by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com

Randy Moss wasn’t shocked when he heard the news. Neither was Laurence Maroney, who mock-confessed to reporters he didn’t know it happened. And Tedy Bruschi and Bill Belichick seemed positively blasé about the whole thing.

After all, when you’ve got a perfect regular-season in your sights, the prospect of clinching home-field advantage and the No. 1 seed throughout the playoffs can sometimes pale by comparison.

“I guess it’s just something they do around here,” Moss shrugged. “I guess it’s expected.”

With Sunday’s win over the Jets, New England clinched home-field advantage for the duration of the AFC playoffs. Home-field for the Patriots is not the annual event Moss may believe — in truth, it marks the first time New England has landed the No. 1 seed since 2003. But come January, it means the Patriots will be home. And history tells us that when it comes to January football, it’s much better to be at home than on the road: Since 1997, almost 70 percent of the NFL playoff games have gone in favor of the home team — they have a winning percentage of 69-31 in that span.

Under Belichick, few teams are a better bet than New England when it comes to a postseason game at home. Since Belichick arrived, the Patriots are 6-0 in Foxborough in the playoffs. (In fact, New England at home in the postseason is a pretty good bet. Overall, they’re 9-1 at home in the playoffs, with the only loss coming in the first-ever postseason game in Foxborough, a 31-14 setback on Dec. 31, 1978 to the Houston Oilers. The nine-game home playoff win streak is tied for second-best all-time.)

The Patriots aren’t looking to minimize the fact they’ve clinched the No. 1 seed, and don’t want to appear ungrateful they have the opportunity spend the entire month of January at home — as long as they keep winning. Just ask the running backs, who will likely play a heavier role in the offense in the traditionally foul January weather.

“That is nice,” said fullback Heath Evans. “It’s nice being in your own bed. It’s nice practicing on your own field, knowing the circumstances and conditions.”

“It’s always better to play in front of your home crowd, to make the visitors play with the noise,” said running back Laurence Maroney. “You can just play relaxed and you don’t have to deal with the crowd noise. You know what the elements are going to be up here, and you can make teams come and play in our elements — the ones that we practice in every day.”

But there will be a time and place to celebrate their accomplishment. Right now, it’s all about Miami.

“It’s nice to have, and we’ll start to think about that and focus on that a little bit more when it comes into play,” Bruschi said of the No. 1 seed. “But it doesn’t come into play just yet.”

“It’s good. It’s good to have that, but right now that’s not really anything we’re going to dwell on,” Belichick said. “We’re just going to get ready for Miami and get ready to play the Dolphins. That’s what we’re going to do this week.”

FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK

1. The Patriots’ running game. With 104 rushing yards and a touchdown, second-year running back Laurence Maroney had his best game of the season Sunday against the Jets. With more winter weather looming on the horizon, can he be the kind of back that could be a consistent No. 1 running option for the Patriots in the bad weather? A reliable Maroney would certainly go a long way toward stabilizing the running game, and also force opposing teams to respect New England’s play-action ability even more.

2. The Patriots’ red-zone defense. After struggling with red-zone defense through the first 11 weeks of the season, New England opponents are 3 for their last 11 (and zero for their last 7) when it comes to scoring touchdowns inside the 20. Can they continue that Sunday against the Dolphins? For what it’s worth, Miami is perfectly pedestrian in its red zone offense — through 14 games, it has scored touchdowns on 18 of 35 trips inside the 20, good for 51 perfect (16th best in the league).

3. If Richard Seymour continues his upward trend. The five-time Pro Bowler, hampered by offseason knee surgery thus far, has started to round into form lately. The defensive lineman had his finest game of the season Sunday against the Jets — his first-quarter hit on New York quarterback Kellen Clemens was a crusher that really set the tone for the day. It’s been a long way back for Seymour, who is still getting into football shape. “It’s a gradual process. Richard’s worked hard,” Head Coach Bill Belichick said Monday. “Practice is good, but it’s not the same as games. I think all of those reps, practice and games cumulatively have helped him, and that’s probably really the way it should be.”

