by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

Patriots defensive coordinator Dean Pees had his chance the meet the press yesterday, and Mike Reiss of the Globe has our Feature of the Day on Pees’ presser.

I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but Pees speaks so openly about the team’s plans that it feels (relatively) like he’s giving away state secrets. I had to keep checking to make sure the quotes were attributed to him, and not “sources close to the team.” Does Belichick know this guy is out here talking to people? Did he OK this? Is it all right for us to be hearing this?

Pees talked freely about the team’s thinking in regard to Adalius Thomas (he’ll play inside to start before his versatility is more fully explored; was Butch Stearns there to rebut?), Eugene Wilson (he’s a safety, not a corner) and rookie Brandon Meriweather (he’s a corner, not a safety). Criminy, Pees even talked about a Player Who Isn’t Here (Asante Samuel). 

In the end, Pees didn’t tell you anything you wouldn’t have figured out for yourself anyway, but his matter of fact confirmation of the defense’s early direction still feels like - again, relatively speaking - like an informant singing like a canary.

Fun.

Meanwhile, the official ‘training camp’ portion of the pre-season is winding down. Your other headlines are here, per usual, at patriotslinks.com.

Spill it here, Pees!

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

In case you haven’t seen this yet, here’s Steve Serby of the New York Post claiming that Eric Mangini has a “strategy for slaying (the) dragon”, which turns out to be none other than Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Why a dragon? Why not a giant robot?

People, this is one of those most specialist of occasions for the denizens of the Internet; fresh chum in the water. It’s like a High Holiday of Ridicule.

Serby is a piece of work. Oddly, I think this damn thing is supposed to be about Kellen Clemens, the Jets backup QB. And it sort of is, except for several wild outbursts by Serby, who thinks he’s figured out how Mangini and the Jets are going to get by the Patriots.

The JETS ARE GOING TO RUN THE BALL. The JETS ARE GOING TO RUN THE BALL through and around our Patriots, and then they’re going to kill somebody and watch their head die or something. I frankly found that whole part disturbing. Anyway, the Pats are cooked; the JETS ARE GOING TO RUN THE BALL.

Innovative.

No mention in Serby’s column that New England was the league’s fifth best defense against the run in 06 (3.9 a carry). Also no mention that the Jets were 24th (4.6 a carry). Thomas Jones is no slouch (if he’s healthy after an injury suffered in a drill yesterday), but isn’t the real question on the other side of the ball for New York?

No matter. The real fun is in Serby’s shots at an allegedly wildeyed Belichick:

“Bill Belichick bestowed upon Tom Brady offseason gifts of Randy Moss, Dante Stallworth and Wes Welker. It underscored Belichick’s hunger and desperation to win that elusive fourth Super Bowl and sent tremors outside Weeb Ewbank Hall, where Jets fans cursed their fate.”

The man is desperate! Maybe not as desperate as an organization that hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 1968, but pretty desperate! There’s no telling what he will do:

“So maybe if Belichick hadn’t gambled on Moss - a player Mangini and GM Mike Tannenbaum would never add to their locker room - Tannenbaum would not have traded up in the first round to draft cornerback Darrelle Revis, whose debilitating holdout over a sixth year in his contract needs to be resolved ASAP.”

See what I mean? Desperate! Associating oneself with that sort of…….element. Imagine.

Never say never, Steve. Take my word for it. If Moss would have agreed to play for 3 million in New York (as opposed to New England, though he was due 10 million in Oakland), if he’d been as “star struck” by the Jets as he was the Patriots, the door to that locker room might have been left open a crack. And you’d be falling ass backward over youself trying to “get to know Randy.”

Greg Doyle of the crackhead Patriots Daily staff took something else from that same paragraph, so let’s re-run it again:

“So maybe if Belichick hadn’t gambled on Moss - a player Mangini and GM Mike Tannenbaum would never add to their locker room - Tannenbaum would not have traded up in the first round to draft cornerback Darrelle Revis, whose debilitating holdout over a sixth year in his contract needs to be resolved ASAP.”

