First reaction to Giants/Pats preseason finale

The Pats/Giants preseason finale ended with a score of 19 – 14, but the score doesn’t reflect what truly happened in the game. Despite that final score, the Giants really dominated the game on offense and defense. It wasn’t until the back-ups’ back-ups came in that the Patriots’ offense, led by QB Kevin O’Connell, was able to put up some points. Here’s my quick reaction as to the positives and negatives of the game:
Positives

• Rookie QB Kevin O’Connell was able to lead the Pats to their only two scores of the game, throwing a nice 16-yard loft pass to Chad Jackson for his first touchdown and then running into the end zone himself for the second score. I believe he secured his spot on the roster.
• CB Jonathon Wilhite, the Pats’ 4th round selection, saw his first extensive action of the preseason and was impressive on special teams and played solidly on defense. He finished the game with 2 tackles, but was seen a couple of time fighting off double-teams to make the play on special teams.
• S John Lynch displayed his hard-hitting style, almost single-handedly stopping the Giants third scoring drive on the goal line. He finished the game with 5 tackles (according to NFL.com’s GameTracker).
• Punter Chris Hanson came back after a poor performance last week to kick the ball extremely well, not only displaying power but also displaying good directional punting. He finished with 6 punts and a 47.5-avg., and a long punt of 56 yards.

Negatives

• The offensive line again was over-matched and offered little protection for the quarterbacks and running backs, despite the return of starting left tackle Matt Light. The only missing piece from last year’s starting offensive line is right guard Stephen Neal, so you couldn’t really use the “injuries” excuse tonight.
• The defense was soft against the run, allowing 159 yards on 43 carries (3.7 average). While the 3.7 per carry average isn’ horrible, what was horrible were the runs that came on third down. The defense just couldn’t make the critical stops and get off the field. The same can be said about the pass defense. In the third quarter, the Giants offense held the ball for over 13 minutes, a ridiculous amount of time. David Carr (yep, the guy that was drafted by Houston #1 overall way back when) went 20/29 for 192 yards and 2 TD’s. Most of those completions were short throws that were made into long gains by missed tackles and playing soft in coverage. Needless to say there is work to be done before Week One.
• Matt Cassel and Matt Gutierrez did little to move the offense, and did not lead the team to any scores. Granted, Gutierrez got a bad break when he was intercepted in the end zone when Chad Jackson fell down on a fade pattern, but the job of the QB is to get points on the board. These two quarterbacks were not able to get the job done.

The Patriots have looked poor in the preseason and then gone on to win a Super Bowl before, but there are legitimate concerns for Patriot fans after this 0 -4 preseason. My concern is directed more at the defense. The offense worries me less because it’s been Tom Brady-less, but the defense has had its full starting line-up, minus Adalius Thomas. A lot will be said and debated between now and Week One versus the Chiefs, but we can’t be certain which Patriots will show up this year until the game starts. Here’s hoping it’s the Super Bowl Patriots and not the Super Bowl loser hangover Patriots some pundits are predicting.
Stay tuned for Beth’s analysis.