new england patriots

The Patriots lead the Dolphins 14-7 at the half and it looks like this one should go down to the wire as expected. Some quick hit observations.

– Offensively the Pats are going with a no huddle approach that worked well for a stretch before stalling closer to half time.

– Nate Solder had been doing a good job on Cameron Wake until the two minute drive. He’s going to need to elevate his play in the second half, I’m sure Wake will.

– Gronk 2011 looks like Gronk 2010 so far.

– It’s just one half, but the defense looks a lot more exciting so far. Getting pressure from a variety of places.

– The Pats are rotating guys on defense all over the place. Not sure I should even try to keep track of them this year.

– I look forward to seeing Reggie Bush get the ball as much in the second half as he did in the first. He must be on double oxygen tanks right now in the locker room.

– Looks like the Dolphins are trying to exploit the Pats poor sub-package run defense from 2010, but the Pats so far have done a pretty good job. Obviously this will mean nothing if they don’t keep it up.

– Ras-I starting on the outside. Impressive. Will have to focus on him more closely on the re-watch. But exciting none the less.

– It looks like Koppen is probably done for the season unless it’s a miracle. That’s part of the game, I feel as good as you can feel about any back up with Connolly in there. He’s got experience and great coaching. That’s as well as you can hope for.

– It sure is easy to get lulled into a false sense of security when the Pats offense was going through Miami’s defense like it was a 7-on-7 drill. This one will be a dogfight down to the end, count on it.

We’re just two hours from the kick off of the 2011 Patriots season and the excitement here in the Ministry of PatsPropaganda is palpable.

We’ve been somewhat in a cocoon of Pats analysis the last week or so. You can go back and look at stats from last year, or try and guess what BB has up his sleeve, but personally I think it’s all a waste of time.

Just like this is a new year and a new team we try to attack analysis the same way. So let’s just sit back, see how the Patriots of 2011 look in a game that actually counts and then we’ll get back to figuring out what they got.

Some final quick hit thoughts prior to kickoff tonight:

– I think both teams will have surprises for one another. All signs are especially pointing to the Dolphins busting out some trickeration, but I think a great way for the Pats to combat that will be to fight fire with fire and do some trickeration themselves.

– As we saw in the Jets-Cowboys game last night the team that wins tonight will be the team that plays the closest to 60 minutes.

– Very curious to see how the Pats use their two new runningbacks. This is one area Miami might not quite have a handle on yet. My instinct tells me that the Pats are really going to exploit the screen and short passing game.

– Looking for the Pats to try and use speed rushers on the edges, that’s why I am not overly concerned with Jermaine Cunningham being out.