Category Archives: Patriots

Patriots Offseason: Wide Receiver

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20120214-141405.jpgThe Patriots passing attack primarily was not an issue this year. As long as Tom Brady has the reigns of this Patriots offense the passing attack will never be the primary concern. At the same time it is also clear that the Patriots miss the deep threat they had back when Randy Moss would be consistently torching opposing safeties. I expect the Pats to address the receiver position through either free agency or the draft. The Pats will more than likely bring back Wes Welker, but after Welker there are no guarantees. Deion Branch is a free agent and I see that one as a 50/50 as to if he will return. Branch will not require too much of a salary so I would think it would be a good option. With the Patriots having the best possession receiver, and two of the best tight ends in football its hard to imagine it would require much more than a deep threat to bring this offense back to the way it was in past seasons. It’s always very hard to predict the Patriots offseason moves, but some of the options may include:

Randy Moss: This almost seems unrealistic, but we all know Moss loved being here and Belichick has no problem dealing with difficult personalities. Moss, 35, is still probably one of the best deep field threats in the game.

Reggie Wayne: I don’t exactly see this being the ideal fit in New England, but if the Pat’s lose Branch it is certainly a viable option as I see them being a similar type of receiver.

Brandon Lloyd: Lloyd is more of what the Patriots need. His big play ability will keep safeties back a few more yards, which could make the Patriots underneath passing game one of the best ever.

Robert Meachem: Possesses good speed and could be a good fit alongside Welker in this Patriots offense.

Ted Ginn: Certainly will not be the completion to the puzzle as a receiver but with Ginn’s versatility and elite speed he could be a great fit in New England.

 

Randy Moss – “I Wanna Play Football”

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20120213-161736.jpgThere’s not too much excitement coming out of Patriots Nation these days, but this is something that might leave a tingling feeling in any Pats fan. The big news of the day, which happens to be his birthday, is that Randy Moss wants to come out of his short-lived retirement. Initially, it’s hard to think too much into this right now. 1.) I don’t really even want to think about the Pats right now, and 2.) How many times do we hear this from recently retired athletes? The whole T.O. ordeal at the beginning of this season is a perfect example. Look how that turned out. Brett Favre? Don’t even get me started. We all know where that goes. You get my point. We’ve even heard Moss say he wants back before, but it just never happened. Even if it did happen, what if he’s not the Moss of old? Sorry Chad, but it could turn out to be a bust again. And remember, for the most part I can’t argue with the fact that he’s a poison to the locker room. Not the Pats locker room, but locker rooms in general. If it’s Bill and the Pats locker room, nevermind.

On the other hand, how can it not excite you just a bit? With the final game of the 2007-08 season aside, how great is reliving those times. Absolute domination. Over the past few seasons, it’s become clear that the deep threat is what we are missing the most. The final piece of the puzzle that we once had. Add that into the mix this year, with the short field threat of Gronk and Hernandez, and there’s no way any defense could contain us. Not to mention, Moss loves the Patriots. He loves Brady and Bill. If Moss comes back, if anyone could get him back in Foxboro it’d be Bill. The ups and downs are pretty much clear. With that said, Pats fan or not, would you welcome Moss out of retirement onto your team?

 

How Not to Treat a Legend

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Peyton Manning has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in over a decade. As a Patriots fan, he would absolutely terrify me whenever the Colts had the ball. Tom Brady would sustain his drives and grind down the clock so that Peyton would have to sit on the sidelines. Has Brady ever had to do that for another quarterback? Think quarterbacks tore up the Patriots defense this year? If Manning was healthy the Colts would have picked the holes in the Patriots defense all game. The way that the Colts are treating this situation is inexcusable. It is the anti-Brett Favre situation. The owner is creating all the controversy where the player just wants to get back to playing. The Patriots are the only other team who have a quarterback right now who means as much to the franchise as the Colts. While the Patriots have not always been the most loyal to players (Lawyer Milloy anyone?), they would NEVER let Tom Brady play a down for another team.

Peyton Manning’s an 11 time Pro-Bowler, has been named the NFL MVP 4 times, and the AFC Player of the Year 6 times. He is the fastest player ever to reach 50,000 yards passing and 4000 completions. He is the Colts all-time leader in Career wins, Passing Touchdowns, Pass Attempts, Pass completions and Passing Yards. He holds or shares 40 NFL regular season records and 11 playoff records. In 2010, which was just two seasons ago, he had his most passing yards of his career and led the league in completions. He is the Indianapolis Colts.

The funny part of the whole situation is that Peyton has stated that he wants to play for the Colts. It’s where he wants to finish his career. But Jim Irsay just does not seem to want him. When Peyton was cleared by his doctors and announced himself healthy, Irsay tweeted “Peyton has not passed our physical nor has he been cleared to play for the Indianapolis Colts.” There is just a lot of bad karma with this move. This player has been the face of your team for the past thirteen seasons. He goes through three neck surgeries and the owner basically throws him to the curb. It reminds me of when the 49ers were dealing with the Joe Montana/Steve Young debate. While everyone knew that Steve Young had a great future ahead of him. Montana was not done yet. In his final two years he led the Kansas City Chiefs to the playoffs twice, one AFC championship game, and beat the 49ers in their only game.  Manning is arguably healthier than Montana at the same stage in his career and has the potential to have about five good years left.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe the Colt’s doctors decided that Peyton will never play another down in the NFL. But it doesn’t give the team an excuse to alienate the player that has been the team for the past 12 seasons. Even though he is owed 28 million if he stays on after March 8th, remember he was the guy just last year. He took much less money than he deserved just so the Colts could sign free agents around him.