I don’t know why we’re worried about their friggin’ running game when Mangini and Tannenbaum have access to a working time machine. They must, because how else would they known about Moss, who wasn’t traded until the day after Revis was picked? Come on, now. You can’t get that stuff by Doyle.

That whole idea is silly anyway. The Jets spend the fourteenth pick on a guy to defend a player that will more than likely be out of the division in 12 months?

Serby was confused throughout, which means he represents Jets fans perfectly. He gins up a dramatic story from Clemens, who learns a valuable ‘life lesson’ from sage Mangini:

Coach Mangini posed a question to Clemens: ‘Kellen, what are the records of Jacksonville, Kansas City and Denver?’

“He gave what he thought was the right answer. ‘They are all 7-5.’ And they were all 7-5, as were the Jets.

“The right answer is, ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Coach Mangini explained. ‘What matters is what WE do, how WE approach it, whether WE win our games and whether WE control the things WE can control.’”

True enough. But Serby writes an entire column that essentially says that the only thing that matters for the Jets is beating the Patriots, even while his already-sainted head coach (who, strangely, is quoted nowhere in the piece) is saying exactly the opposite. Steve must have been writing this column in a funhouse.

Which explains a lot.

Kellen Clemens has got to be like, “damn, I was going to cut this out and send it to my mom! He talks to me two hours and doesn’t mention me ’til the third paragraph? And what’s this Teddy Atlas bullshit? What’s wrong with this guy?”

Exactly, Kellen. This question you got exactly right.

In other news, Kyle Brady seems close to returning to practice, and the Herald’s John Tomase reports this morning that the undisclosed injury suffered by Ty Warren on Friday night is considered minor. Check all your headlines here. Daniel Malloy of the Globe has our Feature of the Day on Kevin Faulk, who had a strong start against Tampa.

Sadly, the Matt Kranchick Decade has come to a premature end. He was released yesterday, as the Patriots signed former Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. Take that, Bronson Arroyo and Dr. Charles! I honestly thought Jones was dead - wasn’t there something with a swimming pool? Shows you what I know. Turns out he’s been playing tight end in the NFL since 2004. How do the Stones do it? They never get old!

You can’t always get what you want. Except here, in the comments section.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

The morning papers have more reaction from Friday night’s pre-season opener, so let’s take a spin through the links to see what’s up.

The Globe hits leadoff today with Christopher Gasper’s look at Kelley Washington, who impressed in his Friday debut. Washington talks a bit about his 12 yard catch and run first-down that left no less of a player than Ronde Barber grabbing for air.

Gasper and Mike Reiss team up on the daily notebook, with Jarvis Green and the rest of the Patriots defensive line working to get on the same page with the absences of Richard Seymour (planned) and Ty Warren (unplanned) on Friday night. This is the first I’ve heard that Warren left the game early with an unspecified injury. Something to watch closely in the days to come. I hardly want to consider the prospects of the loss of the underrated Aggie.

In his weekly Football Notes, Reiss talks with Bill Belichick mentor Ted Marchibroda about the expanding size of today’s coaching staffs, a trend Belichick is bucking in New England. Mike also visits with old friend Damien Woody, who has been expanding himself. Reiss also touches on Michael Irvin’s much discussed Hall of Fame acceptance speech, in which he also lauded Pats strength and conditioning coach Mike Woicik.

At the Herald, John Tomase has Belichick’s thoughts on his team’s first pre-season action. Guess what? Some good, some bad. A lot to work on. A long way to go.

Karen Guregian has a look at what we might have learned about Adalius Thomas on Friday night, and what the rest of the AFC competition might not have learned about the Patriots. Guregian and Tomase team up on a notebook, and look again at rookie Justin Rogers, who took full advantage of his chance to be noticed.

Shalise Manza Young of the ProJo says rookie class is in session, especially for Oscar Lua, who is job shadowing Tedy Bruschi while trying to find something he can be good at.

David Heuschkel of the Hartford Courant runs through more Belichick thoughts from yesterday’s conference call with the media.

