Entries Tagged 'Injury Updates' ↓

Two games, two disappointing performances by the offensive line. And now there’s more trouble.

The potential loss of key reserve lineman Russ Hochstein could have significant trickle down effect on the line’s play during the season.

While regular starters Stephen Neal and center Dan Koppen were quick to live up to the lack of performance in preseason Game 2, the loss of a reserve may be an even more significant development.

Back-up center/guard Ross Hochstein went down in the first quarter after leaving the field with a notable limp after lining up as a fullback behind Heath Evans. While Evans plunged into the end zone from two yards out, the score was a costly one, with Hochstein leaving after the team’s latest attempt to make a role player more versatile.

As per usual, the CCCP front office wasn’t divulging specifics about the injury Saturday, with Bill Belichick dodging questions from reporters about the injury. But make no mistake, the loss of Hochstein would be a significant one to the Pats future if he can’t return.

Why does a reserve offensive lineman make a significant difference? That’s easy. It’s extraordinarily rare that a team makes it through an entire season without one catastrophic, season-ending injury on the o-line. One year it might be Neal, the next Koppen. But with a balanced attack like the Patriots plan to implement this year, particularly with the intricate zone blocking schemes for a Laurence Maroney-focused running attack, New England can hardly afford to lose any regular bodies. And Hochstein was certainly that.

Then there’s the long-snapping situation. Hochstein is the backup there, too, and an injury to longtime long-man Lonie Paxton would then set the entire Patriots punting unit into chaos if Hochstein couldn’t go. Anyone who doubts the importance of a long snapper need only reference the 2003 first round playoff game between the Giants and 49ers to note how it can end a season.

If Hochstein misses time, the Pats will have to cross their fingers that center Dan Koppen stays healthy.

So, will the Patriots be able to overcome the loss of an integral part of the reserve infrastructure? It’s very likely, particularly with the time to replace his body on the roster before the start of the regular season. Still, it’s worth noting that his absence could still affect the spot performances of a lot of key offensive players (cough, Maroney, cough Tom Brady, cough) if Billy B can’t scrape together a suitable fill-in before Sept. 9 against the Jets. If they don’t, expect a heck of a lot of blitzes and stunts against the special offensive units.

– Cameron Smith

Panic check: New England is 0-2.

That’s right, the Patriots are sitting on the bottom of the AFC East. The bottom. They’ve lost two heart-breakers in a row, both by a field goal. And they’ve looked thoroughly out of sync on offense and occasionally disjointed on defense in the process.

Kevin Faulk: Not quite the same runner as Laurence Maroney.

It’s a good thing that the guys who have looked so out of place won’t be on the field when the games start counting, isn’t it?

Let’s face it: No one cares about whether the Pats win preseason games or not. All that matters - go ahead, say it along with us - all that matters (see, doesn’t that feel better) is that no one important gets hurt. As long as Tom Brady, Laurence Maroney, Vince Wilfork, the starting linebacker corps and at least some of the wide receivers are healthy at the start of the season, the Pats will probably be just fine.

Still, as comforting as that, and the poor results of previous preseasons just before deep playoff campaigns, has to be for New England fans, there already is some serious concern about the team’s offensive chemistry.

Albert Breer of the MetroWest Daily News and Boston Herald may be the first to officially call out the team’s early offensive dysfunction. Instead of the new, free running attack that was supposed to be created by Laurence Maroney’s shiftiness and the new zone blocking techniques added the last two years, the team has looked more like the power running crew that defined the Patriots attack of the past two years.

Of course the problem with that is the lack of a Corey Dillon or another dominant power runner. Missing that, the Patriots offensive line looks lost. Tom Brady looks a tad bit flustered. The wide receivers can’t get quite open enough. And overall, the offense looks out of step.

Now, it’s possible that as soon as Maroney is allowed to shed his red non-contact drill the way he does tacklers things will change. But if they don’t, and if the team requires a longer transition period as a result, it could mean a slower start out of the gate, a setback which could combine with New England’s brutal early schedule to cost the Patriots a couple early games.

Luckily, that isn’t too serious a concern yet. After all, let’s remember, this is the preseason. And the preseason doesn’t matter. At all. This time it’s a good thing, because unlike season’s past and Las Vegas’ expectations, the Patriots don’t look so Super this early.

Brady was under heavy pressure because of surprisingly porous line play. If that wasn’t enough to concern you, well, pat yourself on the back. After all, it’s still the preseason.

