Mike Dussault

Five Trade Bait Patriots

August 17, 2017 by Mike Dussault

WIth news of Derek Rivers being flown back to Boston for an MRI on his knee and Kony Ealy getting banged up (but returning) in joint practices with the Texans, the Patriots already-precarious and inexperienced depth just took another blow. They’re down to Trey Flowers and Geneo Grissom as their only two fully healthy ends.

Could the Patriots explore a trade to bring in needed reinforcements at the position? Of course it will depend on the prognosis for Rivers and Deatrich Wise, who suffered a concussion in the first preseason game. Though even with those two fully healthy and in the mix, Ealy’s disappointing camp has still left something to be desired from this important position.

The Patriots never stand pat with their roster. As much as we want to do 53-man roster projections and think that that will be the 2017, the team is constantly tinkering with their players, bringing guys in off the street and via trade.

But to bring someone in via trade the Pats would have to give up something. Let’s take a look at five Patriots who could be trade bait.

Will Brady’s Guru Magic Work for Gronk and Boomtower?

August 16, 2017 by Mike Dussault

One of the biggest headlines of the offseason that I don’t want to get lost in the shuffle is how both Rob Gronkowski and Dont’a Hightower are now working with Tom Brady‘s healthy guru Alex Guerrero. The duo joins at least Brady and Julian Edelman as players using Guerrero’s methods to prepare their bodies for all that comes with football combat.

If there was one thing I hoped for after Gronk was lost for another season with another back injury, it was that the big tight end might give Guerrero a try. What did he have to lose? The only thing standing between Gronk and being the best tight end of all time (if he isn’t already) was his health.

Imagine Gronk playing into his 30s. Jason Witten has 135 more regular season games, and six less touchdowns. Tony Gonzalez played 188 more games at this point and had 43 more touchdowns.

Gronk will be just 28 this year and if Guerrero can help him squeeze another handful of seasons out of his battle-worn body, there will be no tight end record left that he doesn’t own.

Tuesday Patriots-Texans Tweets of Note

August 15, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots and Texans are off on a good ole times camping trip in West Virginia, in what should be a competitive set of training camp joint practices.

After slicing up the Jags last week, the Texans should provide a more formidable practice partner. Houston is a young team and should be looking to set the tone for their season with this week’s work against the team that sent them packing twice last year, including in the AFCDG.

Houston has to go New England again in Week 3 so these teams know each other pretty well, both on the field and off it. A few practices together… another preseason game… This is blossoming into a strange frenemy rivalry and you wonder if BO’B can ever figure out how to crack BB.

There’s also something fascinating about Mike Vrabel now being the defensive coordinator charged with stopping Tom Brady…. but there will be plenty of time for that once the bullets are real.

Here’s the tweets that stood out from practice #1 vs. Houston.

Concern Over Patriots Front Seven Turnover?

August 15, 2017 by Mike Dussault

This is probably as close as you’ll get to a hot take here on the Prop, but a recent commenter pointed out my concern over the front seven so I think it’s worth diving into a little more deeply. Or at least expanding upon my reasoning that there are more questions about this Patriots defense than some might want to admit.

Look, I skew toward the defensive side of the ball and I’ve got to be honest in my analysis, as much as we all want this to be a fanboy blog that does nothing but spew rainbows and sunshine about how awesome the Patriots are.

This isn’t doom and gloom. These are legitimate questions. But we can all agree that the defense remains well coached and has a number of promising young players. That is exciting. But those unproven players will need to step up because this is not an insignificant transition at the most important part of the defense.

And yes, the secondary is awesome. So hopefully that can help as things turn over.

Still, here’s what we’re looking at:

Patriots Tweets of Note: The Final Training Camp Practice Open to Fans

August 14, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots closed out the public portions of their training camp practices on Monday, with developments on the injury front.

Now the Pats will head to West Virginia to practice with the Texans, whom they’ll play in Houston on Sunday. It’s like one big former Patriot reunion camping trip in the mountains!

It should be a fun week. I’m excited to see new Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel. He should speak to the media at some point. Vrabel never disappoints with a great quote or two.

Here’s what those who were there saw at Monday’s practice.

Mike Gillislee Predicted to Exceed Expectations This Season

August 14, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Sports predictions are wrong far more than they are right, but part of the fun of sports is making predictions, and ours is to keep your eye on Mike Gillislee when you bet on NFL this season.

Everyone knows the New England Patriots are the team to beat. You do not have to like them to appreciate that fact. On a team that isn’t afraid to spread the ball around, it is definitely interesting to try and figure out who the team’s breakout star will be, not just from season to season, but from week week.

And with every offseason, the reigning champs have been using their offseason to do a bit of maintenance and rebuilding. Starting cornerback Logan Ryan was replaced with Stephon Gilmore, while departed running back LeGarrette Blount, who set a team record for rushing touchdowns with 18 in 2016, still has his role up for grabs.

6 Sunday Pats Posits

August 13, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Sorry for the slow couple of days here on the blog, especially after a preseason game. In case you missed it, I was helping launch our latest venture, Patshow. If you haven’t had a chance to check out episode 101 you can get it here in all its glory.

Follow @Patshow6 on Twitter for all kinds of show updates and giveaways. Things will keep ramping up over the next couple weeks.

With over 10K views in the first 24 hours, we’re thrilled with the response and can’t wait for episode 102, coming Monday 8/21. This was supposed to just be a soft launch to work out the kinks, but other than a couple audio glitches on Facebook’s end, things went about as smoothly as could be expected.

Thank you Nick Stevens and Ian and Erin at Mediaboss for their awesome work bringing Patshow to life. We’re all excited to share everything that we have planned, which will include two shows per week once the regular season starts.

Okay, enough about Patshow, let’s talk some actual Pats and get caught up on the fallout from the first preseason.

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