by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

It’s a legitimate question: has Matt Kranchick ever gotten this kind of ink?

So far, the fourth year kid from Penn State has been the only constant at the Pats’ suddenly vulnerable tight end position, and today he’s the subject of our Feature of the Day, written once again by the Globe’s Christopher Gasper. Over at the Herald, John Tomase responds in kind.

The burgeoning celebrity of the former Steeler portends what is perhaps the biggest camp story so far: the tight-end relying Pats are nervously thin at one of their bellwether spots. Dave Thomas broke his foot this spring and it still yet to see the light of day at camp. Doesn’t it now seem inevitable that Thomas, who many hoped would be a key man in the Pats passing game, will miss at least a portion of the regular season? Time’s a wasting, folks. To make matters worse, Ben Watson apprarently stumbled and injured himself on Monday. I know - I’m as shocked as you are. After all, he’s usually as reliable as Cal Ripken.

Garrett Mills, the former Tulsa all-everything, is having a hell of a time establishing himself as a pro, and while it sounds like Kyle Brady is getting closer to the field, nobody expects Brady to be the one flying up the seam. Ditto veteran Marcellus Rivers, who the Pats added yesterday.

I’m doing everything I can at this moment not to mention Daniel Graham. The Pats’ decision last spring to let him walk seemed to me, at its core, a choice of Watson over Graham. Obviously, it’s more complicated than that - the Pats have Watson locked up through 09 at a far more affordable rate, and Graham would have been paid at the upper end of the position scale with a new deal. But on the field, there is no comparison between the players. Give me Graham six days a week and twice on Sundays.

I say all that fully recognizing that Graham spent a few days on the exercise bike himself. Moving on…..

Dante Wesley met with the press and impressed; he sounds like a solid guy. It remains to be seen whether he’ll contribute to the secondary, as even he thinks of himself as a special teamer first. The ‘part-time model’ angle sounds like something we’ll explore more fully as the season goes along; it should be a nice compliment to the ‘Artrell Hawkins wants to be a broadcaster’ storyline.

I got to tell you, I’m completely sick of training camp already. Bring on Friday Night Lights, and the first Game Day Rear View on Saturday morning. For now, get the rest of today’s headlines (the Herald website is jammed packed with football this morning, by the way) at patriotslinks.com.

What interesting part-time jobs do you have?

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

The morning papers take a look at the Patriots return men, and wonder if New England can afford to risk injury to key starters like Ellis Hobbs and Laurence Maroney by asking them to shag kickoffs this fall.

As far as Maroney, I’d suggest not, since he’s coming off a shoulder injury and has yet to practice fully with the team. Besides, the Patriots already have a great kick returner.

I understand the Pats defensive backfield is at risk with the absence of Asante Samuel (who am I kidding - its always at risk no matter the time and place), but come on now. Hobbs has GOT to be back there this fall. I submit as evidence Hobbs’ second-half performance in the face of the Colts comeback in the AFC Championship Game. An 80 yarder in the third quarter after the Colts had tied the game (which set up a Tom Brady to Jabar Gaffney score, and the lead), and then a 41 yarder in the final moments (which set up a go-ahead Stephen Gostkowski field goal).

You can’t buy that kind of field position. The hell with it. Hobbs, get back there.

In other news, Bill Belichick lauded cerebral centerman Dan Koppen yesterday, calling him “as good as anybody I’ve ever coached” when it comes to making line adjustments before the snap. No wonder then that Belichick locked up Koppen to a five-year deal last fall before he could reach free agency. Daniel Malloy of the Globe has our Feature of the Day on the Pats’ pivot.

The defense had a quite time yesterday, picking off Brady and Matt Cassel scrimmage passes and rubbing their nose in it. No word on if they danced on the offense’s logo at midfield, or if they imitated Matt Kranchick’s patented dance. Regardless, the display sent Brady off in a Phillip Rivers-like huff. You guys are the sorriest defense in the league!

The Pats are stockpiling Dantes - the latest (cornerback/special teamer Wesley) arriving in a trade with the Bears yesterday. And a nervous Heath Evans is strongly considering opening a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise (a ‘breaking news’ graphic ought to be running along the bottom of your screen now). Don’t be such a wuss, Heath - get that money out there! 

