I remember when we entered the locker room, Bill Belichick was in there, briefly.
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“I think Logan has very good playing strength, and although he’s not as big as some of those guys he still has decent size and playing strength and instincts”, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said in a week 3 press conference. In the National Football League, that is more often than not the name of the game.
Garoppolo officially was listed as doubtful Wednesday, leaving just a hint of uncertainty.
That’s where Dr. Mark Adickes comes in.
Not to root for or applaud an injury, but with Garoppolo going down at least we don’t have listen to the “trade Brady” crowd the next few weeks.
The Texans are 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall, 4-1 ATS in their last five against the AFC, and 0-6 in their last six Thursday night games ATS while the Pats are 4-0 ATS in their last four games in September, 5-1-1 in their last seven ATS when scoring more than 30 points in their previous game, and 1-5-2 ATS in their last seven against a team with a winning record. Based on his observations, there are reasons to believe it could be either.
“I’m very excited”, he said. That leaves Brissett as New England’s starting quarterback.
But everything kicks off Thursday night, when all eyes will be on the quarterbacks. New England does have a pretty sound defense as well and will look to get after Osweiler who is still getting his feet wet as an NFL Starter, but with no shortage of weapons the Pats know they need to get after the inexperienced pivot and force them to win on the ground or with their special teams. The bad news is that he suffered a shoulder injury in just his second appearance. The motion of throwing a football doesn’t put the AC joint at extra risk, other than for some increased inflammation. With the season-ending injury to Danny Woodhead, it could appear a bit surprising that the Chargers are favored to win the road game. I do not possess the same depth of institutional knowledge as some other beat writers, but I can recall one instance that shed lights on Belichick’s mindset. “When you’re watching an opponent on video – we were able to pick up some positive things he was doing and teach it to our players”. “Just trying to do everything I can right now to be as healthy as I can be”, he said. And there is nothing safer than short routes by Edelman.
That may be the best expectation for Garoppolo on Thursday. The injury risk otherwise would be too great. In that situation, receiver Julian Edelman would back up Brissett. Brissett takes the snap and opens to the left, reading the coverage. We all know about the freak athleticism and brute strength that Watt brings to this football team, but now with a healthy Clowney, it makes things much more hard for opposing offenses. Luck said he hopes to return to practice Thursday. It all seems like an effort by the Patriots to paint a picture of organizational scrambling when it might not be going on at all. But McDaniels indicated that sometimes, as quarterbacks mature and understand the importance of their availability to their team, self-preservation becomes more of a concern.
Green: What we have so far is a small sample size with just two games, but he’s done well and done what they have asked him to do.
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If the Texans play with 12-personnel, or with two tight ends, then I would expect Butler to shift into coverage of Fuller, Chung and McCourty to cover the tight ends, and Duron Harmon to come on the field to play the deep safety position.
