Again, it’s preseason football and therefore scoreboards about as accurate and meaningful as compliments a stripper gives you, but losing 34-10 to the Detroit Lions wasn’t very promising for the New England Patriots because well, their starters got beaten kinda badly by Motown’s starters.
Chad Ochocinco did not have a good game. He dropped a pass, and had zero catches while being thrown to four times.
-One positive is how well the team’s offense did work when Tom Brady is under duress. I would go so far as to say that his preseason numbers are as meaningless as anyone’s in the NFL at this point. He does not need a preseason, so don’t bother ever reading too much into what he does in it. MVP, 36 TDs, 4 INTs, ring a bell?
-The offensive line didn’t live up to the hype Saturday night. They’ve been very good during the 2000s, and in the first half of 2007 played about as well as any OL group in history. Stephen Neal retired and Belichick drafted Nate Solder. Other than that, they’re pretty much the same group as last year. And that was a special unit. But last night, playing together for the first time as a unit this preseason, they looked like crap. Pro Bowler and 2010 Defensive Rookie of the Year Ndamukong Suh had his way, Brady was not well protected, and the running game never got going.
-Wes Welker’s injury update: You saw his neck injury, after he hauled in a 44 yard TD catch from Tom Brady.
Later, he told the Herald, “I’m OK,” as he walked out of the locker room.
Meanwhile, teammates are well aware of his ability to withstand hard shots.
“He’s a tough guy,” Brady said. “There’s nobody tougher than Wes Welker. He’s mentally, physically, he’s as good as there is. He’s a huge part of our offense.”
-Wes is More. You can’t spell awesome without W-E-S.
-Remember, Brady wants to push the tempo faster this year. This was not a good start.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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