You know, I’ve always thought that ‘Bend it like Beckham’ sounded sort of dirty. Yet this smut peddler is welcomed at Gillette Stadium today, which means you won’t be. Tomorrow’s practice sessions will be among the final ones open to fans this year, as the team concludes training camp while looking ahead to the pre-season home opener with the Titans (bastards) on Friday night.

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning. You’ve made a wise choice to stay inside and focus on the Internet. Fresh air and physical activity is completely overrated. You are obviously an erudite individual. Please, share with us your secret.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

Just kidding. Made you look!

The New England Patriots officially (sort of) opened their 2007 season on Friday night with a last-second 13-10 loss to the Bucs in hot and sticky Tampa.

With starters and key reserves on both sides long departed, rookie runner Kenneth Darby led the Buccaneers through a collection of New England’s fringe defenders to set up Matt Bryant’s 32 yard field goal as time expired.

What is it they say on SoSH? It’s On!

That’s really what I came away with, as my wife and I settled down on the couch to watch the Pats - one of our most Favorite Things -  for the first time since last January’s stunning loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship. As Willie Andrews returned the game’s opening kickoff through the kind of humidity that is uncomfortable even to watch on television, I turned and said, “here we go - now, it’s every week from here on out.”

Which is really the most important thing that happened all night. Football, and the Patriots, are truly back. If being happy about that - even on an August Friday night, with summer still in bloom - makes us yahoos, so be it. Let the intelligencia maintain their all-important detached affectations; we’ll be on the couch, smiles on our faces. 

The results are largely irrelevent, unless you’re trying to make the team. I’m not, but I do have a few random thoughts:

The game wasn’t as much sloppy as it was awkward. Penalties were at a minimum (that Walt Coleman does a hell of a job, doesn’t he?), which is a victory of sorts, but the action was jittery for the most part. Everything looked kind of frenetic and out of sync on both sides, which is to be expected.  

Tom Brady and the Patriots first team offense (some of it, anyway) hung in there for about a dozen snaps over two possessions before taking their leave. They put together a few first downs and drove into Tampa territory once, but a hurried Brady badly overthrew a wide open Wes Welker to keep the first-stringers off the board. Kevin Faulk looked like the best player on offense, taking delayed handoffs and grabbing his signature dumpoffs to account for the intital first downs of the Patriots’ season.

Laurence Maroney, Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Ben Watson (among others) were inactive. Fans will have to wait at least another week (maybe longer) for their first real glimpse of New England’s wildly hyped offensive juggernaut.

The offensive line was tested by the rush of Monte Kiffin’s small and quick Cover Two defense (not a bad matchup, considering the AFC competition), and while Brady wasn’t sacked, he was forced to move around the pocket and even took a couple of whacks after he delivered a pass.

On the other side of the ball, the Pats defense (whole for the most part, minus Richard Seymour and of course Asante Samuel) hung in for a slightly longer spell than the offense, and initially ushered Jeff Garcia and the Bucs the hell out of there in short order, with no first downs in their first two possessions.

Later, after idling on the sidelines while backup quarterback Matt Cassel led the Pats on a nine-minute touchdown drive, the first stringers returned and got pushed around a bit (nearly 50 yards worth) by the Tampa running game. Back-to-back sacks by Jarvis Green and Mike Wright inside their own 20 finally stalled the drive and forced Tampa to settle for a Bryant field goal and a 7-3 New England lead.

Like most everyone, I was most interested to see Adalius Thomas in his Patriots debut, and we caught a couple of flashes of the player that is expected to be a centerpiece of this year’s New England defense. Lining up next to Tedy Bruschi, he dropped smoothly dropped into coverage on pass plays and ranged sideline to sideline against the run. Most impressive was one bull rush from the middle that instantly collapsed the Tampa pocket.

Elsewhere:

Cassel took over for Brady with about 5 minutes left in the first quarter and, as noted above, was at the controls for the first sustained drive of the Pats season. Now in his third year, it seems time for Cassel to assert himself as an established player, yet there was nothing (even with the drive) that jumped off the page last night. Matt Gutierrez actually threw the most impressive balls of the night, a couple of lasers in the 15-20 yard range.