Oh, and before we sign off, just for comedic levity, here’s the postgame comments of New England coach Bill Belchick, courtesy Mike Reiss at his Reiss’s Pieces blog. We’ll even give you the complete CCCP translation (here’s the translation for every single comment: I’m not telling you $h!t)

Rodney Harrison looked like he was in regular season form out there.
“We had a lot of players out there playing tonight. I’d have to take a look at the film. I’m sure there are things that everyone can learn from and improve on. It’s the second preseason game. We all have a long way to go.”

Would you concur that [Danny] Baugher did a nice job and maybe took a step towards claiming the punting job?
“Some plays were better than others. It’s going to be consistency. I think pretty much anybody on this team has talent, or anybody in this league at this point has talent. It’s a question of consistency and performance. We’ll see how that goes. There were some things that were good. There were other plays that could’ve been better.”

You guys locked up Ty Warren last night. How nice is it to get that kind of key piece done and know he’s going to be here for a while?
“Well, I’m glad that both sides could agree and obviously both sides are happy with it, so it was executed.”

How gratifying was it to see the ability this early in the preseason to contain a running quarterback like [Vince] Young?
“It’s preseason. I’m sure that Tennessee has a lot of game-plan things that they didn’t use, just like we had some things that we didn’t use. Again, it’s just an opportunity for everybody to go out there and work on their fundamentals, work on their individual game, collectively for us to work on our communication and our overall assignments and execution of the plays and the defenses, some situations that come up. It’s not a regular season game.”

How did you feel the communication was in the passing game?
“I think there were things that were okay. There were other things that we could have done better. I’d say that about the whole game.”

Tom [Brady] was under a decent amount of pressure. What do you attribute that to?
“Again, it was inconsistent. At times we blocked them. At times we didn’t do as good a job of blocking them. The same thing with our pass rush. I’d say that about every part of the game. There’s things that we could work on and do better. There were other things that we did that were okay and we can build off of.”

Did you feel like your defense took a step forward in terms of energy?
“I’ll have to take a look at the tape and see how everything went. There were some things that we had trouble with. There were some other things that we did all right. Like I said, it’s a step and we’ll take a step and learn from it and watch the tape tomorrow and we’ll learn more next week against Carolina. We have to more games left and a number of practices before we go to opening day. We’ll try to use each one of those to advance our team a little bit forward on a day-by-day basis, and I’d say that about tonight.”

This was probably a similar pattern to last year’s second preseason game where Tom played two quarters. He almost played two quarters this time. Would he have played the full two quarters if he hadn’t taken as many hits?
“Well, it was more about number of plays and I think we were up around 40 plays before the half there. I know there were a lot of penalties in the first half, but I’d say we were in the 40-play range.”

Did they do anything in terms of their pass rush that was different?
“I think they pretty much ran their stuff. We pretty much ran our stuff. No, it wasn’t a big gadget game or anything. They did what they do.”

You switched to the dry sweatshirt the start of the second half. Was that something you planned on?
“No, that was a game adjustment. I kind of got wiped out there in the pregame warm-up. I thought we were going to be playing in a downpour. But, really, it wasn’t bad. Pregame was the worst part of it. I wanted to try to save that move for the regular season.”

Did you have to cut that warm-up short?
“Yes, we did.”

Has that ever happened before?
“I think we maybe cut it a little short in the Baltimore game a couple of years ago. We tried to get it in before it opened up. It looked like lighting was a consideration.”

Did the possibility of a downpour affect your game-planning at all or did it clear up in time?
“No, we kind of expected it to clear up by the game, it’s just in pregame warm-up, we tried to get out there and warm-up before it started pouring, but it caught us out there, but that’s all right.”

It must have been disappointing that [Matt] Gutierrez had that chance at the two-point conversion and didn’t get it.
“Yeah, we fouled the play up and, again, there were plenty of mistakes out there tonight in all three phases of the game – coaching, communication…we have to do a better job too, on the sideline. We were playing a lot of people, so that’s part of what we need to work on.”

– Cameron Smith

Just when you think you can start mapping out player rankings, injuries come into play and jumble up the rubix cube, shaking roles so that only the great hoodied Yoda (Bill Belichick) has any idea of where players fit in.

Randy Moss hasn’t even been jogging lately, but it seems hard to imagine he’d miss out on a roster spot by the end of camp.

That’s certainly the case with the battle of pass catchers, with the crop of Pats receivers staying as healthy as the cross-Atlantic passenger sitting next to Andrew Speaker.

