Another bad week for the Patriots offense. Preseason week 3 is now the last chance for them to show something before the regular season.
Patriots
Tuesday’s joint practice with Vegas was more of the same for the struggling offense. DeVante Parker was great and they were able to score a touchdown to end it, which is good to build on, but most of the day was frustrating.
While the defense has been great, the secondary did have many problems with former Green Bay Packers All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams. They lost All-Pro cornerback J.C. Jackson to free agency earlier this offseason, he signed with the Los Angeles Chargers.
The defense is still going to be in the top half of football, but they lost too many players since last season to be as dominate as they’ve been in the recent past.
During Wednesday’s joint practice the offense was much better and showed signs of improvement. They weren’t pushed around as much and even scored a TD to end it.
A negative from this week is WR Nelson Agholor, right tackle Isaiah Wynn and running back Damien Harris all got banged up. Doesn’t appear to be serious for them, but still something to watch.
A positive was how clear the Outside Linebacker position is. 2020 3rd round pick Anfernee Jennings has seemingly beaten out 2020 2nd round pick Josh Uche and 2021 3rd round pick Ronnie Perkins for the right OLB position. Matthew Judon has the left side on lockdown, now Jennings mans the other side.
Perkins is on IR. He’s out for the year for the second straight season. While Uche couldn’t set the edge good enough, he’s now their pass rush specialist.
For the game, New England’s offense needs to show Wednesday’s practice wasn’t a fluke by improving consistency. They’ve shown flashes this week, but now it’s time to put it together.
Raiders
Football wise, The Las Vegas Raiders have had a relatively quiet offseason. Other than the Tom Brady – Raiders story, and some rumblings about how the organization is run, it’s been pretty low key.
They were aggressive in free agency, bringing in All-Pro Chandler Jones as a partner for pro bowler Maxx Crosby, they traded for Adams and they also brought in former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their new head coach. He’s one of the few special offensive geniuses in football.
They were a playoff team last year, with all sorts of distractions and chaos, but they were still able to squeeze in. As they make all these additions they should be a playoff team again.
They’re the more talented team than New England, they should look better. I’m not going to make a prediction for preseason football because it doesn’t count. However, I will say preseason week 3 is the closest thing fans will get to a regular season game. For most teams, this is window dressing for week 1.
Make sure to continue to follow the Patriots here at Gridiron Heroics, here’s an article about practice. Yes, practice.
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