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Ron Brace and Jermaine Cunningham ready to contribute? Chances Sunday’s game will be like so many other 2011 games where the secondary was shredded by a young QB? Whatever happened to Dowling? Guessing he couldn’t snatch #2 spot from Arrington. Keep hearing McDaniels loves the screen, so good year for Woodhead like 2010? Will offense still keep trying to score like crazy or run the ball more to give the D time to rest?

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A lot to tackle here, let’s start with Brace and Cunningham. I really believe they are two key guys to the defense this year because there’s really no expectations for them. If they play like the 2nd round picks that they were it could really elevate this defense. I’ve always liked Brace’s size and I think he’s perfect for what the Pats are doing schematically on defense now by trying to tie up the middle of the offensive line with massive men like Wilfork. As for Cunningham we know Belichick had his eye on him for a while while he was at Florida. I think he’s the dark horse of this defense, and could really become an impact player, and maybe even overtake Ninkovich at LDE.

I really hope Locker isn’t the next in a fairly long list of young QBs to torch our defense. We’ll see, but all the pieces that were added in the off-season to improve the defense will be on the field so there are no excuses as far as injuries go. Hopefully Jones, Dowling and most importantly Gregory can make a difference.

I think we’ll see plenty of Dowling on Sunday, he should come on in the nickel package, allowing Arrington to slide inside.

Screens should be more a part of the offense this year, they certainly have at least two backs (maybe three if Vereen can get healthy) who can excel with them. Against teams like the Jets who like to send a lot of pressure the screen game should be a big help. The athleticism of Solder should also be interesting to watch in this area.

The Patriots will always try to score like crazy. They’ll attack the weaknesses as they see them whether it’s through the air or on the ground.

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The Patriots are 123-37 over the past decade, an almost unfathomable run of excellent in an era of free agency and relative parity. One-twenty-three and thirty-seven! And yet Belichick gets relentlessly second-guessed in the comments sections and mailbags by some of the couch-bound general managers among us as if he’s football’s version of Isiah Thomas or something. Before the 2010 draft, the consensus yelp was that the Patriots didn’t have any tight ends. Enter Gronk and Hernandez. Two-plus years later, now the yelp is that he’s accumulating too many tight ends at the expense of receivers. I happen to appreciate a coach/personnel boss who makes every decision based on who fits and who belongs, not on name recognition and past accomplishment. Please, let it play out – chances are it’s all going to be better than OK.

Unconventional preview: Patriots-Titans – Touching All the Bases – Boston.com

https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-are-123-37-over-the-past-decade-an/

It Is What It Is » Patriots thoughts: Going deeper on injury report; deconstructing Deion Branch’s possible return

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It Is What It Is » Patriots thoughts: Going deeper on injury report; deconstructing Deion Branch’s possible return

Not all that surprising really…

Deion Branch is going to find his way back to the Patriots at some point, maybe sooner rather than later. He hasn’t drawn much (if any) interest around the league, he’s Tweeting like someone who doesn’t have a care in the world (and not to be accused of being a Twitter sleuth, but as of early Friday morning, his bio still says he’s a wide receiver with the Patriots) and he still has a full locker in the New England locker room — one week after he was released. I suppose he could always decide to retire, but that seems like a remote possibility.

Agree or Disagree: Getting rid of Hoyer takes the training wheels off from under Mallet. Rodgers had to wait 3 years to get his turn. Mallet will (realistically) have 4. Brady has 3 more solid years, but then Mallet gets the role after 3 more solid years of drafting.

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I agree that it takes the training wheels off of Mallet, but I wouldn’t automatically assume he’s going to beat Brady out in four years. Brady’s not giving up the job until it’s taken from him and I think it’s possible he can play at an elite level for at least another four years.

Mallet will have to continue to improve or else he could be gone before he even gets a chance to take the job from Brady. He certainly has an elite arm, but there have been plenty of QBs with elite arms that fail. It’s really the perfect situation right now for Mallet and he must take advantage of it and take note of how hard Brady is still working. If Mallet shows that kind of commitment it’s certainly possible that he’ll really start to push Brady in the next few seasons.