4. Defending Jason Taylor. Taylor has always managed to give New England fits, and will likely be the lone point of emphasis on the defensive side of the football for the Patriots. After Sunday’s win over the Ravens, Taylor left the stadium in a walking boot, saying he aggravated a left foot injury. But it says here he’ll be ready to play Sunday afternoon — in addition to a getting a rare start on national TV, it would also give him the outright record for the longest consecutive games played streak in franchise history. (He’s presently tied with former Dolphins center Jim Langer with 128.)

5. Talk of the dangerous Dolphins. When it comes to describing even the most anemic of opponents, the Patriots have always been able to seize upon a theme and make it work in their favor. In the run-up to this week’s game, expect plenty of talk about the December 2004 game the Patriots played in Miami against a woeful Dolphins team, one that ended with a shocking 29-28 loss for New England. (They’ll also likely haul out last year’s loss in South Florida for good measure, a 21-0 cautionary tale for some who would dare to look past the 1-13 Dolphins.)

STAT OF THE WEEK

101:31: The time — in minutes and seconds — that has elapsed since the Patriots last allowed an offensive touchdown. The last offensive touchdown came with 11:31 left in the second quarter of the 34-13 win over Pittsburgh, a 32-yard pop fly of a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Najeh Davenport. It’s a stretch that has lasted six-plus quarters.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“As long as that zero stays in that [loss] column, I’m cool with it.” — Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, talking about any satisfaction he might derive from being part of just the second team in NFL history to start 14-0.

Christopher Price is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the Patriots since 2001 for Boston Metro. He’s served a contributor to ESPN.com, SI.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The Miami Herald. He’s written “The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower,” and can be reached at chris@patriotsdaily.com.

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com

New head coach. New players. Same old over-aggressive Steelers.

When it came to beating Pittsburgh Sunday, the Patriots appeared to take a page out of their old offensive philosophy that worked for them in the 2004 AFC Championship Game, a 41-27 win over the Steelers. Want to beat Pittsburgh? Use its hyper-aggressive defensive tendencies to your advantage.

On Sunday, both big plays — a 56-yarder and a 63-yarder — came after some chicanery, with one coming on a play-action fake and another coming after a pair of laterals. Both plays had the Pittsburgh secondary headed in the wrong direction, and New England took advantage both times, scoring a pair of touchdowns.

“Those are plays that are part of our offense, so we run them,” Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick shrugged Monday when asked about the two plays that combined for 119 of Tom Brady’s 399 total passing yards. “We’ve run them in the past.”

The Patriots certainly aren’t the only team to use play-action and misdirection to their advantage, and the Steelers aren’t the first team to fall for an occasional fake. But when the New England and Pittsburgh meet on the big stage, the Patriots have a way of making the Steelers look foolish. That was certainly the case in the 2004 AFC Championship, when New England set the tone on the first play from scrimmage — a keyed-up Pittsburgh defense was thrown into reverse when Brady faked a handoff to Corey Dillon and slipped the ball to Deion Branch, who carried it 14 yards on an end around to set up an early score. Later in the game, it was another play-action fake that had Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu fooled, giving Branch just enough separation to score on a 60-yard pass play.

On Sunday, the Patriots used the same approach, diffusing the Pittsburgh attacking defense with misdirection and getting big yards as a result. With 14:16 left in the second quarter and facing a 1st and 10 on its own 37, New England manufactured a sweet play-action fake where Brady and Randy Moss connected on a 63-yard touchdown. On that play, both safety Anthony Smith and cornerback Ike Taylor bit hard on Brady’s excellent fake, despite the fact that New England clearly wasn’t interested in running the football — they had just nine rushes plays on the night. Moss was left running cleanly down the middle of the field, with no defender within 10 yards of him as he crossed the goal line.

Play-action forces defensive backs into making a split-second decision. And, as they did in 2004, the Pittsburgh defenders — who are always trained to attack, attack, attack — chose wrong.

“I think that’s the decision that the defensive backs have to make — whether they want to try to come up and help in the running game, or whether they want to stay back, create more space in the running game and defend the deeper part of the field,” Belichick said. “But I think that the offensive line and the ball handling and all, it was good action. It sold the play pretty well.”

