Evaluations and Expectations

I know you’ve heard it before. I’ve said it myself. It’s just the preseason. They aren’t game-planning. It’s about building the roster, not winning the games. Somehow it’s just not as reassuring after the third preseason game as it was after the first.

Dreaming of September

The good news has piled up over the last few days. First, Logan Mankins put on pads and got to work. Then the Patriots signed world class sprinter Jeff Demps (despite the oblations of the Jets and former Florida teammate Tim Tebow). Now we’re hearing that OT Sebastian Vollmer and TE Daniel Fells will be activated and begin practicing next week. How psyched am I? I’m actually counting the hours to kick-off Monday night, knowing full well I won’t see anything of Demps other than college and Olympics clips and with the near certain expectation of Brian Hoyer starting at QB.

Still Waiting

How do we know its preseason? The Cleveland Browns beat the Green Bay Packers 35-10.

A Sip of Kool-Aid

Time for a tall, icy cold glass of Belichick Kool-Aid.

Jaws

No, not the character in the Bond movies. It’s Shark Week! And "Jaws" is finally out on Blu-Ray. I still can’t believe they couldn’t get the disc out for the 4^th of July. Five years ago. Did I mention it’s Shark Week?

Already Gone

Wins aren’t nearly as important in the preseason as hope. The Raiders lost to the Cowboys 3-0 but with Darren McFadden looking like he’s fully recovered from the injuries that ended his 2011 season, Oakland fans have got to feel a lot better about their team’s chances than the good citizens of Dallas do today. Tony Romo looked like whatever the opposite of elite is. The good news for fans of America’s Ex-Girlfriend? According to Romo, they tried hard. Wait a minute. That’s not good news. If you’re trying hard and you look that bad it is definitely not good news.

One Thing

To Plax or not to Plax? That is the question. For Monday, anyway. Plaxico Burress coming in for a workout and Chad Johnson on the market bail has Patriots Nation thinking. Granted, it has most of us thinking we’d rather hear about a solid veteran offensive lineman coming in for a workout than a 35-year old ex-con wide receiver but solid veteran offensive lineman are apparently a lot harder to come by than 35-year old ex-con wide receivers.