PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

State of the Blog

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With the opening of training camp just a couple days away I wanted to take a brief moment to update you all on what to expect this coming season here at PatsPropaganda because, well, things are about to get real.

It’s been an insane 2017 for me. My family and I moved back to Massachusetts from California and now as I type this I’m sitting in our new place, a stone’s throw from Gillette Stadium. Going to Patriots games was always my annual pilgrimage home and Gillette was such a magical place to me.

Now I’m there multiple times a week, doing grocery shopping, going to movies and grabbing food. That has been surreal. But obviously it’s been so cool to be back amongst my peeps, especially when I’m randomly running into people wearing my 28-3 tee (which was largely responsible for making the move happen).

The move itself is quite the story, the lowlight of which was tearing my MCL which I’ve been dealing with the last month. After years of writing about knee injuries it’s not fun to see what they really feel like. And let’s just saying assembling new furniture and lifting moving boxes isn’t easy when your knee can give out at any moment. Luckily it’s healing and I should be off the PUP list shortly.

I drove cross country with my Dad, which included stops at Notre Dame to see Football Jesus and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Canton was pretty cool, but the best part was the Super Bowl 51 movie they were showing which was so well done. Of all the summers we picked to stop at the Hall of Fame this was the best one. The movie was intense, with a huge screen and glaring sound. I’ve never experienced a football game like that, and there isn’t another game in the history of football I would’ve picked. Chills. SO. MANY. CHILLS.

But the most exciting part is that the site is about to take some major steps forward. This starts with the Patriots graciously credentialing me for some training camp practices this summer, starting this Sunday. But regardless of the credential, I’m going to be at a shit ton of camp practices, which means the access here is about to take a big leap forward.

Not being able to see training camp was one of the biggest disadvantages for the blog. I prefer to see things with my own eyes and do my own analysis, but by not being at camp I had to rely on the consensus of the camp reports. No more. Now I’ll be there and posting all my own analysis from camp almost every day. And on the days I’m credentialed I’ll get an even closer look and get to actually talk to some of the coaches and players that I’m writing about. It will be such a new experience for me and one that I’m so excited to tackle.

The second new twist for the blog will be more video. Yes, I know a lot of sites are going in this direction but with my background in television (what paid the bills for the last decade while I developed my Patriots blogging) the time has come to merge the two. I will never stop writing and that will still be the driving force behind the blog, but now I’ll be able to supplement it with video. Look for the first one this week from Day One of camp.

There’s even more in the works as far as video goes, something pretty huge, but I’ll save that announcement for the next couple weeks.

That’s it for now. It’s hard to express how exciting it is to be back home, and to be able to focus on the site like this, especially with the Patriots primed for another kickass season. Stay tuned, it’s all happening.

Patriots Pre-Camp 53-Man Roster Projection

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Just three more days until the opening of the 2017 Patriots training camp, but it’s hard not to think about how things will look a little over a month from now during final cuts.

Last year the Pats had really good injury luck. Of course we can say that now because they won the Super Bowl without Sebastian Vollmer and Rob Gronkowski. But it isn’t hard to imagine a world where those could’ve easily been blamed as reasons the Pats fell short of the title. Luckily that’s not the world we live in, aka the one where they can’t win a championship without the best tight end in NFL history.

I’m trying not to let myself think too much about how stacked this roster is and just how hard the cutdown decisions are going to be. There’s already been plenty of 19-0 rumblings, but that’s the last thing on my mind. Let’s just open camp up, get through the first handful of practices without anyone breaking a bone or ligament and we’ll go from there.

Just don’t allow yourself to start comparing this team to 2007’s because, well, this one might be even more talented. It’s certainly deeper. But again, on paper, with perfect health. It’s a slippery slope and before you know it, you’re wondering “maybe they can go 19-0.” Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Assuming the perfect health remains, and it probably won’t, here’s my first projection at a 53-man roster.

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What Pats Are Getting PUP’d?

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Excitement is in the air this Sunday morning as Patriots training camp opens this week! But before we get to see some football there’s the inevitable gut punch that always accompanies the start of training camp — the announcement of the PUP list.

The PUP list can include anyone still getting over an injury or anyone who has failed the vaunted conditioning test. Any player on the PUP list can come off at any time, but if a player remains on the list for the duration of training camp he’s eligible for the regular season PUP list, which means they’re sitting out the first six weeks of the season at least.

This can be a useful way to store a player and save a roster spot, especially if you see value in having them return when the football matters most.

There always seems to be a couple surprises as to who isn’t quite ready to go. Based on what we saw more than a month ago at OTAs, let’s take a look at who might start the summer on the sidelines.

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Pats Camp Position Battles to Watch

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Originally I was going to take all the position battles and do a post on each, but upon further review that would be an exercise in tedium. How many of you would get excited about a full post about the thrilling battle for who the backup guard is going to be? Nobody? I thought so.

So instead of dragging this out I’m just going to lay them all out here in one handy dandy Friday post. This is peak #PatsFanProblems because there really isn’t a whole heck of a lot of uncertainty heading into training camp as to who will be on the field the most.

