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Cinco Preguntas

September 18, 2008 By 5 Comments

logoby Scott Benson
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Just in case the former Chad Johnson is on to something.  Buenos días, amigos!

The undeterred Patriots are already 2-0, and here in our little Mailbag of the Mind, the questions are piling up. I’ll take five – any more would require a re-branding.

Have we learned what “kind” of coach Bill Belichick is yet?

Oh, jeez, I don’t know….I mean, there’s so little data on which to arrive at a conclusion to this still-unresolved question, which has stymied New Englanders for almost nine years. I want to say Belichick is a good coach, what with the Hall of Fame game plan and the five rings, but I just don’t know yet. After all, how many championships has he won without Tom Brady, besides the two he won before? Answer: None, besides the two he won before!

You can’t tell anything from that. I remember thinking Bill Walsh was a pretty good coach until Joe Montana went down in 86, and Walsh had to roll Jeff Kemp and Mike Moroski out there under center. One and done in the playoffs. Pffft. Didn’t look like much of a genius then. But you know this already, since the media has long been saying Walsh owed his career to Joe Montana and Joe Montana alone. Anyway, the jury is still very much out on Belichick’s 34-year coaching career.

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Filed Under: Columns Tagged With:

Like All Things, Cassel Too Must Pass

September 17, 2008 By 10 Comments

logoby Dan Snapp
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Out here, they call it “Minnesota Nice”.

It’s the comment that sounds complimentary, but turns sour the more it ruminates in your skull. Depending on the source, it’s either a sincere belief people here are more kindly, or more passive aggressively, that every smile cloaks a dagger.

Matt Cassel is the recipient of the Oscar of backhanded compliments for quarterbacks: “Good game manager.”

After the Patriots’ huge win over the Jets Sunday – and let’s not understate this, it was enormous – “manager” has been the predominant description for Cassel’s role in the offense. Said Coach Belichick right after the game:

I thought Matt took care of the ball. It wasn’t perfect. He had some rough spots in there, but he did a good job making good decisions and didn’t put us in any bad situations, and made some good, positive plays by managing the game well.

The sentiment was echoed in every game story and pundit’s take thereafter, and the dreaded moniker settled in around Cassel’s shoulders: “Game manager.” It’s the descriptor to which no child aspires when tossing the ball around with his friends.

“Here’s Montana with the throw!”
“Here’s Elway with the bomb!”
“Here’s Hostetler with the handoff!”

It just doesn’t happen.

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Filed Under: Columns

High-Percentage Play Calling and Great Execution

September 16, 2008 By 9 Comments

logoby Tyler Carter
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Years down the road, an unbiased observer might take a quick glance at yesterday’s box score and wonder how the Patriots managed a 9 point win.  After all, New York gained nearly as much total net yardage (256) as New England (260) while averaging more yards per play (5.2 versus 4.4) and being more efficient on 3rd down (50% to 43%).

Yet following the game, the normally stoic Belichick was (justifiably) elated with his staff’s preparation and his team’s performance while the AFC East favorite 1-1 Jets were equally effusive as to what went wrong:

Linebacker Eric Barton – “We played hard, but we didn’t make the plays we needed to win the game and that’s about it.  We’ll go and look at the tape and try to correct it.”

Guard Alan Faneca – “It’s tough.  They came out and played well. We left plays on the field. You’re not going to win a game like that against a team like that by doing that.”

Coach Eric Mangini – “We had a lot of positive things today, but there were too many missed opportunities and too many things we could have controlled, whether it was penalties or putting ourselves in a bad position that we didn’t do a good enough job with.”

However generic the explanations, there are certainly some common themes there.  We didn’t make the plays/left plays on the field translates to an overall lack of execution.  A huge missed opportunity was having 1st and goal at the New England 3 (a chance to take a 7-6 lead) and having to settle for a FG.  The penalties (six accepted for 60 yards) were especially crippling as three of them came on New York’s 2nd half opening drive and one directly led to the game’s only turnover.  By any definition or measure, that’s putting (your defense) in a bad position.

