Patriots Give Chargers A 39 to 14 Zapping

The Chargers came into this game thinking about revenge - but left with their heads spinning wondering what had just happened to them. The Patriots, who's past accomplishments - their three Super Bowl victory's, players (is Tom Brady really a good quarterback or is it just that he knows the defensive calls, ect) and organization - had come under tremendous criticism from NFL pundits, players, fans and coaches for the previous weeks spying incident. Bill Belichick was fined the greatest amount in the NFL's history, and the Patriots had a first round pick and 250 grand taken away from them as a result of their actions. They moved on, apparently the Chargers didn't. According to NBC's sideline reporter before the game, the Chargers took ridiculous steps to ensure that the Patriots weren't spying on them including not telling the players the game plan until the Sunday and even then - not giving them, as it is usually done, the game plan on paper - to keep the Patriots secret police from getting hold of it.

That's called paranoia. That's living in the past. And that's not how the Chargers won fourteen games last year. They just set themselves up to lose. Plus, they couldn't zip their lips all week. LaDainian Tomlinson's "if they aren't cheating, they ain't trying" and "if we played them ten times we could beat them nine times" comments were the equivalent to shotting a sleeping wounded lion with a BB gun.

What effect did SpyGate have on the game for the Patriots. Well, (without the camera) the Patriots scored 31 offensive points and seven points on a 65 yard interception return by Adalius Thomas. From the moment the Patriots offensive took the field, the only players on the field that could stop them were themselves. And just like last week - they did shortcharge at least two of their own drives that could have ended up in points but resulted in 0's. It's not like the Chargers defense isn't good either. In their week one victory over the Bears they allowed only three points. The Patriots offense totaled 407 total offensive yards and 25 first downs in the game.

On the defensive side, the Patriots were amazing. Even without the camera. The unstoppable LaDainian Tomlinson became quite stoppable and only gained a total of 56 yards receiving and rushing. Philip Rivers, a Pro Bowler last year, looked confused and flustered from the beginning of the game until the end (two interceptions, only 179 pass yards). Overall, the Patriots defense intercepted two passes, made three sacks, forced two fumbles and recovered one. Dan Pees, the Patriots defensive coordinator should sent his defensive game plan to the Hall of Fame. It was that good.

Tom Brady to Randy Moss - Touchdown. Get used to it. After a great season opener, the Patriots had a another great game with Brady wizzing passes to Moss, Wes Welker and Ben Watson and the tandem of Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris running over and around defenders.

Interesting note, the Patriots have not trailed in game so far this season. Patriots win 39 to 14. Next week it's the Bills.

The Good
*Brady to Moss - two touchdowns, eight receptions for 105 yards.

*The running backs - 128 yards and a touchdown. Maroney has a great burst to the outside and Morris can just plain run over defenders.

*Defense - allowed only 201 total yards to the 2006 NFL's best offensive and MVP.

*Rosevelt Colvin - five tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. Defensive player of the week.

The Down
*Stephen Gostkowski - Missed another field goal (a lot of kickers are having bad starts to the season so far)... good thing both games have been blowouts.

CameraGate

The verdict is in, a $500,000 fine for Bill Belichick, $250, 000 fine for the Patriots organization and the loss of the teams 2008 first rounder if the Patriots make the playoffs or their second and third round picks if they do not make the playoffs.

All I can say is it could have been worse. Losing a first round pick is not good but it shouldn't have significant, negative longterm impact on the Patriots. Hopeful Belichick will stop playing spy games and just let the Pats dominate by the rules.

"The gray sweater made me do it guys!"

Jets Get Mossed: Patriots Win Opener 38 to 14

Usually the season opener doesn't reflect what a team is going to play like for the rest of the season but Patriots fans should hope this game does. The Patriots offensive gained 431 yards by land and air well only defensively giving up 227 yards. There were questions before the game whether or not Randy Moss or Asante Samuel would be either healthy or prepared enough to play but both were and played key roles in the win. Moss was totally dominate the whole game. Not Jets defender could cover him - and in the instence of his 51 yard TD - three Jets defensebacks were unable to keep up with him. Moss totaled nine receptions for 183 yards and a touchdown and I believe that he caught every pass thrown to him by Brady. The thing about Moss is that he'll catch passes that normal receivers (aka-every other receiver that Brady has thrown to...) will never make. If only Brady had him his whole career... The running game was also very effective with a two headed attack of Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris together totaled rushing 126 yards on 31 attempts. Heath Evans had the Pats only rushing TD in garbage time - with Junior Seau as his lead fullback.

