Thursday night's Saints-Patriots exhibition was an August rarity — a game that was played with intensity and quality by front-line players for so long that when you saw obscure numbers on the back of the uniforms late in the first half it was jarring.
If you were willing to stick through the third-stringers slogging it out to add clips to their reel, you even got to see a dramatic game-winning drive. But as we all know, the Patriots' 27-24 “win” doesn't amount to much more than the teams' mutual workouts earlier in the week.
Here's a quick look at the meaningful-ish moments in a game featuring a whole lot of Super Bowl hardware but not so many surprises.
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PATRIOTS OFFENSE
Tight end was a bit of a black hole for the Patriots in 2009. Ben Watson and Chris Baker played a lot of snaps (1,567 between them), with varying results. Baker graded well but was inconsistent, while Watson was negative every game for the second half of the season. We were surprised to see Baker cut loose but not Watson.
Bill Belichick frequently turned to eligible linemen in place of tight ends when it was time to get a tough yard or two, but it was pretty clear Thursday night that Alge Crumpler will largely be the man for the job in 2010. We ranked Crumpler seventh among tight ends in run blocking last year (+5.9), and he looked the part. Rookie Aaron Hernandez saw more time than fellow first-year man Rob Gronkowski, and from several different looks. He lined up next to Tom Brady in the shotgun, split into the slot, played tight to the line and caught a screen lateral good for 6 yards.
At running back, Benjarvus Green-Ellis got the start and veteran Chris Taylor played most of the second half; they'll likely be competing for one spot. Green-Ellis ran hard but got nowhere against the first unit, Taylor was better against the scrubs.
New England showed their depth at left guard. Dan Connolly is no Logan Mankins (or second choice Nick Kaczur, who's injured), but was at least average as a reserve in 2009 and held his own for the first half. It was his pulling block as a tackle-eligible that sprung Green-Ellis for a first-quarter touchdown; the Pats had all three tight ends lined up on the right side (where Green-Ellis strolled into the end zone).
PATRIOTS DEFENSE
Myron Pryor played with the first unit as the third-down tackle, spelling Vince Wilfork as he did a year ago, then played on the early downs with the second unit. Pryor was inconsistent a year ago in keeping with limited snaps, but caused a false start vs. New Orleans and generally added push.
Rob Ninkovich was thought to have an edge for the starting left outside linebacker spot, but it was Marques Murrell getting the start. The Patriots also started Gerard Warren at left defensive end over Damione Lewis — Lewis was better in Carolina than Warren was in Oakland a year ago, but neither even cracked the top 50 as 4-3 DTs. Mike Wright started for injured Ty Warren and the secondary was very green — Devin McCourty and Darius Butler at cornerback, Patrick Chung and Brandon Meriweather at safety.
Rookie Brandon Spikes looked like a presence in the middle next to Jerod Mayo, and his supposed lack of speed didn't show up on the field.
OTHER PATRIOTS NOTES
New England's return game seems to be in good hands … er, feet. Julian Edelman was brilliant in punt returns (and in the pass game), making more than one Saints tackler look silly. Wes Welker was on the sidelines, and Edelman showed that peculiar Welker-like ability as a wide receiver. Edelman was inconsistent in 2009, but as a rookie converted from quarterback (and with a broken arm), you can forgive him that.
And rookie Devin McCourty added two long kick returns to go with good CB coverage; second-year man Brandon Tate didn't do much on his one shot but was legendary in the return game at N.C. State. At the very least, Patriots fans shouldn't see much of the underwhelming Kevin Faulk/Matt Slater/Laurence Maroney trio on kick returns this year.
Rookie punter Zoltan Mesko was excellent at his main job and also saved a bad snap as the new holder for Stephen Gostkowski‘s first field goal.
SAINTS OFFENSE
The Saints might be the only team in the league that will come out in their first preseason game with their base offense from the previous year — FB Heath Evans and Pierre Thomas in the backfield, Jeremy Shockey at tight end, Devery Henderson and Marques Colston outside, same front five that went the distance in front of Drew Brees in 2009.
And they more or less ran a carbon copy of their 2009 offense while the starters remained, bringing Reggie Bush in on passing downs, adding Lance Moore on third downs (in place of injured Robert Meacham), and mixing in TE David Thomas. In keeping with their multiple-target philosophy, 16 different Saints were on the receiving end of passes.
Left tackle Jermon Bushrod (-7.4 pass blocking in 2009) brought back bad memories on the first series when Murrell destroyed him for a sack. But he held the edge nicely against right defensive end Mike Wright on a Bush touchdown run, and generally won that battle.
SAINTS DEFENSE
Second-year man Jonathan Casillas started in place of injured incumbent Scott Shanle at weakside linebacker and impressed with 10 solo tackles — three for loss — and a sack. Shanle graded as the worst full-time starter on the weakside in 2009, securely negative in pass rush, coverage and run support. Doesn't seem like it'll take much for Casillas to leapfrog into the main role.
Darren Sharper was spelled by Malcolm Jenkins in the starting secondary; Jenkins was certainly poor as a rookie corner (-6.1 in coverage), so perhaps Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams wanted to see him in space. Newcomer Alex Brown lined up at LDE against Sebastian Vollmer and got absolutely nowhere against the big man.
OTHER SAINTS NOTES
Bush's production was right on par with his career arc: 2 catches for no yards, five rushes for 17, but a nice TD run that made SportsCenter.
Rookie Larry Beavers had a 95-yard kickoff return TD, but with the Saints loaded at WR and Courtney Roby solid at KR, it's hard to see it helping much.
Saints kicker Garrett Hartley added to his Super Bowl momentum, filling in when punter Thomas Morestead got hurt making a tackle and averaging 47.0 on five punts.
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