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It's training camp time in New England, football season is almost upon us. Another run to the Super Bowl is in the hopes of Patriot fans everywhere. It all starts here, in the dog days of summer. There were over twelve-thousand fans at the practice facility today and some stuff happened.
When you read that headline your not gonna believe that it’s a real curse. I’m going to tell you a couple stories to show you that it is real. Especially one about the shirt above. I’m going to have to take you back to April 19, 2013Jackie Bradley Jr made the 2013 Red Sox opening day roster because David Ortiz was on a rehab assignment. My friends and I got tickets to the Red Sox on April 19, 2013 against. That is a day that changed my entire life. We were waiting outside to get in and we stopped at the little stand stop outside to look around. Me and my friend Shawn both bought shirts. Shawn bought a Mike Napoli shirt, I bought a #44 Jackie Bradley Jr. shirt.
After that we got into Fenway my other friend, Ben, his dad says to me “Hey, your shirt just got called down”. “What?” I said. JBJ got called down no longer than thirty minutes after I bought that shirt. What are the chances? You can brush that off as nothing but it didn’t end there. When he got called up again he changed his number to #25, because Jake Peavy had taken #44. I didn’t buy another shirt until the next season. I bought a Jon Lester shirt and a Jonny Gomes shirt. Two solid shirts comin off a World Series win. These were bought in Febuary of 2014 Then on July 31, Jon Lest and Jonny Gomes were trade to Oakland. My shirt had something happen to it again. You could say poor choices on shirts but it isn’t. I was/am cursed. Oh and I forgot Christman 2013. I always liked the Vikings, I liked the purple and the logo. So I wanted a shirt so why not Adrian Peterson? Well the next season he got suspended for beating up his kid. Yup. Another shirt goes down. In October of 2014 Chandler Jones went down with a hip injury and missed a month. Guess who bought his shirt before the season started. That’s right, me. At Christmas 2014, all I wanted was a Tom Brady jersey, I received one that Christmas. On Saturday, January 18, 2015 the Patriots plays the Colts in the AFC Championship Game. I was there and the whole Deflategate thing started, which obviously included and hurt the reputation of Tom Brady. Deflategate dragged Brady through over 509 days of nonsense that ended this month. It ended with him being suspended four games. I’m not going to go through in detail of every player’s shirt/jersey I have owned who has had bad things happen to them. Other players it has effected are Kelly Olynyk, Jae Crowder, Jamie Collins, Brandon Browner, and Hanley Ramirez All of these player have had something bad happen to them as an direct cause of me buying their shirt. Which causes me to think this way, do I control my curse or use it for personal gain? See, I was thinking of buying myself a Jaabal Sheard shirt and a Pat Chung shirt but I’m now going to for the good of the team. But what I could do is try to help the team with it. What if I bought a Le’Veon Bell shirt? It could lead to him having a bad year due to injury or just have a bad statistical year. I think I may have to do it just to try and help the Patriots out. Center position is up for grabs
David Andrews was awesome last year while Bryan Stork was out but Stork took his job right back after he returned. But now they are fighting for the starting job. Andrews also played some guard after being bounced from the center position. Later on in the season, Stork played some tackle an wasn’t bad. I Think that Stork should win the job to start at center but Andrews has to be on the roster. Has to. The log jam at interior offensive line Shaq Mason, Josh Kline, Jonathan Cooper, Tre Jackson, Joseph Thuney, and David Andrews are all vying for the two starting guard spots. Joe Thuney is a lock as Jonathan Cooper should be too. What hurts Tre Jackson and Shaq Mason is that they are starting camp on the PUP list, I think Mason should be on the roster and I think Jackson could be the one to get cut. They will carry four so that would make Tre Jackson, in my opinion, the odd man out. The Patriots have one of the best receiving corps in the league. The core’s health will be crucial to the success of the team this year. Edelman and Amendola are starting camp on the PUP list but should be ready in time for the start of the season. Both are coming off of surgery. They are both locks to make the roster, let’s take a look at who else rounds out one of the best corps in the league, who makes the fifty-three? Who doesn’t?