What do you guys think? Leave some comments. Also look for an article for potential destinations for Peyton Manning later on this week.

Patriots Offseason: Running Backs

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20120209-110845.jpgThe Patriots least famed position over the past decade has certainly been the running back position. With Kevin Faulk set for retirement, the only other question mark in the backfield goes to Benjarvus Green-Ellis. Green-Ellis has proven himself to be a consistent runner for the Pats and I expect him to re-sign here in the New England. I think Benjarvus knows his value is at its peak here in New England because of the mixture of players they throw out there every Sunday. The Pats also have Woodhead, Ridley, and Vereen under contract going into next season and seeing as the latter two were both 2011 draft picks I don’t expect this to be a position the Patriots address on draft day. There’s a slight possibility the Pats could try to pick up a veteran back but I also don’t see that happening if they keep Green-Ellis. If for some reason they let Green-Ellis walk, then you can expect the Pats to take a look at some of these options…

Peyton Hillis – Hard Runner, coming off a very tough season. Could be a low-risk high reward signing.

Cedric Benson – This is definitely a stretch for the Pats, but at the same time I don’t expect him to be in Cincy next year.

Ryan Grant – Not really an every down back anymore but can certainly take over Green-Ellis’ roll at a similar price.

Other possibilities:

Tim Hightower

Ronnie Brown

Jason Snelling

 

Patriots Offseason: QB Situation

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Well the season certainly did not end the way we were all looking forward to, but nevertheless its over and time to move onto the offseason. Each day for the next few weeks I will go position by position evaluating the talent and depth at each position, as well as ways the Patriots can improve at each of them.

Quarterback: Tom Brady is obviously the starter for the next few seasons and there is no debate there. The backup position however is certainly under question though. Brian Hoyer is a restricted free agent this offseason meaning the Patriots have many ways to keep him. I look at this as a similar situation to Matt Cassel but without that year of experience Cassel had. The Pats would love to keep Hoyer but with many other needs on the team this offseason they will not overspend for a backup QB. I think the Patriots may have realized they won’t be able to keep him and that’s why they drafted Ryan Mallet. Whether the Patriots plan to have Mallet be Brady’s predecessor has yet to be determined. I expect Hoyer to be playing elsewhere next season and the Patriots will reach out to a veteran backup to help season Mallet.

Patriot Nation: Not Our Finest Moment

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I don’t know if anyone caught on, but yesterday was more or less a day of silence here at the Boston Sports Blog. A protest, hometown sorrow, reluctance to think about the event that occurred Sunday…call it what you will, but it was in everyone’s best interest to just leave it out of the equation. After all, there really is nothing to say.

With a day gone by we’ve now had some time to reflect on the game, although it’ll definitely take a whole lot longer to get over it. Regardless, I’m not going to dive into the details of the game because we all know how it ended and no one wants to hear it. Instead, how about the aftermath? It hurts to lose to New York in any sport, whether a preseason game or spring training baseball game. What happened after the Pat’s loss Sunday, notice I’m calling it a Pat’s loss not a Giants’ victory, was very “unPatriot-like”. The two most obvious:

-Gronk and Co. getting Gronked (that’s an understatement) at a post game party

-Mrs. Tom Brady ripping on the receivers

A very New York-esque reaction to a loss if you ask me. We’re not used to seeing this in Boston, especially from a Belichick disciplined Patriot squad. It’s hard to hate on Gronk for doing his thing but it’s just not exactly the same a few hours post loss. Granted, Giselle isn’t a player and the rest of the team came to the receiver’s defense, here’s my question. Which incident was the worst to see as a Pats fan?

 

Flaw in an NFL rule? How much did it effect the Patriots?

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Well that was devastating…I’m not going to sit here and tell you a full story on how or why the Patriots lost this game, its over and done with. I’m just as upset as the next guy and I’m sure none of you want to hear any more about it.

Obviously there has been some post game comments by Tom Brady’s wife taking shots at their wide-receivers lack of ability to bring in the big catch, but then again what does she know? Here comes something I’m sure most of you haven’t heard about.

20120207-095859.jpgQuick rewind here: Go back to the Patriots play with 17 seconds left with the ball on their own 44 yard line. Brady lines up and out trots 12 Giants defenders. Was it intentional? Doesn’t really matter anymore and if it was then it’s a smart call by Coughlin and the Giants staff. They run the play; Brady sees the flag and then takes his shot down the field. The pass falls incomplete with 9 seconds to go in the game and the referee makes his call. The Giants get a 5-yard penalty for too many men on the field, and yes that’s the right call. But what about the clock? The clock stayed at 9 seconds remaining. Some of you might be asking what my point is here. So instead of the Patriots getting two, or even three shots at the end zone they end up with one. What is 5-yards at this point in the game? It’s nothing. Anyone in his or her right mind would exchange 8 seconds run off the clock for 5 yards at this point. What prevents a defense from sending 16 guys out there in this situation? It’s a very slim possibility any team completes a big play against 16 defenders. Clearly this is not the reason for the outcome of this game, but I am pretty certain the NFL will be changing this rule.

Weekend Recap

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Is there really anything to say about this weekend? Yesterday was turning out to be a great day. Celtics won, Bruins won…only one more win left and the day was complete. Then our hearts and dreams were shattered, again. Toughest Monday in a long time. I think 90% of New England is in depression. The other 10% have already jumped off the Zakim bridge. Not a great way to start the week.