(Preseason) Game Thread - Game 1 Pats v. Giants

More importantly:

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Why would Hines not play? He's been back practicing afaik, why would he not get reps? Also, interesting that Marcus Jones didn't play. He's back to full contact, so does that mean we should consider him a key starter already?
 
I thought I followed the Pats closely but there were guys making plays last night I never heard of before..
 
Jack Jones flashing against the Future Insurance Salesmen of America crew.

If there was only one impression I took away from last night it was that we added a number of guys who have that quick-twitch athleticism that
had been lacking. Jack Jones was just one of a number of new and newish guys that showed it. I don't know if we'll be better, but we'll be faster.
 
I was pleased with the speed. That is what I have wanted the most the last few years.
 
Okay, more thoughts:
#74 Ray didn't show up on the stat sheet, but he was moving people and seemed to be in the right position.
#96(?) Sam Roberts has a knack for penetration against both run and pass, but needs to wrap up/finish. Interesting player. Seems sort of RookieBruschi-ish to me, but without being so dramatically undersized.
#98 Carl Davis was a difference maker - there was a big difference when he wasn't in the game. In preseason, I interpret this to mean he belongs as a solid starter. He won't be one with Godcheaux and Barmore, but he's a worthy NFL starter.
#46 McMillan...I was watching him carefully, and I want to see more. He flashed once in pass rush when he powered a blocker back into the QB and bent both of them over But outside of that, I thought he was just okay.
#30 Mack Wilson - seems to have a knack for being where the ball is, plays fast, solid hitter.
#45 Cam McGrone - seems to have a knack for being around the play without making the play. Plays fast, but needs to react faster.
#58 Jennings - this may be our guy in terms of the strength to set an edge and the power/speed/moves to provide pass rush. Still needs work, but he looks to have the most potential there.
#55 Uche - flashed against scrubs, but still never really completed the play except where Roberts set him up. So much potential, but based on what I saw last night, Jennings > Uche.
#51 Perkins - very neutral on him. He didn't stand out getting rolled, but didn't show me much positive, either.
#24 Jalen Elliott seemed like he was everywhere. It was against scrubs, but he was active and was making things happen. He's not going to make the team, but it was a helluva tryout for 31 other teams. He was really good at ND, often overshadowed by the safety playing next to him. But his right-place-every-snap stability dramatically freed up people around him.
#34 Bledsoe - Given what I've heard about his performance in camp, I expected more, but it can come down to opportunities.
#34 Jack Jones - sticky af. Interesting.

#75 Herron - Bad, but not quite as horrific as I thought. Thibideau definitely gave him problems and got in his head, seemed like a cause of at least one of the false starts. Still, bad.
#69 Strange - didn't look overwhelmed or overpowered, but didn't exactly dominate. Moves smoothly. I'll take stable, even unremarkable, for my guard play if I have to.
#61 Desjarlais - moved some people, mostly unremarkable...vs scrubs.
#87 Sokol - with the starters not playing, and Keene and Asiasi out, he got his chance, and...well, he wasn't a total liability when blocking.
#4 Zappe - he looked good for a rookie in his first game. I hope it never really matters.
#83 Humphries - big slot, move TE/WR hybrid? Can he block? Part of a red zone crew with Parker and 2 TEs? He was clearly better than the people around him. As a TE-alternative there may be a roster spot for him.
#11 Thornton - on that underthrown deep ball, the defender basically jumped on him. He seems to be as advertised: fast, really nice cuts, got off the line well. It takes a lot of different things to really be a factor in a game, but he seems to be on the right track, continues to check boxes.
#82 Tre Nixon - how are you going to cut this kid? This is our speed slot, and he's a returner as a bonus. No chance he slips through to the practice squad at this point.
#17 - Wilkerson - mostly he produces, but a little bubbly. Without Parker and Thornton, I'm pleased with him as a WR5 or 6. But I think Nixon and Humphries are both ahead of him, not counting Montgomery, and that puts him at WR8 at best.
#34 Harris - showed some power, but overall meh, with no blocking.
#35 Strong - Mostly meh, but he had a 5-6 yard run that popped my eyes open. He was straight dragging folks. I didn't see enough of a flash in the passing game to think he's going to be able to take that role, which probably means Montgomery makes the team. He definitely botched passpro at least once that I saw.
 
If there was only one impression I took away from last night it was that we added a number of guys who have that quick-twitch athleticism that
had been lacking. Jack Jones was just one of a number of new and newish guys that showed it. I don't know if we'll be better, but we'll be faster.
That's all I was asking for.
 
#83 Humphries - big slot, move TE/WR hybrid? Can he block? Part of a red zone crew with Parker and 2 TEs? He was clearly better than the people around him. As a TE-alternative there may be a roster spot for him.
I said the same thing in the GDT, I feel like he needs to be on the roster.
 
Okay, more thoughts:

#24 Jalen Elliott seemed like he was everywhere. It was against scrubs, but he was active and was making things happen. He's not going to make the team, but it was a helluva tryout for 31 other teams. He was really good at ND, often overshadowed by the safety playing next to him. But his right-place-every-snap stability dramatically freed up people around him.

#83 Humphries - big slot, move TE/WR hybrid? Can he block? Part of a red zone crew with Parker and 2 TEs? He was clearly better than the people around him. As a TE-alternative there may be a roster spot for him.

Elliott was surprisingly good considering he only signed/joined the team 9 days ago. His 8 tackles led the team. Scrappy af and he has quick twitch acceleration to the ball. He earned more looks from my pov.

LJHumphrey was a standout last night. He earned more looks, too. 6 catches/8 targets with a great catch on an under thrown ball for a TD is solid work. He's not fast but he has good length and bulk (6'4"/225) to mix it up. He could be very useful in the RZ from the slot position. He was signed in mid June.
 
