PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

adam butler

Pats Posits: 1-1 and we’re back having fun!

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The Patriots got their 2017 season on track with a 36-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints, evening their record to 1-1 and silencing any doubters who actually though the season-opening loss would derail the New England football machine.

It now feels like the season is officially underway and despite a handful of somewhat concerning injuries, the Patriots look every bit as primed as ever to make another run at a Super Bowl title. No matter who they do or don’t roll out there, the Patriots will be a tough out for whoever they play this season. Already, just two weeks in, the hope is they can pull Gronk, Amendola, Hightower, Mitchell and whoever else goes down together in January after a bye week for a three-wins-for-Super-Bowl-Six playoff run..

Perhaps most impressive was how this suddenly felt like the Bill Belichick Patriots we’ve become accustomed to. They carved the Saints underneath in the passing game, leaned on Rob Gronkowski when they had to, and played the kind of bend-don’t-break defense we’ve all come to love/hate. This was the Patriots and it was a nice reminder that despite an uneven performance on opening night, this is still a very good football team capable of beating any team on any given Sunday.

First things first, let’s get the injuries out of the way, because there were quite a few. This is a troubling trend in 2017 and we’re going on four-straight games dating back to the preseason with significant players going down. Luckily it seems like the initial reports on all the injuries are positive, but we’ve heard that before and then you find out Hightower’s seeing Dr. Andrews and maybe it isn’t just a “sprained MCL” but a chronic problem.

We’ll see on Wednesday just how serious and lingering these injuries from this one are.

Injury Report

  • Rob Gronkowski – Groin: Gronk told reporters he was “okay” after the game. Just the fact that he stayed on the sideline without anyone really paying attention to him leads me to believe Gronk will be fine. But it sure is scary having to rely on the big tight end that much. Hoepfully Alex Guerrero can work some soft tissue magic and Gronk’s groin will be fine. Of course, the groin jokes just write themselves with Gronk, especially after he nabbed his 69th touchdown catch in this game.
  • Eric Rowe – Groin: Rowe also indicated he’d be oaky with some rest.
  • Rex Burkhead – Ribs
  • Chris Hogan – Knee: Sounds like this problem popped up late in the week of practice. Hopefully it’s a minor sprain that doesn’t linger.
  • Phillip Dorsett – Knee: Injured just as he was starting to click with Brady, hopefully they don’t lose him, it would be a setback for a player still trying to pick up the offense.

Okay, with the injuries out of the way let’s jump into the Posits from a feel good win.

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Patriots Pregame Meal

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I don’t know about you guys but this morning felt like the real start of the NFL season for me. The Thursday night opener came upon us so quickly it never really felt like the real football had started. But now, on a foggy September morning it those old football feels are finally back, as is the nervousness for this big game. Here are some pregame reflections before the carnage unfolds this afternoon.

If you’re looking for an easy and entertaining way to kill a half hour of pregame this morning check out my latest venture with Nick Stevens and the awesome folks at MediaBoss, Patshow. We’re having a ton of fun hopefully bringing to the fans the kind of entertainment they’re missing with the Patriots. A show that embraces the fun of being a fan but also talks about the team in a reasonable and football-savvy way. Please help us spread the word about Patshow, as go live every Tuesday morning at www.facebook.com/patshow6. Please like and share as we try to grow the show each week!

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Patriots-Chiefs Film Review: Defense Edition

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Plowed my way through the first defensive review of the All 22 film and as always it put things into perspective when watching without the emotion of the broadcast. Of course there were bad plays and busted coverages, but there was also plenty to feel positive about.

In a lot of ways it did remind me of the 2014 Chiefs loss in that players just weren’t getting off blocks and making plays. That kind of performance is often common the first few weeks of the season, with one ugly game almost always popping up — remember losing to the Cardinals at home in 2012?

But the poor performance would’ve been so much different if not for a few blown coverages and I fully expect there to be fewer blown coverages the rest of this season than there were in Week One.

Here are my observations on the big defensive picture.

