New England Patriots Thread Mod Warning Post #253

Some of Bills comments last night after the draft.

Asked if Cole was in consideration if they'd picked at 21.

'Yeah, well, if we had stayed at 21, then we would have obviously picked somebody. Probably a good chance it would have been him(Cole). I don't know, there were several teams that we talked to prior to when we made the trade. There were some other conversations going on there, but ultimately that's the one we chose.

Glad Cole was there when we picked, and as I said, feel like we made the best decision that we could at 21.'

Asked if he thought he would have been there for our next pick.

'Yeah, he wouldn't have lasted much longer.'

It was mentioned about the comparison with Logan Mankins but he wouldn't go there.

Mel Kiper said Mankins was a reach in the first round in 2005. That was the general consensus among the media 'draft experts'. Mankins went on to be a six time all Pro and seven time pro-bowler.

I didn't like the pick but we have a good history taking offensive linemen in the first round.

I'm not though, fact is we have a great record drafting offensive linemen. The higher we draft them the better they turn out. The exception being the injury prone Isaiah Wynn. Matt Light and Sebastian Vollmer were second rounders, Joe Thuney and Nick Kaczur were third rounders.

I don't hate the pick of Strange, he plugs a position of need and I think he'll turn into a "safe" pick.

Was he the best potential player available, no...

I was really hoping we'd pick up Quay Walker or Devin Llyod at 21 to help our aging LB corps, I'm wondering now if he traded down hoping Llyod would still be available and didn't expect the Jags to step in and take him at 27.

In the end though, I prefer picking Strange vs taking a reach on a player at another position.

What on earth are you talking about? You don't think better blocking improves a team's chances of winning? Do you watch much football?

Tyquan Thornton taken with pick 50. I seen him play, he has blazing speed and he's pretty tall. I'm not sure how he'll do but he'll definitely contribute on ST's from day one.

We normally have five running backs so they'll be going up against Taylor and Ozigbo and the udfa's for roster spots.

Pierre Strong could be anything. He had 1686 rushing yards in 2021 at South Dakota State.

Bailey Zappe likewise could be anything. 5967 passing yards with a 69% completion rate in his only season at Western Kentucky. I was very surprised to see us grab a QB in the fourth round.

Schedule released last night.

2022 New England Patriots season - Wikipedia

Not much to be said really as these things are always a mixture of good and bad against an already known set of opponents.

But some notables - bye week in 10 which is probably optimal - @ Arizona and @ Las Vegas are both within 6 days of each other in December which is potentially great for reducing travelling and giving the team a week of decent weather - Thanksgiving Thursday Game in Minnesota, first TG game since the butt fumble I think - Finish in Buffalo Week 18.

Interesting that both Buffalo games are later in the season, with 4 of the 6 divisional games after the bye.

Shape of the division could be changed quite quickly in those last few weeks.

Quite the robbery by us

Lots of good stuff about Afernee Jennings and Devin Asiasi, two guys who've had troubled spells since being drafted.

It'd be great to see make big leaps.

A great one and always kept to himself. Nothing but the highest respect from me for James White.

Offensive line is awful, needs to be fixed quickly or we'll have an awful season. D not doing great either but they've spent a lot of time on the field.

While they didn't score that much they had a few long drives.

I'm not blaming the D for that, I'm blaming our porous OL who couldn't stay on the field for any length in the first half.

Mo

Some good analysis here, good critique of some of Mac's poor decisions and mistakes by the OL.

Mac was better this week but taking chances like throwing a ball into double coverage has to stop.

You gotta dink and dunk a good bit to get proper downfield opportunities.

He had Meyers, Henry and Smith open a lot on shorter routes. He needs to be getting the ball to them a lot.

I don't think theres anything wrong with our tight ends. They are getting open but Mac is looking downfield instead of having shorter routes high up his progression list.

I put up a good critique on Mac's performance in week 1 and you'll see that both Hunter and Jonno were open but not even looked at by Mac.

I think Meyers is a great receiver and Agholor has improved a great deal since coming to New England. If Parker can stay healthy he'll be a big weapon. I liked Bourne a lot last year.

Hopefully Thornton works out next year.

We are not near the bottom as regards our receiving weapons. Let's be honest, it's not the receivers it's the QB. Look at the Chiefs receivers, nothing great outside of Kelce but Mahomes makes them look great, no superstar on the Packers but Rodgers has them looking good.

Look at who Brady won Superbowls with, Edelman, Hogan and Gronk and nobody else, two years before that it was Edelman, Amendola, Mitchell, Hogan and Martellus Bennett. Go back to our first one, Troy Brown, Patten, Wiggins, Redmond and Edwards.

If Mac sorts himself out and becomes less aggressive and more patient you'll see that we are fine as regards receivers. Brady would have a field day with our current group.

Wes Welker had one TD in his first 55 games. He also played in the slot. Meyers is a great one, he's on the Welker path, he is intelligent, runs excellent routes and has great hands.

Parker isn't a running back, he's got a few years left in him.

Agholor is off to a nice start this season, if he keeps up what he's done in the first two games he'll have 1200 yards this season, I'm not saying that will happen but he could be back up near 1000. Will you call him WR1 if he does that? His only season with the Raiders he had just short of 900 yards and eight TDs. That was his best season. Then he comes to New England and has just short of 500 yards on shorter routes with a lot less targets playing with a game manager rookie QB. You underestimate him in my opinion.

Who exactly was laughing when Thornton was selected in the second round? If you are talking about these 'draft experts' then I'm laughing at you for following their opinion.

I don't often put up my thoughts on draft picks nowadays but I used to do it. I remember saying Derek Carr was the best QB in his class when they were all raving about Blake Bottles, Teddy Bridgewater and Johnny Manziel.

I remember saying Luke Kuechly was the best player in 2012 draft, he was picked at nine and won defensive rookie of the year and then defensive player of the year the next season.

I could give plenty more examples and I could give plenty of examples where I got it wrong and badly wrong as well but I'd consider myself as good if not better than Todd McShay and many other draftniks.

I seen lots of Thornton last year and the two seasons before that. Baylor only played five games in 2020 and it was hard for anybody to look good as training was interrupted regularly by covid outbreaks. Tyquan broke out last season and looked like one of the best receivers in football. If he'd got a full season in 2020 at anywhere near the level he was at last year he'd have been a first round pick.

Anyway back to our receivers, no receiver is going to have a great, or even good, season without a good QB. Mac still has to prove himself. I love the guy and want him to be a franchise QB but he needs to stop doing stupid things like throwing a ball up the middle into double coverage.

He needs to improve his check down progression. It's okay to look long for no.1 but if he's not available you have to look short for 2 and 3. Unless you have a great OL you aren't getting the time to look long twice and then wait a second and wind up for the long throw.

Both our tight ends are getting open a lot but he's not even looking at them. He did look at Henry in the last game but threw a poor ball to him. He threw three times at Jonnu but he was covered on two of them and threw a bad ball on the other one.

Late in the first game he started to target them and they averaged around 10 yards per reception.

Make no mistake about it, the problem right now is not our receivers and tight ends, it's our offensive line and quarterback.

And I'm sitting here wearing my no.10 shirt right now.