By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com Patriots InsiderFollow @tomecurran
FOXBORO - Only 78 more quarters to go before the playoffs (barring overtime). What did we glean from the first two? Price Is .... Can't Do It...He Looks GoodThroughout this preseason, a vogue story has been the strides made by Taylor Price. And Bill Belichick has promoted the notion saying it's been night-and-day improvement. In the first half, he had two catches for for 31 yards. The first was an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brian Hoyer that was about six feet off target. Price was running a drag across the back of the end zone and Hoyer threw behind Price who planted, spun back and fingertipped the pass, toe-tapping at the back of the end zone. He also made a nice catch on a slant behind him for a pickup of 20. Then he opened with a 50-yard catch on a throw from Ryan Mallett in the second half. Pressure ExertedThe Patriots mixed their fronts between three and four down linemen but it seemed the four-man front was used a bit more. They didn't show anything crazy in terms of full-force attacking that I could see live. Probably going to keep anything like that under wraps for some time still. Jermaine Cunningham did have a first-half sack of Blaine Gabbert. So did Landon Cohen. Empty SuitsMost of the big-name Patriots took a seat in this one. No Brady, Branch, Ocho, Gronk, Mankins, Wilfork, Mayo or McCourty. And all of them were in position to likely play since none (save for Gronk) missed practice time. Ohhh, It Was SloppyA fleet of penalties, a PAT snap that went awry, three first-half Patriots' fumbles (two by Aaron Hernandez), a dropped pick by Patrick Chung. And that was in the first half.
Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran.