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Pats Posits: We’re Not in 28-3 Land Anymore

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The electric celebratory atmosphere inside Gillette Stadium was slowly strangled to death before our very eyes on Thursday Night as the Chiefs poured in on late to blow out New England 42-27. The Patriots asked fans to get there early for the celebration, and well they left early too and even I, someone who yelled at people for walking out of the 2009 opener, hit the exits early.

I’m not sure what’s worse, that the Patriots laid a total team turd or that two critical players who couldn’t get hurt, got hurt. The injuries make the second blowout loss in four seasons to the Chiefs taste even worse than the original in 2014.

This one was historically bad with the most points the defense has given up under Belichick. Yes, it’s still only week one and my golden rule is to never overreact to a game in September, but there were certainly some cold hard truths revealed on Thursday Night — they miss Edelman, and without Hightower the defense was lacked both rudder and tooth.

The two players that had to go the distance this year were Danny Amendola and Hightower. The game was competitive when they were upright. When both were lost, the offense and defense were lost.

What’s clear is this team has no identity yet, and they’ve lost much of what’s made the tick the last few seasons. New players must emerge but it’s going to take time.

After a season where the team really didn’t face much adversity until 28-3, the 2017 Pats got an instant dose of drama at the outset.

Thoughts on how it’s all going to turn out in the Posits.

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Patriots (Initial) 53-Man Roster Posits

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The Patriots finally got down to 53 players on Saturday night, once again reminding us that the “4pm deadline” means little in practice. Still, there were plenty of surprises throughout the day including three trades, from which the Patriots acquired two new players — Cassius Marsh and Phillip Dorsett.

Here’s how my initial depth chart looks like however it’s important to remember that there are very likely more moves coming and some of the low end surprises on the roster might not even be on there very long. This extends even past this weekend and into the season. The Patriots never stop tinkering and trying to improve, whether injuries force their hands or they just feel like they can get better in a certain spot.

 

Let’s break it down…

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Pats Posits: The Preseason Is Over. Here We Go.

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The Patriots’ 2017 preseason is over. We can stop worrying about premature injuries (we actually got a couple of those this year) and focus on the real football campaign which the team is about to undertake.

Yes, it’s September and as Bill Belichick says “it’s football time.”

The preseason finale against the Giants, featuring a full 90-man Patriots roster, was actually a fun game, albeit one that we’ll all instantly forget. The Patriots fell into a big hole, clawed their way back only to give up a game-winning field goal in the final seconds, losing 40-38.

Though a meaningless loss, there were some real issues to come out of this one. Unfortunately an injury to Cyrus Jones could cause significant problems when the Pats open up against Kansas City in less than a week. Without Julian Edelman and very possibly Jones now, the Patriots are missing their top two punt returners.

The mostly-scrub defense turned in another gross performance early on, picking up where they left off last week. At this point at least it makes a good chunk of the cuts a little easier. Jacoby Brissett, who was treading water as a possible cut in some people’s minds, turned in a roster-locking performance. His touchdown throw to Devin Lucien was a thing of beauty and it was a reminder how much promise Brissett showed in 2016 when he was thrust into the fire.

Otherwise, we can pick out a few players to focus on, but chances are most of those who played against the Giants are on the outside looking in.

Let’s wrap up the preseason with a final look at those who showed up in finale.

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Pats Posits: No. Not Edelman.

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Injuries. For the 2017 Patriots, they’re all that stand between them and another Super Bowl run, and in Friday’s preseason win over the Detroit Lions, their championship hopes might’ve taken a significant a hit.

Julian Edelman went down in a play eerily reminiscent of Wes Welker‘s non-contact fall in Houston 2009. Now, we wait for official word with an estimate of how long he’ll be out.

There’s plenty to unravel if Edelman’s lost for long. But at least on the surface, with Chris Hogan and Brandin Cooks leading the way, the passing attack is somewhat prepared to absorb this.

Otherwise it was the tale of two halves. Both the Patriots starting offense and defense played a complementary and often dominant first half. Then the back ups and roster hanger-ons stunk the place out in the second half.

It’s hard to talk about the good and the bad without a depressing undertone from seeing the engine of the offense go down in a non-contact heap. But let’s do our best to figure out what it all means in the Posits.

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