Nope, it didn't, but it was 2s against 1s for a good part of the game. 3s against 2s. When Davis went out it was a big difference, I was surprised.

I thought Davis looked like he was in the best shape since he's been here. Slimmer. That makes sense, because he seemed to run out of gas and struggle late in games. Used in rotation, he's a solid player who can two gap and is hard to move. Every good team needs a couple of big guys like him.

In general, I thought the DL looked better than expected with 3 typical starters out. Henry Andersen took a lot of snaps, is a smart veteran and had a couple of pressures and controlled
his opponents and area well, I thought. He had their 1st rounder LT Thomas on skates and forced a sack. He'd be more like the traditional Patriot DE than most of the guys we have, but he seems to be an afterthought. I've always liked him going back to Stanford and hope he makes the 53.

Ray showed some length and pop. He generated some heat versus their scrubs. You could see why he is getting some buzz.

I was really curious to see Roberts and he didn't look like Godzilla as he did in D2, but, although raw, and he got called for a facemask, he's big, strong and can penetrate. I think he'll need a year in the program, but, at first glance, I could see us stashing him.

I didn't think much of 72, the USFL guy, and am not sure what to make of Ekuale. Maybe he sticks in an Adam Butler role, since he's pretty good at one-gapping, but his size isn't great and
he gets washed out at times. Still, he makes some plays.
 
really happy with the way Jr's buddy played last night. His pass blocking technique has developed very well and he was a load in the run the game, blew open a lot of holes. He says he's the healthiest he's been since his sophomore year at Stanford. He's developed really well and is currently the defacto #2 on the Giants depth chart. If the Giants end up cutting him I'd love to see BFB grab him.

one thing I did like seeing is that he was also on the kicking team as well (assuming you use the same group for both PATs and FGs), special teams play makes you more valuable.
 
Couple of OL notes from last night:

I'm still unpacking last night, but while Cajuste still makes more mental mistakes than I'd like to see there isn't that much difference between him
and Wynn, imo. If we could move Wynn for a decent deal then we might be in a reasonably good position to pull the trigger because we
do have some young guys that could factor in behind Cajuste. I think if he had a chance to play regularly at one position then he could work
out the kinks and perform well.

We haven't seen Andrew Steuber yet due to some sort of injury, but he looks like a better-than-average RT prospect to me and shouldn't need
years of grooming to produce. That is a guess.

Sure, it would be risky, but we'll likely only keep one swing tackle on the 53. Herron doesn't appear to be improving, to put it kindly, even though
every once in a while he shows a textbook pass block with beautiful feet and balance. I figure that is why we have been working with him from 3 years-- he'll
tease you with that athleticism, but between the false starts and just plain bad plays I thought he was, once again, herrondous. We've got to pull the plug
on this experiment, but I wouldn't bet real money that Bill sees it the same way.

My impressions on some of the other guys:

Cole Strange -- I thought he didn't look out of place in the NFL. A little squirrelly here and there on who to block, but nothing bad. He made a nice, quick pull and trapped
the inside tackle on an inside1st down run by J.J. and didn't look overmatched at any point. He'll be solid soon and better than that before long. He looks bigger already. On
one play he squared off with Leonard Williams, who is large, and Strange looked about the same size as him.

A. Hambright -- took a lot of snaps and did fairly well. Pretty mobile guy.

James Ferentz -- I've been calling for him to be cut for years, and hoped this would be the year, but he does actually appear marginally improved to my eyes and is the 2nd best Center on the roster by a wide margin.

Bill Murray -- one of the surprises of the night to me-- he didn't look half bad at RG versus the Giant's scrubs. He looked like he'd been playing the position
for a while and showed power, movement skill and intensity. He's got potential.

Drew Desjarlais -- a sleeper binkie of mine from watching some of his CFL clips -- I couldn't believe how much smaller he looked versus NFL backups. I didn't
see anything to make me feel like I'm right about him and Murray showed more overall polish after converting from DL about 2 weeks ago. Where was the
power Drew? He needs to make something happen and fast to stick around

Will Sherman -- Nope. No thank you.
 
Hoyer wasn't great, he badly underthrew Thornton who had an easy 6, but he was ok. Zappe was, you know, ok overall I guess.

Some positives to take out of the game too, Wilkerson looked really comfortable after doing his juggling act early. Mack Wilson was frickin everywhere. So was Carl Davis.

Wilkerson looks better every year, but I'm still not sure if that is good enough. After watching the play multiple times, Hoyer threw a dime to the end zone and
17 short-armed it because the Safety was coming in range. That's a play the good WRs make, but I don't know whether to blame Hoyer for leading him into trouble or
wondering if the fact it was a meaningless game made him not want to risk going after it harder. I think he could've caught the ball before the Safety, who might've held up,
could get to him.

On second viewing of the drive where Tyquan caught the TD, I noticed that we picked on Aaron Robinson multiple times on that drive. He looked slow to react to both Wilkerson
and Thornton (twice) and I figured he was probably a scrub. Nope. He's listed as a starting Corner. Good on Matty P. for targeting him right away. It was sort of fun to see an NFL
corner who couldn't keep up with our guys for a change.

On an unrelated note, Mack Wilson and the rest of the young LBs looked fairly impressive. In particular, I liked what I saw of McGrone and would like to see him versus first-teamers
over the next few weeks. He looks a lot stronger than he did at Michigan and plays hard. Also, I keep noticing Bill looking annoyed at Uche like he's pissed at him or something. I don't
care if he makes a few mistakes-- the guy makes impressive physical plays regularly. He's a tough out. I think we should start him opposite Judon, leave him there and let him figure it out
with Jennings rotating in for both.
 
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