New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots would love nothing more than to defeat the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at Gillette Stadium and get the Mike Vrabel era started on a positive note. But Pete Carroll is in town and won’t be an easy opponent. There are two players for Carroll, in particular, who could ruin New England’s day.
Maxx Crosby
The four-time Pro Bowl defensive end is an absolute beast to deal with, and the Patriots aren’t exactly well-equipped to handle a player of Crosby’s impact at the moment.
Left guard Jared Wilson and left tackle Will Campbell have never played in an NFL game before, and they’ll be face-to-face with Crosby in what could be a traumatic baptism. Also, Campbell isn’t 100 percent healthy. Yikes.
Well, there is an opportunity here. If Campbell and Wilson figure out a way not to get utterly exposed by Crosby on Sunday, that’ll give both players a boatload of confidence moving forward.
Brock Bowers
The Patriots haven’t been shy about discussing the problems Bowers presents. Not having Christian Gonzalez on the field only makes matters worse for New England in that regard.
Carlton Davis will have other threats to worry about (Jakobi Meyers), and it’s sort of unclear how the Pats are going to stop Bowers from doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants.
Marcus Jones isn’t big enough to handle Bowers, but guys like Craig Woddson and Alex Austin will likely be assigned to Bowers by committee. It will take the whole village to stop this guy.
The Patriots will likely throw a ton of looks at Bowers, even sticking versatile linebackers (Harold Landry) on him for some possessions. Keep mixing up the coverages and don’t let him get comfortable.