The Patriots used misdirection to their advantage again in the third. With 10:17 remaining in the quarter, New England was leading 17-13, and in another 1st and 10 situation, this time on its own 44. Brady made a quick lateral to Moss, who, after a quick drop, returned it to Brady via another lateral. (As Brady tossed the ball to Moss, receiver Jabar Gaffney abruptly stopped his downfield running in an attempt to sell the fake even further.) The back-and-forth again froze the Pittsburgh secondary. As a result, Smith was a step behind wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, and the ball dropped softly into Gaffney’s hands for a 56-yard touchdown.

“It was well-executed,” Belichick said of the play, called the “Ravens special,” according to Gaffney. “It’s a play that we’ve practiced a few times, and it came in handy.

“It was a nice job by [Jabar] Gaffney, really selling it, and Moss by dropping the ball, I think that really gave it a little more draw. I wish I could take credit for that, but that wasn’t part of the play.”

FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK

1. Record breakers. There are only about a half-million different offensive records Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the rest of the Patriots could break on Sunday. Our favorite is the fact that with three games left on their schedule, New England is now just 53 points away from tying the all-time single season scoring record for a team. (The 1998 Vikings hold the all-time mark with 556.)

2. Carryover on the field from Week 1. We know about the relationship between the coaches, but there doesn’t seem to be a healthy amount of enmity between the players. In the wake of “SpyGate,” none of the Jets’ players have uttered a discouraging word about the Patriots, and no one has been able to provide much bulletin-board material. We’ll see if that changes this week.

3. Fast starts. It would appear that the best shot New York has in this game lies in them getting a fast start. If they are able to score on their first possession and hold the Patriots without a touchdown on their opening drive — a tall order, yes, but not unreasonable — then, the Jets might have a shot to make it interesting. But if New York goes three-and-out and New England puts a quick seven on the board, it’s going to be a long afternoon for Gang Green.

4. The inevitable appearance of Mercury Morris on whatever pregame show will have him. As a member of the media, I take no pleasure in writing this. But with the Patriots standing at 13-0 and only the Jets, Dolphins and Giants in the way, expect Morris to show up on every channel except The Food Network over the next few weeks proclaiming the ’72 Dolphins are still better than this New England team. Morris’s 15 minutes of fame have long passed, but the former Miami running back is milking this undefeated thing for all it’s worth, going down with the ship like no other member of that team save Don Shula.

5. The betting line. On Monday, it vacillated between 24 and 27. By the end of the day, it appeared to rest at 26, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants. Jets Head Coach Eric Mangini said the line wouldn’t have an effect on the game. “The point spread and things like that really aren’t going to affect the outcome, how we do or how they do,” Mangini said at his news conference. “It’s really going to be a function of how well we prepare and get ready for the game.”

STAT OF THE WEEK

80. The Steelers are nothing if not committed to the run. Despite trailing by 18 points in the second half on the road, Pittsburgh stuck with its decision to dominate on the ground. As a result, of its 181 total rushing yards on the afternoon, a whopping 80 of them came after it had fallen behind 31-13 late in the third quarter.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We’ll just come out and try to play hard. Hopefully, we can do something and not get beat bad.” — Jets defensive back Kerry Rhodes, speaking with reporters about this week’s game.

Christopher Price is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the Patriots since 2001 for Boston Metro. He’s served a contributor to ESPN.com, SI.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The Miami Herald. He’s written “The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower,” and can be reached at chris@patriotsdaily.com.

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com

Tom Brady doesn’t list his lucky number in the Patriots’ media guide, but it’s a safe bet the New England quarterback is partial to 83.

When Wes Welker arrived in a deal for a pair of draft picks on March 5, he was given No. 83. It was the same number (and locker) as Deion Branch, who had been dealt away at the start of the 2006 season. Branch and Brady were real tight, and when Branch — his favorite receiver — was traded to Seattle in September 2006, the loss hit the New England quarterback hard. Brady and Branch had the sort of relationship quarterbacks and wide receivers dream of — the two were able to communicate in shorthand, exchanging signals with nothing more than a series of quick glances. It paid off when Branch was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX, finishing with 11 catches for 133 yards in New England’s win over Philadelphia.

But in his short career in New England, Brady and Welker are establishing a relationship that will lead to Welker likely surpassing anything that Branch did in his four years in a Patriots uniform: In 11 games this season, Welker has a team-high 81 catches to go along with 878 yards receiving and seven touchdowns. In his best season with the Patriots — 2005 — Branch finished with 78 catches for 998 yards and five touchdowns.

