JIMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
What a week, still riding high. Doesn’t get any better than going into hostile territory against an extremely talented Arizona team, and punching them in the the mouth on national TV. I really don’t think I saw one “expert” take the Pats which makes it that much more special.
The only thing that could have made it any more enjoyable was being a fly on the wall of the Goodell household, and witnessing the man of the house hemorrhage as Catanzaro’s kick sailed wide left. Tough luck for the commish.
Now that I got that off my chest, let’s get right into the best links of the week. I’m going to start off with our very own Jay Kenney’s Week 1 offensive line review. Make no mistake about it, general health aside, the performance of the O-line is the key to this Patriots team. If the unit can perform at an average-good level throughout the season, and most importantly come the early months of 2017, this team goes from very hard to beat, to virtually impossible. Jay breaks down the play of each individual O-lineman and cautions fans to pump the breaks on the universal positive chatter surrounding the group.
“The bigger issues are ahead for this group. It remains to be seen if Nate Solder misses more than week one. It would be huge to have him back in light of the Cannon injury. Having both Waddle and Fleming at tackle is less than ideal.”
Unfortunately, he’s right. The spotlight will remain on the offensive front until they can sustain some level of success over a longer period of time.
Martellus Bennett is arguably the most unique personality we’ve had here in some time. It seems like he says something that makes the papers every week. This week was no different, as Ryan Hannable (WEEI) had a fun piece on the mountainous tight end here.
“I do like outer space a lot, and after watching ‘The Martian’ I’m trying to science the [expletive] out of this game plan,” Bennett said, paraphrasing a line Matt Damon uttered in the film.
Well, if ‘science-ing’ the bleep out of the game plan means being an absolute force as, essentially, an extra O-lineman, then get the freaking goggles and magnifying glasses out. Bennett’s blocking is going to be a big asset moving forward, especially considering the aforementioned uncertainty of the O-line.
Mark Daniels (Providence Journal) covers Belichick’s motivational tactics this week in order to avoid the hangover loss here. Bill certainly wasn’t in any mood to gloat about the ‘Zona game this week.
“All you have to do is turn on our game at Miami last year. Sickening. It doesn’t take long at all. Don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see that or not, but it wasn’t very good. Bad coaching, bad playing, bad period.”
The beauty about this team is the constant and consistent preparation. This team will be ready and there will be no letdown. We’re onto Miami. In the words of the GOAT to all those attending this Sunday…”Start drinkin’ early.”
Pink Stripes.
