up his first win as a professional starter.

The Pats took an early lead after the Jay Feely shanked a field goal on the Jets first drive and were not in danger the rest of the game, as the Pats defense held the Jets in check by confusing Brett Favre and limiting the big play.  The Pats also picked off Favre once, which lead to the Pats only touchdown of the game coming on a Sammy Morris dive over the pile.

The Pats defense was stellar all game long.  The line was getting pressure and Favre spent a good amount of the game rolling out from pressure.  And while they gave up a fourth quarter touchdown, it seemed like the Pats were in constant control, even after the Jets scored a fourth quarter touchdown to cut it to a six point game.

Matt Cassel played the role of caretaker very weel, posting 16/23 with 165 yards.  The running game was led by Lamont Jordan, getting playing time for an injured Laurence Maroney getting 11 carries for  62 yards.  Sammy Morris did have a rushing touchdown but zero yards on eight carries.  Kevin Faulk returned to the Pats and had 7 touches for 66 yards.  Wes Welker was the lead reciever, having 7 catches for 72 yards.  Rodney Harrison led the Pats with 8 tackles, with rookie Jerod Mayo having 7 tackles.  The Pats now prepare for a home date against the Miami Dolphins next weekend.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not, Week One

On the heels of a disasterous few days for Patriots fans, here is the weekly take on who improved their stock, and who might get less playing time.

Who’s Hot:

Matt Cassel-Had a solid performance, 13/18 with 152 yards and a touchdown on his first drive, a drive that started on the one and after two runs that went nowhere, hit Randy Moss on a 50 yard strike which got the Pats out of a jam and gave them momentum after the Brady injury.

Sammy Morris-Had the Pats rushing touchdown, along with five catches to go along with his ten carries along with recovering a fumble which could have led to the Pats third turnover of the day.

Chris Hanson-The seldom used punter averaged over 50 yards per punt, including a punt that went 70 yards.  Hanson might see more action now with Tom Brady being hurt.

Who’s Not

Jabar Gaffney-Had zero catches on the day, and chances are he might see the same amount of production with the Pats having to reign in the passing attack with Cassel in.

James Sanders-He made the mistake that allowed Darling to catch the pass late in the game which could have lead to a tie.

And finally, the rookie watch

Jerod Mayo started, and had a total of 6 tackles and made no glaring errors.  Terrance Wheatley had no stats, but once again upon looking at his play did not make any mistakes playing as a substitute defensive back.  Matt Slater almost had a costly fumble but Sammy Morris recovered it.

Cassel led Pats win opener 17-10

One of the main stories of the Patriots preseason was the rash of injuries they were suffering, well today the injury bug bit again, and this time it bit the most important player.  Tom Brady only played two drives before suffering what looks to be a severe knee injury.  Below is a picture of the play which Brady was injured.  Live the play did not look good, and looking at that picture it does not look good for Brady’s chances of playing this season.  We will know more later in the week, but I expect to see Brady miss in best case scenario, a few weeks and at worst case, the rest of the season.

Despite having two turnovers on their first two drives, the Pats defense stood tall making two stands, and when Matt Cassel took the field, fans, myself included, expected the worst, as KC special teams play pinned the Pats inside their own 2 yard line, with a quarterback who has only seen mop up duty, and you might have had a possible disaster, instead Cassel moved them down the field, with help from Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris, and hit Randy Moss in the back of the end zone for the first points of the regular season.  Kansas City then hit a late field goal to cut the lead 7-3.  In the second half, the Pats held the Chiefs in check, eventually Adalius Thomas came on a blitz and hit Brodie Croyle and forced him out of the game while adding a Sammy Morris touchdown the end the third quarter up 14-3.  Early in the 4th, Chiefs back-up quarterback Damon Huard hit a jumping Dwayne Bowe in the end zone to cut the lead once again to four points, making it 14-10.  The teams then traded possessions with punts until midway through the quarter when Ellis Hobbs picked off Huard at mid field which led to a five minute drive which led to a Stephen Gostkowski field goal to give the Pats a touchdown lead.

Kansas City would not go down without a fight though, as with a minute left, Huard hit Darling in the middle of the field and he wouldn’t be stopped until the Pats 5 yard line.  The Pats then held four times, a pass, a run then two more passes, with no more yards allowed to put this hard fought game to rest.

Brady in his two drives was 7/11 with 76 yards.  Both of his drives ended in fumbles, one by Wes Welker, one by Randy Moss.  Cassel was 13/18 for 152 yards and a touchdown.  Laurence Maroney had 10 carries for 51 yards, and Morris had 10 carries for 53 yards with a touchdown along with 5 catches for another 34 yards.  Randy Moss and Wes Welker each had 6 catches.  Moss had 116 yards and a score, Welker had 51 yards.

It was a bittersweet victory for the Pats, a tough win in which all of Patriots Nation will be holding its breath as we await word on Tom Brady’s status for next week’s game vs Lord Favre and the Jets.

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.

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.