Replacements Have Been Replaced

By now you’re probably well aware that the real NFL officials are back in business starting tonight and the replacement refs are heading back to their couches. Order has been restored to the NFL. I gotta say though, I think I might miss it. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the regular refs over these jabronies any day, especially as it affected the Pats. But what I will miss is the excitement. I mean how could you not? Every play, a chance to hop on the bandwagon and rip the refs a new one. Of course they were a big joke, but that was the fun of it. With the Pats and my fantasy players out of the picture, I’ve never been more entertained watching games that didn’t matter to me in my life. Every night another chance to join the masses in laughing, yelling, and making fun of a bunch of average Joe’s. Now the regular refs are back and for this week everyone will be tuned in to see if they can live up to the hype. After that, it’s back to normal. They’ll still get ripped apart by fans, players, and coaches. So it begs the question, would you rather have seen the replacement refs last a little longer, or are you glad Goodell came to his senses when he did?

PS. Keep in mind the Pats are up against the Bills Sunday. I don’t think I would have minded one more week of the circus.

 

Replacement Refs Fail Video

The NFL can’t seriously go another week with these guys. Not to mention I don’t think these refs can bare another week of getting shredded by every single football fan in America. There’s got to be a point where they just quit themselves. I mean it’s just an all around embarrassment. It’s your move Roger.

Patriots Work Out 6 Players Monday

Reported first by Tom Curran of Comcast Sports Net, the Patriots worked out six players on Monday. All of the players maintain practice squad eligibility.

Name

Position

Previous Team

College

Key Stat

Chandler Fenner

DB

Chiefs

Holy Cross

1st Team All Patriot League, 158 career tackles

Jerry Franklin

LB

Broncos

Arkansas

4 Year starter, 370 career tackles

Buddy Jackson

DB

Colts

Pittsburgh

4.32 40 Yard Dash

Ricardo Lockette

WR

Seahawks

Fort Valley St

2 Catches, 105 yds., 1 TD

Tyler Nielsen

LB

Vikings

Iowa

Honorable Mention Big Ten

J.K. Schaffer

LB

Bucs

Cincinnati

114 Tackles last year, ST Stud

From what it looks like the Patriots are trying to add speed. Fenner, Franklin, Jackson, and Lockette are all guys whose entire careers have been based on them just being faster than anyone else. Fenner was the former football and track star at Holy Cross and would be a great hometown story. Lockette is the only guy with any real NFL action catching two passes, one for 44 and one for 61 and a score. Nielsen and Schaffer offer both special teams play and run stopping ability. 

Most likely none of these players will see the field for the Patriots, but its just a little snapshot into Belicheck’s head for what he feels that the Patriots are missing.

What Just Happened?

The last time the Pats had a losing record (1-2) entering week 3, the Celtics had not won a world championship in 15 years, the Bruins hadn’t won the Stanley Cup in 29 years, the Red Sox hadn’t won a World Series in 83 years, and the Patriots had never won a Super Bowl. The last time the Pats had a losing record entering week 3, the year was 2001, or better yet, the year that started a decade of Boston sports dominance. The last time the Pats had a losing record entering week 3, they were Super Bowl champions.

Obviously it sucks and Monday’s are just that much worse when the Patriots don’t win, granted we’re not too used to that, but everything will be fine. The Cardinals are a good team (3-0), who we played like garbage against and should have won. The Ravens are also a good team, and we arguably did win that game. I’m not going to even get started on the replacement refs because they were just all around miserable for both teams. Just an utter disgrace out there and an embarrassment to the NFL not just in our game, although especially in our game, but all day across the NFL. Nonetheless, we put ourselves in the position to lose on our own and much of it started in the secondary. McCourty missed not one, but two more opportunities for a pick this week and Kyle Arrington got tripped up by the turf monster on what was sure to be a game ending interception on the Raven’s final drive. Capitalize on just one of these plays and it’s a win. It’s also a win if the opposing team misses the game winning field goal, but I won’t touch on that yet. I’m still confused about that.