Here’s what we do know:
- Second year speedster Chad Jackson is on the PUP, and in all likelihood he’ll end up on the IR. So he might as well be marked down as a non-factor.
- Veteran Mr. Patriot Troy Brown is still sitting on the PUP, but by most accounts he’ll slide back into the picture before the end of training camp, and as soon as he does he’s all but a guaranteed roster spot.
- Tom Brady has a personal connection with new receiver and fellow NorCal resident Donte Stallworth, and the two are beginning to look awful comfortable with each other. It’s also a virtual given that Stallworth will be starting the season on the field, so he’s a spot taken.
- Randy Moss is still injured, which adds more intrigue over whether or not he’ll stick every day.
- And, just to make things more interesting, ‘06 returnees Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell turn more heads at training camp by the day, making it a tougher proposition to cut ties with the duo.

Where does that leave the Pats wide-out options? Wide open, of course.

Tom Brady has a wealth of weapons at wide out, but its likely that some won’t still be on the roster by the end of camp.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that 1) Stallworth, 2) Brown and 3) Moss are guaranteed takes, even if Moss’ injury makes it possible that the team would cut bait (though they’re showing no signs of that at the moment).

That scenario leaves three potential slots open for the other receivers (assuming the Pats stick with six receivers). Wes Welker is definitely one of those pass catchers, judging on Tom Brady’s preseason reactions alone. Calling a receiver a labrador is just about the highest compliment that the newly crowned World’s Best Dressed Man can bestow.

OK, there’s four. That leaves two slots among three primary receivers: Gaffney, Caldwell and the superiorly sized Kelly Washington. It’s hard to believe that the Pats would give up on Washington’s size since he represents a perfect back of the end zone target for Brady. But it’s currently equally difficult to see New England dropping Gaffney or Caldwell, both of whom have grown with another year in the system.

So, who’s going to go? The answer may be none of them. There’s always the possibility that one of the receivers gets injured. Or, perhaps, that either Moss or Brown start the season on IR, then wait for a receiver to go down with an injury. Losing a receiver to a serious injury is practically an eventuality, so it doesn’t seem like it’s impossible that all the pass catchers would make the roster … at some point.

At the moment, Albert Breer of The Point After Blog is reporting that Washington looks more and more like a potential odd man out. But it’s hard to imagine the Pats pulling that rip chord until the minute the season starts, if then at all.

Until then, it’ll be awful fun sliding names up and down the magnetic board as each practice - and injury report - leaks out.

– Cameron Smith

Naturally, most of the attention in training camp yesterday was trained squarely on new cornerback Dante Wesley, the former Bear who learned he was headed east while he and his family were watching - get this - Transformers. But there’s a lot more to this story than a Michael Bay plot, so let’s let the NFL writers delve a bit deeper, eh?

Dante Wesley may end up being more than the latest big thing … he may be an Asante Samuel replacement for much of the season.

BOSTON HERALD

A moving experience - It’s easy to forget how consistent a writer John Tomase is. But today he reminds everyone what he can do with a keyboard, nailing the Wesley trade story while digging through every possible angle. Impressive work, as always.

In a tough spot - Tomase’s notebook is led with the current workload pulled down by one-time practice team tight end Matt Kranchick, a man who will get considerable run in Friday’s preseason opener, to put it mildly.

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

‘Veteran’ Maroney is improving by leaps and bounds - Remember how last week we clamored aloud for more coverage of the development of running back Laurence Maroney? Evidently ProJo columnist Joe McDonald heard our hopes, heeding the advice with a nice piece for today’s edition.

BOSTON GLOBE

Kranchick scores in shorthanded situation - Can’t get enough Kranchick? Great! Read another strong story from budding Globe star Christopher Gasper.

Wesley prepared to fill a void - Guess what? Gasper weighs in on the Wesley addition, too. And he’s just as on with the cornerback as he is on the sparkling untapped tight end.

– Cameron Smith

Whoa, didn’t see all the line talk coming, did you? I guess that is the irony of football media though, isn’t it: the biggest - literally - subjects are often the one’s that slip by.

Yesterday Dan Koppen was the center of everyone’s attention.

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Being Brady’s bodyguard is just fine with Koppen - Carolyn Thornton checks in on the offensive line and its center-piece, Dan Koppen, as camp rolls along.

Players are eager to hit someone new - Thornton and Joe McDonald write about how players are so antsy to line up against someone without a Flying Elvis helmet, they’d do just about anything for a scrimmage. Or a Klondike bar. Everyone would you know.