On defense, the Patriots shut down the Jets running game but struggled at times to stop the passing attack. Jarvis Green filled in for Richard Seamour effortlessly and was probably the Patriots defensive player of the game with six total tackles and two sacks. Overall the Pats defense had five sacks, one forced fumble and made generally made Chad Pennington very miserable.

Special teams was special. Ellis Hobbs on the first play of the second quarter ran back a kickoff a NFL record 108 yards for a touchdown. At first his decision to make the return He was almost tackled at the ten yard line but he broke through the attempted tackle and it was just pretty much clear sailing the for the next 80 yards.

The Good
*Offensive line - Brady was not sacked the entire game and only got knocked over once. They also did a great job of opening up holes on rushing plays.

*Tom Brady - 22 for 28 for 297 yards and a touchdown. His 51 yarder to Moss was one of his best passes in his career.

*Randy Moss - talk about having a great debut. So much for that rumor that he was going to be cut at the end of training camp...

*Jarvis Green - two sacks, six total tackles, Patriots defensive player of the week.

*Mike Vrabel - 2.5 sacks, seven tackles; with Thomas playing inside, Vrabel is back in his nature role as an outside linebacker.

*Wes Welker - six receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown reception was the Patriots first of the game.
The Not So Good
*Matt Cassel - fumbled a snap that most likely cost the Pats three points and Cassel his holding job. Good thing they ended up not needing the points.

*Teddy Bruschi - can't cover running backs anymore and it showed. Is still a great run stopper but has lost a lot of his 2001-2005 speed.

The Patriots have two possible NFL players of the week with Ellis Hobbs (special teams player of the week) and Randy Moss (offensive player of the week).

Next week it's the Chargers on Sunday night football.

NFL Opener

Well.... the NFL season has begun and the Colts are looking like their picking up where they left off last year. Payton Manning is throwing way to easy touchdowns and the Indy defense is still playing the old bend but don't break defense extremely well; so far only giving up three points. Not good - if you're a Pats fan. We get to play them this year in their house and for the last two years the Patriots have been losers in all three matchups.

update - just as I was about to post this, one of the Colts linebackers intercepted a Drew Brees pass and ran it back 83 yards for a touchdown. Now it's 41 to 10 - officially a major blowout. The Saints may have come marching in but my guess is that they'll be crawling out.

Patriots Beat Up Giants in 27 to 20 Victory

Also titled; Oh Come, All Ye Backups!...Just to do a quick recap of last nights forth and last preseason game of the 2007 season. The Patriots, playing with all backups, won the game by a 27 to 20 score. It's hard to take anything from this game because it was our backups vs the Giants backups, but some players did show that they should be on the team and some should that they really shouldn't (more on that further down). Overall the Patriots backup defensive and offensive units preformed well. The Pats defense had an interception and harassed whoever was quarterbacking the Giants, totaling eight sacks and forcing two fumbles. On the offensive side, Matt Cassel passed for 99 yards (10 -14) and generally looked posed. Vinny Testaverde and Matt Gutierriz also played well with a combined 147 yards (one TD/G, one INT/V) passing on 20 attempts. Heath Evans had another rushing touchdown, his third of the preseason and forth total. The best running play actually came from wide receiver Bam Childress, lineing up as the tailback in the forth quarter, slashed up a hole in the defense for a 25 yard gain. He has quick feet and good hands so if he does make the team as I hope he does, expect to see him in the backfield.

Players Who Impressed
*Marcellus Rivers - since joining the team in the middle of training camp, Rivers has done nothing but play very well. He totaled 5 receptions for 47 yards last night and almost made an amazing one handed catch. Now a all but lock to make the team.

*Vinny Testaverde - even though he threw the only Patriots interception, his throws were crisp and he can manage an offensive if Brady goes down.

*Eric Alexander - 13 total tackles, two forced fumbles, 1/5 a sack; makes the team.

*Pierre Woods - after a low profile first three preseason games Woods finally broke out and had the type of game fans were hoping for. Nine total tackles and two sacks ain't bad. He's also pretty good in pass coverage and is a special teams monster.