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Filed Under: Games

Welcome, Matt

September 15, 2008 By 16 Comments

logoby Chris Warner
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Up 19-10 on fourth down with less than two minutes left, the Patriots had options. They could have run it up the middle, or taken a knee. While New England fans prepped for the Jets getting possession and a garbage-time display of Brett Favre’s arm strength, Matt Cassel flung a screen to Wes Welker, who wriggled his way to a five-yard reception and a first down. Cue the victory formation.

Two weeks ago, if I’d informed you that the Patriots would go 2-0 with Matt Cassel playing 7.5 of eight quarters, you would have said, “Oh, cool. That’s – wait, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENS TO TOM BRADY?” And then I would have told you, and you would have popped me in the jaw. So, because time machines have yet to be invented, and because we’ve all had a week to digest (plus one Cassel start), let’s avoid any ugliness and get to the good news. New England is 1-0 in division play.

Cassel will make headlines, mainly due to the man he replaced Sunday. (I’m guessing at today’s puns: stormed, foundation, magic. Heaven help me, I love them all.) It’s important for Cassel to have similar performances (16 of 23, 165 yards) in the future so that he can evolve from “Not Tom Brady” into “The Pats’ Starting QB.” 

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Filed Under: Games

Pats Do It!

September 14, 2008 By 7 Comments

logoby Scott Benson
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The Patriots began life without Tom Brady tonight with a hard fought 19-10 upset win over the division rival Jets at the Meadowlands. 

Matt Cassel wasn’t great but he was good enough to lead the Pats on five scoring drives, featuring four Stephen Gostkowski field goals. Gostkowski’s fourth three-pointer, coming at the conclusion of a five minute, seventy yard drive, iced the game with five minutes remaining. Cassel relied on quick drops and short throws, using the Pats screen game to great effect. Kevin Faulk returned from suspension to, as usual, make all the critical plays. Wes Welker added seven catch and runs to lead the Pats.

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Filed Under: News

The Sunday Links

September 14, 2008 By 6 Comments

logoby Scott Benson
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AWWWWWWWL-RIIIGHT JETS FANS!

I wonder if the Commish has his gamer on already, or does he save it for later so he doesn’t get anything on it at lunch?

Despite some well-publicized trouble at home this week, the Patriots have decided to go through with their annual fall weekend in New York. Sometimes you just have to get away. Let’s grab our bags and go.

I feel like I’m forgetting something. Tickets, reservations, cab fare? Check. My phone, my wallet, my keys? Check.

Oh, my God! Did you pack the camera?

While you’re checking, make sure I packed enough Sunday Links.

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Filed Under: Media

College Scout, 9/13/08

September 13, 2008 By 1 Comment

logoby Greg Doyle
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The big game everyone is anticipating this weekend is USC-Ohio State. #1 vs. #5. So without further ado, let’s move on to that big matchup and look at the top players in the game.

Ohio State at USC (8:00 PM EST ABC)

A lot of people seem to be writing off Ohio State with their star running back Beanie Wells out. USC is an 11 point favorite. I think this one will be closer than many think and will come down to the end of the game.

Ohio State RB Maurice Wells (#34)

With Beanie Wells out, Maurce Wells will get a lot of carries this game. Not nearly as powerful or elusive as Beanie, Maurice is still a solid back. He doesn’t do anything great, but is solid in all areas. He is a bit undersized at 195, which makes it unlikely he’d be an every down back in the NFL. Has good speed, but doesn’t always appear to play to it. Is good in the passing game. This game is his big chance to shine (though he will also split carries with sophomore Brandon Saine) and could help his chances. He is a team player and the Patriots would like that. In reality, it’s unlikely he’d be anything but a late round choice, but he has enough talent to play in the NFL as a change of pace, 3rd down type back.

Ohio State LB James Laurinaitis (#33)

A prototypical middle linebacker many thought would be a top 10 pick in last year’s draft until he elected to stay at Ohio State. Good size and lateral movement, he was the Big 10 defensive player of the year last year and won the Butkus Award as the nation’s best college linebacker. He has all the tools and athletic ability to be a very good NFL player. Still, the doubt is whether he is talented enough and strong enough to be great, rather than merely good. Along those lines, it is a legitimate question to ask if he is slightly overrated. He is good, but the press seems to outweigh the production at times. Is dedicated to the game and smart, so the Patriots would like that. He is a good player and should have a productive NFL career, but probably not as a game changing type player.

