Patriots Preseason Preview
Some things to watch for as the Patriots kickoff their preseason schedule this week!
It almost doesn’t seem possible, what with all the excitement over the Red Sox during these dog days of summer, but the Patriots kickoff their preseason schedule this Thursday. That’s right, your defending AFC Champion New England Patriots will be in their dress blues (probably) and playing some 11 v 11 ball at Gillette Stadium this week. We’ve made it!
I know, I’m one of the few people that gets excited for preseason games, I’m just happy to be watching something that looks like football again. We likely won’t see a lot of the starters, but there is always something to watch and here are some areas of the AFC champs that I’m going to be keeping a watch on when toe hits leather on Thursday night.
- The wide receiver position as a whole. During training camp, the media that covers the team changes like the weather in Newburgh, Maine. One day Kyle Williams is going to be a break out sophomore and the next they’re writing that he’s going to be cut. Last Thursday, I saw 5-6 tweets touting how great a week of practice Pop Douglas had, and not 20 minutes later I was seeing “rumor” that it would be Pop, not Kayshon Boutte, that was going to be traded or left off the roster entirely. So snaps for guys like Williams and Efton Chism will be important. EC3 is another one that I have seen a lot of highlights of, but also have heard chatter that they think he might be due for another year on the practice squad. I have a hard time believing it, but whoever is out there catching passes could be a true indication of their standing on this roster.
- We likely won’t learn much about the Kayshon Boutte situation by watching these games, but strong performances by guys likely to make the roster at wide receiver could set the Patriots up better to be without their best deep ball threat from a year ago.
- Early in camp there was talk about receiver Mack Hollins playing some tight end. That feels like something you’d need to work out during preseason games, or at the very least joint practices (we have one coming up with the Eagles next week.) I don’t hate the idea, Hollins is a great blocking receiver and is a big target, but it’s a double edged sword: he’s too fast for a linebacker to cover, but he’s too light to block a defensive end. Classic catch-22 if you ask me. (You didn’t, but I answered anyway. I feel like we have that type of relationship.)
- Speaking of tight end, I’m looking forward to our first look at rookie TE Eli Raridon. Sounded like he got off to a slow start but has been turning heads as of late. You know what’s weird? At tight end we have stalwart Hunter Henry and then 3 rookie tight ends. (Raridon, CJ Dippre out of Alabama and Tanner Arkin from Illinois.) I saw a lot of Dippre at Alabama and he was a big target, solid in all phases, but we’ll see how that translates to the NFL. Arkin I know nothing about, except that he played for Bret Bielema at Illinois and that’s good enough for me.
- I’m looking forward to finding out the pronunciation of Patriots rookie, 3rd string quarterback Behren Morton. Is it Bay-ren? Bee-ren? Bern? Burren? Ben? (the HR could be silent, we don’t know. Or at least I don’t.) I could look this up, but like a little second-half-of-preseason-game-number-one treat for myself, I want to wait and hear it on the broadcast. (I hope it’s pronounced Byron and I have no idea why.)
- I’m very interested in the cornerback position. I think a deal will get done with Christian Gonzalez soon, but Carlton Davis has been dealing with an injury (not a newsflash, though he was quite healthy last season. Almost excessively healthy really.) This is a position that you always need depth at, so who is going to be that depth? Looking at the Patriots’ depth chart Karon Prunty is listed as the 2nd string behind Gonzo and 3rd string at left corner behind Davis and Kobee Minor. Marcellus Dial has also had a lot of talk about him at camp this year.
- The position perennially the most fun to watch in preseason games to me is running back. Mostly because we see a lot the run game in the preseason and there are usually guys who break a big run or gash a team’s third string defense in the fourth quarter that even though I know I shouldn’t, I get excited about. The top two spots on the Patriots roster are sewn up by Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson. Then it gets interesting, Terrell Jennings saw some time last year and was productive, I think he has the inside track at being the third back. But you also have Lan Larison, who should have been a rookie last season, but suffered an injury late in camp and was placed on the IR. He’s listed as the 4th string option, I’m excited to see him out there. I mean Lan Larison, that’s a name right out Yellowstone. (The show not the park.) However there is also Alabama rookie Jam Miller. Miller is a tough runner who we’ve seen a lot of the last two seasons in Tuscaloosa. I could see a world where Miller or Larison pops late in these preseason games and has us talking about either who gets that third slot at running back or the potential of carrying 4 on a roster that also features fullback Reggie Gilliam.
A lot to watch for and I for one am ready for some football.
So is Bocephus (friend of the program.)
We’ll be back with a recap on Friday. Then two weeks from today with a recap of the 2nd preseason game against Philadelphia.