Time to make the donuts! Meanwhile, get all the headlines at patriotslinks.com.

Give me a large coffee and a dozen comments.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

The Patriots practiced for the first time at Gillette Stadium yesterday, and Bill Belichick took the opportunity to run his team through its situational paces. Look, a real scoreboard and everything! Mike Reiss has our feature of the day on the practice, and the slightly surprising news from Kelley Washington that the Cincinnati Bengals don’t practice things like ‘ball at the 50, 10 seconds left, one timeout’. Really? They seem so disciplined.

I’m thinking I need to practice some situations myself, what with the first pre-season game this Friday and everything. Okay, ‘Sunday Links’ deadline approaching, no coffee, and just one cigarette. Laptop battery fading. Go!

Anyway, get the rest of this morning’s headlines at patriotslinks.com.

Worried that jet-setting quarterback Tom Brady, impregnator of actresses and escorter of supermodels, might be losing his edge? Don’t be. An enthusiastic Brady told reporters yesterday that he plans to play to his late 30’s (this, in the midst of training camp), which ought to remind us he still has a slightly better work ethic than, say, Michael Strahan, for instance.

Elsewhere, Donte Stallworth took the practice field as expected, but other than that, the Patriots injury picture remains the same. Laurence Maroney stayed in his red jersey and Randy Moss stayed on the sideline. Backup lineman Billy Yates, who started three games last season before breaking his leg, was forced from action with an undisclosed injury.

Care to guess his status? That’s right - day to day. Aren’t we all?

Don’t be a stupid Bengal. Practice your regular season situations here.

Here’s a few news and notes items on the national level regarding the Patriots.

It’s not to early to be getting the view from the other side. The official website of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers takes a look at five Patriots players to watch on Friday night.

In the New York Times, Judy Battista has a look at how the Patriots have retooled since the loss to Indy in the AFC title game, and how despite their offseason haul, the team is staying on message with their stated expectations for this season.

There are a couple of notes involving the Patriots on ESPN’s “Whispers From Around The NFL,” provided by Pro Football Weekly:

• We hear that fourth-round DL Kareem Brown won’t be a Patriot for long if he doesn’t take to heart the team-imposed suspension and stern lecture from veteran DE Richard Seymour that he got after violating an unspecified team rule and being forced to the sideline for the first three days of practice.

We haven’t heard a peep as to what this violation was, and it’s probably for the best. No organization is better at keeping things “inside the house” than the Patriots.

• Word from New England is that DE Richard Seymour is not seriously hurt and was put on the preseason PUP list to give him more time to heal from offseason knee surgery. The Pats also hope the extra rest will help Seymour be a little fresher when the season starts.

If true, this is certainly good news.

Peter King hasn’t made it to Patriots camp yet, and since Don Banks has already been there for SI, perhaps we’ll be spared the Starbucks reviews from around Foxboro. King fills up seven pages of training camp notes this week with his usual style. The one positive about this edition of MMQB is the mad love he gives out to our good friends Aaron Schatz and his crew at Footballoutsiders.com. The only Patriot-related item of the entire article is tied to FO’s Pro Football Prospectus:

I think one last thing I appreciate about Pro Football Prospectus is how the writers avoid the hype and write the unvarnished truth. Like about how Kyle Brady is going to be a perfect replacement for Daniel Graham — at about a fourth of the cost — for New England at tight end because he’s one of the best blockers in football at the position.

King then immediately launches into a discussion of the Red Sox - after having already talked about them earlier. Thanks Peter, just what we needed, more Red Sox talk.

USA Today’s Inside Slant has a Patriots training camp look, and focuses mainly on the competition to fill in for Asante Samuel in training camp. If you’ve kept up with us here and with the local coverage, there isn’t much new here, it’s a decent run-down of the first week of camp.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

In the grand tradition of rock instrumentalists the Ventures, the Patriots walked through another practice late yesterday after having most of the weekend off for good behavior. Scan this morning’s headlines over at patriotslinks.com.

Most of the injured players took part in the light walkthrough again, and the news this morning is that free agent wide receiver Donte Stallworth will take the field today for his first full practice.

