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Top 5 Patriots to watch vs. Saints

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Excited that football is back tonight. Though I won’t get a chance to really take a look at the “film” until early next week (VACATION!) here’s what I’ll be looking most closely at when I do.

1. Rookies (drafted) – okay maybe this is cheating a bit but as always the players I’m most excited to see are the rookies, especially this year since I’m a defense guy. So far in camp Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower and Tavon Wilson all seem to be in line to contribute on defense. We won’t be able to deduce anything schematically tonight, but we will be able to see how the rookies react to the stage and speed.

2. Rookies (undrafted) – every year it seems like an undrafted rookie makes the Pats team and contributes and this year it looks like Justin Francis and Brandon Bolden are the two best candidates. I’m especially excited to see Francis who has had a lot of chatter about him ever since rookie OTAs. Bolden is another one who has flashed at camp.

3. Ryan Mallett – while I think it’s a stretch to imagine Mallet passing Brian Hoyer on the depth chart this year I’d really like to see something out of the tall pocket passer this preseason. He flashed a bit against the Jaguars last year, and that was with minimal off-season/training camp. Mallet has been up and down in camp but ultimately it’s the games that matter.

4. Ras-I Dowling – Ras-I has had a progressively better off-season and IF HE CAN STAY HEALTHY looks primed to show us why he was starting the first two games of 2011. I am curious to get a better sense of his length and physicality in the game, two things that the Pats desperately need in their backfield.

5. Steve Gregory – Gregory is somewhat of an x-factor this year. He was brought in and paid like a starter despite never having overwhelming numbers in San Diego. Some said that was because he was better suited at FS but ended up at SS due to Eric Weddle. Is he the back end answer the Pats lacked for just about all of 2011? We should get a little better sense of that tonight.

Camp Observations: Day 13 – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

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Camp Observations: Day 13 – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

Two great nuggets (and it was hard to pick just two):

Wilson blitzes. Second-round safety Tavon Wilson has shown a knack for a unique skill throughout training camp: blitzing. He has impressive timing, a skill that usually derives from strong instincts. He’s also shown himself to be a forceful player, which could translate into sacks this season.

Moore’s ball skills stand out. Hard not to take notice of Sterling Moore’s consistent ball skills. He gets his hands on a number of passes, including an end zone deflection today that somehow ended to drop into the hands of Saints receiver Joshua Morgan’s hands (Morgan had actually dropped to the ground). Tough break for Moore, but he continues to dislodge balls and force incompletions. From this vantage point, he’s shown tremendous timing on his break-ups, and finishes every play. Defensive backs know that no ball is secure until the play is over, and Moore is persistent in his defense.