The New England Patriots are only two weeks away from their regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
They will wrap up their preseason Friday night in Tennessee. But if you ask our Tom E. Curran, they still have plenty of work to do between now and Sept. 10.
Before the Patriots-Titans preseason finale, we posed a simple question to Pats fans: "How confident are you that the Patriots are ready for the regular season?" The possible answers: "Not at all," "Cautiously optimistic," or "In Bill I Trust!"
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Curran, Tom Giles, Phil Perry, and Trenni Casey shared their own answers on Early Edition, and Curran's won't inspire much optimism.
"Not at all," Curran said. "And the simple reason is you can't go into the season without the five fingers in the glove not having resided inside the glove yet. And we're going to see that with (Mike) Onwenu, Cole Strange being out there for the offensive line. We've been told repeatedly how important it is for that group to get communication and reps together. It's not present.
"So, despite the fact that I will push back and they did have 200 freaking snaps out in Green Bay and had a total of six hours of practice out there, it hasn't been Shangri-la, but they're still not ready."
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The offensive line's health has made the unit a giant question mark heading into the new campaign. Pats quarterback Mac Jones was sacked twice behind a patchwork o-line last week in Green Bay and the woes up front continued this week in practice. That's likely why Jones won't play against Tennessee, and it's why Perry joins Curran in doubting the team's readiness for Week 1.
"To be ready for the regular season, you have to be healthy. If you're not healthy, then you're not ready for Week 1," Perry said. "The offensive line is at a point right now where if Mac Jones were to get hit tonight and he misses half the year, your season's over.
"So that's the approach. It's Bill Belichick saying, 'I'm not gonna be the guy who says football players play football. I'm gonna be the guy who says there's nothing more important to us than the health and safety of our players,' which is another line that he says all the time. He's more towards that latter sentiment than the former one."
As for how the fans voted on the poll, you can check out the results below. Most agreed with Curran's pessimistic take.
Clearly, the Patriots will have plenty to prove when they take the field against the reigning NFC champions in Week 1.