PS – On a side note, you gotta be happy for Torrey Smith last night after what he had to endure just hours before the game. You can never wish that kind of misfortune on anyone, so to come out and play the way he did was great. After all, it’s just a game.

Big Day for the Pats

Just a quick overview of a busy Tuesday for the Patriots team that had a bye week on Sunday. ( I refuse to admit that we lost against the Cardinals with Kevin Kolb behind center)

1. Deion Branch has reached an agreement to come back to the Patriots. Most saw this coming from a mile away. And now with Hernandez going down, we needed someone else who was familiar with our system. As a former Super Bowl MVP and one of Tom Brady’s favorite players to be around, this is a big move for the Pats that all fans should love.  Branch had 702 yards last season and 5 Touchdowns. New England left his locker exactly the same as when he left, something they failed to do with the hopeful return of Brian Waters.

2. Kellen Winslow reached a deal with the Pats to help immediately in place or Hernandez. Winslow has caught for more than 1100 yards in a season with the Browns, and 4 other 700+ yard seasons with the Bucaneers/Browns.

3. The Pats released WR Greg Salas to make room for Branch on the roster. He played for McDaniels at St. Louis last season and quickly became one of there most reliable players. He has been hurt for a while but the Pats will not rule out bringing him back later in the season to keep him around our system. He is only 24 years old out of Hawaii and had 264 yards in only 6 games last season but he averaged 9.8 yards per catch.
More on this tomorrow!

Lockout Talk

Well, the NHL lockout is upon us and who knows when it’s going to end. Unlike last year’s NBA lockout, I’m putting all the blame on the owners for this one, but that’s a completely different story. Looking back at that last post about Rondo interning at GQ and seeing the above tweet from Seguin got me thinking. What would I do as a professional athlete if I were locked out of my sport? My first thought was absolutely nothing. Couch, TV, beverage, maybe sprinkle in a few vacations. But that would be too easy. I thought back to last year and did a little research to see what other athletes have done in the past during a lockout. Here are a few notable mentions.

Delonte West – Stock at Regency Furniture

Zoltan Mesko – Intern at Graham and Partners (private equity firm)

Troy Polamalu – Finished Undergrad History degree at USC

Paul Pierce – Played in Vegas’ World Series of Poker Tournament

Kobe Bryant, Chad Ochocinco – Play/Tryout for a professional soccer team

Blake Griffin – Intern for Funny or Die comedy website

Marcus Camby, Hines Ward, Pacman Jones – Get arrested

Chris Cooley – Opened a pottery studio

Kris Humphreys, Tony Romo – Get married (for no matter how long or short)

Ron Artest – Search for world peace and change name

A number of players – Travel overseas to play your sport

Clearly some athletes thought outside the box, intentionally or not. As much as it sucks, unfortunately lockouts happen. So it begs the question. As a professional athlete, what would you do with your time off during a lockout?

Disaster in Foxboro

If you’ve ever thought you had a bad case of the Mondays, today probably takes the cake for worst in quite a while. Say, Monday, February 5, 2012? A flat out miserable game to watch. Only way to put it. I mean after last week I don’t think anyone expected it to be 6-6 at the half along with the Patriots first and only touchdown in the 4th quarter. Then of course losing Hernandez to an ankle injury for an unsaid amount of time. And to top it off, the following disaster that I tried as long as possible to just not speak of. Brutal. Absolutely brutal.

Continue reading

Thirsty Thursday – Top Plays of Week 1

I love that the NFL’s given us just another reason to look forward to Thursdays. The fact that football fans have a maximum two day break from NFL action is just great. Tuesday and Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Sprinkle in college football here and there and call it a week. Just a flat out great way to welcome the fall season. In case you need anything more to pump you up for tonight’s Bears-Packers game, here’s a link to the Top 10 plays of Week 1 in the NFL. Let us know at bsb.tips@gmail.com if you have any other clips you think should be added.

Continue reading