For the most part, then offense and defenses return intact, with a few notable exceptions. Offensively, Martellus Bennett and LeGarrette Blount departed and their roles were not insignificant, but the Patriots targeted their replacements with Dwayne Allen and Mike Gillislee (and maybe Rex Burkhead, BATTLE TIME!).

Defensively, Chris Long and Jabaal Sheard‘s departures left some uncertainty as far as the pass rushers go, and we know how everyone loves to talk pass rushers, while Logan Ryan‘s move to the Titans opened up a starting corner spot. But again, they brought in Kony Ealy, while drafting two other defensive ends, and gave cornerback Stephon Gilmore a mega deal to take Ryan’s spot.

So yes, all the turnover was pretty neatly handled, leaving the biggest questions at the bottom of the roster. But if you’re an obsessive Patriots fan (and if you’re reading this blog post there’s a pretty good chance you are) you care even about the minutiae like who the backup swing tackle will be.

Let’s breakdown the camp position battles!

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20 Questions about the 2017 Pats

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Patriots training camp opens one week from today! Finally we can put the superficial rankings and arguments about superficial rankings behind us and focus on real football.

There’s no secret that the 2017 Pats look stacked and could be an efficiency nightmare for their opposition, but there are still plenty of questions that I have about the team. Luckily we’re not the Jets so the questions are not — will we win five games? No, our questions are much more specific and often focus on back up jobs and role players, but they’re interesting questions to us nonetheless.

Let’s list them off, quick hit style.

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Will Belichick’s Hot Jacket Surpass His Famous Hoodie in 2017?

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We’re just 50 days from the opening game of the 2017 season, when the Patriots will raise their fifth banner and take on the Chiefs, as their fans unload two-and-a-half years worth of built up boos and jeers at the commissioner whose avoided all things New England like the plague since butchering the whole Deflategate saga.

With the positional previews out of the way it’s time to focus on training camp here on the blog, but first a look at the site’s very, very important signature stat — Bill Belichick’s hoodie tracker.

2017 provided one of the biggest plot twists ever for a site dedicated to tracking and analyzing what the head coach wears on game day. After much speculation what Belichick should and would wear in Super Bowl 51 he threw a giant curve ball.


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Yes, he wore the Hot Jacket, which he had gone 9-2 in during the regular season, but with one strange alteration —  the Flying Elvis had been ripped off the jacket. And no, it was not simply inside out as many have wondered. It was torn off.

Why? This is something we’ll ponder for generations. Was it a message to the NFL? Or was it simply a frustrated Belichick, having no sleeves to cut off, turning his shears on something else? We might never know.

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Coffin Corner: Analytics-hating Patriots Will Break Football Outsiders Database

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In March of 2014, when Bill Belichick signed Darrelle Revis to a one-year deal, I was so convinced of the Patriots defensive dominance that I bet my boss, an extremely successful TV writer, $20 that they would go undefeated.

This same writer has written scores of televisions shows, including one of the most lucrative of the last two decades, won the most prestigious awards in television and has had success few could dream of, but give him truth-serum and I’m sure the $20 he won off of me after THE FIRST GAME was the most satisfying victory he’s ever experienced. Not to mention the slaughter in Kansas City that came a few weeks later. Not a meeting or chat goes by that he doesn’t remind me of my overconfidence. Because there is no more relished feeling in the world than schadenfreude, the pleasure in an enemy’s pain or loss.

If you need proof, just remember how many replays you watched of Roger Goodell’s disappearing act at the podium last February: “Where did he go? Back and to the left. Back. And to the left.” Anyway, you know why I made that bet with my old boss? I thought because ’07 happened that it could happen again, ignoring the fact that it was a statistical anomaly, because I bore witness to it.

You’re already seeing the Boston sports landscape head in this direction before training camp even begins, which should worry us all.

Hot take: I hated ’07. Not simply because it cost me $20 7 years later. Not simply because the gut punch Super Bowl. Not simply because I couldn’t sleep for like 5 nights after that game because the alcohol was still draining from my body. I hated it because a win never felt like a win, even by 40 points, it felt like an escape.  It’s a bad thing to be a fan and simply rooting for the best team in the league is not enough, or the best team in the decade, no, it has to be perfect. Which sucks.  And Bill Belichick and Tom Brady make fans feel justified, because they have created a statistical anomaly, they make numbers their bitches (see here, buy the sweatshirt).

Plenty of fans loved the Moss season, but to me ’07 was the height of hubris in Patriots nation. Thankfully,  the “do your job”, “no days off” humility returned and produced two Super Bowls.

Anyway, I’ve learned my lesson. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict, they do NOT go 16-0… and add that I hope they don’t. Because competition and struggle are the only ways we humans get better at things. Besides, too many fluky things happen: fumbles, penalties, injuries, ‘integrity’-driven suspensions, etc…

Now, all that out of the way. I think the 2017 New England Patriots will have the most efficient offense in NFL history and could break Football Outsiders database in two.

Sorry Bill, but we’re talking about advance metrics.

 

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