Monthly Archives: September 2008

A bye-week word about the boo-birds

Posted on September 28, 2008 by beth

In the spirit of full disclosure, let me preface this by saying: I am one of the fans who booed Edgar Renteria at Fenway Park on May 23, 2005. I can rationalize how that was different from Patriots fans booing at the Miami game last week, but I guess at heart, there’s not much difference. What I can say is that I cringed reading back over my justifications for booing at the time. That

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Mr. Patriot retires

Posted on September 26, 2008 by beth

Yesterday, in a news conference held at Gillette Stadium, Mr. Patriot, former WR Troy Brown, announced his retirement from the NFL at age 37. Brown is the all-time leader in receptions for the team and played all of his 13 NFL seasons in New England. Over the past few seasons, Brown has been operating off of one-year deals, after which he’s had opportunities to play for the Saints and the NY Jets for more money. As Brown, put it, “… it just wasn

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Patriots Bandwagoners, mount up!

Posted on September 24, 2008 by beth

Just as surely as the turf in Gillette Stadium is green and white, fair-weather fans of Patriot Nation are showing their true colors. Buck up troopers! This is only one performance of a long season and the first loss in 21 regular season games.
The Patriots played against one of their all time toughest rivals where generally Miami has at least one win a season against the Patriots. Last year was obviously (16-0) and exception.
Now having lived through the Tony Eason era and then some other obvious fun times before Drew Bledsloe, Bill Parcells and the honorable Robert Kraft created what has become known as one of the best Franchises in the NFL, this is not and will not become the worst of times.
Now time for some cool aid!

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Posted in AFC East, Bill Belichick, Boston Sports, Brandon Meriweather, Buffalo Bills, Jerod Mayo, Kevin Faulk, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New England Sports, New York Jets, Patriot Act, Patriot Nation Blogs, Patriots Game Reviews, Patriots Roster, Randy Moss, Robert Kraft, Rodney Harrison | 12 Comments

Patriots Squished by the Fish

Posted on September 22, 2008 by beth

When I argued that this is not a lost season for the Patriots shortly after Tom Brady went down, the relative ease of their schedule this year, especially early on, was something I took into account. Miami at home has been all but a lock over the last few years; while I knew it wouldn’t be a cakewalk, I wasn’t expecting this.
Neither, it seemed, were many of my fellow Patriots fans, who flooded talk radio yesterday afternoon with their views on exactly who lost the game. To my consternation, and that of the radio hosts I was listening to, there was a vocal faction wanting to ship out Matt Cassel and give Kevin O’Connell a shot under center.
Call me a quarterback apologist, but I didn’t see this loss as Cassel’s fault. At least, not totally.It’s true he faltered in the red zone, as he had against the Jets (luckily 1,000 field goals were enough to beat them). The Tuna’s defense kept him shuffling between the 20s all day, not something that would’ve happened to Brady.
However, Cassel also doesn’t seem to be getting much protection. You could argue that Brady just made it look like he had more time because of his calm style, or hid a multitude of blocking sins with his mobility in the pocket, but there were times yesterday Cassel didn’t even have a second to set his feet. Then there was Randy Moss, shutting it down in the third quarter and showing shades of his old self.
And to lay it all on the backup QB would amount to a grossly unfair overlooking of the defense yesterday, which played as if opposing runningbacks were invisible.

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Posted in Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, Patriots Game Reviews, Randy Moss | 1 Comment

