Rust remover

The Pats hosted the Super Bowl champs in the first preseason game last night. I did not go to Gillette to see the new video screens because I was on the Cape with most of my family to draft our fantasy football teams for the Coatuit League. I took Randy Moss with the seventh pick (we have eight teams). I would have taken him with the first pick. Not because I think he's the best player. My team name is Moss Racing after the WR's stock car venture. You name your team after a player you have to draft him. Every year.

But on to the real game... well, sort of. I didn't watch much of the game while we were drafting but I have watched the replay on the NFL Network (a.k.a. My New Narcotic). Both teams played a solid first exhibition game. Brady and Brees both played well and got out of there healthy. They seemed to knock the rust of pretty quickly which might be attributed to the fact the two teams had been practicing against each other for a few days.

Shep did attend the game and offered some observations:

• The new scoreboards are not overwhelmingly huge but are a big, big upgrade. Very bright and HD -- excellent images. The one on the lighthouse end looks no bigger than the old one, mainly because the right side and bottom are ads. The other screen is wider than before, but also has ads on each side. However, they are much, much better quality, so they seem bigger — and the best thing: the game video ran all the time, with quick replays from two or three angles immediately after every play — a tremendous improvement that adds a lot to watching the game. They did say NFL Red Zone will be shown during games (in the context of announcing, ‘NFL Red Zone brought to you by.....”)
• I sat in the clubseats for the first half and failed to inspect the Don Julio situation as instructed. I will run my windsprints after work today.
• My biggest impression is that we had a tremendous draft, and Jermayne Cunningham didn’t even dress. Spikes is a beast and how he didn’t go in the upper first round makes you wonder; he played a lot, mostly in Mayo’s spot after the starters came out. Gronkowsi is gigantic — I thought Alge Crumpler was big, but Gronkowski is head and shoulders above him on the sideline. Devin McCourty — first thing you notice is that, yes, he’s not tall but he is big in the upper body and hits with force; very fast in coverage, too, and his returns were spectacular. Hernandez big and very athletic, almost a way-oversized slot guy rather than tight end.
• Starting O line looked quite good — Steve Neal healthy and quick, Koppen as usual, Volmer looking big and quick, Light as usual, and Dan Connolly surprisingly good, quickly pulling and getting upfield to throw a couple of hard blocks, including stoning Vilma on the first touchdown run.
• Brandon Tate had a nice catch downfield, keeping inbounds right on the sideline. Edleman, of course, picking up again with 6 catches for 90 yards — great running after the catch, and some great returns.
• Marques Murrell: sack of Brees early and got downfield for a nice special teams tackle. Tall, physical, quick looking guy, wearing Seymour’s 93.
• Zoltan’s punts in warmups and during the game went very high, allowing for good coverage—and he got one well inside the 20 without going into the endzone.
• Tyrone McKenzie No. 44 played quite a bit in the later second half and had some tackles.
• Hoyer did well, Zac Robinson didn’t have a great shot, since he was getting a big rush and knocked about a bit. I’ve always liked Patrick Ramsey, now the Saints’ backup.
• Pat Chung looked bigger and better.
• I was very surprised to see Gerard Warren all over the place when he was in at the beginning of the game. I didn’t expect that. He was chasing down plays away from him and going hard.
• Wilfork and Moss looked healthy and good.

Shep concludes: Now, Mr. Belichick, where is our pass rush?

Good question.

The biggest bright spot that I saw watching the replay was the return game with Edelman on punts and first-round pick McCourty on kick offs. They could make a very dangerous return team for the Pats which would be a huge boost. We could get into how the running game looked, how the new tight ends played, how the defense did, or just how bad Don Criqui and Randy Cross are at calling a game. But it's one preseason game. Let's hold off on drawing any big conclusions about the 2010 New England Patriots. Just like it's too early to tell how my fantasy team (featuring Moss, Brees, Greene, Grant, Philly D) will fare. Way too early.