SB Nation - Jake Ingram

New England Patriots 53 man roster - some thoughts

MaPatsFan — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:04:36 -0000

by Stephan Savoia - AP

7 months ago: New England Patriots head football coach Bill Belichick looks over his rookies during football minicamp at the team's practice facility in Foxborough, Mass., Friday morning, May 1, 2009 (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

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We stay with 2 QB's, LB is a bit weak, TE will be a position to watch, OL is stacked on the interior...let's break it down position by position (props to NESilver for his comment in this thread)

Offense: 25

QB: Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer (2) - Odd we keep only 2, but that could change when the season starts.
RB: Laurence Maroney, Fred Taylor, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, BenJarvus Green-Ellis (5) - Solid group.
WR: Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Joey Galloway, Greg Lewis, Saim Aiken, Julian Edelman (6) - Break out the air raid sirens. Edelman looked like "Little Welker".
TE: Benjamin Watson, Chris Baker, Michael Matthews (3) - Like this group, Matthews is a big man which must mean "blocking TE". Baker has good hands which we haven't seen in NE TE's for a long time.
OL: Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal, Nick Kaczur, Sebastian Vollmer, Rich Ohrnberger, Dan Connolly, Ryan Wendell (9) - Deep on the interior, Vollmer is the next stud.

Defense: 25

DL: Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, Jarvis Green, Ron Brace, Mike Wright, Myron Pryor (7) - Liking the depth, glad to see Pryor make the roster
DE/OLB: Derrick Burgess, Tully Banta-Cain (2) - Can you say, "4-3?" I knew you could. Here comes the pass rush.
LB: Adalius Thomas, Jerod Mayo, Gary Guyton, Pierre Woods, Eric Alexander, Rob Ninkovich (6) - Might be considered a little thin, possibly why NE is experimenting with a 4-3.
CB: Leigh Bodden, Shawn Springs, Jonathan Wilhite, Darius Butler, Terrence Wheatley (5) - Wheatley barely hung on to his spot. I hope a "shutdown corner" emerges.
S: Brandon Meriweather, James Sanders, Patrick Chung, Brandon McGowan, Matthew Slater (5) - Good group, although Slater will, most likely, be IR'd.

Specialists: 3

K: Stephen Gostkowski - What can I say? One of the best kickers in the league. A machine through the uprights and consistently boots kickoffs into the endzone.
P: Chris Hanson - Game changer. Massive hangtime and very good accuracy.
LS: Jake Ingram - Many laughed when Hoodie drafted Ingram. The rookie wins the long snapper battle.

Injured Reserve

OLB: Shawn Crable - Depressing. The dude can't catch a break.
RB: Chris Taylor
OL: George Bussey - Adds depth for next year.
LB: Tyrone McKenzie - Looking forward to seeing him inside for 2010.

Poll

What do you think of the roster?

Lovin' it!

524 votes

Too early to tell.

722 votes

Hate it.

66 votes

1312 votes | Poll has closed

New England Patriots Links 7/30/09 - The Rap Sheet is open

MaPatsFan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:24:37 -0000

More photos » by Stephan Savoia - AP

6 months ago: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) throws a pass during the second day of football minicamp at the team's training facility in Foxborough, Mass., Thursday morning, June 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

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The Boston Herald's new Patriots beat reporter opens up his blog, The Rap Sheet:

I’m Ian R. Rapoport, the Boston Herald’s new Patriots beat reporter. It’s been a few weeks since the announcement that I took this job covering your team, and the work can finally begin. ‘Bout time.

Karen Guregian gives us A closer look at key Patriots

Fred Taylor [stats]

6-1, 228

Running back

Skinny: At age 33, he may no longer be considered an elite back, but Taylor bears watching because he seems like a man on a mission. He wants to win a ring. He wants to dispel any injury-prone reputation he may have inherited. He also wants to stick it to the team (Jaguars) that essentially gave up on him. Even with 11,271 rushing yards in the books, there’s some gas left in his tank.

LOCAL SHOTS

Karen Guregian Breaks down five issues to watch at training camp. Tom Brady, anyone?
Mike Reiss long snapper Jake Ingram finally signs
Shalise Manza Young Reports on key battles to watch when Patriots open training camp
Mike Reiss Former Patriot Antwain Spann to workout with Bills. A ploy for intel?

LONG SHOTS

Joe Fortenbaugh (NFP) Players on the comback trail. Brady tops the list.
Steve Wyche (NFL.com) Giant David Tyree in the fight of his career
Jason Cole (Yahoo! Sports) Viking Sage Rosenfels moves past Brett Favre
Pete Prisco (CBSSports.com) Puts Brady at #2 behind Fivehead. I'll take that given he missed an entire season.

New England Patriots Training Camp Primer

MaPatsFan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:55:56 -0000

via cachemediasrv.patriots.com

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This story is less about training camp battles and more about logistics, schedules, etc... For those of us within a reasonable distance of Foxborough, MA (I'm an hour north, near the New Hampshire border), this may be useful.

For all things Patriots Training Camp, check out the Training Camp section at Patriots.com
Look here for the schedule. Belichick's working the boys with two-a-day for the first seven days.
Current PUP list includes Shawn Crable and Ty Warren; don't panic. It could be nothing.
Mike Reiss reports Tyrone McKenzie and Jake Ingram are the lone two out of 12 draftees yet to sign.
Mike Reiss has put together a Fan's Guide to Training Camp. If you're planning on attending, this is a must read and the videos really helpful.
From personal experience, make a day of it. Watch practice in the morning, have lunch, and do some shopping. You can get your football fix in and satisfy the shoppers in the clan. Or, they can shop while you watch practice.
Buffalo is working hard on a no huddle offense. Look for the Patriots to spend a significant amount of time learning to defend against that formation. Props to anyone who knows another team that's big into no huddle. Anyone? Bueller? I'll give you a hint: Five Head