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Filed Under: The Draft

Melodrama at the Meadowlands

September 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment

logoby Britt Schramm
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Who had in their office pool that it would only take a season-ending injury to Tom Brady to prevent Patriots fans from suffering the outright recycling of last year’s old tired Something-Gate lines from our good friends in the media?  So, if that was you, you were a big winnah and probably the same prick that created that evil Bernard Pollard Fan Club T-Shirt.  On a personal level and from my eight fantasy football teams, I effin’ hate you.

Another positive (if you could call it that) is that you can take from Brady’s season being shelved is the ever so slight suppression of the media’s unquenchable adulation of Broadway Brett, otherwise known as the Hayseed Dixie of the NFL.  We won’t have to hear countless of times (in that same school kid crushing tone) about how he’s just a good ol’ boy slinging the ball down the field and playing the game how it was meant to be played.  Or what a big kid he is (failing to mention the fact that he decided to hold his breath and threaten to throw a tantrum until the Packers met his demands and trade him after he didn’t get his old job back). 

But, this will be the last time that I will single out Favre as it is the entire team that will be playing the late game on Sunday.

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Filed Under: Opponents

The Pink Seats

September 11, 2008 By 21 Comments

logoby Scott Benson
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You know the story of The Pink Hats, those alleged nouveau Red Sox Nationites who seem far more interested in the happening than they are the ballgame. Their arrival seemed to align with the arrival of those ubiquitous fashion caps by those sons of bitches at New Era Caps. You know, I can handle the brand name stuff, but you have to acknowledge the knock-off effect. You have to know when $4 versions of these things start showing up next to the Fritos at Shaws, there’s going to be some unfortunate applications of this particular fashion trend.

What’s this got to do with the Patriots? I forgot.

No, I didn’t. I keep hearing from e-mailers and site commenters that the ticket sites are suddenly overrun with Patriots tickets. People – primarily season ticket holders, I presume – are evidently bailing hard on 2008 ever since Bernard Pollard crawled into Brady.

Do we have The Pink Seats now?

Did the best coach this franchise has ever had – or is ever likely to have – and the rest of his staff also go down for the season on Sunday? Did Randy Moss and Vince Wilfork? Did Wes Welker, Logan Mankins, Adalius Thomas, Laurence Maroney, Ty Warren, and Richard Seymour? Vrabel, Bruschi, Harrison? Light, Koppen, Mayo, Meriweather? Of course not. So for all they’ve done over the last eight years, these guys haven’t earned even one week of your patience, then?

Yes, I should acknowledge that these tickets just happened to get hiked through the roof this past off-season, and in this day and age, people have every right to make whatever choice they need to get the most out of their money. It’s discretionary income, after all.

I’d embrace that idea a lot tighter if I wasn’t so sure that these scene-makers in perpetual search of a red carpet would be crawling, just like Pollard did, to reclaim those tickets if they look up one day soon to find the 2008 Patriots still in it.

Filed Under: Columns

No Time to Take a Knee

September 10, 2008 By 13 Comments

logoby Dan Snapp
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Jets fans could sympathize. Not that they’d do such a thing, but they do understand.

The 1999 Jets were on the verge of something big. Falling just short of the Super Bowl in ’98, they were in great shape to contend the following season. Vinny Testaverde was coming off his best season as a pro, Curtis Martin was just hitting his prime, and they had talented complementary receivers in Keyshawn Johnson and Wayne Chrebet. The defense was solid, if unspectacular, with strength in the linebacker corps.

Then it all unraveled on opening day. Testaverde ruptured his Achilles tendon early in the second quarter, and the squad’s Super Bowl hopes were dashed. Coach Bill Parcells tinkered with the position, going with Rick Mirer initially before switching to Ray Lucas in the middle of the season, and then won seven of the last nine games to finish 8-8.

Parcells wrote about the experience in his book “The Final Season” (co-written by the late Will McDonough) – making a perfect trifecta of the season, the book and his retirement plans all going contrary to expectations.

It’s rare to see a book about a middle-of-the-road team in a mostly forgettable season in a market typically reserved for winners. But the trials of the season tapped reservoirs of coaching inspiration from Parcells, and unearthed insights not visible from the heights of a 12-4 record. And it adds a sudden relevance to the Patriots’ situation at hand.

