PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Call me a bad Patriots fan, but I kind of want to see Brady’s suspension cut to one game or so rather than throwing it out. Not because I think he did anything, but I think it would be a good preview of Garropolo if he ever takes over in the future. Thoughts?

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This would have to come from a settlement because Judge Berman either has to uphold the “award” or throw it out. And at this point I think any suspension is a non-starter for Brady so it’s tough to imagine them getting there, though I think it’s the most realistic conclusion given where the sides are entrenched.

But yeah, I hear what you’re saying and there’s certainly a part of me that wants the NFL’s kickoff game to be marred with boos and “Free Tom Brady” chants. And yeah, getting a look at Garoppolo would be interesting, but how much can we really take away from one single game?

All things being equal I just want Deflategate over. If that means a one game suspension so be it. But I have a feeling Berman is throwing this out, the NFL will appeal and we’re going to be dealing with this at least into next offseason. But hey, we get a full season of Brady and there aren’t many of those left.

Tweets of Note from Patriots’ First Joint Practice with Saints

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The Patriots hit the field with the Saints down in West Virginia today, getting a chance to hit someone else for a change. It’s especially good to go up an established team with an “elite” quarterback as well as a different defensive scheme that will challenge the Patriots in new and different ways.

Here are the tweets of note…

This might give some people a scare, but in the long term it’s probably one of the best things that can happen to Butler at this point. He’s going to give up catches this year and what’s most important is how he responds. So to get lit up in practice a bit will show him what he needs to work on. We still can’t deny that Butler has looked very good this summer but let’s remember he’s still very inexperienced and has a way to go.

I think there’s something brewing here with the three safety looks and that’s why I think we could see six safeties stick on the roster. If they will be playing more zone it makes sense to put your smartest and most experienced guys on the field, but there’s also the element of physicality that this group brings that will make tough sledding for opposing offenses across the middle of the field.

At this point I’m just hoping they can manage Tarrell Brown and have him ready to go for the start of the season. It seems like Butler, Brown and McClain are the favorites to start the three corner spots.

Pats Posits: Catching Up as Pats Head to West Virginia

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It was a slow day here on the blog the last couple of days because I spent all of Sunday frolicking in the waves at the beach and that pretty much put me out of commission on Monday. Yes, I am getting old. But the good news is going to be at 9pm can really recharge the batteries so let’s dive back in on some stuff that I missed the last couple days.

First, let’s get some deflategate nonsense out of the way with the news that Brady will attend settlement hearing tomorrow in New York. Mike Florio mentioned last week that though the judge said Brady and Goodell didn’t have to attend, it’s a good idea to show up and send a message to the judge how important this is. So I think it’s a good idea Brady’s attending. 

The other interesting bit of news is that witnesses can be called tomorrow. Florio thought McNally and Jastremski were outside of the realm of possibility but those attached to the investigation certainly are not, so yes, I’m holding my breath and praying Jeff Pash, Ted Wells or, less likely, Mike Kensil have to testify under oath. If this hearing really is about whether or not the process was fair to Brady then it seems reasonable to think these guys have some explaining to do. 

Now for some football stuff – Pats traded Jordan Devey to San Francisco today for tight end Asante Cleveland. I think this is mostly a depth move to avoid having to play Gronk or overuse Hooman in the preseason games. They’re down Chandler and Bequette right now.

Of the other injured guys I’d most like to see back out there soon, Stork and Cadet top the list, but Flowers and Butler aren’t far behind. Most of all I’m curious how Cadet looks compared to White and Bolden, especially catching the ball.

Lot of defensive backs rotating positions the last couple days as well with the safeties seeing time at corner and the corners playing both inside and outside. Don’t read too much into this. Now is the time to get guys some reps at different spots. Better to do it now than have to throw them into it cold in the middle of the season because of an injury. It also lets the coaching staff look at how versatile the guys are.

Pats also have an open roster spot. Here’s the current depth chart as I see it (guys on PUP are at the bottom, obviously LaFell will be back at the top when he returns).

Looking forward to some quality practice reps against the Saints the next two days.

Besides the LG I think this has a chance to be a really good offensive line this year because I think Jackson playing next to stork again and a top 5 RT in Vollmer will help him

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Yeah I don’t think there’s much question that Solder-?-Stork-Jackson-Vollmer is the line. That ? is a big one though and many are pencilling in Wendell there which is a little scary because he still hasn’t practiced and he’s never played LG as far as we know. One of the big problems last year was there was so much rotation going on all over the line. This summer they’ve tried to have consistency, but is that consistency done once Mason gets pulled from the LG spot? Assuming they don’t just ride with him there in to the regular season? I’m still not entirely sure what happens there or if we don’t see Josh Klein get some opportunities there. This is the last starting spot on the roster where things are still cloudy a bit.

As much as Mayo seems recovered from his injury, torn patellar tendons are notorious for sapping lateral speed etc and I just can’t see Mayo being at a high enough level to be anyone near as good as he use to be not to mention he was also coming off his torn pec last year. What do you think?

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I guess we’ll just have to see how he looks once he gets on the field for a game. I think the severity of Mayo’s injury has been somewhat glossed over because he came back so quickly and everyone’s just assuming he’ll be fine. But I think you’re very right that there’s a chance Mayo’s not quite the same player this season. Wilfork certainly returned from a major injury without any bumps last year and he seemed close to the same player, so hopefully Mayo can do the same. But it’s definitely not something that we should assume is far in the rearview mirror.