PatsPropaganda

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Ryan Wendell

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By far the biggest problem with him was his pass protection. His 97.1 Pass Blocking Efficiency was fourth-lowest among centers. The difference between him and the league’s best center was roughly one pressure per game — which really isn’t much when weighed against his impact in the run game — and he never gave up more than three pressures in a game, so his pass blocking was never a huge problem. I’m also willing to look past his pass blocking due to his improvement. In his first 469 pass blocks he allowed six sacks, a QB hit and 12 hurries. In his last 483 he got that down to zero sacks, one hit and eight hurries.

Two Who Missed the List: Wendell and Flowers | ProFootballFocus.com

Some love for Ryan Wendell, hoping he makes some progress this season and gets even better.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/by-far-the-biggest-problem-with-him-was-his-pass/

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Word of Muth: Patriots Exit Exam

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FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Word of Muth: Patriots Exit Exam

Seems like in Muth’s opinion if there was one guy to upgrade on the line it’d probably be Connolly.

Wendell is exactly what you want from the modern center: he’s agile and effective at the second level, he’s solid in pass protection, and he has a real knack for knowing how a defense’s pieces fit together. He does a nice job of noticing when a defensive tackle is rushing at a strange angle or pace (either because he is stunting or there is a blitz coming behind him), and how that affects where other rushers might be coming from. This allows him to get into position to block blitzes before they fully form.

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The difference between this year’s AFC Championship and last year’s AFC Championship is that they are different teams. We’ve got new players and some of the same players that were in that game; they’ve got new players and some of the same players as well. Nothing matters that happened in the regular season. Nothing matters that happened last week. We’re two good teams that are going to squaring off in this game. All that really matters is who goes out and performs.

Ryan Wendell Press Conference Transcripts

https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-difference-between-this-years-afc/

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Ryan, he’s done a great job. He had a great camp and that’s why he won the job. Since he’s been here he’s just improved every year, and now he’s playing really good football. He’s our little drill sergeant out there on the field, trying to make all the calls for us and get us lined up and making front calls and everything. He’s done a really good job, him and Tom are usually on the same page, and he’s playing really good. He plays hard, he’s very aggressive, he’s everything we want from a center.

Logan Mankins on center Ryan Wendell’s performance so far.

Mankins: Whether Talib fits in is up to him – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-ryan-wendell/

Scar: Center decision as tough as any – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

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Scar: Center decision as tough as any – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

During this past training camp, Koppen was a part of a competition at the center spot that was eventually won by Ryan Wendell, who has played every offensive snap through eight games this season. Wendell’s performance drew the praise of his position coach, Dante Scarnecchia, who was asked if Wendell has done an excellent job of stepping in to replace Koppen. “I think he has. Clearly the obvious is that he replaced a very, very good football player and a very popular football player,” Scarnecchia said. “That’s as tough of a decision as we’ve ever had around here for those reasons.

Top 5 injured Patriots that are needed back asap

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You go to war with the army you have—not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. – Donald Rumsfeld

I look at the NFL season as a 17 week series of skirmishes that all lead up to the real battles that take place in the playoffs. Some weeks you lose soldiers, some weeks you get guys back healthy, but ultimately it’s about persevering through all the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs for the four month regular season and going into the playoffs firing on all cylinders.

As the final weeks of the preseason wind down the army that the Pats will have for the 2011 campaign is beginning to come into focus, but there are some Pats that haven’t been seen at camp in weeks; Pats that are part of the army I want.

Here are the ones they most need back:

1. Brandon Spikes – You probably saw this one coming. Who knows what exactly is going on with Spikes. Maybe it really is just an ankle injury and all his weird tweets are just totally related to something outside of football. But the fact is that the Pats will have a pretty big hole in their 4-3 defense without Spikes. If Spikes is in there, look out. Playing behind Haynesworth* and Wilfork would enable Spikes to have a potential break out year, but he has to get back on the field first. Without him or Fletcher they could be forced to put Gary Guyton at MLB and that’s definitely not the best spot for him.

2. Leigh Bodden – It was sounding like Bodden had returned to form before sustaining an unknown injury last week that has held him out of practice. I was extremely excited to see how the Pats used McCourty, Arrington and Bodden this year. We saw various looks with Bodden and Arrington both taking turns inside at slot corner and outside at boundary corner in the first two preseason games. We don’t know for sure what BB has planned, but having to go back to last year’s corner lineup could be scary unless Ras-I Dowling is ready to step in and contribute after missing most of training camp.

3. Mike Wright – The Pats are in better position to get by this year without Wright if they need to given all the defensive line depth they have, but he remains their best interior rusher. Myron Pryor especially would help ease the blow of losing Wright for any significant period of time, but it look like the Pats are finally set up to use Wright as he should be used. Hopefully that will keep him healthy, if he can get back on the field. Wright has the ability to make life for the edge rusher a lot easier.

4. Dane Fletcher – I said all off-season that I expected Fletcher to challenge Gary Guyton as the top coverage linebacker next to Jerod Mayo this year and his performance in the Jaguars game only reinforced that. Fletch looked primed to break out before sustaining a thumb injury against the Buccaneers. It doesn’t look like it should hold him back for long, hopefully he’ll get a chance to knock the rust off before the games start to count. If he and Spikes can return to the field it will give the Pats multiple options especially on passing downs.

5. Ryan Wendell – As we saw with Gerald McCoy’s hit on Tommy last week Dan Connolly still has his moments that make you wonder if he’s really that entrenched as the starting right guard. Not to say that I’m entirely confident that Wendell is a much better option, but choices and competition are good. Ideally I’d like to see Marcus Cannon end up there once he’s 100% cleared, but it might be 2012 before we see that. I expect this to be a spot the Pats could look to address over the Labor Day Weekend cutdown madness.