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| A Word from The Writer: The Monday Analysis - 22 August 2005 I hate losing at home. Even if it is preseason. Pats Lose to Saints at Gillette A lot of borderline defensive players flunked their entrance exam to Patriots Nation in the Gillette preseason opener on Thursday night, when the second and third teams allowed the New Orleans Saints offensive become a machine and rack up a 37-27 score. Tom Brady opened the game with an interception, but then led his offense to two scores. The Doug Flutie wanders in, fires two passes, the second for a touchdown. Flutie would finish 3 for 4 for 52 yards, 1 TD, and lead to scores on all three series he participated in. Matt Cassel finished the game, fumbling the ball that led to a Saints defensive score. Cassel failed to get the ball into the endzone in the final two minutes. The defensive allowed the go-ahead score by allowing third and fourth down conversions, and giving up too many penalties. While this is only preseason, many Patriots veterans, guys with Rings, looked none too happy on the sidelines and after the game. CB Ellis Hobbs, the second round pick out of XXXX looked impressive, but made several mistakes, including penalties and missed tackles. He also celebrates far too much, and hopefully Rodney Harrison will quiet the rook down. We don't need another Chris Canty. The Patriots travel to Green Bay on Friday, August 26th for the all-important third preseason game. Watch for starters to remain in the game for close to three quarters. Niners Player Collapses, Dies Immediately following the 49ers-Denver game Saturday night, offensive lineman Thomas Herrion collapsed in the locker room immediately following head coach Mike Nolan's speech to the team. He later died. The third string 23-year old Herrion played in NFL Europe earlier this year, and played in Saturday night's game, which was reportedly cool in temperatures. The game in Denver ended late Saturday night. EMTs administered CPR to the 6'3, 310 lbs. guard before the ambulance took Herrion to the hospital, where he later died. There is no word yet on the cause of death. The Monday Analysis send condolences to the Herrion family. Patriots Notes Rookie LB Ryan Claiborne was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury... League Notes The Broncos moved WR Jerry Rice to the No. 3 spot on the receivers depth chart...Hines Ward ended his 15-day holdout with the Steelers and reported to the team without a reworked contract...Bears QB Rex Grossman underwent surgery to repair his broken ankle... Training Camp Division Talk: The AFC East
AFC East
2004 Division Champion: New England New England is still the team to beat. But the weakest link might now be Buffalo, who went from an ok quarterback unable to get the job done to an idiot. Sorry JP Losman fans, but you guys should know by now I just call them like I see them, and I see little faith in Tom Donahue's picks and prods. As such, Losman appears to be like some blow-dried prima donna with a good arm and a five and dime store brain. What little we saw of him last season showed us a rattled young man who might be in over his head in the NFL. Plus he is a scrambling QB, and if the offensive line couldn't protect a guy who just stands there, then how will they protect a guy running all over the place? Nick Saban may have some fixes in store in Miami, but the Dolphins lack too much talent. The defense is old. There is no quarterback, no receivers, funky running game, and those orange jerseys look too fruity for the NFL. Ricky Williams is (so far) back with the Dolphins, and trying to get everyone to just forget last season ever happened. This is sort of the same thing the creators of the prime time soap Dallas tried when they killed off Bobby one season, only to bring him back the next and caulk it all up as a dream his wife had. Reality: Everyone knows Williams wasn't around last season, and all the hallucination drugs in the world can't sway any of us from that truth. New Jersey shows a lot of consistency in both the front office and on the sidelines. The trouble is that isn't very good news. For as many poor judgments we see from Herm Edwards and his staff, not to mention the "privileged" players, Terry Bradway is just as bad in the front office. In April, the Jets traded their 2005 First Round pick to Oakland for tight end Doug Jolley, saying that that was where their value was, as Terry Bradway explains: "We didn't feel like for this draft the value was going to be there at 26. We felt it was more of a second-round draft. We think Heath Miller is a fine player but we like Doug Jolley more. That's why it's an easy one." Jolley had only 2 touchdowns in 2004, and was only ever a second rounder in the 2002 draft, and his numbers sure don't don't hold a candle to the makings of a first round draft pick. Then, with their first pick of the draft in the second round, 47 overall, they draft Kicker Mike Nugent of Ohio State. Chad Pennington is coming off shoulder surgery, and might not be 100% to start the season. Waiting in the wings