PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

kony ealy

What Happened With Ealy?

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When the Patriots acquired Kony Ealy this offseason by moving down eight spots in the draft, it was a low risk move that made a lot of sense.

With the departures of Chris Long and Jabaal Sheard, New England had a need at defensive end, no matter how nebulous that position name is within their defense. The retirement of Rob Ninkovich only furthered that need, which made Ealy’s slow start to camp, when he was missing in action the first day, even more troubling.

Ealy was remarkably unspectacular in the training camp practices I witnessed. In early preseason game action he looked just as bad. Yes, he started to make some plays here and there but it just wasn’t enough and Ealy was released after the Patriots third preseason game.

He was slow off the ball, unable to defeat blocks and was just generally ineffective and not impactful.

What happened? How can an experienced pro who was a standout in Super Bowl 50 get completely untracked in New England? When Bill Belichick says it just didn’t work out, no hard feelings, what’s at the root of why it didn’t work out?

Most of it fits into New England’s defensive scheme, which is unique. It’s not the first time a promising veteran defender hasn’t been able to do what the scheme requires, with Terrence Knighton being the latest example last season.

Let’s look a little deeper at what the Patriots ask their defensive ends/outside linebackers/edge players to do, and why it can be difficult for some players to grasp.

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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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5 Do or Die Patriots in Detroit

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We’re just two weeks away from the kickoff of the 2017 regular season, but those two weeks are going to be jam packed with two more preseason games and plenty of roster moves, at least a couple of which should make our collective heads spin.

The immediate focus though is on week three of the preseason, the most hyped game of the summer where we can expect to see the starters play into the second half. Disclaimer — don’t get carried away with the results. The Patriots have had good week threes and bad week threes and neither result ever really told us anything about how the team would be in the regular season.

However, for individual players, there’s a lot on the line in Detroit.

Let’s take a look at five Patriots who are very much on the bubble and could solidify their position on the roster (or depth chart) based on their showing in this game.

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6 Sunday Pats Posits

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Sorry for the slow couple of days here on the blog, especially after a preseason game. In case you missed it, I was helping launch our latest venture, Patshow. If you haven’t had a chance to check out episode 101 you can get it here in all its glory.

Follow @Patshow6 on Twitter for all kinds of show updates and giveaways. Things will keep ramping up over the next couple weeks.

With over 10K views in the first 24 hours, we’re thrilled with the response and can’t wait for episode 102, coming Monday 8/21. This was supposed to just be a soft launch to work out the kinks, but other than a couple audio glitches on Facebook’s end, things went about as smoothly as could be expected.

Thank you Nick Stevens and Ian and Erin at Mediaboss for their awesome work bringing Patshow to life. We’re all excited to share everything that we have planned, which will include two shows per week once the regular season starts.

Okay, enough about Patshow, let’s talk some actual Pats and get caught up on the fallout from the first preseason.

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Pats Posits: Who Limped Off, Shined and Stunk vs. Jags?

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The Patriots completed their first game of the 2017 preseason, “losing” to the Jaguars 31-24.

Yes, no one cares about who wins or loses preseason games but there was still plenty to unpack from the contest, including some great performances by some young weapons and some dreadful performances from some young veterans who are supposed to be taking a positive step forward this season.

Let’s start with the only thing that truly matters after a preseason game — injuries. Yeah, guys can play good or bad, but ultimately there’s a long way to go and no roster spots were won or lost after one preseason game. But injuries can kill a season in an instant.

  • Dietrich Wise — Oh that rookie that everyone was abuzz about this preseason? He was kneed in the head and left the game in the first half. I feel weird saying “luckily it’s just a concussion” given what we know now. In the olden days this would be written off with a “he just got his bell rung.” Now it’s a “shit, I hope this doesn’t mean he’s donating his brain to a study someday but… he’ll probably be back soon.” Of course if you’re choosing between getting his leg broken in half and getting kneed in the head, the choice is obvious, but I still don’t feel good about it.
  • Elandon Roberts — Limped off, but one of those tough as nails guys. I think he’ll be okay. Looked like an ankle thing.

Okay, injuries are out of the way, let’s talk the good, the bad and the whatever.

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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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5 Most Intriguing Patriots of Training Camp

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-JomKcygQ0&t=91s

I drove by Gillette this morning and the excitement in the car was palpable. Inside the stadium, I imagined the Patriots’ rookies getting thrown into the deep end of the NFL training camp pool, preparing for their conditioning tests and the month-long grind upon which they’re about to embark.

The Patriots entered this offseason with a huge amount of cap space, so we knew there were going to be significant additions and extension and the team did not disappoint. For a team that just won the Super Bowl, their offseason looked far more like one of the offseasons where they had fallen just short of the ultimate prize.

So it’s difficult to pin down which players I’m most excited to see. I mean, if I don’t write Tom Brady here is it sacrilegious? Because of course I’m excited to see him, as well as Gronk back out there with a “healthy” back and all the rest of the players who we’ve grown to love in recent years.

This list of most intriguing

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