Like Brendan Behan fresh out of borstal and on his way to Dublin, we’re back.
After one of the most active and anticipatory offseasons in recent memory, the New England Patriots took the field for the first time last night for a completely meaningless game against the Washington Commanders and completely mopped the floor with them. The score doesn’t matter at all, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have way more fun than any man watching a preseason game on a beautiful Friday night instead of doing something productive should.
Time to dust off my Fan Notes hat and get back to work. I’m going to keep these very surface-level and brief, because it’s Saturday morning and you all have better things to do than read my crappy writing. But we’re already off to a good start, and the excitement is building.
- There’s a lot of uncertainty around the preseason. Guys you’ll only see a few more times before they’re gone forever. Three different players all wearing the number 22 on the field at the same time. Vanilla playcalling and a more relaxed atmosphere. I’d actually go so far as to say that there’s only one genuine, ironclad rule of the preseason, and that rule is this:
- If your team looks good in August, it’s a surefire lock that it’s going to translate into the regular season when the games start to matter. If your team looks bad in August, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about, it’s only preseason.
- And since that rule is set in stone and undeniable, I don’t think it’s speaking out of turn to say that we should all start thinking about our travel and accommodations in Santa Clara this coming February.
- If there’s a better way to kick off a season than kicking off a season with a kickoff that an unseasoned rookie takes back to the house, I don’t know what it is. The 2nd round pick that nobody saw coming quickly became a player that nobody could stop, as he apparently broke 20 MPH on that return. He added another 18-yard run on the day and was solid in all aspects of the game.
- As was the only man chosen by the Patriots before him this past draft, Will Campbell. He got some excellent on-the-job training when he failed to pass off what looked like a stunt and surrendered a strip sack, and graded very well in a run game that saw the Patriots pick up 153 yards on the ground.
- There’s not a whole lot to say about the passing game, which is wild seeing as how the score was 48-18. Drake Maye was efficient and safe in limited action, and Josh Dobbs didn’t do much beyond an impressive scramble on 4th and goal to make it 27-3. If you were looking for some early sign that Maye has made massive strides coming into his sophomore season, you for sure didn’t get that...
Pats Pulpit