for Pennington to falter is former Dolphin Jay Fielder, who was signed by New Jersey in the offseason as Pennington's backup. Fielder is in a good position, where Pennington could have reoccurring problems with the shoulder over the season. Laveranues Coles is back at wide receiver (and who cares?), plus Curtis Martin at running back. While I would like to point out Martin is older, I also have to point out he was last season's rushing leader. While lightning will doubtfully strike twice, Martin will no doubtfully have a solid and productive season, barring injuries. Kicker? Second round? This guy might be the next best thing in the world of kicking, but a kicker? Really? Really. This pick tells me that the Jets have zero faith in their offense to get into the red zone (so why not get some better offensive weapons?). This guy had better be able to kick 83 yard field goals, because it appears that the Jets only expect to go three and out on the 36-yard line. Got to get points somewhere, I guess. Tom Donahue is setting up Buffalo with a younger, less experienced team. I think that is pretty clear now. Drew Bledsoe is gone, off to Dallas as a free agent. Travis Henry is gone, off to Tennessee as a trade. JP Losman and Willis McGahee have three years in the league, total, two years playing since both sat out their rookie years due to injuries. The Patriots - despite all the losses they had over the offseason, from both the offensive and defensive coordinators, David Patten, Joe Andruzzi, Tedy Bruschi, Ted Johnson, a number of players on PUP, including Bethel Johnson and Tim Dwight - on paper this is STILL the best Patriots team of the Belichick era - and this is an era that produced three Super Bowl championship out of five seasons. So who is going to beat them? The AFC East is going to have to find ways to make a Wild Card spot. New Jersey has the best chance, which is to say a possible split in the series. But Miami is going to have a tough time, and Buffalo always has it tough. Corey Dillon, the once "troublemaking" running back came to New England in 2004, and surprised everyone by fitting into the system like he'd been here for eight seasons, said this when he received he first Super Bowl ring in June: "This is nice, but I cannot wait to see the next one." Nothing is sweeter than a hungry, pissed off running back. Tom Brady's answer to the question Which is your favorite championship is, "The next one." No one talks about the championships they've won. Those records are at rest. Everyone focuses on, just as Brady says, the next one. The Next One. With the sudden lack of depth at linebacker - Bruschi, Johnson, and Roman Phifer, who was released in the offseason (though rumors have him returning), the Patriots filled themselves with more depth on the line than they need. Having faith in their 2004 draft pick nose tackle Vince Wilfork, they released Keith Traylor. Monte Beisel was signed, and was explosive and aggressive during his first preseason game. Rosevelt Colvin, the big offseason signing of 2003, is said to finally be completely healed from the broken hip in the 2003 season, and is showing the skills the Patriots were looking for two years ago. Richard Seymour is paid and happy and barely approaching his prime. Willie McGinest is older, but getting wiser and more dangerous every season. Mike Vrabel is coasting into his prime, and his new contract will retire him in New England. Jarvis Green and Ty warren should also come into their own and be big playmakers. And we haven't even hit the secondary yet! On Offense, the first round pick Logan Mankin, oh hell, let me just say it. Mankin is an animal. He is mean and ferocious. He beats up defensive lineman without breaking a sweat, and during his free time he enjoys cutting down entire Canadian forests with a single axe. If Mankin turns out to be the player he looked like in college (protecting David Carr for many years), we haven't just found the replacement for John Hannah, but his ultimate successor. He's that good. Rumors are circulating about Tom Brady's shoulder, and his lack of throws in practice. Brady has had shoulder injuries (or so they say - he hasn't shown it) in the past, and my prediction is that sometime after he retires, we'll hear stories about just how bad the injuries were (and my guess is that they are pretty bad). But he's a player, and he never gives in on the pain or problems or anything. It'll take a few reps in the third preseason game from Brady to sand off the remaining rust and get into playing mode. No worries. But the other three quarterback spots are still at debate. Doug Flutie signed in the offseason to back Brady, and everyone figures him to be the number two guy, since no one has any faith in last season's number two guy, Rohan Davey. As Steve Deossie said on SportsFinal the other night, "The Rohan Davey experiment is over." Out with Davey and in with Matt Cassel, the seventh round pick out of USC who looked so impressive in his first preseason game, one NFL scout at the game told SI's Peter King, "New England found another one. The kid's good." The