Pre-Season Impressions

Patriots go 2-2 in the pre-season with wins against the Jaguars and Buccaneers with losses to Detriot and New York.

Now that the pre-season is over, there were some players who stood out and those who were fading on the roster.

5 Players who took advantage of their opportunities:

1. Tracy White

2. Matthew Slater

3. Nate Solder

4. Taylor Price (vs. Jags)

5. Andre Carter

Although White and Slater are primarily Special Teams players, they showed some flashes of dependability at their positions. White made a lot of good, fundamental plays on defense and Slater made some nice catches. Solder has gotten more looks lately at every position on the offensive line except center and has been adequate. Taylor Price had a nice game against the Jaguars, but did not see the field much after that. Andre Carter played well this pre-season, even though the stats do not show it. He at one time spun around an O-lineman and forced him to block Carter with this butt.

5 Players who didn't have a good pre-season:

1. Rich Ohrnberger

2. Brandon Tate

3. Shane Vereen 

4. Jermaine Cunningham

5. Mike Wright

Rich Ohrnberger is probably the only guy who actually sucked on this list. He looked like a deer in the headlights against Ndamukong Suh and the backup DT's for New York. Brandon Tate dealt with injuries and a lack of reps in the only game he played in. Same situation with Shane Vereen. Before anyone reacts about Vereen- I'm saying that Vereen has great ability to be a good player, but injuries have pushed him back on the depth chart. Jermaine Cunningham really didn't play in the pre-season due to a leg injury. Mike Wright is another interesting case- he is a dependable inside rusher in sub-packages but the talent level at defensive tackle is a problem for him. He is not dealing with any concussions or head injuries,  but he hasn't seen the field much outside of the last pre-season game. Of this list- Cunningham and Vereen will stay with the other 3 players staying because of what they can do when healthy.