Raising expectations

Oh, sports-talk radio. You are nothing if not predictable. The Patriots won their second preseason game last night, easily beating the Falcons down in Atlanta 28-10.

The voices coming through my car radio were throwing around declarative sentences like "The Patriots are sending the league a message"; "The Patriots look much, much better than I thought they would"; "They look like they could be one of the best teams in the league again." All this after a preseason game.

The Patriots sure looked good. The starting offense has that feel like it could be very hard to stop. Brady has lots of weapons, especially with Wes Welker way ahead of schedule. Last night the play of the two new tight ends (Gronkowski and Hernandez) was very encouraging. Maybe, just maybe, the Pats will actually get some offensive production from that position. The running game looked strong and the offensive line, thinned by the holdout of Mankins and the injury to Kaczur, pinned its collective ears back and opened up some running room while protecting the quarterback. Fred Taylor got into the action and looked fresh. When the Pats signed the veteran as a free agent last year I couldn't wait to see him in action. He's been a favorite for a long time. A class act all the way. Just when it looked like he was rounding into form last season he went down with an injury. So once again this year I'm looking forward to seeing him play. I like Maroney (still) but I think Taylor can have a big year.

Of course I thought that about Tory Holt too and he's now out for the season. Kaczur could be the next to go with a back injury. Combine those injuries with the loss of Ty Warren and it hasn't actually been that wonderful of a preseason. Except the team is 2-0. In two more weeks the record will be reset to zero.

I can't wait for the start of this season. Even with the injuries I'm optimistic the team can have a great year. I'm just not going to base that optimism on a preseason game.