mind-blowing thing about Cassel, as herky-jerky he was, running plays intended to be pass plays, is that he had not throw a touchdown pass since high school before that game with the Bengals. He's been a backup for five years. And he shows enthusiasm. A number 2 guy he is not this year, but he could be next year. The New England secondary got thin in a hurry last season when Ty law and Tyrone Poole went on injured reserve for the season. They even played Troy Brown at cornerback, and he had three interceptions to show for it. They were practice squad guys and late round picks. This season, Poole is back, Law is in New Jersey, and the secondary survived rough and tough games and won a Super Bowl ring for their efforts. No longer are they the no name defensive backs. Led by the awesome and terrible Rodney Harrison, Dexter Reid, Randell Gay, Poole, Ellis Hobbs, Hank Poteat, Guss Scott, Duane Starks, Eugene Wilson, Asante Samuels, Chad Scott, and on and on. New Jersey is more competitive with Ty Law at corner, no doubt, but the price to bring him in forced management to cut other players who might not be as talented as Law, but younger players have a longer future than the 31-year old Pro Bowler. Furthermore, resources filled up at cornerback forces the Jets to sign lesser talented players with lesser skills in other areas. This is why the Patriots could not and would not keep Law. The salary cap is only so big, and holds only so much money. Every team gets 53 players, but not all 53 players are created equal. That being said, Miami and Buffalo can't possibly hope to compete with the Patriots and the Jets for the long haul. Divisional games in the AFC East are always interesting, but the score changes outside the region. Nick Saban needed to cut loose more players than he did, and the best he can hope for in Ricky Williams is a productive enough season in him to be able to trade Williams for a second round pick next season. The Dolphins drafted Ronnie Brown in the first round, and they hope Brown can bring life and liberty to the Miami running game, enough where they don't need Ricky Williams - and Williams (or at least his agent) has to know this. Then there is still the quarterback controversy, much like we've seen in Miami since Dan Marino said see ya later. Veteran backups Gus Frerotte and AJ Feely will compete all season for the position in the pocket. But Miami's numbers are real interesting for 2004. They were terrible on offense, ranking 29th in the league. Punk returns were 4th in the league, while kick returns were 7th, and the defense was 8th. But the defense was ranked 31st against the rush. Ironically they were also 31st in rushing on offense. Against the pass the defense was 2nd, but passing they were 21st. Miami was all over the place in 2004, and throw in the resignation of Dave Wannstedt, and the Dolphins are in rebuild mold. But Saban did very little to rebuild this offseason. Why he took Williams back is beyond me, and there was no good quarterback acquisition. Buffalo has 19 starters returning, and that is not good news since their starters were not that productive in 2004 to begin with. Buffalo took five offensive players of their six draft picks. WR Roscoe Parrish was drafted in the second round to beef up the passing game for Losman, and TE Kevin Everett was taken in the third to bolster the blocking and passing game. Losman also gets a center, Raymond Preston, a guard, Justin Geisinger, and another running back, Lionel Gates. The only defensive pick was a cornerback in Eric King. Buffalo might have a chance at catching New Jersey off guard, while Miami ends the season in New England again, and has too many divisional road games in cold weather to be too much of a threat. Look for the Miami defense to look aged. The AFC East - and the Super Bowl XL title, for that matter - is New England's to lose. Coming September 4th, League Predictions. NFL Preseason Schedule Preseason is here! Let those games begin! Friday, August 26, 2005 8PM Patriots at Green Bay at Lambeau Field. Check NFL.com for more preseason listings. 55 games are scheduled to be aired on NFL Network Top Ten List of the Week 1. Great to see Doug Flutie sling a touchdown pass in a Patriots uniform. A quality backup.2. Miami is in a tough situation this season, and Nick Saban needed to clean house more than he did. 3. Williams to Oakland in 2006. You heard it here first. But there again everyone else is saying it too. 4. JP Losman will not start all 16 games. Injuries will pile in Buffalo. 5. Eric Moulds has got to want out of Buffalo by now. He has to. 6. Ty Law will bring swagger to the Jets, but loses beyond his control will bring Jersey back down to earth. 7. Tough break for the Bears and Rex Grossman, but Chicago never protected themselves by bringing in a quality back up. 8. Jerry Rice may bring some credibility to Jake Plummer this season - if Plummer can figure out he's number 18. 9. Can we please send this humidity back south, please? 10. Couple more weeks to opening kickoff. 22 August 2005 |
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