Brady did not play in the first two preseason games. First and foremost, how will the Patriots fare during the four Tom Brady-less games to start the year?
Advertisement
It is a wistful, yet oddly reinvigorating time for Brady, who is obviously saddened at not having the chance to play the sport he so adores. Later addeing, “I’m sure he misses us”, Belichick said. “So we’ll just do the best we can do”. “So that’s kind of what I’m going to try to do”. “Control what we can control and do what we can do”. On both sides of the lighthouse that stands beyond the north end zone, a giant picture of the quarterback screaming in full uniform – and his number 12 sitting atop – are emblazoned like banners.
“I was just talking to him”, Beckham told reporters.
It won’t be that easy.
Patriots: Garoppolo, Rob Ninkovich, Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola, Jabaal Sheard, Jonathan Cooper. That’s on top of the reported triceps issue that sidelined him early during camp. Thursday night games against Hampton (Sept. 29), Norfolk State (Oct. 6) and Bethune-Cookman will be aired live on ESPNU. Foster came in to the game competing with Tyler Gaffney for a spot behind LeGarette Blount and James White.
“That’s a lot of volume of stuff, looking at a lot of games, there’s no way they could do everything in our game that they did previous year, plus looking at the preseason, just trying to plug it all in and think what you might get, but you know that they’ve worked on some things in preseason they probably haven’t shown in those games”.
“It will be tough to watch, but it will be fun to watch in some ways, to see what it looks like when you’re not there”, Brady said this week about his impending suspension.
“What I can do is just go out and do my job to the best of my ability, prepare myself to put myself in the situation to wherever Jimmy”.
VETERAN SECONDARY: One unit that enters the season intact is the secondary, led by McCourty, Malcolm Butler, Patrick Chung and Logan Ryan.
Allen has started every regular season and playoff game over the course of the past three years. “These games mean everything and we’re going to be ready to prepare and get ready for this game”. So this is something new that began during practices prior to this season. The Patriots released centre Bryan Stork and have elevated second-year lineman David Andrews.
2016 third-round pick OL Joe Thuney was in the starting lineup at left guard for the fourth straight week.
Thursday night’s game served as the last time Brady will be with the Patriots for the next month. This would include workouts, running drills and the line.
Advertisement
Does the New England defense have enough talent up front to help its secondary keep opposing passing games at bay?