Chris Hogan- Hogan sign a three year $12 million deal in March. He was brought from the Bills to replace the released Brandon LaFell. Hogan is going to be a significant part of the offense this season and is a roster lock, and he will be for the next two years. Malcolm Mitchell- He is another roster lock taken in the fourth round out of Georgia. ESPN’s Mike Reiss said he is “showing early aptitude” in the Pats’ offense. He won’t be playing a ton as a rookie but his workload will increase every year. People were saying when he was drafted that he could have been a top ten pick if not for his ACL injury. I like Mitchell, but you won’t see a ton of him this year unless someone in front of him on the depth chart goes down. Nate Washington- Nate signed a one-year deal with the Patriots this March, it is a flier. He supplies a need as an outside receiver but isn’t guaranteed to make the team. He was thrown into a gauntlet for the fourth receiver spot with Aaron Dobson, Keshawn Martin, and Devin Lucien. He seems to be the favorite to be the leader in the clubhouse for that spot, local media assumes it will be him. However, Patriots.com said Nate Washington struggled to get “on the same page” with Tom Brady. That is a problem that could cost him his roster spot. The talent is there, I want him on the squad but he needs to get on the same page as Brady and Jimmy Keshawn Martin- Here is an interesting one. One would think that he would be a lock for the roster because of his recently signed two year extension but the word is he isn’t. He is very valuable in the return game but they drafted Cyrus Jones who is a weapon returning punts and kicks. Martin had zero catches in the AFC title game and two in the Divisional round. I’m a fan of his but he could be the guy that gets cut because of his lack of production in the passing game. Devin Lucien- The seventh round pick out of ASU is said to have elite ball skills and plays bigger than he is. He is fast too. He also has awesome hands which is a must for him to have a shot to make the squad. According to Rich Hill of PatsPulpit.com, Lucien only dropped three of ninety-eight targets. That is pretty impressive. This man has a ton of potential. He is the outside receiver that Patriots need. I am all aboard the Lucien bandwagon to beat out Washington for the fourth receiver spot. I cant wait to see what happens with him. Aaron Dobson- This guys has been the biggest disappointment. The second rounder out of Marshall has killed me. He is just painful to watch be a healthy scratch every week, they just need to cut ties with him. If he makes the fifty-three over Lucien I will be heated. Every spring we hear how great he is doing, I for one, am sick of it. Cut him and be done with it My picks to make the roster- I think the receivers to make the final fifty-three are Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan, Malcolm Mitchell, Devin Lucien, and Nate Washington. I will always be in favor of carrying six receivers I this offense. Plus you can keep Chris Harper on the practice squad in case of an emergency. Sean Payton has coached the New Orleans Saints to a 7-9 record three out of the past four seasons. This season it’s all about to change. Payton is a great coach, in fact he is the second best head coach in the league. He’s got himself a HoF QB in Drew Brees who is a top three QB in the league. This duo won a Super Bowl in 2009 after a great season. I don’t know if they can do it again. What I’m saying is they are better than 7-9. New Orleans took the Panthers to their limits in week 14 but lost 41-38. That game showed what they are capable of, not playing defense. So they went out and tried their best to upgrade their defense. They added DT, Sheldon Rankins and S, Von Bell in the NFL Draft. Both could be effective this year. Michael Thomas in the second was a slam dunk of a pick. Those are my opening thoughts so now let’s get into it. Offense: I think Andrus Peat will improve from what the grade he earned from PFF. He was thought to be a solid offensive tackle prospect coming out of last years draft. The offensive line is very solid. Max Unger is a good center who they got from Seattle for Jimmy Graham. Jimmy Graham’s replacement is no other than Coby Fleener. I like Fleener. I think he can be very effective in this offense. This offense made Benjamin Watson relevant work last year so I think Fleener will be awesome. Fleener had a good year last year and will have a better season in 2016. The Saints are giving him $7M per over the next five years so they are going to have to make him work even though he is going to work. Brees is just going to be Brees this year and have stats that are at the top of the league. Mark Ingram is an ok back. He fits in perfectly with the offense who needs to run the ball. Their receiving core is what intrigues me. Brandin Cooks is going to be his versatile self. I think he can get up to around 85-95 catches this year. And if the offense can be as good as I think it will be he could get 100 catches. Brandon Coleman and Willie Snead were what this team needed last year. Marques Colston was terrible last year and these guys stepped up. Up in the screenshot it has Coleman and Snead as starters but I think Michael Thomas should/will start at receiver along with Cooks and Snead. This offense is very balanced it has a good running attack and could have themselves a top ten offense by the time the season is over. Defense: So the defense starts out with the obvious, Cameron Jordan. I was shocked when i looked and found he is only 26 years old. I feel like I’ve been watching him forever. But anyways he is the cornerstone of that defense and will be for the foreseeable future. They went out and added Sheldon Rankins in the first round this year to beef up this line. Rankins was the best DT in his class (if you count DeForest Buckner as a DT Rankins would be number two). Delvin Braux is a nice corner. Last year Brandon Browner was a disaster opposite Breaux. I guess Belichick got that one right again. Browner was just embarrassingly bad. I like Stephone Anthony as middle linebacker but they are changing his positon to strong side linebacker for the upcoming season. That’s mostly because James Laurinaitis signed to play middle. But I do not like this line backing core. If they had taken Myles Jack in the first even with his knee because Jack is a stud and will be fine. Jack is going to be a top three linebacker in the league in like two years so they should have taken him in the first. Or instead of trading up for Von Bell in the second they could have traded up a little further for Reggie Ragland, or even Myles Jack. But the one thing I actually like about this defense is their safeties. Jarius Byrd, Kenny Vaccaro and now Von Bell is good. They say Von Bell can play some slot corner which is where I would play him when he isn’t playing safety to maximize him as a player. Byrd got paid a couple off seasons ago and Vaccaro is continuing to grow as a player so they are sticking to that there. If Byrd can be what they signed up for when he was in Buffalo they should be golden. And if Vaccaro can be a firm strong safety, they will be even better.
Conclusion: I really like the Saint’s offense on paper but you never know once they get to August. Their defense is in shambles but could be halfway decent if they get production from Laurunaitis and some level of contribution from Ellerbe their linebackers will be fine but not good. But when it comes right down to it they do not have to have a high level defense to make the playoffs. If their offense can be as good as I think it can be (possibly top ten in the league) they will make playoffs. Their division intrigues me, Carolina is obviously the favorite with Atlanta lurking, while Tampa Bay could finish bottom five in the league or compete for a division title. I will get into Tampa later on in the summer but for now it’s the Saints. Right now I will go on the record saying that I do think the Saints will make the playoffs. The Saints can and will be good |
Chris LehanTalkin' NFL, AFL and some Celtics. ArchivesCategories |