*Le Kevin Smith - huge game for Smith. As one of the more present surprise starters this year (he has started on the Pats defensive line in every preseason game this year), Smith made 14 total tackles and four sacks this preseason. Three of those sacks came last night when he was just unstoppable.

*Bam Childress - four receptions for 39 yards and a touchdown and three rushes for 27 yards including a 25 yard dash in the forth quarter.

*Brandon Meriweather - ten total tackles, more then a couple huge hits, only negative was that he may have got hurt in garbage time (47 sec left in the game) when the Giants scored their last touchdown. He did talk to the media after the game though which is a good sign.

*C.J. Jones & Kelvin Kight - both have special teams experience but also showed last night that they can play receiver as well. C.J., three recptions for 59 yards, and four kickoff returns for 119 yards, and Kight, five receptions for 61 yards, are going to be hard cuts.

*Dante Wesley - had a good game last night in coverage (one int, five total tackles) and showed enough to make me believe that he could be a decent backup defensive back.

Players Who Didn't Impress So Much
*Corey Mays - he was here last year so he knows the system but he didn't do enough in my view to beat out the other guys around him this preseason.

*Tory James - in the last three preseason games James has a a total of three tackles and has gotten beaten too many times while in coverage. Tough cut but I don't think he's worth keeping over some other players such as Dante Wesley or Bam Childress.

*Quinton Smith - needed to have a breakout game to even make the pratice squad and just didn't. 46 yards and a rushing touchdown are decent but he doesn't seem do have much of a burst, a killer for a guy who isn't a powerback in a way.

Patriots Maul Panthers 24 to 7

It wasn't a close game. The Patriots, playing on national TV for the first time this season, showed the CBS watching audience why NFL pundits believe that the 07 Pats have the right mix to win a Super Bowl. Defense, offensive and special teams, the Patriots have it all. Even the backups, players such as Le Kevin Smith, Tory James, Jarvis Green and James Sanders, as they showed tonight, have the capability's to start, and play well. This team is loaded from the bottom to the top, expected great things - because their going to be unlike any other team in New England sports history.*

The Patriots opened up the game by running Laurence Maroney nine straight plays. Maroney had missed both of the previous preseason games so you can assume that this was quite a workout for him (he totaled in the game 58 yards on 15 rushes). The Patriots took a three to nothing lead into the second quarter but then burst out in the second and third quarters to score 21 points. Tom Brady had his best game so far this year throwing for 167 yards (17 for 22) and two touchdowns. His longest completion, a 37 yard pass to Donte' Stallworth, was probobly ironically his worst pass of the game. Overall, Brady and the Patriots offense is ready for week one. Randy Moss hopefully will be ready as well (I'm 90% sure he will be) but we do known that barring the unthinkable Stallworth, Welker, Gaffney, Cardwell and Washington will be.

What a game for Heath Evans and Sammy Morris. The two backup running backs combined for a total of 85 yards and one touchdown on 14 rushing attempts and four receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown. Evens had a perpendicularly great run in the third quarter when he broke several tackles at the line of scrimmage and scampered for 43 yards. Both of Morris's best plays came on the Patriots second drive of the game, firstly when the Pats had 4th down and 1 situation at their own 25 yard line and opted to go for it. Morris ran it, and he got it. His second great play came a couple plays later when on a third down and long play he caught a pass yards short of the first down and with a guy hanging on to him, threw himself an extra three or four yards to get the first down. All around A + job from this unit.

Defensively, the Patriots were impossible to run against - but they did let up some big passes on third down and long situations. Overall though, it's preseason, but letting up only seven points isn't that shabby. Oscar Lua, who's spot on the team I believe is in danger because of his so far horrific job of doing pass coverage finally caught a break and had the Patriots only interception of the game off David Carr in the forth quarter.

On special teams it was a bad game for both teams in the kicking department as the Patriots blocked two Panthers kicks and the Patriots missed two field goals. The turf or whatever they used at the Panthers stadium appeared to be ripping up way to easily so that could have had something to do with the misses. On the Panthers side, you just have to block the guys coming at the kicker.

The Good
*Heath Evans - two touchdowns and 77 total yards.

*Tom Brady - on target like the good old days with Givens and Branch.

*The wide receivers - Stallworth, Welker, Cardwell and Washington all caught at least two passes and had over twenty yards. Tight ends, Benjamin Watson (4 receptions 26 yards) and Watson lookalike, Marcellus Rivers (2 rec, 27 yards and touchdown) also had great games.

