At last – the preseason has concluded

The preseason slate has come to an end, and the Pats were winless. Even after the 19-14 loss Thursday night to the Giants, there didn’t seem to be much panic at all from inside the locker room. The common theme among the players: It’s time to face the Kansas City Chiefs.

The big item on the agenda in the coming days is cutdown time. By Saturday at 4:00, 22 players will be released, put on IR or, in the possible case of Oliver Ross, placed on PUP. Come Sunday, the team can begin to form an 8-person practice squad.

It was a relatively painless journey back from the Meadowlands to Foxboro. The team now has 10 days before the regular season opener.

Heading to the locker room

Can the Pats finish off a comeback and pull out the win? Perhaps. If so, I’ll be downstairs watching it on TV outside the locker room. We’ll hear what Bill Belichick and the players have to say about this one. Either it will be an 0-4 preseason, or a little momentum heading into the regular season with a comeback win.

Be sure to catch our recap of the game on Patriots Today later on Friday.

Thanks for checking in tonight and thanks for all your comments.

O’Connell legs it out

The second touchdown for the Pats is a rushing score for Kevin O’Connell. He raced to the left corner of the end zone and reached the goal line for a TD before getting hit to the ground. A nice comeback effort for the Pats under O’Connell.

19-14 Giants, 4:50 left

C.J. Jones punt return

C.J. Jones has had his ups and downs (more downs than ups), but he just returned a punt 42 yards along the right sideline, narrowly avoiding stepping out of bounds on a few ocassions. Can Kevin O’Connell lead the Pats to a second straight TD?

O’Connell to Jackson TD

Excellent throw, excellent catch. Kevin O’Connell 16 yards to the back left corner of the end zone. Jackson caught it in stride, with the Giants Darren Barnett chasing him.

19-7 Giants, 9:26 left

Field goal Giants

Another long stint on the field for the Patriots defense. 8-plus minutes, ending with a New York field goal.

Now – at last – Kevin O’Connell will be taking snaps for the Pats. It was about 20 minutes ago that he initially took the field during a challenge that ended up being reversed, sending the Pats defense back on the field.

Rookies continue to shine

If there is a general bright spot tonight, it’s the play of defensive rookies. Jonathan Wilhite just stripped Brandon London, with Shawn Crable scooping up the fumble. It’s being reviewed. Should it stand, it looks like Kevin O’Connell is entering the game at QB for the Pats

More Goots

Matt Gutierrez remains at QB for the Patriots in their first offensive series of the second half. He’s getting an extended look, but we’ll probably see Kevin O’Connell at some point.

A little while ago I said that LaMont Jordan was having a nice outing. Fumbling on his first carry of the second half, however, doesn’t help.

Goal line D

The Giants put together a time-consuming drive to open the third, but the Patriots defens performed well at the goal line. First-and-goal from the 1, Danny Ware was stopped on first down, David Carr threw incomplete on second down, and Ware had a loss on 3rd down, leading to a field goal. Kenny Smith and John Lynch were both in on the Ware tackles.

16-0 Giants, 7:58 left in 3rd quarter

First half look

It simply isn’t a good sign when your punter is getting this much time on the field.  The Pats’ offense has continued to struggle, getting very little flow, and neither quarterback has really stood out so far. They were just 1 for 6 on third down. I would say that the bright spot offensively has been LaMont Jordan. After missing the last 2 games, he has 6 carries for 27 yards (4.5 yard average) and he had a nice catch-and-run late in the half for 23 yards.

Defensively, the Pats have had a handful of solid individual efforts, notably Jarvis Green, but there have been a faor share of missed tackles, including on both Giants touchdowns.