from http://www.patriots.com/default_home.sps Patriots Notebook: Davey starts slow, finishes strong 14 Aug 04 / by Frank Tadych, Patriots.com After a brief cameo by Tom Brady in Friday's preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, much of the attention at Gillette Stadium turned to the performance of reserve quarterback Rohan Davey. The Patriots have been looking to Davey throughout training camp to seize the backup duties behind Brady after a successful summer season in NFL Europe. Davey shook off a slow start to finish strong, but it was a performance that didn't leave a definitive mark on the opportunity at hand. Davey entered the game at the end of the first quarter on the Patriots third offensive drive, playing behind the first offensive line with a mix of skill position players. He got off to a poor start under increasingly heavy rains, missing badly on his first two attempts before the Patriots were forced to punt. He completed a forgettable first half three-for-seven passing for 24 yards, finishing with a 52.1 passer rating. "Not so much disappointed, I just wish I could have jumped off to a faster start, especially early on when I got into the football game," Davey said. "I think I just wanted to go out and perform really well. I just tried to press a little bit too much at the beginning. I never felt uncomfortable or out of synch or anything like that, I just was pressing too much. I was just pressing too much wanting to do too well too fast, instead of letting it come to me." Davey had a conversation with offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss after the second series, which reminded him to stick with his fundamentals and not try to do too much on every play. The rain subsided at halftime, and his play picked up in the second half against Philadelphia's defensive reserves. He led a six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter, highlighted by a touchdown pass in which he rolled right and lofted a nice touch pass to wide receiver Michael Jennings in the endzone. He showed nice mobility on several plays, scampering for gains of 16 and 23 yards for first downs. He displayed better decision-making by either throwing the ball away or settling for short completions, and later connected on a 23-yard touchdown pass with Rickey Bryant. Davey gave himself a "C" grade for his performance. It's not a matter of pressure or comfort for the third-year quarterback, but a matter of slowing himself down and relying on his fundamentals. "It's not really pressure," Davey said. "It's just trying to put your stamp on a spot on this team. Not so much the backup role, but just trying to let everyone know within this team that you can do the things that are expected of you that you practice when you get out there on the football field. That's the only way you establish confidence with your teammates. Me putting pressure on myself to go out and do it is not going to help the cause anyway. I just have to go out there and play the way I know how to play and the way I've been playing." As promised during the week by Head coach Bill Belichick, Davey saw substantial action. He played eight series before being relieved in favor of Kliff Kingsbury with just under nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. Davey completed 8-of-15 passes for 70 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed four times for 40 yards. "He made a few plays, there were some other things that didn't look so good," Belichick said. "I thought he had a couple situations, one in particular was a real tough situation, that he audibled on and I thought he made a heads-up call on the line. Some things looked better than others. He got the team in the endzone a couple of times, so that was good, but we need more consistencey from that position and every other one too." Preseason kicks off with 24-6 win 13 Aug 04 / by Fred Kirsch and Frank Tadych As the third quarter headed to a minute left, Davey and the offense were creating offense of their own, going 70 yards and a score. Cloud, getting extensive time, did most of the work on the ground but Davey showed some good footwork of his own, rushing for 17 yards. After Malaefou MacKenzie absolutely leveled the Eagles Norman LeJeune on a 18-yard pass play, Cloud carried four times down to the Eagles 5 where Davey hit Michael Jennings in the end zone as he ran away from pressure to the right. "We could have made some more plays at the beginning, especially the first two drives," Davey said. "We tried to get off to a faster start. But it's not how you start, it's how you finish. I think as a unit we came out and played tough and played hard. In the latter part of the game we got it together and got some things together." The fourth quarter began with the Patriots up, 17-6 and Davey added to the lead with another touchdown drive in which his legs played a big part. This time Davey scrambled for a 23 yard gain down to the Philly 19. Two plays later, he hit Ricky Bryant for the score. Patrick Pass has a nice 14-yard carry on the drive, spelling Cloud who finished with 17 carries for 45 yards. As the game progressed, Davey clearly began to find a comfort zone. He finished with decent numbers, 8 of 15 passing for 70 yards and two touchdowns along with 40 rushing yards on 4 attempts. "I think the important thing is for everybody who played to feel like you're better at the end of the night than you were to start the night," Brady said. "You're more prepared for the season. We'll see when we evaluate and coaches break down the film and tell us how we did. We'll be a better team."