*Defense - when the starters are in - this defense is really good. And thats without Pro Bowlers Richard Seamour or Ty Warren who haven't yet played this preseason.

*Willie Andrews - quickly becoming one of the best special teams players in the AFC and second best on the Patriots behind future Hall of Famer Larry Izzo. But he also is showing that he can do a good job at the defensive back position as well.

The Not So Good
*Stephen Gostkowski - two missed field goals is not a good sign on what has been a shaky preseason for the second year kicker. Just be glad that it's preseason.

Play of the Game
In the third quarter with Matt Cassel quarterbacking the Patriots, Heath Evans takes a handoff and breaks several tackles for a 43 yard run down inside the Panther eleven yard line. Four plays later, Evans would finish off the drive by plunging into the endzone for a touchdown.

Patriots win 24 to 7. Next week they face the New York Giants at home.
*assuming you know who doesn't get hurt...

Patriots Win War But Lose Battle vs Titans

The Patriots played their second preseason game of the 2007 season last night vs the Tennessee Titans. They lost by a score of 27 to 24 - and yes - the game was that close. The Titans won the game on a field goal they scored with just 1:45 left in the forth quarter. Looking at the overall picture of the game, the Patriots may have lost but they still played really well. Both the Patriots and Titans had problems with protecting the quarterback which led to some interesting hits. Vince Young and Tom Brady and Matt Cassel all got whacked around like pinatias.... Need work there; but the Pats offensive line group is really a strong unit. Hopefully last nights problems were just an abnormally. The interception numbers may look bad for the Pats (four ints, one returned for a touchdown) but both of Brady's interceptions came as a results of the offensive line and both of Cassel's interceptions were because guys tipped up passes, or as Cardwell did, just dropped the ball into a defenders lap.

The first team defensive played spectacular. They totally shut down the Titans offensive for a full two quarters that they were in allowing zero points. That's good. The backups, making up the Pats second and third team defensive were not so good however and thats why the Titans won. With the exception of a few players, poor game speed, positioning, and tackling are big problems with this unit.

Danny Baugher helped to make the game a good one for the special teams unit. After Josh Miller was cut this week, Baugher was basically handed the job and he didn't do anything last night to make that look like a bad decision. He ended up punting three times in the game and had a monster 70 yarder and also pinned one inside the 20 yard line. The kick returners, C.J. Jones and Bam Childress both did excellent job punting the Pats in good field position.

Overall, once some guys get cut from the roster, this will be a better team. The first team vs first team battle is what really matters and the Patriots won that by a landslide. The Titans just had better backups.

The Good
*Jarvis Green - was a total monster. The official game center stats say he only made two total tackles but he was in on every play.

*Danny Baugher - the Patriots have a new punter!

*Keven Faulk -104 total yards in just the first half. Still has great vision for what is going on around him when he's running the screen plays.

*Rodney Harrison - three tackles, one huge sack and a almost interception.

*The starting defense - let up no points in the first half.

The Not So Good
*Reche Caldwell - dropped key passes once again and had a costly pushoff foul in the endzone.

*Oscar Lua - rookie linebacker is making a lot of tackles but he's not doing great in pass coverage.

*Quarterbacks -four interceptions, nuff said.

*Backup defense - allowed the Titans offensive to run over them.

Play of the Game
In the first quarter of the game with the Patriots trailing by seven, Tom Brady threw a 28 yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker after faking out the Titans defensive on a great pump fake. The touchdown tied the game at 7 -7.

Buc's Sink Pats 13 to 10

The Patriots played their first preseason game of the season today and lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a game winning 32 yard field goal by Matt Bryant. Overall the Patriots looked pretty good. The starting offensive didn't have Moss, Stallworth, Watson or Maroney tonight so it's hard to judge how good they really were but they did move the football - they just really didn't score touchdowns. The starting defense had to be one of the brightest spots in this game. Adalius Thomas was a monster and Brandon Meriweather stuck to his guy in the slot. The Buc's offensive really couldn't do anything against these guys. On special teams it looks as if Bill Belichick may have decided that one of the kids, Thomas Malone or Danny Baugher is the Pats punter of the future. Or at least that he's going to give them the best chance to prove that they should be. Out of the six Patriots punts, Miller only booted one (43 yards). Nothing special happened in the return department other then a great 39 yard kick return by rookie defensive back Gemara Williams.

