PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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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.

5 Keys for Patriots vs. Titans

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Football is back this weekend, and while there are still many unknowns about the Pats and Titans we’re going to take a crack at some of the key places where the game will likely be won or lost for our beloved Patriots.

1. Stop Chris Johnson – You probably saw this one coming, didn’t you? There’s no secret Johnson remains the top weapon on the Titan offense, and the critical piece that the Pats must stop. The good news is that the Patriots defense has generally been pretty good against the run in recent years, but they’ll be put to the test if the continue with the base defense having Rob Ninkovich and Chandler Jones as their defensive ends. Part of me wonders if they might swap out one of those two for Brandon Deaderick to get some more beef up front. Perhaps even more interesting will be to see how the Pats deal with Johnson when the Titans split Johnson out wide. I’d expect Jerod Mayo to be on him but you can’t rule out Patrick Chung.

2. Protect Brady – If the Pats just protected Brady every week they’d win close to 90% of their games, but now with some turnover along the line it’s no longer a given that the protection will be solid. Kamerion Wimbley should pose a significant challenge to the Patriots tackles, but the real question is how the middle of the line holds up with a still-recovering Logan Mankins, new starting center Ryan Wendell and Dan Connolly sliding to right guard after spending last season at center. We’ve seen so many different combinations along the line this preseason no one even knows for sure who will be where, nor if they’ll even be there for the entire game. If this group can’t keep Brady clean things could get really interesting, and I don’t like when that happens.

3. Eliminate Bad Football – Opening games almost always have an element of fluke to them. The timing isn’t quite there, nor is the game conditioning quite where it needs to be, thus it often results in sloppy football in general. If the Patriots can just keep the turnovers and penalties to a minimum they’ll have a very good chance to win the game. That’s easier said than done, especially on the road. At least it sounds like the heat won’t be a major factor with forecasts projecting mid-70s. The Pats don’t need to be dominating, they just need to play methodically and clean and the rest should take care of itself.

4. Force continued execution by Jake Locker – I’m really expecting the Titans to throw the ball early and often regardless of how Johnson is doing. We’ve all seen the Pats pass defense over the past few years, and until they prove otherwise the Titans should take everything the bend-don’t-break gives them. Against a first-time starter like Locker I’m actually okay with this tactic of focusing on not giving up the big play, and force him to put together 10-play-plus drives. As we noted in number three execution isn’t always razor sharp in opening games, so let’s put the Titans offensive execution to the test.

5. Win – Ultimately this is the only thing that matters. Opening a season with a quality road win would really get the 2012 campaign off on the right foot. I don’t care about style points, and I don’t care that no one is going to be overly impressed that we beat the Titans. A win is a win, and it will mean a one game lead already over the Jets or Bills.