BOSTON GLOBE

Wesley arrives in trade - Mike Reiss checks in with the particulars about the acquisition of cornerback Dante Wesley from the Bears.

Hobbs seeks return engagements - Reiss and Daniel Malloy write about Ellis Hobbs and his crucial role in the team’s return game, particularly if Laurence Maroney is held out of those duties in ‘07-08.

Who the hell is that? Why, it’s the newest Patriot, Dante Wesley!

BOSTON HERALD

Pats’ man in the middle - What’s better than one story about an offensive line focused on its center? Two stories about an offensive line focused on its center! This one is from MetroWest Daily News’ Albert Breer, and it’s right on the money.

Evans’ cup is plenty full - In his ever-expanding football reporting role, Jeff Horrigan writes about fullback Heath Evans, a modern-day Johnny Appleseed trying to spread the wonderful joy of Dunkin’ Donuts to the deep South. It’s a great story, but I’m afraid the D&D idea could end badly.

– Cameron Smith

Evidently the jury is in on Patriots first round pick Brandon Meriweather: the kid can play. That hasn’t been lost on the reporters in town, nor has some of the rumblings about new developments on and off the field around Foxboro. Here’s the best of this morning’s reporting:

Junior Seau’s return for a ring has gone largely undiscussed because of the hype surrounding the team’s free agent improvements.

BOSTON HERALD

Safety in numbers - Albert Breer chimes in on Meriweather, and how he could end up being a key contributor at cornerback come start of the season.

Moss makes return - Karen Guregian nails a notebook lead about Randy Moss, and how his return is a positive … with a huge question mark. Also worth noting was Adalius Thomas’ unexplained absence.

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Junior wants the ring - Shalize Manza Young drops in with the first Junior Seau feature of the year, focusing on the linebacker’s overwhelming desire and drive to win a Super Bowl.

BOSTON GLOBE

Coordinated effort on offense - Daniel Malloy slides over and covers the Patriots for a day, leading the Pats Notebook with an interview with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel, who held his first press conference of the year. And why was he even talking? Because of a new NFL edict forcing one coordinator to talk per week - largely to get around Bill Belichick and the CCCP silence in Foxboro.

– Cameron Smith

Interesting notes as the Randy Moss psuedo-injury slowly develops into a legitimate hamstrung situation:

Receiver Jabar Gaffney is turning heads all over practice fields in the first week of training camp.

- Albert Breer of the Herald makes a terrific point about the New England defensive line, claiming that what really makes them stand out is how they play together. While Richard Seymour is among the game’s top D-ends, if not the best, and Vince Wilfork is an emerging nose guard, their line-mates are typically unheralded … unless you’re considering them together.

- Evidently Jarvis Green is trying to take younger linemen under his wing to shepherd them through their first training camp.

- Looking for a player who’s slipped under press scrutiny, but may have a huge effect on the season? Try Eugene Wilson, who looks more and more like a potential starter at cornerback each day that Asante Samuel holds out. The way things are going, that could be awhile.

- It went unmentioned yesterday, but there were a couple surprise winners of offseason conditioning awards, which guarantee primo parking spots in front of practice. While Tom Brady and some other regulars (Ty Warren, Kevin Faulk and Matt Cassel the most notable), new additions Wes Welker and Adalius Thomas both earned awards. That should give you an idea of where they fit in the Pats’ plans. Props to the Globe’s Mike Reiss for being the first to put those puzzle pieces together.

- If there’s one receiver that’s pulling away from all others, according to Breer on The Point After, it’s Jabar Gaffney. While Reche Caldwell may have looked better than new additions at times, Gaffney - a former top pick by the Texans - has looked like a superstar. It may be hard to cut bait with him by the time camp is done, which should come as comfort for fans still reeling from Caldwell’s drops in the AFC title game last winter.

– Cameron Smith

Hi everyone! Sorry about the delay for this morning’s Quick Hits. The beautiful Patriot Reign admin site was getting some cosmetic surgery last night. But I’m proud to say that she’s more beautiful than ever and ready to go for another day or training camp this morning. so, without further ado …

Uh-oh, that doesn’t look good.

BOSTON GLOBE

Receivers starting to get a grasp - Mike Reiss weighs in on the bumper crop of new pass catchers, and how they’re just now getting up to speed.

Moss leaves practice field with injury - NOT what Pats fans were looking for: Randy Moss leaving practice with a sore hammy. Reiss and Chris Gasper combine for the notebook, noting Randy’s gimpy hammy and a rapidly improving relationship with signal caller Tom Brady.

