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Sports

Pats Training Camp Report: Patriots Get Ready to Rumble

With the first pre-season game of 2011 Thursday night at Gillette, the Patriots make several changes this past week, tightening up their roster as they move towards the season opener.

The New England Patriots made several moves over the past week, beefing up their potential pass rush core, and at the same time, releasing several players as the 2011 season opener creeps closer each week. With the truncated camp and non-existent off-season, the Pats sense of urgency to make moves and expand their arsenal was dialed up several notches as they approached the pre-season opener against Jacksonville. The Patriots work at training camp showed as they defeated Jacksonville, 47 to 12.

Another announcement from the team came with a heavy heart as it was announced that the Patriots will honor the late Myra Kraft with a patch on their uniform that bears her initials.  The "MHK" patch will don the jerseys of all the players on the 2011 Patriots squad.

With the addition of Shaun Ellis, Andre Carter and the recently acquired Albert Haynesworth, the Pats look to seriously beef up their D-line and more specifically their pass rush in 2011.  A lot has been made over the 3-4 or 4-3 alignment, but besides annoying Head Coach Bill Belichick, no official announcement has been made in that department.  Still, anything is better than the seriously anemic pass rush of the 2010 squad who finished near the bottom of the league in several defensive categories last year, including yards allowed by opposing quarterbacks.

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This past week of camp at Gillette saw the tightening of the reins by Belichick, and saw impressive play from third round draft pick Ryan Mallet, who has a cannon for an arm and drew many 'oohs and ahs' from the crowd on Monday and Tuesday.  

The Patriots are about as loaded as any team in the NFL right now. With a more aggressive approach this pre-season in terms of signings and additions, it looks like the Krafts and the rest of the Patriots organization are realizing that the window to win a Super Bowl with Tom Brady at the helm, is at the very least, beginning to close.  

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The team showed that by locking up Pro Bowl Guard Logan Mankins for 6 years at $51 million.  With Mankins signed, Matt Light signed, and rookie Nate Solder ready to learn, Tom Brady's blind side is about as protected as it can be heading into 2011 season and beyond. Sebastian Volmer is expected to also play an integral role on the offensive line this year.

The pre-season poses several questions and could open up the door to several problems as well.

How much time should the starters play? With players around the league dropping like flies due to injury, some for the season, it's a hot topic in town as to how much time the Pats starters should play this pre-season. On the one hand, you have Tom Brady and the rest of the offense adding several pieces and not having as much time as they might have had in the past to integrate those pieces and get synced up as an offense.  So, should they play more to advance that synchronization, or is the risk of injury too great this early on to take that chance?  As the pre-season progresses, it will become much more urgent for the starters to stay on the field as much as possible.  

The thing that the Patriots as a team have over the majority of the league is that they are a veteran club with most of their systems, coaches and players already in place.  Many teams throughout the NFL have rookie head coaches, franchise players, who will be stepping on the field in 2011 with little or no practice time, and brand new systems to go along with the numerous coaching changes throughout the league.  

This could give the Pats an edge in 2011, especially in the early part of the year as the quality of play in the league is expected to, and most likely will, take a serious dip early on.  

Time will tell, but the Patriots are as loaded and as ready as a team can be at this point.  Now, it's time for some football.

The Patriots kicked off the 2011 preseason with a win, 47-12, against Jacksonville at Gillette stadium. The Pats will travel to Tampa Bay next Thursday, August 18, to take on the Buccaneers in their second preseason game.

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