New England Patriots: LeGarrette Blount Sprains MCL, Four Days Until Preseason Opener

Well folks, I’m back from vacation, so your break from my writing is over. I know it was a tough couple of weeks, but I’m back, and just in time for the NFL season to begin.

A few notes as the preseason slate gets underway tonight.

Injuries upon injuries

This has been the main takeaway from Patriots camp as of late, as players are dropping like flies out on the practice field. If you include running back Travaris Cadet leaving halfway through practice yesterday, 24 players missed the session per Mike Reiss, which is a ridiculous number. The good news is very few of them are serious, as all of the important guys should be good to go on September 10th.

LeGarrette Blount spraining his MCL is probably the most concerning injury for New England right now, but he is expected to be ready for the start of the season, which is a relief, because he is easily the team’s best back on the roster.

What has camp revealed?

There are always different positional battles that we monitor throughout camp, and that is no different this year, but honestly, there hasn’t been many surprises thus far coming out of Foxboro. Tom Brady is slicing the defense apart, Rob Gronkowski is dominating, Malcolm Butler is making plays, and Bill Belichick is making coaches run laps. None of this is surprising, and to me, that is the biggest takeaway thus far. The Patriots are the defending Super Bowl champions, and despite a ton of injuries they are working through, New England still looks like the Super Bowl champions.

One surprise I would like to add is the play of Darryl Roberts. According to reports, Roberts leads the Pats in PBU’s in camp, and has really played well in coverage against Brady’s offense. I thought Roberts was a steal when the Patriots took him back in the 7th round of the draft, and I believe he will continue to surprise people once the season begins.

Four days until Green Bay

I can’t believe we are only four days away from the Patriots opening up their preseason slate against the Green Bay Packers. This offseason has been absolutely brutal because of

deflate-gate

frame-gate, even though the Patriots are the defending champs. But now football will be on our TV’s again, and we can begin to see how the 2015 Patriots will look like. There are questions that have to be answered, and despite Bill Belichick working this group hard in practice, you need to get them in a game situation to truly figure out the squad.

A few areas I will be keeping an eye on come Thursday: interior of the offensive and defensive line, defensive end rotation, safeties opposite Devin McCourty, corners after Butler and Ryan, and the rotation that will undoubtedly be hectic at running back.

It should be fun.