Stallworth doesn’t lack for confidence, apparently, as he has given himself but a couple of weeks to get fully up to speed with the Patriots offense. We’ll see about that - after all, he had to have someone else tell him he had been PUP’d at the start of camp. The Globe’s Christopher Gaspar has our feature of the day on the chatty Stallworth, who will allegedly jump to the head of the class with Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Jabar Gaffney when he returns.

In other news, veteran tight end Kyle Brady showed up, expressed sympathy for the camp’s lone tight ends, and just as quickly disappeared into the abyss that is ‘day-to’day’.

Elsewhere, we’re having some camp monotony creep, as new additions Adalius Thomas and Sammy Morris looked forward to hitting someone besides each other. That day will come as soon as Friday, as the Pats kick off the 2007 pre-season in Tampa.

Funny - not too much said or written about Asante Samuel these last few days.

Walk, don’t run, to your nearest comments section.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

The coffee’s on, the browsers are open, and that means it’s time for another season of the Sunday Links.

Each week, I’ll run through New England’s Sunday papers for the latest on the Patriots and the rest of the NFL, and add a few thoughts when the mood strikes. And don’t forget - you can always do the same by hitting the ‘leave a comment’ link above.

Let’s get started.

Wait…..one thought. How the print media landscape has changed since we were last together in this space. Young, industrious reporters like Mike Reiss, John Tomase and Albert Breer (and now the Globe’s Christopher Gaspar) have redefined - finally - the coverage surrounding the team. Gone are the sideshow antics of attention-craving hatchet men, bent on furthering their own bizarre celebrity at the expense of the job and of the consumer. In it’s place, thorough news accounts and oft-illuminating commentary. And a steady electronic presence that allows fans instant access to the latest developments in Foxboro. All crafted by men who clearly love the game of football and maintain a healthy curiousity about it. Imagine - enthusiasm in place of calculation. Diligence in place of perverted vigilence. That’s made all the difference at this address. I’ve said it before, and I will again - we’ve never had it better.

Speaking of oft-illuminating, there’s a good example of the new ethic in today’s Globe. Christopher Gaspar tooks at zone blocking schemes and how the Patriots’ offensive line is preparing to maximize the talents of Laurence Maroney this season. Gaspar walks through the demanding assignments and approach, which will require the Pats’ linemen to be agile, athletic and in sync with the constant adjustments. Helpful commentary from John Hannah and former Packers assistant Jeff Jagodzinski is weaved in. Great piece. Would it have been easier and potentially more lucrative to write some bitter diatribe against the head coach, and call it a day? My father had a saying - yes. But for some reason, young Christopher was content to teach his readers a little something they might not have known.

Just astounding. How soon before the pigs start flying?

Elsewhere at the Broadsheet, Mike Reiss has the always interesting Corey Dillon saying he will not return to the NFL, despite interest from the Bills and Titans. Despite (rightly) grousing a bit about not seeing the ball in the second half of the Indy game, he offers warm words to the Patriots and says that playing with Tom Brady was “the best experience of my life.” Then he plays the OJ Simpson card when talking about his own chances for the Hall of Fame. Hilarious. I miss Dillon already. Good news - if the Pats get to fourth and goal in the Super Bowl, he’s available to pound it in.

And we thought Vinny Testaverde was smart to wait for two-a-days to be over before rejoining the team.

Reiss and Gaspar tag-team the Patriots notebook, which has Nick Kaczur and Ryan O’Callaghan locked in a struggle for the starting right tackle berth. Barry Wilner of AP has yesterday’s inductions at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Thurman Thomas, Michael Irvin and Bruce Matthews were the big names going in, but I was touched by the remarks by unheralded Lions receiver Charlie Sanders.

Over at the Herald, Albert Breer looks at the Patriots’ passing attack and says that the players may be new, but the system is the same. Breer has a real eye for the technical aspects of the game, and like Gaspar, he expertly explains a complicated game in an uncomplicated way.

Rich Thompson has a look at the big fan turnouts for training camp, which veteran Junior Seau calls “overwhelming.” Karen Guregian looks at a nuturing Rodney Harrison, taking tentative rookies under his wing. Steve Conroy checks in with Bam Childress, the all-but-forgotten two-way practice squader.

