PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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It’s not often that I disagree with Patriots uber-beat writer Mike Reiss but after reading his comments this morning in his mailbag, where he states that Maroney is probably the 3rd or 4th running back on the depth chart at this point, I have to say I think something else.

We all know Maroney’s history, and believe it or not but he’s been a pretty good back for the Pats. Is he Adrian Peterson or even Maurice Jones-Drew? No. But let’s not forget he almost singlehandedly sealed the 2007 AFC Championship game with his hard runs. If it weren’t for the case of fumble-itis in 2009 most would’ve probably been pretty happy with him. (Not to mention the Pats probably would’ve won 1-2 more games).

Just because Maroney hasn’t played much in the preseason doesn’t mean to me that he’s in danger. In fact, just the opposite. I think he’s the starting running back against the Bengals.

Maroney is in a contract year, and by holding him out for most of preseason, the Patriots are pretty much ensuring that LoMo starts the season healthy. It’s like keeping your best stallion caged up, rattling him a little bit with all the media reports that he’s gonna get cut, or that he’s at the bottom of the depth chart. Maroney will enter the regular season, when the games actually count, with something to prove.

I think the Patriots are just preparing to unleash Maroney at the start of the regular season. He should be fully healthy, and fully pissed. Or as pissed as the good natured Maroney can get. I expect him to run wild over the Bengals and Jets.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/its-not-often-that-i-disagree-with-patriots/

Bye Bye Bodden

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Well it’s been a hectic few hours since news broke that Leigh Bodden was out for the season with a torn rotator cuff. Seems like I’m one of the few Pats fans who aren’t suicidal about it.

There’s no doubt that they Patriots would be a better team in 2010 if Leigh Bodden and Ty Warren were playing. But they’re not, so we have to get over it and look at the bright side. 

What’s the bright side you ask? Well, here’s a newsflash, the Patriots did not have a Super Bowl caliber defense with Bodden and Warren and they still aren’t one now. They’re young and unproven, and will be greatly inconsistent at times this year.

The bright side is that their talented young players are going to get a lot of experience this year. And who knows, maybe with more experience Devin McCourty or Darius Butler will prove to be better than Bodden. 

Either way, the Patriots are still in the early stages of rebuilding their championship defense and injuries can do nothing but expedite the growth of their youngsters. It’s not ideal, but when you think of the 2011 Pats with Bodden and Warren back, along with then experienced veterans Ron Brace, Devin McCourty, and Darius Butler, things will be looking even brighter.

Adjust your expectations. This is a young defense, but luckily the offensive Patriots are still going to be elite, and as has been proven over and over again you really only need one elite group to win a Super Bowl. You just have to all peak at the right time.

State of the Patriots Nation: Rams Aftermath

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After beating the Falcons I mentioned I almost hoped the Patriots would lose to the Rams. There’s nothing worse than a young team who’ve had two excellent performances and starting to buy into their own hype a little bit. A nice loss would knock them back down to earth, back to the reality of how much work needs to be done.

I didn’t think it would be as ugly as it was but there’s really no need to panic or think that this defense will somehow be worse than last years.

Here’s what we know:

1. The offense will be very, very good.

2. The defense is young and will be inconsistent (but hopefully more consistent than last year.

The offense sputtered for most of the first half, but the finally clicked and looked pretty much unstoppable (against 2s and 3s of course). Fine.

But the defense started bad and got worse. What was most disappointing was the first team defense allowing a 15-play, 76-yard touchdown drive to mostly backups to open the second half, that ate up nearly 10 minutes of clock. 

You’d hope after BBs halftime “message” they’d come out and show some life. They didn’t.

One bright spot I noticed was Ron Brace. He was tossing tackles into the backfield and getting off the ball quicker than last week. I really hope his ankle is okay. Him making an impact this year would be an awesome story.

Early on it looks like this team is really most susceptible to the short, three-step-drop passing game. Meaning it looks like we’re on pace to see a lot of the “dink and dunk” early on.

I can’t say I was horrified by the run defense last night. Aside from one long run by Stephen Jackson (Burgess lost contain) I thought they were fairly stout. What I’m not sure about is if they have penetrators who can get stops in short yardage situations.

The secondary played inexcusably bad. I know we are playing guys with under five years experience but performances like will get you blown out.

On the other side of the ball, what else can you say, this offense looks ready to open a can of whoop ass again. If they are able to run the ball they will be very hard to stop and has the potential of being more versatile than they were in 2007.

Instead of Jabar Gaffney and Donte Stallworth on the outside and intermediate routes, the Pats will now have two versatile tight ends to control the center of the field, while Brandon Tate looks like he could be the outside guy we lacked last year. 

There’s where we’re at. One more preseason game to go. Expect an excellent performance from the defense, a full game for Brian Hoyer, and a team that is ready and primed to take on the Bengals.

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Patriots Schwag Hunt: Rich Bastard Edition

Thanks to @gabiflogaoTB for finding this and passing it along to Ian Rapoport. $160 for a Tom Brady T-shirt? I’m not gonna lie, it looks pretty cool. But unless you’re a trim Italian man with the rest of the D&G outfit to match you would probably have a hard time pulling this off. I can’t really picture a hard core Pats fan tailgating in this while eating sausage. I guess uppity rich snobs with elite fashion sense need Pats schwag too.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-schwag-hunt-rich-bastard-edition-thanks/