by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com
If recent history is any indication, discarded Oakland Raider Lamont Jordan is about to set the NFL’s single season rushing record for the Patriots.
This story and more as we pull the curtain back on the first Sunday Links of the new season. Let’s get started.
In the Globe notebook, Christopher Gasper has Jordan hooking up with the Pats yesterday after being released by the confused Raiders on Friday. My recollection is that Jordan got fat and lost his way with the Raiders after showing early promise as a Jet, but he’s an experienced back who’s produced as a pro. It’s not surprising that the Patriots have added a runner as they have seemed to make the position a post-June 1 priority. You have to wonder how the Pats will handle their final roster building if Jordan fits in AND Sammy Morris makes a complete comeback from the chest injury that ended his first season in New England.
The Jordan signing was entirely in keeping with the theme for yesterday; RUNNING GAME! Gasper chats with the Pats offensive line, who seem intent on rebounding from their disasterous Super Bowl by working towards a more balanced attack in 2008. Am I dreaming? If you guys are just putting me on with all this running game stuff, I will totally be so pissed. Gasper points out that the Pats did, in fact, rush for more than four yards a carry in 07, but the decision to pass 57% of the time seemed to set the offensive tone that was so severely rebuked in the Super Bowl.
In the Football Notes, the unmatched Mike Reiss catches up with former Pat David Patten, who put up a nice season for the disappointing 07 Saints. Patten is something else – one of those guys that fans are always looking to upgrade from, yet on he goes. By the way, don’t you think Reiss’s Pieces had a spectacular first week of camp?
Over in the Herald, Karen Guregian has a confidant and talkative Laurence Maroney, who can fill up dozens of notebooks when he gets going. In more recent developments, he can also carry a team when he gets going – a recent NFL Network replay of last year’s Jacksonville playoff game had me out of my seat. No doubt to Maroney’s delight, Guregian also hits the Super Bowl Hangover/RUNNING GAME! storyline with her look at the contrite yet determined offensive line. KG also files a Jordan story before ending her busy day.
John Tomase’s also in the trenches, with looks at Wesley Britt, current starter at right tackle, and Vince Wilfork, who may be the Patriots best player after Tom Brady.
In the ProJo, Shalise Manza Young visits with the reclusive Maroney, and notes Jordan’s one-year deal with the Pats. Robert Lee considers Fernando Bryant, who says money isn’t everything.
Elsewhere, Douglas Flynn of the MetroWest Daily News has a healthy and optimistic Richard Seymour. Flynn offers a second piece on yesterday’s player movement, which included the retirement of veteran center-guard Gene Mruczkowski.
They say the buzzword for this year’s team is FINISH. So I will. See you next week.
Patriots Daily 
..NOBODY beats Mike Reiss. He is simply fantastic.
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No. Nobody beats Reiss. He’s moving into local treasure territory now.
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I am so very disappointed to see a link to John Tomase´s articles.. I hope to never see this type of mistake on this wonderful site again… Just reading his name makes me want to be sick. I won´t even click on a Boston Herald Patriots link on other sites for fear of giving Tomase a click that may help his job security… I´m sure I´m not the only one that feels this way!
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The links weren’t a mistake, for whatever its worth.
It seems to me that in those two articles, Patriots players nutted up and carried themselves like professionals (and adults) when approached by the reporter who apparently makes you ill.
I wonder why they – the real victims of that reckless reporting – can manage to move on, while some fans seem unable to.
The links stay. I can’t make you click them, but they stay.
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The players can move on because they are professionals. They are paid to move on. We are fans. We can sulk for as long as we want.
Imagine if we have Mike Reiss and still have Albert Breer. But I’ll settle for Scott Benson. 🙂
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Scott, I’m with you on many, many things. Not on this one. The players have to be above any squabbles with the media, and Belichick knows how dangerous it is to mess with people who buy ink and page-views by the barrel.
We, the fans, are different. We and other members of the media are the only people who can safely judge the media. It is, in fact, our job. If we don’t punish John Tomase for his indiscretions, then there is no punishment.
It may not be noble to boycott his publications, but neither is it ignoble.
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Thanks for the input, Dave. I don’t think we’re any closer to agreement on this issue but I sincerely appreciate your approach here.
I just feel after last year that we’ve all come to make the media a bigger part of our fan experience than they have ever deserved to be. I want to change that, if only for myself, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to at least try to convince a few others to do the same.
I’m not suggesting that we completely ignore the media, at least not while people like Mike Reiss and others are doing their jobs in a sincere way. There is something to be gained by following his work, and the work of others like him – both in our knowledge of the team and in our understanding of the game itself.
But I’ve wasted a lot of time over the past several years, on message boards and on this site, ‘judging’ the media’s bad actors. What did I gain from that? I just made myself miserable. Look at last year (even this spring); how many clicks and hours did I waste fretting over that foolishness? Chris Mortensen said that, Peter King said this, Michael Felger took this shot at Belichick….those bastards! People should know the truth!
Which, naturally, was just what those dinks were hoping for….my outrage, my indignancy, my clicks, my time. It’s their lifeblood. Meanwhile, it did absolutely nothing for me as a fan. It didn’t enhance my fan experience in any way to busy myself with something that I should have ignored in the first place, if I had any sense whatsoever.
Long way around to saying that for my money, debating John’s fate, or the worthiness of his articles, or trying to influence either, is just more of the same. Not referring to the Herald or Tomase is just more busying myself with things that have nothing to do with my experience as a Pats and NFL fan. Whereas Wesley Britt and Vince Wilfork have everything to do with it. That’s where I was trying to direct my attention on Sunday morning.
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I´ve been working in the media for 16 years and always had my own Code of Ethics and lines I refuse to cross. Although many others I´ve encountered do not have the same values as I do.
I appreciate giving someone a fair shake when they are overzealous or hopefully inspired yet make mistakes in their work.
I feel all the writers at Patriots Daily are indeed trying to be the best journalists they can, and greatly appreciate that, but I do think that it is our responsibility to call him out on reporting something that was not fact. I was not knocking a journalist because of his opinions. I just think that Tomase got off almost scott free. He offered a short week apology, and gets to continue his work in basically the same manner as before. Patriots nation, including myself were then, and still are completely disgusted in the entire spygate affair and don´t want to here about it anymore, and I believe this was indeed why Tomase was not discussed by journalists in the area.
I just simply find it unforgiving what Tomase reported and that he pushed to get the Story out before the facts were checked and basically smacked the Pats in the face. You just don´t do that to someone (in this case team) that you love and earn your living off of. I guess I have an unforgiving nature.
What I wrote above was not indignant, I didn´t call you a dink for posting Tomase, and I certainly didn´t mean to outrage you. I just wanted to understand why you posted him. I guess his new articles help enlighten the Fan Experience.
He certainly hasn´t enlightened mine.
If you support him, keep posting his links. It´s your perrogative.
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Jeffrey –
You didn’t outrage me at all. Sorry if it came off like that.
I don’t think we can agree on what to do about those links, though. My position on Tomase and the Herald is something I’ve thought about as it relates to this site, and its what I’m going with, barring new developments. And for the record, I’s stop short of claiming that John’s articles, in and of themelves, enhance the fan experience.
However, in my opinion, continued discussion and debate about Spygate, the walkthrough allegations, and all related matters will most certainly detract from that experience, as it did throughout last season.
I don’t claim to have all the answers. All I can do is make the best call I can, and hope people find value in what we’re trying to do here.
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