SPORTS.RttP{Patriots vs. Saints Preseason Week 1 Notes}

Positives:

+ Brandon Spikes is showing up to play. He's all over the place the same way Jerod Mayo was in his rookie preseason games.
+ Pat Chung is showing that big hit ability in the secondary just like the RTTP braintrust knew he could.
+ Julian Edelman looks phenomenal. A lot of people doubted Mike Reiss when he said Edelman would make Belichick look like a genius. Niggaz be eatin wordz.
+ Mesko showed a big leg, and a good ability to place kicks within the 20 yard line.
+ McCourty on kick returns anyone? Watching that dude work in open space is like watching Troy Brown in his prime again. I think the Matthew Slater era might be over with now that we're looking at McCourty, Edelman, Price, and Welker as a return team.
+ Brandon Tate made a great play and didn't go on IR afterwards.
+ Sergio Brown, of all dudes, made some great plays.
+ Brian Hoyer looked pretty goddamn good. His release and velocity have improved a lot. The Pats might have their first worthwhile backup since... well Tom Brady.
+ The two rookie tight ends looked sharp. Gronkowski didn't catch any passes but his blocking was outstanding. Hernandez picked up exactly where he left off at Florida running those same crossing routes Urban Meyers had him running all game with the same results. It took 2 guys to finally live up to Ben Watson's expectations but whatever.

Negatives:
- Offensive line without Mankins looks good, not great
- Darius Butler, from all the talk I've heard of him having a great camp, didn't have a great game. That pass interference on Lance Moore was a really absent minded play.
- Wilhite made the one and only worthwhile hit of his career and acted like he just won the Royal Rumble. 5 minutes later he whiffed on a tackle that cost us another 30 yards.
- Unless there's a kicker on the field, or you need a guy to foul Bill Lambier, Sam Aiken should be on the bench.
- Where was Jermaine Cunningham? Pierre Woods got a lot of downs and looked really good coming off the edge. But Cunningham is the guy we all want to see. Did I miss something?
- Tyrone McKenzie gets on the field, shoots his gap textbook, finds the ball textbook, and then the ballcarrier bounces right off him. The whole point of that guy is that he lays people out coming up the gut. We've been waiting a year to see it now. How bout it?