Dolphins dominate Patriots

Posted on September 21, 2008 by beth

The Miami Dolphins spanked the Patriots, beating them 38-13. The Dolphins racked up over 200 yards rushing and Chad Pennington was nearly perfect, going 17/20 for 226 yards. Ronnie Brown was the star of the day, running for 4 touchdowns and passing for 1 TD. Three out of those 5 TDs were off of a direct-snap play to Brown (2 rushing, 1 passing). Besides the scores, that same play yielded success each time it was run, usually with Brown going up the middle on the snap and rushing for long gains. The defense never adjusted to the play and couldn’t stop Pennington when he passed the ball, only missing on 3 attempts. Pats fans can legitimately worry because the defense was supposed to be what held this team together, but they looked awful today against a team that had yet to put much of anything together on either side of the ball. here is the defensive score, which pretty much tells the story of the game:
First down: 11 wins, 17 losses
Second down: 5 wins, 15 losses
Third down: 5 wins, 4 losses
Final score: 21 wins, 36 losses
Quite a few of those wins came late in the game when everyone on the stadium knew Miami was running. What is most telling, I feel, is that Miami only had 9 3rd down plays. They had tremendous success on 1st and especially 2nd down, having 28 first down plays and 20 second down plays, only having a 3rd and more than 4 yards 5 times.
Kevin O’Connell did enter the game at the end but did not do much with the ball, going 3/4 for 25 yards. Matt Cassell ended the game 19/31 for 131 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT (could have been 3 INTs) and 1 fumble. He made many bad looking throws and I’m not sure how much confidence the coaching staff has in him to bring the team back should it fall behind again, and if they can’t fix the defense, they may fall behind a lot this season.
Bill Belichick and the coaching staff has a lot to think about this week with the bye coming up. What were the break downs on defense? Can Cassel quarterback this team to the post season? Now, with the extra time due to the bye, is the time to make a decision one way or the other. Buffalo, with its win today, is now in first place in the AFC East. It should be an interesting bye week…

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Posted in AFC East, Bill Belichick, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, Patriots Game Reviews, Patriots Roster | Leave a comment

Miami puts up 3 more

Posted on September 21, 2008 by beth

Powered by 6 running plays, the Dolphins got into range to kick a 39-yard field goal. There was not a single pass thrown on the drive, and the Fins were still able to get into field goal range.
Rookie QB Kevin O’Connell is warming up and will come into the game with about 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter. It’s time to see what the rookie can do.

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Cassel fumbles

Posted on September 21, 2008 by beth

The Pats, trying to put together some kind of comeback, just fumbled the ball back to Miami. Cassel didn’t see a wide open David Thomas and tried to scramble for a first down. Jerry Porter hit him from behind and knocked the ball out. The fans at Gillette are leaving and this game is pretty much over.

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Brown runs 62 yards for another TD

Posted on September 21, 2008 by beth

Ronnie Brown lined up under center and AGAIN scored a touchdown off the play. This marks the THIRD time Miami has scored a touchdown off of the EXACT SAME PLAY. I’m starting to feel like I’m watching a game of Madden, where there’s that one play that works every time you run it, no matter what defense is set up to stop it. The defense has looked confused, out of position, and slow against Miami today. Again, despite what the offense has or has not done, the defense, surprisingly, has blown this game. Ronnie Brown, to his credit, has scored all 5 of Miami’s touchdowns (4 rushing, 1 passing). With Buffalo losing as well, the AFC East look completely up for grabs this year with Tom Brady out.

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Pats finally get in the endzone

Posted on September 21, 2008 by beth

Ellis Hobbs provided the spark with an 81-yard kick-off return after Miami scored a TD to take a 28-6 lead to put the Patriots in good field position. It then took 7 plays to get in the endzone, with Cassel throwing a TD pass to Jabar Gaffney on 4th and 2 to make it 28-13. The defense needs to step up and force Miami into a 3 and out or a turnover to get the offense back on the field.

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Bruschi injured, Miami scores again

Posted on September 21, 2008 by beth

LB Tedy Bruschi was injured on a pass play to WR Ted Ginn, Jr. in the 3rd quarter. He did walk off the field on his own and appears to be OK.
On the subsequent play, the Fins direct-snapped to Ronnie Brown again, and he passed to TE Anthony Fasano for a touchdown, and now lead the Pats 28 – 6. Despite what the offense has or has not done, the defense is losing the game for the Pats. With Cassel at QB, the game looks to now be out of reach.

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