Pats v. Falcons
I know, you're all going to ask, "But Andy, important things are happening! The UN passed a resolution that Hizb'allah is going to ignore! Olmert's government is going to pay attention to it and fall! People are dying in Darfur! Lamont beat Lieberman, we have a Code Red, and Bush is bicycling away from Cindy Sheehan!"
Well, like AussieDave would say (well, if he was less politic): "Get over it!"
Last night was the first preseason game of the Patriots football season. This is your short primer: preseason games totally don't matter. They are the chance for the coaches to play with their expanded roster, and decide who will have a slot when they are required to cut their rosters for the season. For instance, tonight, Atlanta was trying to figure out who their number three quarterback would be, so they kept alternating between two third-string quarterbacks. They still won the game; the point of the coaching is to maximize the situations you can watch your players play in. This is where I talk about the Pats.
Overall, I'm very optimistic. The Pats were mixing up their players a lot, and they still pulled it together.
Brady looked like Brady, for the one drive we saw him in. Cassel looks way better at quarterback than he did last year, but he still doesn't look like a strong second string; more like a third string. We'd better hope that Brady doesn't take an injury, and that Cassel keeps improving.
In the running game, Maroney rocks. He's got great ball control, can take hits and stay on his feet, and has good moves. You could see the old Corey Dillon out there, too. Adding Cobbs into the mix means the Patriots can have a serious running game, and Cobbs had some nice receptions, to join the passing game, as well. Mills had some nice catches as well. That's good.
The offiensive line did not seem to be protecting Cassel nearly as well as they should have, but that may just be the substitutions to see some different players in there; Gorin may have been the bad apple ruining the bunch. But if that group doesn't settle down, Brady is going to take some punishment.
Defensively, it's harder to tell. There were some very good performances, but the secondary needs to operate like one well-oiled machine, and when you rotate through players, that's hard. I'm pleased with Tully Banta-Cain - he seems eager and able to fill Willie McGinest's role; he's going to fit right into the Vrabel/Colvin/Bruschi package. On the other hand, Don Davis didn't seem to have the oomph at linebacker that he has at special teams. Ellis Hobbs and Asante Samuel are a fine pair of cornerbacks, even if we almost never saw Ellis Hobbs in action last night.
On whole, I think the Pats have a good cadre, and I expect this to be a good season.
