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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.

Hey Mike, if it came down to it and the Patriots were going to take a LB and both Eli Harold and Benardrick McKinney were available, who’d you go with? Harold offers great athleticism and interesting versatility, but McKinney seems like an instant starter that can enforce the middle of a defense for the next 5-7 years.

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Early on I might’ve said McKinney but after digging deeper and deeper on both guys I’m definitely going with Harold. McKinney is solid but there’s nothing “wow” about him. McKinney would project as a middle linebacker, but given that they had Jerod Mayo at MLB in this scheme last year, I wouldn’t necessarily say McKinney steps into that role, regardless of Mayo being back or not.

Harold on the other hand is a clear schematic fit the way that Collins is. His best fit is at outside linebacker in the Pats’ scheme, but I could also see him filling in as a defensive end, designated pass rusher, even nickel linebacker.

Harold can do more things in the defense and that’s why I think his value is much higher than McKinney. The more I watch of McKinney the more I’m lukewarm on him, while the more I see of Harold the more high I get on him.

In the wake of Wilfork becoming a Texan, how much does it bother you when Pats legends can’t finish their careers as Patriots? Also, what current players would you hope to never see in another jersey?

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Not really anymore. I think the only thing that would really bother me is losing a good player and having him go on to be as good or better somewhere else. So far that really hasn’t happened. Maybe a little bit in 2013 with Welker in Denver. Every catch he made certainly bothered me. Vinatieri still seems strange as a Colt, it’s almost like he’s a different person than when he played for us now that it’s been so long. Still, as soon as he retires it will be like he never left I think.

But otherwise, seeing guys like McGinest, Vrabel and now Wilfork doesn’t really bother me all that much, it’s just what happens in the NFL.

The only guy I never want to see in another uniform is of course #12. Or see BB coach somewhere else. The former certainly seems more possible than the latter.