Patriots Recap

Here's what I saw tonight beyond the score and the numbers:

OFFENSE:

-A scare about Brady's shoulder to say the least. Its being called a sore shoulder by the team and Belichick was pretty mum, but isn't that what we expected the team would say after he didn't return? He looked OK moving it around in a windmill motion and tossing the ball a bit, but he's Tom Brady and wouldn't really show if he was hurting too bad.
-Brady and Moss are boys and their chemistry is so good hooking up on TDs of 26 and 27 yards. The first TD was an audible right before the play-clock expired which resulted in a pump fake and a brilliant TD throw. The second was on a third and one play.
-Joey Galloway looked nice, and his numbers would have been nicer if Brady didn't miss him one or two times.
-The RB carries were split between Maroney and Taylor. The running game numbers weren't great, but Maroney looked pretty good to me tonight in the running and passing game at times besides being tentative at the line as usual in the second half when the Skins started to not respect the pass.. The Pats ran a three wideout set on one play with each RB next to Brady in the shotgun.
-Chris Baker started at TE. David Thomas was also playing with the first team and saw more time at FB. Ben Watson saw little playing time.
Sebastian Vollmer saw a few snaps at LT when Light left the game for a few plays. He later lined up at RT in the second quarter.
-Greg Lewis was the third WR in three WR sets with Welker out.. He appears to be firmly ahead of Sam Aiken.
-Kevin O'Connell, who entered for Brady in the second half, does not appear to be the second coming of Matt Cassel. The backup spot appears to be in question.
-BenJarvis Green-Ellis looked explosive versus backups tonight.

DEFENSE:

-Mike Wright opened up next to Vince Wilfork in the 4-3 D. Guyton started at the OLB position next to Mayo and has showed an ability to move around. In the second quarter we saw more of the 3-4 with Pierre Woods on the outside.
-Leigh Bodden and Jonathan Wilhite started at CB. Butler came in on longer downs as the third back; he made one real bad pass interference in the end zone and was later shaken up a bit.
-Wilhite's 99-yard pick-six was a thing of beauty as he read the pass beautifully.
-Jarvis Green, Tully Banta-Cain, and Derrick Burgess joined Butler on passing downs. Burgess showed great speed from the outside on a play where he forced Redskin QB Jason Campbell back 15 yards before he threw it away.
-I did notice the Patriots sprinkle in some reserves at times with the starting D (ie Bradon McGowan, Bruschi, Paris Lenon to name a few). I suppose Belichick wants to see some of these players running with the starters, but maybe it was simply a case of players getting rest.
-On Chris Cooley's 73-yard reception, it looked like Bruschi lost him in coverage.
-The first team D played about three quarters.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

-Gostkowski nailed 43-yard and 30-yard FGs in his only two attempts; he's so reliable. Jake Ingram, the rook, looked good long-snapping.
-Matthew Slater made another boneheaded play on special teams running into the return man for the second time this preseason. Belichick cannot stand these dumb plays.
-Slater and Maroney were deep returning kicks. Maroney looks real good and when he gets time to start running he can get far.
-Patrick Chung showed poor judgment muffing his first punt return electing to not fair catch when he should have. He later made a better plays fair catching punts until his last return where he bursted to setup the wining field goal..
-Green-Ellis made a nice tackle. He'll need to contribute in this aspect of the game if he wants to stick.

INACTIVES:

-From what I saw, Shawn Springs, Sammy Morris, Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk, Julian Edelman, Myrone Pryor, Ron Brace, Ray Ventrone, Mark LeVoir, and Shawn Crable did not play.