There’s a new No. 83 in town, and his name is Wes Welker.

“I think that he’s a really good player,” wide receiver Donte Stallworth said of Welker. “He knows how to play, and having a guy like that on the team is fun. He’s always going to do his job, and you can rely on him.”

Welker and Branch are very similar: Both were relatively unheralded coming out of college — Branch was the 11th wide receiver taken in the 2002 draft out of Louisville, while Welker was signed as a rookie free agent by the Chargers out of Texas Tech before being released and picked up by the Dolphins. The two are undersized overachievers (both are 5-foot-9). And both of them would run through a wall for Brady.

“Tom doesn’t lose any sort of poise or anything,” Welker said after Sunday’s game. “The dude is on top of it.”

Welker’s receiving numbers are impressive, but his biggest impact has been when it’s come time to move the chains. Forty-eight of his 81 catches this year have gone for first downs, tying him for eighth in the AFC entering last night’s action. That puts him in a neighborhood with traditional go-to guys like LaDainian Tomlinson, Chad Johnson, Randy Moss and Reggie Wayne.

Much of Welker’s overall impact on the New England offense can be traced to the presence of Randy Moss. Throughout much of his career in New England, Branch was asked to be the No. 1 receiver, while Welker is usually the third option in the passing game behind Moss and Stallworth. But at the same time, with so many opposing defenses now geared toward stopping Moss, it has been Welker who has stepped up and made the plays when called upon.

“I think you have to be ready for it every time you step on the field,” Welker said of the opportunities. “I think that’s what all of us try to do on the offensive side of the ball.”

He was at his best Sunday night. On an evening where the Eagles were able to mostly neutralize Moss but the Patriots still wanted to pass first, Welker was a reliable presence underneath. He ended up with 13 catches and 149 yards, both career highs for the Oklahoma native.

His star turn came midway through the third quarter when he gathered in a quick screen from Brady and took it 42 yards down the near sideline to the Philadelphia four. Picking up a convoy of blocks along the way, he maneuvered neatly downfield, allowing offensive linemen get out ahead of him to create a path.

Learning how to successful execute a screen pass is a tricky thing for a receiver or running back — you have to have the requisite amount of patience to make it work.

“Those are tough. You just have to trust the offensive linemen getting out there,” Welker said. “They do a great job on screens and things. You just have to have that patience to stay behind them and, in some situations, you have to go. But I felt like that situation, I could get behind them and get a solid block.”

Despite the big numbers, there were some missteps for Welker, including a dropped pass in the second half that will haunt him … until he steps on the field Monday against the Ravens.

“There are still a few plays that I feel like I left out there — and I won’t be able to sleep tonight because of those,” he said late Sunday. “But, there are things I can get better on and do a better job on next time.”

FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK

1. Troy Brown. At his daily press conference Monday, Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick promised some news on the veteran wide receiver sometime Tuesday. New England must make a decision on what to do with him this week — either activate him, release him or place him on season-ending injured reserve. If they activate him, the short list of potential candidates who might be asked to wave farewell, at least temporarily includes wide receiver Chad Jackson (who would be placed on season-ending IR) or fullback Kyle Eckel (who would likely join tight end Marcellus Rivers on the unofficial shadow roster).

2. If the Patriots shuffle some of their movable parts along the offensive line. The o-line has been a strength through much of the season for New England, but right tackle Nick Kaczur has struggled lately, allowing four sacks over the last three games. He allowed a pair of sacks to Indy’s Robert Mathis back on Nov. 4, as well as one to lineman Juqua Thomas and another to linebacker Chris Jocong against Philly on Sunday night. The Ravens are not the pass-rushing terrors of old (they have just 22 sacks this season, with linebacker Terrell Suggs leading the team with four), but are still capable of bringing enough heat for the Patriots to consider going to backup right tackle Ryan O’Callaghan.

3. If the beef between Ray Lewis and Adalius Thomas is truly over. The two were involved in a memorable war of words earlier this season over Thomas’ comments about how much things are different with the Patriots as opposed to the Ravens. It appears things are now cool between them — Thomas told the NFL Network recently that “its water under the bridge” — but it still bears watching.

