Jaguars vs. Patriots: 5 Areas for New England Patriots Fans to Monitor

The NFL lockout is now firmly in the rearview mirror, and Game 1 of the 2011 NFL preseason is finally upon us. The excitement is palpable...well, it would be, if these games...you know, mattered.

For the hardcore NFL fans, though, these games matter a great deal. Sure, some of you may care less right now as to who the third and fourth string players are, but when injuries start to pile up, those decisions will be held under a microscope.

Those position battles aren't the only things to keep an eye on, though.

Here are just five things Patriots fans should be on the lookout for as they square off against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter  @erikfrenz.

Defensive Alignments

Yes, the bally-hooed transition from the 3-4 to the 4-3 has been met with contention from Bill Belichick.

From the looks of it at practice, and with the team's offseason moves in the front seven, it appears the switch is firmly in the "on" position.

We've seen this before, though, where the Patriots run the 4-3 a bit in training camp and preseason games, only to revert to their bread-and-butter 3-4 in the regular season.

Belichick gave us a little insight on the use of similar philosophies in-season, though, saying, "I think what we're teaching we're going to continue to teach and use on a very consistent basis. How, strategically, we want to move guys around and put them in certain alignments...I think there's flexibility there."

I have posited that the defense is going to be a multi-look monster when the regular season rolls around. On that end, only time will tell, but the use of the 4-3 in this game seems imminent, to say the least. 

Sub Package Pass Defense

Regardless of the 4-3, the 3-4, or any variation on those two fronts, the main focus could be on the sub package.

The Patriots were in their sub package 57 percent of the time in 2010, and had an almost historically bad third down defense that allowed a 47 percent conversion rate. 

Needless to say, they will need to improve with both their sub package and third down defense if they want to have a shot at any level of improvement on defense in 2011.

In those respects, the main areas of focus will be on the Patriots' ability to get after the quarterback with a four or five-man rush and their coverage on short and intermediate routes that can help an offense convert third-and-short or medium.

Kyle Arrington will most likely be the nickel cornerback in the first team sub package pass defense, but beyond that, it could be a revolving door as the Patriots try and find the personnel best suited for the role.

Tom Brady's Consistency

Boston Herald writer Ian Rapoport has done a wonderful job of chronicling Tom Brady's sentiments during practices over the past couple of weeks, and there are mixed feelings for No. 12.

Brady feels that there's a lot of catching up to do, as the lockout has shortened the offseason workout program and the time that they usually have to install the offense. 

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"There’s a lot of work to be done. In all honestly, we’ve missed a lot of practices this summer, this spring. The time that we have on the field is so valuable and we can’t afford to make mistakes and get behind because we’re already behind. There’s a lot of ground to make up. It’s fun to be out there and believe me, the time that we’re out on the field, everyone is enjoying. But we really have to make good use of our time.”

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We will see how the early stages of that work have gone when it all comes together for the first time Thursday night.

Second Team Pass Defense

The Patriots second-team defense will likely square off against rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who is making his first appearance on an NFL field on the road in the preseason.

It's not the end of the world if that unit is torched by Gabbert, but depth was an issue in the secondary last season.

Being torched by a rookie quarterback with a mediocre set of weapons would be a bad start to the preseason and, as mentioned earlier, could bode poorly for the Patriots' sub package pass defense.

Snap Counts

While some people are busy trying to crack the code of who is and isn't on the roster bubble, sometimes it's easier to see than you might think.

Just look at who gets the most snaps and you'll know whose job is safe. Players who don't get many or any snaps are the ones whose jobs might be on the line.

ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss kept a running tab of snap counts for every player. I sincerely hope he does so again for the preseason.

There's no better way to keep track of who Bill Belichick feels confident in than to look at a quantitative number of how often they were in the game.