BOSTON HERALD

Moss mania hits snag - Need more for your Moss fix? Try Karen Guregian.

Just one of those days - Guregian notes sloppiness and sluggishness in the afternoon.

– Cameron Smith

Some early thoughts coming out of today’s first training camp practice, via the Globe and Herald blogs as well as radio hearsay and babble, which is practically on mute after the huge Celtics (Kevin Garnett) and Red Sox (Eric Gagne) acquisitions yesterday.

Nick Kaczur is right in the mix at right tackle.

- Evidently Bill Belichick really liked Bill Walsh. Really liked him. After being asked about the recently departed 49ers legend as a kiss-off question at the end of his morning interview, Belichick instead spent the next eight-plus minutes extolling his virtues and how he changed the game. (Reiss’s Pieces)

- Belichick is also realistic - at least at the moment - about why receivers Reche Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney are so far ahead of the new crop of Patriots wide-outs. He said that anyone who had 120+ practices and 23 games with a team the year before would have a more advanced knowledge of the offense. Touche’ BB, touche’. (Reiss’s Pieces)

- Reiss is also highlighting the burgeoning right tackle competition between Stephen Neal and Nick Kaczur. Could be a top dogfight in camp, along with tight end of course. Speaking of which, Kyle Brady wasn’t on the field this afternoon. Wonder if there’s anything going on there.

- In addition to safety Mel Mitchell moving off the PUP list to practice, Albert Breer is reporting on The Point After blog that Justise Hairston, the one-time Central Conn. and Rutgers running back who was released last week, has been re-signed and put on IR.

- Breer also had his own take on the Walsh comments. Read it here.

That’s all the big news for now, though there’ll be more after the hot and sticky afternoon practice. Stay indoors and wait for the news from here. It beats the heck out of sitting in the borough of foxes on an afternoon like today’s.

– Cameron Smith

Foxboro was full of country music yesterday, so let’s see how many writers could find clever ways to work it into Training Camp stories. Trust me, it’s a fun game. Ready … and … BREAK!

Brandon Meriweather did more than strech yesterday; he showed he can play.

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

Fresh start for Gay - Ugghh. It’s only Day Two of training camp, and all Shalize Manza Young could come up with was a feature on Randall Gay? Look, it’s a decent piece, but on Day Two? Are you serious? This is getting ugly, and we’re like three days into the season.

BOSTON HERALD

Belichick looking for a little bit of everything - Now that is how you give a cornerback feature some relevance. John Tomase shows how Gay is important and why his role may increase and change because of injuries and holdouts in the secondary.

Versatile Thomas is just perfect for Pats - Tony Massaroti puts together a terrific piece on new Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas. Everyone’s heard why he would fit in. Evidently he’s doing just that.

Fire still burning in Brown - Karen Guregian writes about 14-year Patriots veteran Troy Brown, and how his journey to make the ‘07 Patriots starts at the same place his attempts to make previous teams has: his desire.

Pats, Samuel won’t cave - Guregian’s Asante Samuel follow up predicts dire days ahead for the holdout of the last NFL player to be hit with a franchise tag and not sign a contract.

BOSTON GLOBE

Coaches like ground (ed) game - Wow. Dan Shaughnessy actually comes through with an insightful column, pointing the spotlight on the constant no-respect card coming from the Pats, and wondering how it will play when they’re oozing with respect. Interesting angle.

It’s clear that the Globe guys think this may be Hobbs year.

Hobbs hoping to turn corner in Year 3 - Christopher Gasper writes about Ellis Hobbs, and his increasing role and workload for this year’s Pats team.

Belichick seems to indicate he’s not near done - OK, Mike Reiss is ready to call it: Bill Belichick will be around for awhile. Now the question is whether he really will stay in Foxboro, or whether he’ll head three-plus hours down the highway.

Meriweather shows he’s well-prepared to play - Reiss and Gasper’s notebook is all over the Brandon Meriweather signing. Not surprising, since they’ve been stalking him since before the draft. Impressive work as always.

Noting official differences - Reiss’ football notes are all about officials, and how the NBA betting scandal affects what NFL refs do from here out.

Brady Bunch analysis - Oh, it must be coming up on football season again. The Globe is writing editorials about Tom Brady’s moral standards and the attack on his character because of Bridget Moynahan’s pregnancy. Spare us, please?

– Cameron Smith