53 for Now

Random thoughts as the Patriots prepare to fill out their practice squad and figure out whether or not to sign a long-snapper or cut their punter and place-kicker.

The First Configuration

The dust won’t settle for a few days. New England will get down to the 53-man roster by 4:00pm but there will be more to come in the next few days. The Patriots aren’t the only team making difficult decisions about the end of the roster.

Bill Being Bill

Should we really be this surprised?

Looking Up

I don’t know why but it seems sometimes we forget the good things we’ve got looking for something shiny and new. The Patriots preseason game #3 – the “dress rehearsal” – was a reminder of that.

Logjammin'

One of these guys is going to have a career in the NFL. They just may not have that career in Foxborough.

No Such Thing as Too Much of a Good Thing

Can you have too many quarterbacks?

The Dogged Days

The week leading up to that first preseason game was kind of exciting. We knew it wasn’t really real NFL football but it was the closest thing to it since last February. And now, I can’t even wait until the regular season starts.

Tom Brady will play this Friday night?

Oh.

Well, okay then.

We Are Groot

Guardians of the Galaxy is everything you’ve heard it is. It’s action packed, funny and it’s full of sci-fi clichés that were thrown into a blender and served up on the rocks with a skewer of fruit and a paper umbrella. So delicious.

It’s also something more. Like any good sci-fi story set in the future – really, an alternate universe – it’s subversively and incisively about the here and now.

[Yeah, spoilers after jump. Why haven’t you seen this movie yet?]

Do We Know Anything Yet?

Still gnawing on the ankle of that first preseason game because there isn’t anything else in the fridge.

QB of the Indefinable Future

The biggest takeaway from Jimmy Garoppolo’s professional debut wasn’t the stat line. His numbers were certainly impressive but in case you haven’t heard a million times already, he was playing against scrubs. No, the most noteworthy aspect of Garoppolo’s performance was that the moment didn’t look too big for him. Unlike Ryan Mallett, Garoppolo looked like he was born for this.

Tyming is Everything

It isn’t often that a four-game suspension is a good thing but it just might be the case for Brian Tyms. The young wide receiver will need to continue putting on the kind of performance we saw Thursday night in Washington (5 catches, 119 yards and a TD). That won’t be easy. Getting opportunities will be a challenge as the starters get their reps in the upcoming games. As I understand this (from what I’ve read about Brandon Browner’s four-game stint in the pigskin pokey), Tyms would not count against the Patriots final 53 for the first four weeks of the season. That’s four weeks to wait and see what happens with New England’s somewhat fragile wide receiver corps; Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola and Aaron Dobson all have injury histories. Edelman played all sixteen for the first time in his career in 2013. Amendola is the pigskin spokesperson for the Affordable Care Act. Dobson broke his foot part way through his rookie season and has yet to put on pads in 2014. On top of that, the jury is still out on maddeningly inconsistent Kenbrell Thompkins and Josh Boyce, who may have just a little too much Joey Galloway in him.

Sometimes players just click. It will be interesting to see if Tyms can continue to be Jimmy Garoppolo’s binky.

Tyms is a great story but there are a million great stories in the NFL preseason. Maybe we just saw the greatest game of Brian Tyms professional life last Thursday night. Maybe we saw something else. I’ll be pulling for him. I love a redemption story.

If the Patriots are Showcasing Ryan Mallett, They’re Doing it Wrong

Tom Brady makes the short to intermediate passing game look deceptively easy. He’s pretty good on screen passes, too. Ryan Mallett is not good with the short to intermediate passing game. If New England hopes to move Ryan Mallett for even a fourth round pick, they need to tear those pages out of the playbook for Mallett. When he throws a pass it should travel at least twenty yards in the air. He’s actually pretty good with the deep ball. Go deep. That's it. That's all.

What’s painfully clear at this point is that Ryan Mallett is a square peg. He is the wrong quarterback for Julian Edelman, the wrong quarterback for Danny Amendola and the wrong quarterback for Josh McDaniels’ offense.

If Belichick and McDaniels are going to convince some other team that Mallett is the right quarterback for them, they need to let Mallett be Mallett.

Jimmying to Conclusions

I don’t know what Mike Mayock saw the other day but whatever the opposite of “popping” is, Mallett is doing it right now before my very eyes. Ryan Mallett isn’t justifying his backup role for the Patriots let alone laying the groundwork for a starting gig with another team. I can’t help wondering. Is Garoppolo really that bad? Maybe he’s a bad practice/good game kind of guy? No?

I wrote that during halftime of the Patriots preseason game in Washington.

This is going to be a bad week to be Ryan Mallett.

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Cheat 'Em

Apparently it’s true. Cheaters never win. Or they do until they get caught.

Camp Sunshine

It’s the height of ego to think the universe is crouching behind a bush, waiting, stifling a chuckle as I approach the banana peels of fate they’ve left just for me. Still, I hate to tempt fate. I almost don’t want to say anything. Maybe it isn’t all about me (could that be possible?). Everything can change in a moment; life is like that. Not just because of something I say, right?

Could New England’s training camp be going any better?

Dreaming Big

I’m pulling for Stevan Ridley. In 2012 he was the best Patriots running back since Corey Dillon. I was looking forward to 2013 and then 2013 actually happened. In the off-season, when LeGarrette Blount signed with the Steelers, I was worried that Brandon Bolden would necessarily play a larger role in 2014 during Ridley’s frequent visits to Bill Belichick’s Home for Wayward Running Backs. A big fan of inertia, I had a hard time believing Ridley’s ball security issues wouldn’t continue, even if 2014 was a contract year. Shane Vereen, also in a contract year, couldn't replace Danny Woodhead spending half the season injured in 2013. Can he stay on the field in 2014? Tom Brady is terrific, but he’s even better with a solid running game (okay, what quarterback isn’t). Heading into training camp, it didn’t look like play action was going to help slow the pass rush down. Not with Brady faking to a backfield of slow, fumbling, fragile running backs.

And then the reviews of rookie running back James White started rolling in.