Johnston & Flynn With Chris Gasper : What Can We Take Away From Loss To Lions
The Patriots played their third preseason game on Saturday night in Detroit and lost 34-10. Tom Brady completed 12 of 22 passes with 1 interception in the loss and Wes Welker left the game and did not return after suffering a neck injury making a tackle.
Johnston & Flynn, who are filling in for Toucher & Rich, spoke with Chris Gasper about the loss to the Lions and what we can take away from that 3rd preseason game.
Lots of people are not putting a lot of weight in the loss saying that it's only a preseason game. What should we take away from that Saturday in Detroit?
"I think what you can take away from it is not so much the overall result, but the way individual players or individual units played. For example I thought clearly the Patriots lost the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball in this game," were Gapser's thoughts on the game.
The guys also talked about the Patriots secondary and the problems they had in the game and the injury to Jonathan Wilhite. They also discussed the Patriots running game. Do they have the running game to stand up against teams like the Jets, Ravens or Steelers where they'll have to ground and pound a little bit?
"I think that's one of the reasons they went out and drafted Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen is to try and maybe get some more explosive plays out of that running game. Danny Woodhead is a guys that can kind of do that, but he's more of a 3rd down back. BenJarvus Green-Ellis had a great year, a 1,000 yard season 13 touchdowns, his long rush was only 30 something yards. So I think teams are not necessarily fearful of their running game in terms of getting gouged and I think that's what they need to instill in teams this idea that we can generate the big play in the passing game and we can generate the big play in the running game," Gasper said of the Patriots running game.
In the 4th preseason game coaches usually rest most if not all of their starters in preparation for game 1 of the regular season. After this weekend's loss to the Lions will Bill Belichick change his plan for the last preseason game and play some starters more than normal?
The guys also discussed the short amount of time the Patriots and Giants have off before the 4th preseason game on Thursday. Will this affect the way the teams play?
