Patriot off-season wrap up

It was a grueling and hard-fought off-season for your New England Patriots. Through summer camp the team had a highly fought battle at the wide receiver, cornerbacks and secondary positions. In the preseason games, the Patriots opened with the 48-18 win in Foxborough against the Washington Commanders. The team then went on the road and beat the Minnesota Vikings 20-12. New England closed the preseason with an embarrassing loss 42-10 to the New York Giants. Players that shined throughout the preseason games were undrafted rookie Efton Chism, Elijah Ponder, and rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson. Players who also shinned were new signed linebacker K'Lavon Chaisson and back up rookie Right Guard Marcus Bryant. The team was hit with some key injuries, like star cornerback Christian Gonzalez who has been limited in practice, rookie undrafted running back Lan Larison who was playing well but sustained a broken foot and Offensive Lineman Layden Robinson.

Moving onto the final roster cuts and the 53-man roster. The Patriots to me made no major surprises. with the initial roster cuts. The team however did put wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk on the season ending injured reserve list. Head Coach Mike Vrabel and the team quickly filled the 16-man practice squad last Wednesd

ay. Then Head coach Vrabel and the Patriots brain trust begin to make a series of moves that I think are quite questionable and could come back to haunt the team. The first move that I question was releasing wide receiver, Kendrick Bourne as I think this hurts the wide receiving room. Bourne had a great season under Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniel's a few years back. With the second move the team was then trying to sneak wide receiver Javon Baker on the practice squad. Subsequently releasing him, but he chose to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad. Then the bombshell came late last week. The team released safety Jabrill Peppers which I think substantially hurts the team, especially with cornerback Christian Gonzalez being hurt and may not play week one. Some of the roster moves and tweaking the rosters has been the theme all last week. The Patriots have added a couple line men and defensive lineman to the roster since the original cutdown day.

Looking ahead to week one the Patriots play the Raiders at home. The Patriots have struggled against the Raiders the past few times they have played them. This game is going to have a lot of hype and a lot of drama as there are many storylines leading into this game. The first one is former quarterback Tom Brady is now a minority owner of the Raiders. Secondly former head coach of the Patriots is now the head coach of the Raiders, Pete Carroll, and Patriots offensive coordinator. Josh McDaniel's was a former head coach of the Raiders. Add to that old friend wide receiver Jacoby Myers is with the Raiders, and we have Robert Spillane and K'Lavon Chaisson our team who had been with the Raiders last year. Looking ahead to the game some of the keys to a victory would be, we would need to stop the running game of the Raiders and rookie Ashton Jenty. Our defense would have to put pressure on the quarterback and hold their receivers in check not allowing them to get open and score touchdowns and play great on special teams. For the Patriots on offense, they need to control the playing field by running the ball by blocking well and allowing our wide receivers to get open to score touchdowns.

Finally, I wrap up this article by saying overall I think the Patriots are going to be vastly improved this season. I still have them winning 10 games and making the playoffs. Head coach Mike Vrabel is continuing to install a new culture in New England and creating an identity. Looking at game one with the Raiders I’m predicting the Patriots beat the Raiders 24-21 in a hard-fought close games in Foxborough.