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Filed Under: Columns

With Back To The Wall, Cassel Escapes

September 9, 2008 By 9 Comments

logoby Tyler Carter
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For those who arrived here expecting a moratorium, this link should appease you.  Feel free to return when ready to accept that, for at least the next calender year, Thomas Edward Brady Jr. will not take a meaningful snap from center for the New England Patriots.  Since he won’t be contributing it makes little sense to bring him up, and this column will do its part by avoiding all mention of him.

Injuries are an unfortunate and all-too-frequent reality of pro (and yes, fantasy) football.  No player is immune, and the teams that best deal with them, either through luck in preventing/avoiding them or  superior depth, will ultimately succeed.  To hammer the point home, here’s a relevant passage from Bill Belichick’s coaching biography on the Patriots Website:

In 2003, a 31-0 season-opening setback in Buffalo was answered…as the team rebounded to win 17 of the next 18 games despite using 42 different starters (then an NFL record for a division champion). In 2004, injuries were overcome yet again, as the Patriots used 40 different starters, including nine different starters in the secondary. In 2005, New England started 4-4, but went on to claim the AFC East title by using 45 different starters, breaking the NFL record that it had set two years earlier for the most starters by a division champion.

To summarize: despite averaging ~42 different starters per year over a three year period, New England won 45 games which included 3 division titles and 2 Super Bowl championships.  If nothing else, the Patriots dynasty has proven that it is possible to assemble a deep, talented roster that could annually compete in the salary cap-free agency era.

However, because of Brady’s (damn it!) durability and performance, quarterback is one position where New England’s depth hasn’t been tested; therefore with him sidelined it’s fair to wonder how the team will adjust.  Matt Cassel, the undisputed starter, has already attested that the playbook won’t change.  Even if that’s true, how will the personnel groupings/play selection be affected?  For example, in his 2008 AFC Preview, Gregg Easterbrook pointed out (as Mike Reiss and company did so weekly) that the 2007 Patriots used at least three wide receivers on over 75% of their offensive snaps.  Are the Patriots ready to hand Cassel the keys to that car, or will they switch to a more balanced attack?

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Filed Under: Games

This Is The First Post Of The Rest Of Your Life

September 8, 2008 By 8 Comments

logoby Scott Benson
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What a couple of days, huh? Just goes to show you that you can watch a sport for 40 years and still not experience everything.

I’ve been trying to think if there’s any Pats precedent to this, the sight of the greatest player in the history of the franchise suddenly taken from the team and its fans in a blink of the CBS eye. Of course there isn’t.

Now that the shock and awe has worn off, I’m actually feeling a sence of buoyancy this afternoon. F**k you, Kubler-Ross! I’m skipping right through ‘Acceptance’ and making my own SIXTH Stage of Grief: Jacked and Pumped!

Seriously, if the forelorn Pats can go to the Meadowlands next Sunday and beat Brett Favre and the Jets, it might be the greatest victory in franchise history. Okay, so maybe not, but you have to admit – it would be the balls.

No wonder the Jets were so anxious to beat the Pats to the punch on the Brady announcement – they figured they just passed ‘GO’ and collected $200. Oh, yeah? You’ll be sucking on Baltic next weekend, you chodes! I don’t think my horse is such a bad bet, by the way. In part because that rube playing quarterback for you is just the kind of thickheaded dolt who would mail it in on prep time this week, figuring he’s already got it made. I don’t think anybody ever got Erv (or anybody else) on record as saying Ol’ Brett was the smartest player he ever coached. If he came out in a straw hat with a couple of teeth missing next weekend, I would hardly see anything out of the ordinary. I fully expect that pinhead to keep the game close all by himself.

I don’t think I looked forward to the last Super Bowl (note to Jets fans; see how I had to qualify which Super Bowl I was talking about? You’ll never have to worry about that.) as much as I’m looking forward to this game next week. Now that the media has annointed the Jets as the AFC East’s Goliath in the wake of Brady’s season-ending injury, what better way to spend your Sunday than wishing for the formerly-starry Pats to be David again?

Filed Under: Columns
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