Mike Dussault

It’s hard to read too much into preseason games, and it’s even tougher when half the real starters aren’t even playing, but we all love watching Patriots football even when there’s a bunch of scrubs playing so let’s take a look at what we did and didn’t like against the Eagles.

• Color me slightly concerned about the offensive line. Yes, it should be 3/5ths new guys once the games really count but we’re all counting on Nate Solder to take over for Matt Light and he hasn’t exactly inspired confidence either in games or practices. We can assume that having Logan Mankins back next to him should help but it seems clear there will be a least a couple time this year that Solder gets beat and Brady’s gets decked.
• As for Marcus Cannon the concerns are legitimate. He shouldn’t be much of a problem as the third tackle behind Vollmer, but should he be required to lock down the starting right tackle spot there could be problems. The commonly-held belief amongst those outside the Patriots that he’d make a better guard are starting to seem even more apparent.
• Reports from Ian Rapoport that Patrick Chung is not seriously hurt are positive. Still he could miss a chunk of time and that could have a negative impact on the positive chemistry he had been building with Steve Gregory. I hope I’m wrong but I think Will Allen is going to play a significant role at safety this year, especially if Chung can’t stay healthy.
• Jermaine Cunningham’s hit on Vick was a huge impact, and though I wasn’t blown away by Cunningham overall I really like the way he plays. I won’t be surprised to see him become a force this year, perhaps even taking time away from Ninkovich.
• I really can’t judge too much about the running game due to the horrid offensive line play, but none of the backs looked particularly good.
• Deion Branch had a solid game. He might not have the speed that Donte Stallworth has, but his savvy is what makes his valuable. I hope we don’t have to rely on Branch as a starter this year, but he’s a great insurance plan who can be counted on to always be in the right spot.  The question now becomes how does he stack up against Gaffney.
• Jury is still completely out for me on Ryan Mallet. He made some good throws, ones that he had to get off quick, that his arm strength allowed him to get out with the flick of his wrist. The next two games should go a long way toward determining if he will be ready for the back up job next season. No doubt he needs time to develop and he’ll have that over the next five months. But he has to show some consistency in the games and he might not see another one after the Giants game until next summer.
• I thought Sterling Moore struggled on the outside. He was a lock for me heading into the game, and none of his competition really stood out, but I was hoping to see more out of him.
• Brandon Spikes might be a bit of an enigma when he’s tweeting but the impact of presence alone on defense is hard not to notice. Once this defense has all it’s starters in place it could be really something special. A young, fast and aggressive defense.
• Niko Koutivides keeps showing up for me. I’m starting to see him as a lock for a special teams linebacker role.
• There’s no question the Pats are going to rely more heavily on the screen game this year as evidenced by the multiple ones they ran against the Eagles. With potentially four backs who can catch and are dangerous in space, along with opponents penchants for getting tunnel vision when rushing Brady, it seems like a definite formula for success.