Cause for Concern?

New England's defense was dominated for parts of tonight's preseason
game against Sam Bradford and his St. Louis Rams.

In a game where the starters were expected to play most of the game, you might have figured New England would trump the St. Louis Rams, who went an embarrassing 1-15 last season. You would have been wrong about those Rams, who took down the Patriots by a 36-35 tally.

Now, granted, they won the game late with the second teams in the game. But for the first half and then a ways into the third quarter, this New England defense was absolutely dominated. In every way. Rookie Sam Bradford, who was unimpressive in his previous preseason starts, lit it up for St. Louis. He fired 2 touchdowns on 15-for-22 passing, racking up 189 yards in the process and throwing no interceptions. The ground game was equally effective for the Rams, who got a combined 123 yards and 1 touchdown out of the four different running backs who got 5+ carries. Steven Jackson carried 5 times for 22 yards before being taken out of the game.

The offense wasn't in full swing for parts of the first half either, but they looked pretty impressive overall.  Tom Brady and the first team played into the early fourth quarter before being taken out. The starters left with a 28-27 lead. Brady was fantastic, going 18-for-22 for 273 yards and 3 scores. He connected for a 65-yard downfield strike to Randy Moss for a touchdown in the third, a very good sign that the duo lacked in the early stages of last season. Rob Gronkowski continued to impress as well, hauling in 3 catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns -- both from Brady.

In the special teams department, Brandon Tate opened the game with a 97-yard kick return touchdown to spot the Patriots a quick 7-0 lead. He followed that up with a 43-yard return the next time St. Louis kicked off, making a serious case for that return man slot on the depth chart. Tate also reeled in 2 catches for 17 yards in the first quarter.

The problem tonight for the offense was the running game. As a team, the Patriots rushed the ball 11 times for just 28 yards, their longest run being a Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis 5-yarder. Laurence Maroney didn't get a single touch, which I mentioned earlier might be an indicator that he has truly slid down on that running back depth chart. However, it might still be too early to jump to those conclusions. Fred Taylor didn't see any carries, and Sammy Morris got the touches tonight. Morris, by all signs, seems to be the main full back at this point. So it's very possible that Bill Belichick is simply taking precautionary measures with the injury-prone Maroney and the aging Taylor -- if that is the duo he wishes to move forward with as a primary option.

It's been a good preseason overall, but tonight showed some serious concerns in that defense. Sam Bradford shouldn't be making your first-team defense look like a JV squad. Not yet, anyway. But he did, and Belichick will have to go back to the drawing board to make some final adjustments before the 12th, when New England faces what has the potential to be a very potent passing attack for the Cincinnati Bengals. If you ask me, though, I'm sick of this preseason stuff. I'm just counting the days until Gostkowski sends away that opening kickoff for the 2010 regular season.

PS -- I am aware that we might receive to start the year and that it goes by a coin toss. It's called a poetic license.