By: Tom Rowe

Praise the football gods! The NFL Lockout is finally over after 132 days of negotiations and debates. With that said, the NFL will be in a frenzy unlike anything owners and players have ever dealt with before in the history of this wonderful sport. The entire league has only a few weeks to cram 5 months of off season tasks and the Patriots will have to do what they can to remain competitive this and go for it all after last year’s blonder of a playoff lost. There have been talks during the lockout that New England should find a replacement for the Deep Threat hole that former WR Randy Moss left after being traded. Believe it or not, the Pats are fine with the pieces they already have.

The Patriots won Super Bowls with a Receiving core made up of guys like David Givens, Bethel Johnson, Deion Branch and Troy Brown. Though players like Branch and Brown were absolutely and unbelievably productive for the Pats, they would never start or even make the roster of other teams. The factors of reliability and trust made them all look like NFL stars when they were catching bombs and screens from Brady. But obviously, the league has changed since those days and a deep threat, though is a nice addition to the league’s 2nd ranked offense in 2010, is not the prime need like a pass rush or a solid offensive line. With that said, the talks that New England has no deep threat at all are false. The Patriots have a deep threat in the works and currently wears number 19. Third year WR Brandon Tate, in his time at UNC, was a great and serviceable deep threat. Even though Hakeem Nicks (New York Giants WR) was the marquee receiver for the Tarheels, Tate has also shown while being the second option for UNC’s talented receiving core that he can be the marquee deep threat a team could thrive off of; with a little development of course.

The “Randy Moss Effect” bit New England fans so hard that we all forgot who we had lined up at the line during Super Bowls 36, 38, and 39. Moss was an amazing player for the Patriots and it felt nice to have a player of his caliber on our team, but we have won with guys who could be trusted to get the yards need and scores needed. With Moss, the Patriots became a one dimensional team; they were predictable and could be beaten easier than when Brady was spreading the ball around making it hard for defenses to focus on the pass and trying to stop it. Look who you have on your team before you start listing needs for your football team, Brandon Tate is a no name right now to the league but so were Reggie Wayne, Sidney Rice, and Brandon Marshall for a time, Tate is in for a monster year on a receiving core that is perfect for Brady and the Pats to make a run at the Lombardi again.

With the pre season in the books, the 2010 Patriots welcomed TO, Ochocinco, and the rest of the Bengals to town.  The pre season did not end well for the Pats, the defense looked like a young defense and the running game had some questions.  Let’s look at each phase of the game and see how I graded the Patriots.

Overall Offense Grade- A

The Pats looked great entering the game, moving right down the field and scoring on their first possession.  They were outgained by the Bengals, 428 to 376, but the Bengals played from behind the entire game.  They were great on third down, 9-13, and in the red zone, going 3-5 with three touchdowns.

Quarterback- A

You can’t get much better than a 120.9 passer rating as Brady carved up the much hyped Bengals defense.  Brady looked in mid season form, going 25-35 for 258 yards and three touchdowns.  As usual he spread the ball around hitting 7 different receivers and hitting Wes Welker for two TDs.  Brady will face a better defensive backfield in week 2, but these are players he is used to playing against, Revis and Cromartie, so he will make something happen.

Offensive Line- A

Logan who?  This was looking like a big weakness heading into week one, but they O line only let up two QB hits and no sacks allowed.  This will be a up and down season for the offensive line, so let’s not get too excited yet.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends- A

How could I not grade them with an A?  Welker came back and had 8 receptions, 64 yards, and two touchdowns in his return game.  Moss had an average game, 5 receptions for 58 yards, no TDs, but an 11.8 average and a 32 yard reception, which shows that he is still a big play WR.  The great thing to see was second year WR Brandon Tate, who missed the 09 season with an injury, had 4 receptions and 36 yards, and also made an impact in special teams.

Running Backs- B+

This is going to be a committee of backs and each week we could have a different guy stepping up.  Fred Taylor lead all backs with 14 carries, 71 yards, and a 5.1 average.  He is healthy now, and will continue to be the starting back until someone else steps up.  Kevin Faulk contributed as usual; the ageless back had 3 carries for 23 yards and four catches for 47 yards.

Overall Defense- B

Yea, I gave them a B.  They looked good at the start and some guys stepped up big and looked to be leaders out there, however, they did let up 24 points, 428 yards, 342 of them were passing yards.  Lastly, they were outscored 21-10 in the second half.  With a lead that big, the defense should have pinned their ears back and went for blood, which leads me to believe that Belichick still has some questions.

Defensive Line- B

We all know in a 3-4 defensive scheme, these guys do not get any glory, but they played well this week.  Vince Wilfork and Ron Brace chipped in with a few tackles and one pass deflected.  Mike Wright did not show up much in the box score, but that is what a true lineman does in the 3-4, take up space so the LBs can make plays.  They are thin at D-line, and will need to continue to improve each week.

Line Backers-B

The Pats have a young group of LBs this year and they will be up and down each game.  Jarod Mayo (12 tackles, 8 solo) will continue to be a rock in the middle of the field and is the leader of the front seven.  Against the Bengals, the LBs were steady, but they were outplayed by the secondary.

Secondary-A

The defensive backfield was the reason the Patriots won this game (and special teams).  Second year safety Patrick Chung was amazing having 16 tackles (12 solo) and seemed to be everywhere on the field.  Darius Butler did give up a TD to Chad Ochocinco, but he was solid as well with 8 solo tackles and a pass defended.  Brandon Meriweather, the most experienced Pat in the secondary chipped in with 7 tackles.  This is a young secondary and they will have their ups and downs, but it seems that they get what the coaches want them to do; we should see some steady improvement throughout the season.

Special Teams- B

Kicking Game-B

Stephen Gostkowski was 5 for 5 for extra points, but the usually solid kicker missed two field goal attempts missing two from 40 plus yards.  It is early in the season and he is a great kicker, so no reason to panic yet.

Rookie punter Zoltan Mesko had one punt for 43 yards.  Not much to discuss here.

Return Game-A

Second year receiver, Brandon Tate had a great first NFL game.  He missed all of last season after a knee injury in the preseason.  The speedy Tate had four returns for 184 yards, averaging 46 yards a return.  He had an electrifying 97 yard return to open up the second half and give the Pats a 31-3 lead.

Overall the Patriots had a great game, jumping out to an early lead and maintaining the lead throughout the game.  The Bengals got some yards and points in garbage time which is to be expected, but I would have liked Belichick to continue to be aggressive with his young defense.  We shall see how things work out next week against the hated Jets.

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I do not know if the Belichick “Jedi Mind Trick” has worked, but the Patriots seemed to come out fired up in their first game since the playoff loss to the Ravens.  Belichick has removed everything that reminds the team of prior success, pictures, clippings, whatever, it’s gone, like most of the players from that run.  I know the Saints had been on the road for a week before the game, but it was good for the Pats to come out the way they did against the Super Bowl Champs.

I still have not been able to look at Tom Brady with a straight face with his “Beiber” cut, but the man without a contract for next season looked in game shape throwing the ball down the field very easily against the Saints, connecting on 5 of 8 passes for 67 yards.  It is the first game, but he looked much better than he did a year ago.  Brian Hoyer was impressive as well, going 8/13 for 106 yards.

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