Wk 1 Preseason Commentary: Ravens v. Patriots

[Rizzo]

I was pleasantly surprised by the play of Shawn Crable, he looks like a solid LB and if he makes the team he will be a great help for our aging LB core. Even better, we can match up Crable with Vrabel

Crable, Mayo and Wheatley all looked great and O'Connell played very poised, granted he was taking snaps against 3rd and 4th string defenders.

[flotsamnjetsam]

WOW. NE is on a 2 game losing streak.



18-1

[LS2throwed]

Can someone clarify, did Chad Jackson look like crap out there, or was it just bad QB play not getting him the ball?

[JasonSeahorn]

Jackson didn't look good out there but it might have been because he just hasn't been on the field in so long. Here's The Boston Globe's take on it.

FOXBOROUGH - This was not the new beginning Chad Jackson was hoping for when he talked about last night's exhibition opener against the Ravens being the starting point for his start-all-over year.

Jackson, who played sparingly last season after returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, looked rusty. The third-year player, who hopes to compete for the Patriots' No. 3 receiver job, had just one reception for 0 yards. He dropped another pass after getting slammed by linebacker Jarret Johnson, and was involved in a public dispute with Matt Cassel after the quarterback's pass was intercepted by Fabian Washington in the first quarter.

On the play, Jackson kept going while Cassel was trying to throw the ball to his back shoulder on a stop fade. Afterward, Cassel pointed and gestured at Jackson, and Jackson gave it right back to Cassel. It wasn't quite Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson bickering on the Bengals' sideline last season against the Patriots, but it was an unseemly display, nonetheless.

After the game, Cassel downplayed the dispute, chalking it up to working out the kinks.

"We weren't on the same page on the route and coincidentally when that happens, bad things happen," said Cassel. "So, it's one of those things. It's the first preseason game and we have to get better and get on the right page."

Jackson also had a play in the second quarter on which he appeared to give up on a crossing route, leading to an incompletion. After that play, he jawed with cornerback Frank Walker.

Despite all the talking he did during the game, Jackson was not available for comment after it.

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2008/08/08/jackson_not_yet_catching_up/?page=1

[Brianst]

Flacco: 0/3 with a sack and lost fumble.

Flacco - Wasn't that the name of Keanu Reaves character in The Replacements?

[Dr. Duran Duran]

Flacco: 0/3 with a sack and lost fumble.

Flacco - Wasn't that the name of Keanu Reaves character in The Replacements?

If memory serves, I think his name was Falco, not Flacco.