Tennessee Titans edge New England Patriots 27-24
I haven’t had time to watch the August 17 pre-season game between New England Patriots and Tennessee nearly as obsessively as I watched Patriots v. Buccaneers, so my comments will be a bit more limited this time, and I won’t rank the performance of the offensive linemen.
Quick game recap: Tennessee Titans won the game 27-24 with a last-second field goal, but New England’s first-stringers outplayed the visitors’. Brady threw a touchdown pass to Wes Welker on a broken play that had Brady scrambling to his left. Later in the first quarter fullback Heath Evans punched in the ball for New England’s second touchdown. Titans opened the scoring when a cornerback intercepted a Brady pass and returned it for a touchdown. New England’s first-string defense had the upper hand against Titans’ offense, and it was once again nose-tackle Vince Wilfork who stood out the most. The highlight of the first half was Patriots’ defense stuffing Tennessee’s goal-line offense on four straight downs at the end of the first half. Tennessee’s scrubs turned the game around in the second half and eked out a 27-24 victory.
Much post-game debate has centered on the offensive line’s at times inadequate protection of Brady. Brady threw two interceptions, both times when hurried by Tennessee linemen who stunted their way past the pass protection. I’m not making much out of those missed assignments. It’s more or less a given in pre-season football that one defensive tactic or another will overwhelm the offensive line. Now the Patriots’ offensive linemen have good game tape to watch and learn from as they get ready for the season-opener against New York Jets.
Also, it seemed to me that the Patriots had the advantage over Tennessee’s pass-rushers on more or less straight pass rushes, so it’s not by any means as if Nick Kaczur, Stephen Neal, Dan Koppen, Logan Mankins, Matt Light and Ryan O’Callaghan have forgotten how to pass protect.
Likewise, New England’s linemen outmuscled, outmoved and outblocked Tennessee in the running game. One play in particular struck me as illustrative of the offensive line’s ability. It was on New England’s first or second drive of the game. Neal and O’Callaghan double-teamed a Titan’s defensive linemen before Neal quickly disengaged to block a linebacker who was coming up to fill the gap Neal had vacated. It was a rather impressive display of athleticism and awareness when Neal spun to his inside to clear out the linebacker. Neal basically executed an inside trap all by himself. Not bad.
On New England’s second touchdown drive the offensive line more or less pushed Tennessee straight through the red zone on a succession of inside running plays. The drive was capped off by Evans’s touchdown plunge over the right side of the offensive line, where Neal and O’Callaghan punched a hole in the defensive line while Light, Mankins, and Koppen cut block the defensive line, angling to the right. Training-camp acquisition tight end Marcellus Rivers crushed Titans’ defensive end Vandenbosch. Backup center Russ Hochstein was lead blocker on the play and created nice forward momentum at the edge, but unfortunately hurt his foot while doing so.
As usual, Koppen, Neal, and Mankins crunched defenders on screen plays. It must fairly suck as a defensive back to have to tackle an elusive runner like Kevin Faulk while avoiding a wall of mobile 300-pound offensive linemen who can block on the move. Of course, if New England’s vertical passing game doesn’t improve once the regular season begins the screen-pass well will likely dry up as safeties and linebackers start staying closer to the line of scrimmage. For now, the screen pass is New Englnd’s most reliable weapon in the offensive arsenal.
Since Brady got hit a few times plenty of Patriots fans blasted Light after the game, with one proverbial tool commenting on Boston Herald’s web site that the former Pro Bowl left tackle isn’t good enough to make a practice squad. I strongly disagree.
With both Billy Yates and Hochstein out with injuries, and with Kaczur and O’Callaghan taking tuns at right tackle, and Brian Barthelmes cut, New England’s second and third offensive line units have almost merged into one (well, right tackle Corey Hilliard is indisputably third string). It seemed to me that Clint Oldenburg and Gene Mruczkowski played quite a bit better than they did the previous week against Tampa Bay. Little Mike Elgin continues to impress. I have to admit that I smiled a bit condescendingly when I heard some fan from Iowa (State? North Central Community College?) claim after the draft that Elgin’s technique and work ethic would make up for his lack of size (his listed weight – 290 pounds – is surely an exaggeration), but Elgin has held up well during the pre-season. I doubt he’ll make the 53-man roster but he could make injured reserve or – failing that – the practice squad. I doubt the Patriots will let such a solid football player go without giving him a real chance to grow up and show something.
Oldenburg is a different story. He’s got the required size (6-5, 300 pounds), but he doesn’t seem to be quite as skilled as Elgin. He has, however, showed steady improvement and he may be capable of playing both guard and tackle. It should also be kept in mind that he played tackle in college and now has been moved to guard. On the other hand, I imagine Patriots brought in rookie free agent Chris Patrick, another undersized lineman, in part because they feel Oldenburg hasn’t quite lived up to their expectations. Or maybe they’re concerned about Yates’s ability to stay healthy. Yates is good when he plays, but he gets hurt too easily so maybe the Patriots are considering bringing in one more interior lineman in case one would be needed towards the second half of the season. While Patrick played tackle in college, his body is probably better suited for guard in the National Football League.
Young Gostkowski has had an uneven pre-season so far, but considering how well he kicked in last year’s regular season after a shaky start I don’t see much reason for concern, at least not yet. Even the great Adam Vinatieri missed at least one game winning or game-tying kick in his years with the Patriots. I think Ghost will be okay. Plus, he did level a Titans kick returner with a bone-crushing form tackle. Well, not quite, but he did bring one down with a leaping wrasslin’-like move. It’s always good to have a kicker who can tackle, especially since Patriots kick-coverage units were at best inadequate last year.
One of the storylines going into training camp was the battle for the job as punter. The incumbent Josh Miller was believed to be vulnerable, with Danny Baugher the primary challenger. Miller was cut a couple of days before the Titans game and the other candidate, Tom Malone, a couple of days after the game. So the job is now Baugher’s.
Back up linebacker Pierre Woods, who’s been absurdly hyped by Patriots Football Weekly writer Tom Casale, was a massive disappointment. Woods was steamrolled by a running back, then pushed around by a tight end, and later buried by a tight-end-tackle combo block on Tennessee’s final touchdown. Only once did he hold his ground on that drive and that was against a backside seal-off block. In other words, Woods didn’t do a dadgum thing. At least Justin Rogers, a rookie outside linebacker who’s also fighting for a spot, occasionally makes a play. Woods had better be really, really good at special teams to make the roster (dumping on Woods is a bit unfair since he went undrafted last year, but I was surprised by how irrelevant he was after hearing Casale praising him and comparing him to Pro Bowler Larry Izzo, a comparison that Belichick was quick to dismiss at a press conference last week, I might add).
