PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike, I’ve read your big board, but if Cam Erving, Eddie Goldman, Byron Jones, and Eli Harold are there at pick 32, who’re you going with and why? Feel like you might not go in order they are on your big board.

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It would be down to Erving and Goldman and I’d probably go Erving. Why? There’s literally no starting guards on the roster. Wendell way exceeded expectations last year, but I still see him as a stopgap. And Connolly is still out there. So give me a guy who could possibly play every single spot on the line. Re-sign Connolly and the put Erving as a Day 1 starter at RG and I think we’d be okay.

I love Goldman, but at least there are some interesting other options at DT already on the roster. If I was allowing my heart to make the pick though, I’d probably go with Goldman.

The one argument that could be made is that there are some decent guard options down the board with less drop off from Erving that the defensive tackles will drop off from Goldman. So I don’t know, it’s a tough call. The Pats would probably trade down regardless.

why do the patriots end up playing the giants in the preseason so often? would you look forward to joint practices with the packers?

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I think it’s just a proximity thing as they’re close but also not in the same conference. Last thing teams want to be doing is flying all over the country for an essentially meaningless final game of the preseason.

Any kind of joint practices are going to be great. I think that’s the way the NFL will head eventually, cutting back to two preseason games but with a couple weeks of joint practices sprinkled in to make up the difference. 

That’s probably one part of how they’ll get to 18 games, along with some roster expansion so you don’t have to trim your team down to the bare 53-man team.

Pats Posits on Preseason Schedule

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Today is the day of the most anticlimactic news of the offseason – the release of the preseason opponents. Not the dates or the times, just whose mostly scrubs will play whose mostly scrubs this summer.

Of course this pales in comparison to the real schedule that will be out in a couple weeks and the Pats opening night opponent which could come as soon as next week, but for now we’ll take it.

The things I look for in preseason games are a variety of challenges. Different types of offenses and defenses that will give our team some experience facing schematic departures from what they’ll be seeing when practicing against themselves.

Opening with Green Bay is a nice way to kick things off, especially since they’re a well-coached and established team with an excellent quarterback. That will help as we cycle in the new cornerbacks.

Traveling to New Orleans in Week 2 also provides a top quarterback/coach tandem to go against, but also some experience in a dome. Also Rob Ryan’s defense should provide some good challenges for an offensive line that could very well have some new faces.

Week 3 is usually when we see the most of the starters and going against Carolina on the road will be a great tuneup for Tom Brady and the offense. Cam Newton certainly will present some unique mobile quarterback challenges for the defense as well, something they’ll value after facing two pocket QBs the first two weeks.

Finally, we wrap up with the Giants, per usual. This game is usually a scrub fest so it’s hard to take much out of it other than getting to see Eli Manning’s dumb mug sitting on the sideline in a hat.

With the fifth year options coming up on both Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower, how do you see both of those playing out? I find it hard to believe they enter a scenario where both players are up at the end of this season.

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I have to think they pick both of them up. It’s hard to imagine them picking up one and not the other, or neither of them.

I’d really love to see what Hightower could do now with a full season of healthy Mayo on the field. It would allow Hightower to play on the line more often, a spot where I think he’s best served jamming tight ends, taking on blockers and rushing the passer.

Chandler certainly has plenty of critics out there, but I think he’s undoubtedly a building block we want here long term. Playing defensive end in this system requires so much – you’ve got to set the edge, generate pressure… sometimes you’re standing up, sometimes you’re two-gapping, or sometimes you’re even sliding inside on pass rushing downs. It’s not an easy task.

So you can’t just look at sack numbers and compare him to the guys who simply have to pin their ears back and rush the quarterback every down.