PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Patriots-Saints: Offensive Line Film Review

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As part of this film review I will look at every single offensive play from the first preseason game. The ultimate goal is to highlight some of the accomplishments, failures, and features of the Patriots offensive line play during the game. We’ll also take a peek at some of the rotation details and grade their overall play.

-Joe Thuney played an outstanding game

–Nate Solder looked terrible early, improved as game went on

–Marcus Cannon was surprisingly good, one of most consistent lineman in this game. I was shocked.

–Shaq Mason looked pretty bad throughout the entire game. He wasn’t technically sound and made mental errors. Very disappointed.

-Andrews and Stork were both pretty strong. Andrews was probably slightly better.

–Josh Kline was solid playing both tackle and guard in the first preseason game

-Waddle was slightly better than Fleming, but neither were very impressive

-It’s evident that Barker feels more comfortable at guard than tackle

–Ted Karras was okay. Good to see that he can play center as well as guard.

-Not enough playing time to judge Halapio, Kerbyson, Milton.

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Patriots vs. Saints: GIFing the Secondary

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We all know regular season games, seasons and even dynasties are won and lost in the trenches of the first preseason game of the year. In the NFL it is all about getting off to a good start, so THANKFULLY we don’t have to start writing strongly worded letters to Robert and Jonathan Kraft just yet. I was expecting to see Drew Brees play well into the 4th quarter, but thankfully those Cowards from NOLA benched his ass after 1 series. Looks like 2016 is off to a ROUGH start for New Orleans, would not want to be those guys. On to our boys…

Justin Coleman: Mike broke this down in his Pats Posits piece and I couldn’t agree more. There will be Taeks that Coleman played his way off the roster this week, but don’t buy into them. After putting Coleman under the microscope I think he did a decent job in coverage this game, and was decidedly physical.


Again, a lot of people will criticize him for this, but in looking at the first play from scrimmage again, Coleman was in pretty good position but just got beat by a better throw from Drew Brees. Coleman gave up another big reception to Michael Thomas, but was right there again in coverage and showed decent technique with an arm-bar trying to force the receiver to the boundary. I still am not sure how this was ruled a catch, but hey, those are the breaks (read: if this was a playoff game I’d be climbing the NFL offices with suction cups to get an audience with Goodell & Blandino).

I loved seeing Coleman absolutely POP 222-lb Tim Hightower in the flats last night. I jumped off my couch and starting jumping around my apartment when I saw this play in real time, so if nothing else, Coleman deserves credit for forcing me to exercise for the first time in about a half decade. Side Note: No freakin clue how Adam Magnacca was able to complete that conditioning test, if you haven’t seen it check it out here. That’s straight up masochism if I’ve ever seen it.

He also had a solid PBU in the second quarter. Don’t give this kid the splash play PFF treatment. He did a lot of good in this game.

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Preseason Week 1 Rookie Report: Mitchell, Grugier-Hill, Lucien

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The first preseason game is always exciting, as it is a return to football…even though you know going in that it will probably be a sloppy game, and most of the players that get playing time will be seeing most of the time on the field are (likely) getting most of the NFL playing time that they’ll ever receive.

The players I was excited to watch in some capacity were all rookies: Malcolm Mitchell, Kamu Grugier-Hill, and Devin Lucien.

The first quarter was rather uninspiring for the remaining three, as the only time any of them saw on the field was Kamu Grugier-Hill getting some special teams reps. If Grugier-Hill continues to play early on special teams, he has a good shot of making the roster, regardless of other factors.

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Pats Posits: And We’re On to 2016!

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Another day, another bullet seemingly dodged for the Patriots. Yes, I’m leading with Malcolm Mitchell’s injury scare because as I said before the game started, ALL I TRULY CARE ABOUT IN PRESEASON IS AVOIDING INJURIES.

Mitchell’s arm looked like it had been broken in half, bringing back memories of Jeremy Lane in the Super Bowl. But yet again, for the the third time in a week, it wasn’t quite as bad as it initially seemed, and we narrowly avoided losing a promising young player for the season.

Otherwise it looks like the Patriots escaped any other significant dings and went on to beat the Saints, 34-22, showing a lot of promise.

Here are the very first Pats Posits of the new season!

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The Pointless-iest Game in Patriots History: Five things to watch

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Let me be clear: the 1st preseason game is trash every year for every team. I can only thank God that Troy Vincent is so pathetic at his job that we weren’t subjected to the Hall of Fame game last Sunday night. Sure, it’s a chance to watch humans play a reasonable replication of football and for deep divers (like me) who want to evaluate back of the roster talent it can be interesting.

But rarely is the game itself remotely watchable for more than a quarter because the gameplanning is non-existent, the plays are telegraphed and the execution is bad. And even more rarely do the performances of record have any real consequence in the real world. Anyone remember last year’s Jonas Gray 55-yard TD sprint that all but guaranteed his roster spot and HOF jacket?

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5 Patriots Who Could Break Out Tonight

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After six long months (and change), the New England Patriots football team finally takes the field once again tonight to start their journey on the 2016 campaign. Ah, it felt good to write that. And I can’t lie, the loss in last seeason’s AFC Championship to Denver is still really chapping my ass. Maybe that’s because it’s the second time in three years that’s happened (along with a Super Bowl win of course), or more likely it’s because I still can’t believe the Patriots lost to that anemic offense, that they missed a gaddam extra point that cost them at least overtime and that Peyton beat Brady the last time they’d play.

Whatever. The new season is here and it’s time to really turn the page. The Patriots have certainly evolved this offseason, though half of that battle was just getting some of their important pieces back fully healthy. Still, there are plenty of new veterans, young players looking to make their mark and rookies who are about to get their feet wet for the first time.

While we can’t read too much into any preseason game, there’s always something special seeing our favorite team take the field and bang heads with an opponent.

With that in mind, here are five Patriots I’ll be most curious to see.

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Video: Attempting the Patriots Conditioning Test

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I am an NFL-caliber athlete! Okay, maybe not. But what I can claim is that I ran the Patriots Training Camp Conditioning Test.

Little disclaimer, it is not for the faint of heart.  The test is a set of sprints that players do upon arriving to camp.

Let’s break it down:

  • The test that I ran was 3 sets of 10 sprints
  • Each sprint was 40yds
  • Each sprint has to be completed in 7 seconds
  • I get 30 seconds of rest between sprints
  • I get 3 minutes of rest between sets

After a morning involving the gym and a massive pancake breakfast (Tilly’s Diner, shoutout to you) I decided that it was the perfect time to run more than I’ve ever ran since high school. I also decided to forgo stretching or warming up remotely because that’s for the weak. I’ve never regretted anything more in my life.

The moral of the story?

The 300-pound man with a belly the size of a yoga ball is probably in better shape than me.