PatsPropaganda

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jonathan freeny

The Curious Case of Belichick Praise

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Every now and then Bill Belichick sings the praise of an individual player. Usually he deflects specific player questions into team generalization. You know the drill. A reporter asks about a certain player who’s struggling or shown promise and Belichick responds with something along the lines of “the player did some good things, needs to improve on things, we all need to improve on things, including the coaches.”

If you’re like me you just tune these responses out by now. Not that they really bother me. I get it. All of Belichick’s answers are well-crafted, not for the reporter, but for the specific player and for the team. Belichick doesn’t coach through the press, at least in a negative sense.

But every now and then Belichick throws some glowing praise at a player and more often than not it’s some random guy you never really gave much thought to.

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What Losing Derek Rivers Means

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If there’s one thing you hate to see in August it’s season-ending injuries.

Unfortunately Derek Rivers’ situation took a turn for the worse on Friday.

 


So yeah, I was already a little concerned about the defensive front seven as you might’ve read here or here and if Rivers is gone for all of 2017 it certainly doesn’t help matters.

In recent days I was excited to hear about Rivers’ emergence at camp. He was far better the second time I took a glance at his Jacksonville game. I felt like he could be a key contributor on third down and really help fill the vacated roles of Chris Long and Jabaal Sheard.

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A Closer Look at the Patriots’ Roster Bubble

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Today is Tom Brady‘s 40th birthday and it also marks the end of then first week of training camp. While I don’t really have any big Brady celebration plans (because your favorite QB turning 40 isn’t exactly something to celebrate), it’s a good time to take a quick reset on what we’ve learned and how the roster is flushing out.

The headline of week one was Rob Ninkovich‘s retirement, and though that opens up a roster spot, there are still plenty of bubble guys who will be in the fight of their lives to make the team.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the bubble players who have emerged in the first week and weigh their chances of making the roster.

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Pats Posits: Padurday

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Two days of practice down and I caught glimpses of both of them, but today training camp gets real in full pads. I’m looking forward to getting an uninterrupted look at team on Sunday, but will likely roll through Saturday to at least hear the crack of some pads.

Belichick had a classic presser today. Just look at some of his savagery:

You know, you guys are asking a lot of questions about what have we seen from ‘this’ guy, what are we seeing from ‘that’ guy. We’ve yet to put on pads, alright? I understand that this is a pretty talented group of evaluators in this room, but in all honesty our evaluations come more in training camp when we actually practice… So I know everybody’s all excited when a guy catches a pass, but when the defense doesn’t jam him or their not allowed to really, because we don’t want heavy contact out there, aren’t competing for contact at the end of the play then it’s not quite the same as when all of that’s going on… The competitive level out there is not what it’s going to be starting tomorrow, so to evaluate players competitively when they’re not on a competitive level, I have a hard time with. But I know a lot of the people are real good at that and they can make a lot more out of it than I can, but due to my personal limitations and my personal inability to make those evaluations, I don’t make them.

Fire.

What I find most interesting at this point is who’s out there when and getting a better sense of how the depth chart has settled after an offseason of work.

Some notes on that:

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Patriots Positional Preview: Linebackers

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Today we’re breaking down one of the most interesting positional groups on the roster this year, the linebackers.

After Jamie Collins‘ shocking trade last season, the Pats had to manage with in-season acquisition Kyle Van Noy, run stopping rookie Elandon Roberts and free agent acquisition Shea McClellin. After Dont’a Hightower, there just wasn’t a three-down linebacker on the roster.

So Van Noy slipped into a passing down role, where he would cover and occasionally rush the quarterback, while Roberts caught attention for his heavy downhill hits in an early down role. It wasn’t as ideal as the Hightower-Collins duo seemed to be, since they never had to leave the field (at least that’s what we thought in 2014 and 2015), but they got the job done.

While heavy reinforcements didn’t arrive this offseason, the addition of David Harris should take enough pressure off of Hightower to help keep him fresh or keep the boat afloat should the captain miss any time. How the rest of the group plays out will be fascinating to watch in camp.

How much of a second-year jump does Roberts make? Will Belichick-favorite Jonathan Freeny step back into a defensive role despite Roberts’ emergence? Can coveted rookie Harvey Langi show enough versatility to carve out a rookie role? Is McClellin on the bubble?

It’s important to note how fluid the edge and linebacker positions have become. Technically Hightower, Ninkovich and McClellan shift between those roles based on the situation, but for the preview purposes we’ll keep them separated. Just know that nothing is set in stone and the ability to move players all over the formation is what makes the Patriots’ defensive front so potent. Just try not to get caught up in the minutiae of positional labels at this point.

Let’s take a closer look at each linebacker.

 

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5 Patriots To Watch vs. Bears

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It’s preseason week 2, and yet again all I truly care about this week is staying healthy. Aside from that it should be an interesting game, as a number of significant players are dealing with seemingly minor injuries that should hold them out of action. That means the trickle down effect should give quite a few under-the-radar types a chance to shine in more prominent roles.

Here are the five guys who I’ll be watching most closely.

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