as you mentioned springs, welker, and faulk sat out. unfortunately all of our main pass rushers were playing. i’m still hoping they can get more pass rush. our secondary isnt GREAT and it’d b nice if the 4-3 works out with our aging linebackers providing depth instead of starting. hopefully butler will be ok because i could see him starting this season if springs or bodden dont seem to get the job done. (but it would make my day if springs shuts down TO which i believe he can due to the bills NONEXISTENT offensive line).
i’m slightly confused about bodden because he was supposed to be a STEAL and a great pickup, and yet he isnt looking that great yet. hopefully he improves.
i dont see a roster spot for maroney this season, but im certain he will be on the roster. this is because he can catch which he worked on in the offseason but we already have faulk doing that. he isnt a great RB and if i had my own depth chart for RB’s at this point i’d start either morris or benjarvis green-ellis (i cant spell) with fred taylor working himself into the rotation as he gets better. last year BGE showed promise as a RB in a 2RB system. and maybe he ends up splitting with fred taylor but BGE has to be on our roster this year. i’d rather have faulk running the ball than maroney at this point. he lacks a “trait” that most successful running backs have. like brandon jacobs power or chris johnsons speed etc.
i had high hopes for maroney when he was drafted and had a decent season will dillon, but since then he has not been healthy and productive.

lets hope tom bradys arm isnt anything serious.

i thought maroney was doing well

BenJarvus Green-Ellis…I really think they should keep him around, but the Patriots have 6 RB’s right now, and I feel that they want to keep the vets around. I feel like galloway, kevin faulk, sammy morris, and fred taylor are a bit old, and even though they can still produce, I feel like the young guys should stick around for the purpose of having a future. I think BenJarvus can basically do what Morris does, and as mentioned in the article, Maroney is starting to look a bit like Kevin Faulk (you get the point). I just hope players like Maroney, Green-Ellis, Terrence Nunn, Julian Edelman, and Matt Slater stick around.

From what I’ve seen and read, it looks like the individual battles for roster spots are quite different from what was initially envisioned. Matthew Slater and Laurence Maroney may be fighting for the same spot, based on KR abilities. BJGE and David Thomas might be battling it out for that 4th TE or 5th RB roster spot. In a lot of cases, it seems their secondary or even tertiary abilities – special teams blocking/gunning, third-down back ability, FB-run blocking ability – might be the determining factor about whether they make the roster or get dropped into the free agent pool. Not quite what I expected, but probably healthier than the alternative of having guys with dubious skills battling for spots.

I would add that the defensive line was pretty good the other night. In addition to their pass rush, which was kind of notable, they totally shut down any kind of running game the Redskins tried to come up with forcing them to pass. I would say that our pass coverage, however, was extremely UGLY. The 99 yard interception came off a poor decision by a third sting quarterback. Next to Matt Cassel, Jason Campbell is the best second string quarterback to have a starting job. I live here in Washington, and when the press is all over how Campbell had a good night (“better than Tom Brady”) you KNOW our defensive backfield had a really, really bad night. I would also say that our special teams are also playing ugly. Catch the ball, Butler! Get your head in the game, Slater! The bad… Lawrence Maroney is playing his last season with the Patriots unless he can learn to react better than he does. He has the ability to be a good running back, I don’t think he has the instincts, however. Juke stepping is NOT moving forward. When you see daylight run for it. If it’s not there, go around. Fred Taylor needs to get on the same page as Brady—and fast. Once he does, I think he’ll contribute.