Sammy Morris, who finished off the team’s first touchdown drive with authority, runs with the right attitude, if last night was any indication. He squares his shoulders right up and pounds it in there, keeping his legs moving through the pile. There’s hope that he can fill some of the void left by the departure of old favorite Corey Dillon.

Heath Evans also got a few carries and notched the team’s longest run by a back (11 yards). He also drew a fourth quarter pass interference penalty on a lob by the goal line, setting up the Pats final points (a Stephen Gostkowski field goal that tied the game at 10 with eleven minutes to play). I think the future Dunkin Donuts franchisee missed a hell of a product placement opportunity, though, by not immediately downing a Coolata while the cameras were on him.

Jabar Gaffney continued his solid August with a couple of first down catches, but I was most impressed by newcomer Kelley Washington, who grabbed another third down pass and left a Tampa defender (no less than Ronde Barber, according to the Globe) in the dust with a nifty cut. With his special teams versatility, Washington could be a real factor in the Patriots crowded receiver picture, which frankly, I wasn’t expecting.

Defensively, it was nice to see Randall Gay end his prolonged absence with a couple of textbook tackles while defending the run. My biggest celebration of the night was when Gay got up both times, newfound health intact.

Rookie Brandon Meriweather got plenty of snaps as a corner, and while he wasn’t immediately impressive in pass defense, he didn’t hesitate to throw himself headlong at a couple of Tampa ballcarriers. For whatever its worth, I have to agree with Wes Welker’s assessment - he looks like a ballplayer out there.

Is it too optimistic to say that Mike Richardson does too? I perked right up when Richardson defended a long pass up the far sideline with blanket coverage, and later, he (like Gay) showed toughness in holding the edge in run defense. I’m going to try to contain myself here, but is there any chance the Pats may have unearthed a player in the sixth-round last April?

Fellow sixth-round pick Justin Rogers showed some real burst off the edge as a pass rushing linebacker, gathering up his first sack as a pro. Maybe I’ve missed it, but Rogers hasn’t generated a ton of attention so far in camp. Second year man Pierre Woods (who didn’t play, for reasons not detailed) and rookie Oscar Lua have gotten the ink, but when the action started last night, it was Rogers who stood out. Lua led the team in tackles, but was at the center of the Pats defense that yielded the winning points when it couldn’t stop the run.

Second year man Le Kevin Smith made a nice play when he ran down Lionel Gates from behind and punched the ball free. The Patriots defense had its first turnover of the season when the fumble was recovered by - wait for it - Justin Rogers.

Here we go - it’s every week from here on out. How do we feel about that?

Awwwwwwwwwwww, yeeaaaah.

What did you see last night? Drop your comments here.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but tonight’s opening pre-season game with the Bucs in Tampa will, of course, be televised live across New England.

The broadcast will originate, as pre-season tilts typically do, with Boston’s WCVB Channel 5, but fear not, the following affiliates have also got your back:

Providence, R.I. (WNAC-TV Ch. 64)
Manchester, N.H. (WMUR-TV Ch. 9)
Portland, Maine (WMTW-TV Ch. 08)
Springfield, Mass. (WWLP-TV Ch. 22)

Of course, tonight’s game (and Pats legends Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti) can also be heard on the Patriots Rock Radio Network and it’s flagship station WBCN 104.1 FM.

If you’re one of the poor souls who isn’t within range of any of these fine establishments, you can tune in to the NFL Network tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 for a replay.

Enjoy.

In other late afternoon developments, I’m hearing that Butch Stearns is telling WEEI listeners this afternoon that Bill Belichick isn’t using Adalius Thomas correctly.

Well, at least Butch isn’t telling them that Adalius is dead.

How does he know this, by the way? Have the Patriots been playing pre-season games behind my back? Or can Butch see into the future? I suppose its possible - he nailed that Dale Earnhardt Jr. story, after all.

