Keion White analyzed his promising debut and what he can tweak moving forward
White proved on Thursday that it's very possible the Patriots used their second-round draft pick wisely.
The Patriots selected Keion White in the second round of this year’s NFL Draft to be their star defensive end of the future, but it looks like he has a chance to accomplish that in the present as well.
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White made his preseason debut during Thursday’s loss to the Houston Texans, playing 27 snaps on defense and two on special teams. He put his athleticism and power on full display in those 29 snaps in multiple alignments, including a forced fumble against Texans running back Dare Ogunbowale.
“You see ball, get ball,” White said about his fumble. “Kind of just make a good football play, ball on the ground and I went to dive for it.”
The fumble wasn’t White’s only good football play in that game. He spent his debut terrorizing offensive linemen and applying consistent pressure to Houston’s quarterbacks. White dominated during the snaps he opposed with his strength and speed, but this was no accident. Tapping into his physicality was a goal of White’s entering the game.
“Just play physical,” White said. “I can fix all the rest of the stuff, technique and everything obviously needs to be corrected. Just play a physical and dominant style of the game was my main focus today.”
Did White accomplish that goal? In his eyes, he certainly tried.
“I tried my best,” White said. “I tried my best to do what I set out to do every day.”
Even though his team lost, his efforts were mostly successful. Many analysts said that White looked like a “monster” in his first-ever NFL game based on how difficult he made life for Houston’s quarterbacks and linemen. But what White will take away from this game were not his successes, but the areas he feels he needs to improve.
“It was a good experience,” he told reporters. “Definitely have a lot that I need to learn and take from the game. Obviously I reserve all the rights to comment on it until I watch the film and assess it for myself.”
White felt that his processing of the game was what he needed to fix the most before his next game. He said he overanalyzed plays too frequently and wants to play faster and trust his instincts more.
“There were a lot of times where I was just trying to dissect a little too much,” White said. “I just needed to play fast, put my hand down and go.”
White will have time to work on that before the Patriots travel to Green Bay and play the Packers on Aug. 19. If the promise White showed Thursday is an indication of what’s to come, he may not have many other weaknesses.
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