Monthly Archives: August 2009

Tedy Bruschi to retire

Tedy Bruschi, #54, will be announcing his retirement tomorrow morning after 14 years in the NFL, all with the Patriots. NBC Sunday Night Football announcer Al Michaels made the announcement during the Bears/Broncos broadcast and it has been announced that there will be an “important player announcement” tomorrow morning. I’m not as shocked as I thought I’d be, as Bruschi had missed most of camp with an injury and has been playing with the second stringers in preseason games. Perhaps he was on his way to being cut and instead he, along with the organization, decided a graceful retirement was the best way to go. Any way you slice it, Bruschi’s contributions and impact on this football team were immeasurable.

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Patriots send QB O'Connell packing, what next?

Funny the difference a year makes. All three quarterback from the 2008 are no longer with the New England Patriots. Matt Cassell and Matt Gutierrez are in Kansas City with Scott Pioli and the Patriots just waived 2008 3rd pick Kevin O’Connell according to Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe.

Dang! Even Cassell had a terrible preseason in 2008 with fans and media alike thinking he would be cut, but he remained with
the team and proved to be what Dr. Belichick ordered when Brady went
down (oddly enough versus KC) after playing only 7 minutes into the
season.

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Patriots – Redskins match-up will impact roster changes

As the roster changes keep coming and Bill Belichick and the front office continue to make a few moves to help the team, the important number to think about out the moment is not Tom Brady’s or Vince Wilfork future contract details, but the number 75. The roster has to be whittled down to 75 from 80 on September 1st, so tonight’s game versus the Washington Redskins may be the last time we see a few players in a Patriots uniform.

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NFL Predictions – Patriots in Super Bowl

NFC EAST Philly has revamped even with a huge change on defense

1. Philadelphia Eagles 2. New York Giants (WC) 3. Dallas Cowboys 4. Washington Redskins

NFC NORTH Rogers over Favre – he should have stayed retired

1. Green Bay Packers 2. Minnesota Vikings 3. Chicago Bears 4. Detroit Lions

NFC SOUTH Ryan proves he is an elite QB and the Saints keep marching

1. Atlanta Falcons 2. New Orleans Saints (WC) 3. Carolina Panthers 4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFC WEST Hasselback is back and as long as his back is ok, so are the Seahawks

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Pats/Bengals halftime thoughts

At the half in the Patriots’ second preseason game, they trail the Bengals 7 – 6. Tom Brady started the game and remained in for two series. He led the Pats to a field goal on his first series and then a 3-and-out on the second series, including taking a hard hit. However, I did notice that Dan Koppen had a smile on his face after the play (he was not the one beat though). That smile was probably in reference to Brady mentioning earlier this week that he wanted to get hit to show everyone that he is fine. That sack certainly qualified. Brady didn’t look as sharp as he did in the first preseason game, missing some mid-to-deep fades, I think in part due to the pressure he was facing virtually every down. After the Pats’ second series, Brady was replaced not by Andrew Walter, but by Kevin O’Connell, who led the team to a field goal during their last drive before the half running the 2-minute offense.

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Patriots final 53 set to be a full course meal, not fast food

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While the
players for the New England Patriots are getting ready to face their next preseason opponent, Bill Belichick and the front office seem to be pouring over
their recipe books and figuring out how to bring in talent to help the team
where needed and how to help themselves where they have too much depth.

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Pats' transaction impacts Burgess trade

There were some coming’s and going’s today in Foxboro, MA, at Gillette Stadium. The biggest deal of the day was the trading of defensive lineman Le Kevin Smith to the Denver Broncos for a 2010 5th round draft pick. Besides the fact that Smith was a promising young defensive lineman, this trade has another impact: the recent trade for Derrick Burgess. The original trade for Burgess included 2010 3rd and 4th round picks, with the 4th rounder being conditional. If the Patriots acquired a 5th round pick (which is something they didn’t previously have), then they would send that 5th rounder to Oakland in lieu of the 4th round pick. Therefore, with the trading of Smith, the Pats will recoup their 4th round pick and lose the 5th round pick they just got. Not a bad deal for Le Kevin Smith, and it makes the Derrick Burgess trade more palatable for fans that felt the Pats gave up too much in terms of draft picks. However, you can also now toss a promising young player in that trade equation.

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Patriots Preseason Game 1 — Standout Players

Making note of the standouts among the familiar faces, new acquisitions and draftees we finally got to see in action tonight–

Tom Brady — All eyes were on Brady, of course, as he made his return to the field following last year’s knee injury. The same guy who didn’t take a snap in last year’s preseason (and I swear, the way that actually prepared Cassel and let him get to know the rest of the team better, it’s like they knew.) played two full quarters of football today, and was, as Over the Monster’s Randy Booth put it in a Facebook status post, “in full on FU mode.”

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Patriots season begins with questions

Some years, as a dual baseball / football fanatic, it takes me a while to get into each sport when their season first begins. Often this has to do with how bad my hangover is from the other sport – in 2003, I couldn’t muster much enthusiasm for the Patriots until about halfway through the season after the excruciating Red Sox defeat in the pennant series with the Yankees. Post Super Bowl XLII, it took until well after Opening Day for me to have any “juice” to give to the Red Sox.

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Pass rush gets a boost with Burgess trade

As Brent previously mentioned, the Patriots had an interest in DE Derrick Burgess to come in and play outside linebacker in their 3-4. Today, that interest resulted in the Pats acquiring Burgess in a trade from the Oakland Raiders for draft picks. According to Thoughts from the Dark Side’s Patrick Patterson, the Patriots gave up a 3rd and 5th round pick in the 2011 draft. ***CORRECTION*** According to the Globe’s Mike Reiss, Burgess was traded for a 3rd and 4th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

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