See you after the game.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

See, I thought the Patriots were just playing a practice game tonight.

Evidently, it’s much more than that. It has to be - the general columnists have arrived this morning, to instruct us on What This All Means.

Shouldn’t these guys be in Baltimore or someplace? Somewhere ‘important’?

Bob Ryan of the Globe is such a purist that he can’t bring himself to type ‘pre-season’, because that would mean he’s drinking somebody’s ‘Kool Aid’. What did the innocent powdered children’s drink ever do to get this kind of grief? So it’s ‘exhibition’ instead. Good - A Man of Principle. Yeah, this is somebody I need to hear from first thing this morning. It’s like somebody gave Lisa Simpson a newspaper column.

Hey Bob - PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON PRESEASON. See, its not hard. Lighten up, Francis.

Anyway, did you know that the Patriots are favorites to win the Super Bowl this season? I don’t know how I miss this stuff. Context! And by the way, wear light jackets when visiting Phoenix next February. Got your tickets yet? It’s OK, Bob says it’s cool to make plans.

Context!

Thankfully, Steve Buckley of the Herald is also on the scene to examine the most important aspect of tonight’s epic battle - how this will affect the Red Sox, or most importantly, Red Sox Nation. I shit you not. Buckley is absolutely intrigued by what you’re going to do on the evening of September 16th; watch the Pats play the Chargers, or watch the Red Sox play the Yankees.

Honest to God, that was the first thing I thought of this morning too. In fact, I didn’t sleep all that well, worrying about it. I don’t want to wish away the next month, but what on God’s Green Earth will people do? How will they vote in the big Red Sox and Patriots election? And What Will It All Mean?

I suspect Steve will be back to tell us. I can hardly wait.

Get this though - Buckley references Patriots quarterback Austin Powers, as well as new teammate (and part-time model) Dante Wesley, and muses that “the days of leather helmets and no facemasks are far behind us.” No shit, Sherlock. Hey Steve - what year is this, exactly?

I’ve got a headache. What kind of world is it where people like Reiss, Breer and Tomase get pushed to the bottom of the Internet so Ryan and Buckley can top the page with this waste of space?

Never mind, I know the answer. I cannot believe that Dan Shaughnessy missed this opportunity to tell us what a ignorant lot football fans are.

Anyway, I have a feeling that the Big Three know full well that we’ll forget all about tonight’s practice game by tomorrow night, unless somebody gets killed or something (God forbid, by the way). Breer has our Feature of the Day, an instructive look at what the Patriots will try to accomplish tonight. Reiss has a nice bit outlining ten things to look for, and Tomase has a grab bag of Game Face notes.

You don’t need to read anything else, take my word for it. But I suppose if you need Context, you can continue to search patriotslinks.com for the answer.

Oh, dammit, I can’t wait! What are you going to do on September 16th? Tell me now!

When the legendary San Francisco 49er’s coach died on July 30th, one of the things that came out in the days following was Bill Belichick talking about the 1997 book that Walsh wrote with Brian Billick and James Peterson called Finding the Winning Edge. The Patriots coach had high praise for this book, declaring it a must-read for any one involved in coaching.

I managed to get my hands on a copy of the book…no mean feat since used copied are being sold for as much as $600 on Amazon.com. I thought that over the course of the season, we might take a look at various bits of advice from the book as it relates to the Patriots and the situations they might be facing at that particular time.

When talking about training camp, Walsh talks about teaching the system to the players, and near the start of the chapter, says:

Whatever the offensive or defensive philosophy of the head coach however, the core of any type of detailed preparation is the need for maximizing meaningful repetitions. Accordingly, as the head coach, you have to develop and implement a plan that ensures that every player gets the meaningful repetitions he needs to refine his skills and techniques.

When you think about the fact that there are 70+ players in a training camp, the importance of organization is really highlighted. The players aren’t just running through drills, it needs to be ensured that they’re getting the right drills and reps appropriate for their position so that the coaches can see their strengths and weaknesses, and thus address each.