New England Patriots PreSeason Watch - Special Teams

by SlotMachinePlayer on Aug 31, 2009 12:47 PM EDT Comment 6 comments

Continuing the position battles: (Previously QB WR RB TE OL DL LB DB). Ok, to be fair, these battles have already been won for the most part. This post rounds out the series which I will keep updating until we hit our final 53. Thank you for all of the interest and comments.

The Kicker(s):

NUMBER	NAME	POSITION	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	DOB	YEAR	LAST YEAR
3	Stephen Gostkowski	K	6-1	210	1/28/1984	4

Stephen Gostowski has been competing with himself all preseason. The preseason games have shown that his trip to Hawaii last year has done nothing to hurt his accuracy. He is as solid as his predecessor, Adam somebody.

The Punter(s):

NUMBER	NAME	POSITION	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	DOB	YEAR	LAST YEAR
6	Chris Hanson	P	6-2	202	10/25/1976	11
1	~~Tom Malone~~ RELEASED	P	6-0	205	3/29/1984	2	P

Tom sat around on our practice squad last year. He gave it another shot this year, but Chris won out early on this one.

The Long Snapper(s):

NUMBER	NAME	POSITION	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	DOB	YEAR	LAST YEAR
45 48	~~Nathan Hodel~~ RELEASED	LS	6-2	238	11/12/1977	8 *	Cardinals
47	Jake Ingram	LS	6-2	232	10/23/1985	R

These guys were neck and neck all through training camp. It was a gentleman's battle for consistency, and both were consistent. We kept the younger (and cheaper) of the two. If Rob Ninkovich (LB) makes it on the roster, he's the backup here now that Russ Hochstein is suiting up for Denver.

The Returner(s):

Matthew Slater, Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk, Terrence Wheatley, Laurence Maroney, Darius Butler, Patrick Chung, Julian Edelman, et al.

The only guy here who might lose a roster spot is Slater. He has position flexibility at PR, KR, WR, and FS; he plays equally poorly at them all. BTW, Randy Moss and Joey Galloway have both handled returner duty in the past. I don't see history repeating itself, however.

Who do YOU think puts the "Special" in Special Teams?

The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.

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Welker and Faulk for PR and KR the fastest guy we got

by Patsfan4life on Aug 31, 2009 1:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The fastest guys we got

I think are Wheatley and Butler. (Not counting Moss or Galloway.)

The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Aug 31, 2009 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

how about using edelman … i think hes had some punt return success…haha
i dont wanna wear welker out save him for the slot please!

by bforce3 on Aug 31, 2009 10:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Edelman also gives you the realistic potential for a homerun throwback kind of play on a return, and not just out of desperation.

But somehow, I doubt we’ll see BB run the Wildcat on a kick return.

by RSNexile on Sep 1, 2009 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rob Ninkovich

I hope he makes this team…he’s been impressive.

by Justin_Bobo on Aug 31, 2009 4:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

slater is garbage

I’m sure you all agree. i don’t like Butler back there he has enough things to work on. I like Edelman back there, he can learn from Welker and get some serious playing time on SP Teams. Wheatley is kind of garbage too, I wouldn’t lose any sleep if he got waived. I like Ben Jarvus, Maahroney, and Fred so put Kevin back their to give him third downs and maybe KR.

It may be now..it may be later...later aint gonna be no use! Am I right Al? We got alot of angry guys in their black panthers,muslims, young lords, besides you average anti-socials. We gotta go in, am I right, clean their clocks!

by Peter Chung on Sep 1, 2009 10:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs