New England Patriots Preseason Observations

With a Prediction

Losing the SuperBowl has been a traumatic event in the life of many a contender; 7 of the last losers failed to make the playoffs the next year, and I don't think any one of those has actually returned. Goodness, look at what happened to the Raiders after losing Super Bowl XXXII. They've barely sniffed a win, never mind a winning season or playoff appearance.

It is with that in mind that I've been watching the preseason with a degree of angst to begin with, never mind the anemic performance we've gotten from the team throughout the preseason.

And far, the Patriots have looked pretty awful in competition this preseason. Game 3 - by most measures, the most important of the preseason games - was marked by another colossally bad offensive performance, as well as some spectacular failures on special teams; two consecutive returns resulting in touchdowns against you really has to go down as something special in terms of failure.

However, there has been some extenuating circumstances and some explanation that would lead me to be cautiously optimistic in my perception of where this team is currently in terms of its readiness for true competition. "This had better be good," you're saying to myself.

I expect it will be, but in the end I'd love to hear whether or not you think I'm deluding myself; if you think I'm full of it, or if you may just agree with me.

One of the things I found interesting was the release of Tight End Marcus Pollard. This essentially wraps up not the Tight End competition, but the Running Backs competition. The Pats will likely keep 5 on the roster. One could look at that as an indictment of Laurence Moroney and his development; or one could look at it another way. All of these guys can catch the ball - Moroney, Morris, Faulk, Green-Ellis, Jordan. Add in Fullbacks Evans and Eckel, and you've got yourself a full compliment of receivers as well as runners.