Alright, I am ridiculously late with this one, but I have a good excuse: some guy named Tedy decided to retire and we had to devote like a day's worth of stories to him. Go figure. Anyway, after the jump you will find some fine and insightful analysis by our cadre of armchair coaches. The best part, for me, is reading their analysis because it provokes me to think about the game in a different way.
If I have neglected to post your analysis, please let me know and I'll edit. Enough of my jabbering; analysis after the jump...
From jmm1776, we have our TE analysis:
There were some interesting developments with TEs in this game. Most notably, the TEs were used in the backfield as fullbacks, in a formation I think is called "Full house" (see this link: http://www.
mightymitesfootball.org/ graphics/page30_1.jpg ). Baker played most of the first half, and Watson played in the second half. The TEs were basically non-existent in the passing game.
Aashray G jumps in with linebackers:
A. Thomas and Mayo excellent as linebackers. I'm starting to really like the idea of the 4-2-5 defense. Mayo will be a star for 10 years. Thomas is ever so solid. I'd still like to see him pressure the quarterback more.
Still no sign of Burgess starting at Linebacker, I think that they will use him solely for pass rush. Guyton looked solid as starter and has made a case for starting duties over P.Thomas.Run stopping could improve and I'd like to see the linebackers be more aggresive. Otherwise a solid night for the linebackers, but nothing spectacular. Could improve in pass coverage.
ba-shiznit gives us his thoughts on quarterbacks and some additional analysis:
Well, after the first series 3 and out, Tom Brady looked great, hitting Moss for a couple TD's and moving the ball around pretty efficiently. They seemed to be losing steam toward the end of the first half though.O'Connell looked ineffective under center. It didn't appear the WR's were getting open, but the camera angles weren't focused downfield. Baker tipped an O'Connell pass right to the Redskins D. Lame move for a vet. With the news O'Connell being cut, we can assume Walters will be getting two or three quarters of play in the last preseason game against the Giants. Is it just me alone thinking this, or are there a lot of teams with pretty darn good back-up QB's this season? Seems like there are. The Pats not one of them so much.Other notes:Bodden looked a little up and down, letting a couple deep passes go for receptions. Looked much better in the second half.Vollmer played LT and RT, 1st half, 2nd half, and looked good as far as I could see.F Taylor looked a little ineffective in his playing time.Maroney does a pretty good Faulk impersonation catching passes out of the backfield. He actually had an okay night. Not great, but okay. Maroney, as I have thought for the last couple seasons, should be catching passes out of the backfield to get past the line. Our O-line does not create running lanes as well as I would like to see.Seymore had stopped playing on the play Campbell scooted past him to score a rushing TD. He was only a step or two away from him too. That really chaps my hide. I hope the coaches point that out to him during film review. Later on he did make a sideline to sideline pursuit of a play to make a nice tackle for a short gain. You gotta keep your eyes open every play though. That's how teams stay in the game and score on you, when you're taking a play off halfway before it's over. Irritating.Wilhite made a nice int, but me and my fellow Patriots fans at the sports bar thought it was a little too soon to start showboat-stepping at the 50 yd line. It's fun to be able to celebrate your first NFL int TD, but that was a bit much. The last 5 or 10 yards it's cool. 40 or 50 yds? C'mon.Green Ellis continues to impress me. I feel he should stay if it were between him or Maroney being cut. I hope they both stay. Cut Slater. He did make a couple nice deep tackles on special teams, but the penalties and ineffective return game make me say cut him.I think Chung will keep getting better. He hasn't impressed me much yet, but seems like he will get there sometime this season.
Mike-Dub chimes in with an overall game analysis:
Defense looked OK!... They gave up way to many rushing and passing yards and gave up a score to close out the third quater... CANNOT HAPPEN... Wilhite had a great pick 6... Guyton and Adams both had nice sacks... Adams to allow us to win the game.The Brady and Moss combination looked great with the 2 touchdowns.O'Connell did not play well at all with his two picks which is probably partially why he got cut.Running game didn't do to much but Maroney decent after the passing game opened it up for them.Chung did not look good at his run backs but had a good punt return at the end of the game.The OL looked pretty good except for that one play were Haynesworth hit Brady... Thankfully it is only a sore shoulder and is expected to play agaisnt the Bills next Monday.And Gastowski with the winning FG brought back Adam Vinateri memories.Overall Brady and Moss looked great while every one else on the offense was eh!...The defense did not look good with there pass coverage and gave up way to much with the run and needs to get better with that.And the OL did good except when they let Haynesworth get at Brady.
Hardscores gives us his thoughts on the defensive line:
Well, the first team defense finally let up a scoring drive this
preseason, after 9 successful stops against the Eagles and Bengals.Stephen Williams, a second-string end behind Ty Warren (read: not
gonna start any games injuries non withstanding), tacked on two sacks
while he was on the field. Practice team-bound Titus Adams also
grabbed a sack. Wilfork was stuffing the middle while he was on the
field, taking two tackles and two assists.Clinton Portis was completely stonewalled by the first-team defense.
In six attempts, he racked up a total of 8 yards, with a long of 3!
Mason was a bit more productive, average almost 4 YAC on 8 rushes -
including a rather easy dive into the end zone against the goal line
defense.The back up RBs notched 71 yards on 14 attempts against the backup
line - or 5 yards per run.I know sacks are a misleading stat, but the lack of any from the
starting defensive line is still disconcerting - 22 passing attempts
and none on Campbell (he had 13 completions). It appears that the line
was a bit more concerned with the run, but it would have been nice to
see Campbell hit as hard as Brady was last night.