An Independent Patriots Blog
NFL’s best tight end: Rob Gronkowski or Jimmy Graham? – NFL.com
It’s a good thing “Off-Field Domination” wasn’t a category or Gronk would’ve won walking away. I know everyone will be up in arms that Graham will be ranked above Gronk in the NFL Top 100 but I really don’t care much about arbitrary lists like that. There is not a football guy out there who wouldn’t take Gronk over Graham. Period.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohZ4W05xcLQ
Tom Brady 2011 Season – All 39 TD’s (by vcmoss81)
This is going to be a long five weeks until training camp. How many “training camp positional battles” articles can one blogger read/write?
https://www.patspropaganda.com/tom-brady-2011-season-all-39-tds-by-vcmoss81/
Interesting tweet from Greg Bedard today:
On @GreshandZo I said Dowling is the key to the defense this yr. I meant as far as them improving. Wilfork is always the MVP
— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) June 19, 2012
There’s no doubt Ras-I Dowling has become one of the most talked about players on the Patriots. He was the first player selected on day two of the 2011 draft when many thought the Pats would go with the proverbial pass rusher. It looked like the Pats justified his selection when he started the first two games of the season despite missing significant time in training camp, but he was again hit with the injury bug and missed the rest of the season.
Dowling has the kind of size that the Pats lack in their secondary, and his presence on the outside would certainly open up a number of options for how they use their players. However if Dowling misses time or can’t produce it forces their hand a bit more. Kyle Arrington could not play in the slot where he seems to fit best, and they’d have even less flexibility with Devin McCourty.
Ultimately Dowling’s size, length and skill playing man-to-man make him a uniquely talented player on the Pats roster, one who would really open up a wide array of defensive possibilities in both scheme and personnel. From that perspective I agree with Bedard, he’s a big key to the defensive improvement this year. If he falters guys like Will Allen, Tavon Wilson, and Steve Gregory will really come to the forefront.
A few of you have asked why the Patriots would even want Ballard, seeing that they already have two excellent tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Well, the Patriots play two tight ends on nearly every offensive snap; last year, Gronkowski and Hernandez each played more than 1,000 offensive plays. You can’t count on them to stay healthy, and New England needs a solid third tight end (and maybe a fourth) to play all the schemes in its playbook. And if New England signs Ballard for the third-year tender price of $640,000, that means it will have paid $1.17 million, total, for 2012 and 2013 to employ a good tight end in the hope he can help next season. Maybe he can’t. But the gamble seems worth it for a guy who made so many big catches for the Giants in the last two months of the season last year.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/a-few-of-you-have-asked-why-the-patriots-would/
