Patriots 31 Eagles 22: Recap + a few takeaways
Tonight was the night we finally got to see our Patriots take the field for the 2013-2014 season. Both teams came out firing with the Patriots starting off with a 6 play, 80 yard drive ending with a Stevan Ridley touchdown, and the Eagles with a 5 play, 77 yard drive ending with a long Michael Vick touchdown pass to Desean Jackson.
Tom Brady played impressive football the first two series for the Patriot's offense, going 7/8 for 65 yards and a touchdown. The play after opening kickoff, Stevan Ridley had a 62 yard run deep into Eagles territory. He set himself as he scored a one yard touchdown run a few plays later.
The standout player on offense was the big 4th year running back LeGarrette Blount, who rushed 11 times for 101 yards and 2 touchdowns. Blount had an electrifying 51 yard touchdown run in which he was running left, and reversed to the right and finished it off with with a leap into the endzone at the left pylon.
Ryan Mallett looked decent at times backing up Brady, but was taken out of the game with an apparent injury. He finished 9/18 with 97 yards and a touchdown. After the supposed injury, it was finally Tebow time. He had Tebowesque stats completing only 4 of 12 passes with 55 yards that was complimented by a few nice runs.
A big question mark on offense are the newcomers at the receiver postion and they looked pretty decent. Rookie Aaron Dobson had a pair of catches for 35 yards and fellow rook Kenbrell Thomkins strung together 4 catches in a series in the first quarter. Daniel Fells filled the tight end role nicely with 3 catches for over 20 yards. Danny Amendola, expected to fill the Welker role, had only 1 catch early in the first half.
The Patriots came out of the gate strong with a great mentality and a good overall performance. I've always viewed the preseason as a time to evaluate the players and not the team as a whole. What do you takeaway from the first showing of the new Patriots? @joeloobs @PatriotsLife