At the ProJo, Shalise Manza Young says Ben Watson is also being forgotten in all the hype about the Patriots’ new receivers. You know, Watson always sounds like a terrific kid in these pieces; level headed, thoughtful, humble. I get the sense he’s been working to get better. I would really like to like Ben Watson. Why do all those passes land at his feet, though?

In Hartford, Courant writer David Heuschkel has a look at the thirty somethings in the Pats’ linebacking group. If you didn’t read this story when it ran on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday, I guess you can read it today. Getting the sense this will be a (relentless) theme this season? We GET it. They’re freaking old.

Old, young……..weigh in with your own Sunday morning thoughts here.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

After a no-pads walk-through on Friday, Bill Belichick and his coaching staff released their captives, otherwise known as the New England Patriots, for a 48 hour respite from the rigors of training camp.

The team will return for a 5:00 pm practice on Sunday evening. At least, that was the story they were giving as they raced to their cars on Friday. Don’t you think electronic bracelets or computer chips would have been a good idea, though?

I’ve never participated in a pro football training camp (I know, shocker) but I’d venture a guess that it probably sucks. I’m factoring in the whole oppressive heat/yelling coaches/violent collision thing here. Even 200 miles away, I’m already driven to distraction, and all I’m doing is typing on a laptop about four feet from an air conditioner.

Well, let’s hope for the best.

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels spoke to the media yesterday, and naturally, this caused a few to reflect on how infrequently offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (or any Patriots coach besides Belichick) speaks to the media. After reading though the 31 year old’s innocuous and completely predictable comments this morning (he has a good relationship with his quarterback, he’s excited about the new receivers, yada, yada), I wonder why anybody would care. Nick Cafardo will be happy to know that as soon as Josh wrapped up his session with the media yesterday, he immediately became the hottest young coaching commodity in the universe. Half the teams in the league strongly considered firing their own guy on the spot, just for the chance to woo McDaniels. He was THAT spellbinding.

Junior Seau also chatted up reporters. Junior reminded everybody that he was on a plane back to San Diego within minutes of breaking his arm against the Bears last season. Seau claims he was soaring off into the distance, heartbroken, even while the game carried on below. Wait. How do you even get a ticket that fast, much less get your broken arm set, your clothes changed (with a freshly broken arm, I might add), and yourself and your possessions to the airport? Is this like a fish story? “Yeah, I looked down, saw my arm was broken, so I ran to my waiting helicopter, which brought me to the Concorde. I was in Tokyo before the injury time out was up.” Junior’s like Phil Collins at Live Aid.

Median Age Watch: the Pats had 35 year old punter Mitch Berger in for a workout yesterday. Do I take this to mean the three punters they already have are lacking? Or is it contingency planning? My favorite new theory this morning is that Danny Baugher is winning the punting competition and the Patriots are assembling a list of veterans that could replace him later on if he freaks out and starts punting them backwards. Now that I’ve Thrown That Out There, I’m going to be watching that SI.com rumors page in hopes they pick it up. They seem to be attracted to ridiculous speculation.

A couple of youngsters get a little boost in the morning papers today, giving some hope that the Patriots will have at least few players in the locker room who don’t get AARP The Magazine. Is Oscar Lua going to make the club? Eric Alexander can’t practice, so Lua is getting first and second team reps in camp, where he seems to be holding his own. Coming out of camp with a semi-promising young linebacker would be a win for the Pats, and they have both Lua and second year outside man Pierre Woods earning first week plaudits.

Brandon Meriweather is the subject of our feature link of the day, a story written by Albert Breer of the Herald. Breer has Wes Welker praising the rookie for his work as a slot corner thus far. I especially liked Welker saying, “He’s a ballplayer, he’s got a real good nose for the football.” Giddyup!

For more links, its the mighty, mighty PatriotsLinks machine. By the way, first Sunday Links of the season is due up tomorrow.

Proving that sometimes things work out exactly as they should, the brilliant Stanley Morgan was elected by fans to the Patriots Hall of Fame yesterday. I’m not sure how big a deal ‘the Patriots Hall of Fame’ really is, though I suspect that it will get a whole lot bigger when the current group matriculates into retirement. It is indeed fitting, then, that the great Morgan (the most explosive player in Patriots history) will be waiting for them when they arrive.

Go ahead. Pat yourself on the back for casting all those votes for Stanley. Drop a comment here.