It was a typical preseason game. Some good things and some not so good things. Plenty of fodder for the film room. New England won it, 23-13 but more than the score was the play of rookie Matt Cassel who showed he could stand in the pocket -- and sometimes run out of it -- and make plays against professional competition.
Your defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots open the 2005 preseason on Friday, Aug. 12 in Cincinnati as the Patriots and Bengals meet this week for the fifth time in preseason play.
In today's news blitz, the Patriots open the preseason tonight against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Boston Herald, Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Hartford Courant and the Sun Chronicle all offer previews of tonights game. It's all in today's Patriots.com news blitz.
Rookie quarterback Matt Cassel outdid his entire college career in his first NFL start. He led four scoring drives as the defending champion New England Patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-13 Friday night in the preseason opener for both teams.
The emphasis is on special teams this training camp, and on this edition of PVN. Bill Belichick, Matt Chatham, Wesly Mallard and several others chime in on the importance of making contributions in the kicking game.
We have all the action from Wednesday's Pats' practice, where the team game-planned for Friday night's game against the Bengals.
And speaking of Cincy, we'll take a look at their offense, which was in full gear during last preseason's trouncing of the Pats.