First Pre-Season Look
This week they televised the Patriots-Panthers game here in Los Angeles so I got my first look at the 2008 team. A pretty solid outing which gave a glimpse of the potential for this team.
- WTF is wrong with Gostkowski? Lets hope he snaps out of this funk before the season starts.
- Rogers and Lua will likely be visible contributors by mid-season. Its good to see some more depth at LB from younger players.
- WTF is wrong with Cassel? He just doesn’t look sharp at all. At this point, if it came down to a choice between keeping him or keeping someone like Childress it may not go well for Cassel. On the other hand, Brady looked sharp as a tack.
- Heath Evans and Sammy Morris are going to really help Maroney get through the season. They’re not like Dillon, but they play hard, can catch well, and will do the dirty work. And as Evans showed last night, if either of these guys gets past the LB’s, they can cover a lot of ground. Add in Kevin Faulk and we have a pretty solid running game that can show a lot of different looks.
- In general the WR’s look good - Stallworth and Washington are visibly better than Caldwell, but Reche still keeps making catches. Until I see Moss actually play (i.e. see “something better”) I’m happy with the WR’s we have.
- Welker is going to be The Guy for Brady. The way the Pats offense works, he’s the most likely to get 1000 yards, though Washington says he doesn’t mind playing slot so there’s another option.
- McDaniels did a good job with playcalling. I didn’t see many obviously stupid calls and he was using players like Evans and Morris in several roles.
- I loved BB’s call to go for it on 4th and short - sure its pre-season, but still.
- Merriweather looks pretty decent - hard-hitting. He has a lot to learn but he has Rodey there to teach him. Still some missed tackles and blown assignments in the secondary, but that should shore up pretty quick.
- Wilfork should have a pro-bowl season if he keeps playing like he did last night.
