PatsPropaganda

I don’t think you’re that far off, but I’m pretty sure the Pats will hang onto Browner. They just need their other guys to be ready sooner because they won’t have Browner off the bat. Butler could potentially start outside in Week 1.

He’s made plays and with his suspension he’s easy to keep on the roster. Hold on to him, see how injuries/performance play out over the first month and then figure it out.

The August O-line freakout happens every single summer, so I’m dismissive of people freaking out over preseason performance because it’s nothing new and just part of the process.

As I wrote in my last post, last year was also very much about the new receivers and lack of weapons. However I do think Wendell and Connolly needed to be upgraded and it was one of the main points I discussed leading up to the draft. I was thrilled they took Stork, Halapio and Fleming.

But I think Solder, Vollmer, Mankins and Cannon are very, very good and all still very much in their prime. There’s room for improvement and bounce-back years and once Stork and Halapio and even Josh Kline get into the mix they should have an upgraded interior.

As for Scarnecchia, remember it all still goes through Belichick.

I sincerely disagree if you think this isn’t an offensive line that could win a Super Bowl. I’ll leave the last word to respected SI writer Doug Farrar who ranked the Pats with the number one offensive line in the NFL this offseason.

1. New England Patriots – The main point of flux in this line is the replacement of retired coach Dante Scarnecchia with ex-Jets line coach Dave DeGuglielmo. Scarnecchia was a demigod on Foxboro and he’ll definitely be missed, but the good for the Pats is that they look to start the same five guys who took the most snaps on their 2013 line, and when healthy, that line was one of the team’s real strengths. Even with the skill players around them in constant flux, New England only dropped from first to fourth in Adjusted Line yards, and they led the way for the Patriots to gain 4.69 running back yards per carry, the highest total the team has had since 1996. There was a drop in Adjusted Sack Rate from fifth to ninth, but that can be credited as much to the fact that Tom Brady had to spend so much time getting on the same page as his mystery receivers as anything else. If tackles Sebastian Vollmer and Nate Solder can return to full heath and total playing time, and veteran Logan Mankins keeps up his relatively high level of play, it will make things even easier for center Ryan Wendell, who had the team’s highest blown block rate, and right guard Dan Connolly, who had his own pass protection issues. You’ll hear at times that Brady makes things so much easier for his line, but he didn’t really have a chance to do that in 2013, and this might be the most efficient run-blocking line in the NFL. 

When training camp/preseason starts defenses are almost always ahead of the offenses. The simple reason? It’s easier to destroy than to create.

The passing game is all about timing, and especially for a quarterback like Tom Brady, who has been in this offense for over a decade and knows exactly how he wants every route run and where he will have to put the ball.

So early last year, when you essentially only have Edelman who has caught a pass from Brady before, things were clunky. New guys would run the wrong route, or even run the right route but just not to Brady’s exact specifications, causing him to hold the ball that extra second that allows the pass rush to either sack him or at least disrupt the timing.

But the easiest example of how the passing game can lead to sacks is on hot routes, when a blitz comes. In those situations there is no margin for error. So if Kenbrell Thompkins, in his second or third NFL game, doesn’t see the blitz and run the right hot route (filling the space vacated by the blitzer), Brady’s going to have to take the sack.

The protection, quarterback progression and receiver routes are all connected and when one element of it is off it makes everything else look bad. 

This is also why there’s so much talk of Brady having a bad year last year, but it was as much about the new receivers and yes, at time poor protection, as it was about Brady declining. I think his stats will rebound this year because the receivers will be better and that will in turn make things easier on the line and Brady.

The areas most interesting to me are on the fringe of the roster – the linebackers and defensive ends like Buchanan/Smith/Bequette, as well as the chemistry and consistency of the WRs like Thompkins and LaFell who could win a significant role.

Also curious to see how the offensive line is coming together, but I suspect it’s still a work in progress and will likely have their problems tonight. They always do. And then everyone always freaks out.

I think we know what we’re getting from most of the veterans, it’s the guys that are competing for the gameday roster spots that I’ll be watching.

From a bigger picture perspective I want to see how the defense deals with Philly’s rapid-fire offensive attack. That should test their communication and conditioning.

Week 2 is prime time for a Pats stinker, we see one just about every season in September where they lose to a team that by the end of the year is far inferior.

Does Zimmer have the same pieces in Minnesota that he had in Cinci to give the Pats problems? I’m not convinced, especially when you consider how many new pieces the Pats were trying to work in on offense early last season.

As always, the key to stopping the Patriots offense are consistent pressure, especially attacking up the middle, constant disguise, and making the last play to close the game out. Sounds simple enough but it’s tough to execute all three for 60 minutes and that’s what you have to do. 

But you never know, the Vikings get some early pressure, don’t let Brady get on track, the Pats defense doesn’t get any turnovers… you could have the makings for an upset. 

But I still think the Pats win that one. More interesting to me will be how the lighter Pats’ defensive front deals with Adrian Peterson.