The Good
*The defensive backs - most people say that the weakest area of the team is the DB's. And although compared to the wide receivers and defensive line this unit may be lacking star power, they pretty much shut down the Buc's air attack in the first quarter.

*Justin Rogers - six total tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery. Not bad.

*Gemara Williams - showed a lot of speed on his one kick return. One more block and he could have brought it all the way to the house.

The Not So Good
*The QB's - it was the first preseason game of the year so it's hard to tell but none of the quarterbacks looked very sharp. Matt Gutierrez especially looked off. In his two quarters of playing time he only passed for 66 yards on 6 completions.

*The backup's, backup defensive linemen - The Buc's ran a lot in the third and forth quarter and for a good reason. Expected to see some early cuts in this unit.

Play of the Game
With the Buccaneers threating to score a touchdown in the first quarter defensive tackle Mike Wright sacked quarterback Luke McCown on a third down play. The Buc's were forced to kick a field goal to make the game 7 to 3.

PTC Trip Two

We went to a Patriots Training Camp practice yesterday afternoon. The Pat's defensive total dominated the practice. In total they had five interceptions - and they returned two of those for touchdowns. Our defensive looks good. Our passing game - hopefully it was an off day. Moss wasn't at the practice but Donte Stallworth who had missed most of the previous practices was. He appeared to have a lot of speed but he did drop at least two catchable passes.

Of all the pictures I took, I think this one (above left) expresses best what Brady thought about the day (the last pass he threw was an interception to Mike Vrabel...)

I got autographs of Rodney Harrison (as did Peter and Aidan) and also Brandon Meriweather, Eugene Wilson and James Sanders. Harrison's auto was a especially good one to get since this is most likely his last season in the NFL. The Patriots first preseason game is this Friday vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

My pictures of PTC Trip 2

One side of the field...

...the other side

You have to click on the picture to actually see the snap

Brady to Bam Childress

The Patriots 2007 first round selection Brandon Meriweather

Rodney Harrison a split second before he slams into Garrett Mills

Mel Mitchell (24), Brandon Meriweather (31) and Willie Andrews (23) sitting in their thinking spots

Ellis Hobbs (27), Eugene Wilson (26) and Randall Gay (21)

Wes Welker attempts to avoid James Sanders in a tackling drill

Laurence Maroney

Running backs vs Linebackers

Patriots Training Camp: Opening Day

Well, for the third stright year we attend the opening day of Patriots Training Camp. The Patriots looked good. The big signings, Moss, Thomas and Welker all looked like Pro Bowlers and the guys we already had, Gaffery, Brady, Watson, Maroney and pretty much everyone else looked good. So yeah, wherever they're having the Super Bowl - HERE WE COME!! (maybe...)

Opening day 2007Can you find Peter?

Brady clapping, don't ask me why. Maybe he likes the fact that he actually has some wide receivers now.

Let the hitting begin!

Moss beats his guy and makes the catch on the sideline

Jabbar Gaffney, looked really good. Should be the Pats 3d or 4th wideout

Punting drill, here they come...

...too late

Welker avoiding the sack in the bump and run drill

Sammy Morris, didn't see do anything special but he's really not here to do anything special

Matt Cassel

Brown Is Back

After deciding not to retire and play one more season, Troy Brown is back with the Patriots.

The crowded Pats wide receiver situation is looking even more crowded. But that's a good thing!

The Patriots now have 13 wide outs currently signed with the team. At least seven (but not more then eight) will probably still be around after training camp but that's not taking injury's into factor.

Here's a list of the guys the Patriots have and my guesses on who's a lock to make the team and who's not.

100% Chance of Making the Team
*Troy Brown
*Wes Welker
*Donte' Stallworth
*Randy Moss

90% Chance
*Chad Jackson

70% Chance
*Jabar Gaffney
*Kelley Washington
*Reche Caldwell

25% Chance
*Kelvin Kight
*Bam Childress

10% Chance
*Jonathan Smith

Better be Praying
*Chris Dunlap
*C.J. Jones

As it looks now, either if the Patriots decide to load up on one roster spot it would seem wise for them to do it here. The depth of this unit over last years unit is amazing. Just think about it, last year Reche Caldwell was Tom Brady's go to guy. This year, Moss, Welker, Stallworth all could be number one wide receivers and Caldwell is going to be playing this preseason for a roster spot.