4. The Ravens’ offense. “Anemic” would be a kind way to describe this year’s Baltimore offense. They’ve managed just 182 points through 11 games — to provide some sort of context, offensively-challenged teams like Miami, Tampa Bay and Oakland have all posted more points this year. During their current five-game losing streak, they’ve been outscored 143-72. In a 32-14 defeat at San Diego on Sunday, Baltimore managed only 210 yards and committed two turnovers. Ravens quarterbacks have lost 10 fumbles, and the team has a minus-11 turnover differential. Don’t look for it to get any better this week — Head Coach Brian Billick told reporters yesterday that he intends to stick with Kyle Boller at quarterback.

5. Talk of Brian Billick’s job security. The one-time boy genius who led the 1998 Minnesota Vikings’ offense into the record books as a coordinator is now a man fighting for his job. Billick and owner Steve Bisciotti have engaged in some public disagreements over the last few seasons — including one two years ago where Bisciotti demanded Billick transform his management style and become less confrontational with the media. The 4-7 Ravens are in the midst of a five-game losing skid — if Baltimore doesn’t finish strong, he could be out the door.

STAT OF THE WEEK

3. According to Metro Boston’s Jeff Howe, only three active offensive skill position players have failed to score touchdowns for the Patriots this year — wide receivers Chad Jackson and Kelley Washington and No. 3 quarterback Matt Gutierrez.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Usually, when I get hit — I’m very bony, so if they hit me on my bones it hurts. If they don’t hit me on my bones I’m usually fine. I’m like Gumby, I just dead-leg everything. That’s why I just fall down when people hit me.” — Quarterback Tom Brady, discussing his process for absorbing a hit.

Christopher Price is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the Patriots since 2001 for Boston Metro. He’s served a contributor to ESPN.com, SI.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The Miami Herald. He’s written “The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower,” and can be reached at chris@patriotsdaily.com.

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com

First impressions can be misleading.

For James Sanders, his introduction to most Patriots fans came on the night of Nov. 5, 2006. The defensive back, who had been taken by New England in the fourth round of the 2005 draft out of Fresno State, had occasionally popped up on the radar screens of area football fans over the first year and a half of his pro career, but it was mostly as a special teamer. He was mostly a blank slate — Sanders had just 19 tackles and one interception as a rookie. At most, he was seen as not much more than a potential backup for Eugene Wilson, who had only missed four games to that point in his career and was considered to have a solid hold on the safety spot, while veteran Rodney Harrison was entrenched at the other safety position.

But that night, with Wilson out and Harrison suddenly sidelined because of a first-quarter injury, the 5-foor-10, 210-pound Sanders was forced into action. Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning immediately zeroed in on the relatively green defensive back, who struggled in coverage much of game as the Colts took home a 27-20 win.

As first impressions go, it wasn’t much. However, that game marked a turning point for Sanders and Wilson: Since then, Sanders has clearly improved in all phases, and has played his way into the starters’ role. He hasn’t missed a game since that evening, and has done everything possible to wrest the position away from Wilson, who has played in just seven games since that night.

According to Head Coach Bill Belichick, that game was the approximate point where Sanders went from spare part to invaluable contributor.

“I think the biggest jump for him came last year between about the middle of the season to the end of the season,” Belichick said, reflecting on the last year and a half of growth for the Fresno State product. “I think he came on last year and played … had a very good roughly second half of the year, including in the playoffs, both in the running game and the passing game [and] continued to help us on special teams.

“This year, I think he pretty much picked up right where he left off at the end of last year,” Belichick added. “He has consistently been out there. He works hard. He gets better every day and he’s been on the field every day, so that enables him to take those meetings and that coaching and performing on the practice field and carry it over into the game.”

He’s been on the field every day. It’s something you can’t say about Wilson, who looked like an All-World defensive back as a rookie in 2003. He started 35 of his first 38 games in New England, and was named to ESPN.com’s All-Rookie Team. But the Illinois product has struggled with ankle and hamstring injuries since. Meanwhile, Sanders has steadily progressed through the system, gaining more and more playing time. With Harrison sidelined because of suspension for the first four games of the 2007 season, Sanders started at strong safety, but since Harrison returned — and Wilson has continued to struggle with injury — he’s seen the bulk of the time at free safety.

Sunday night, Sanders took another giant step forward. He led the team with four tackles, creeping up to the line several times to deliver big hits. Highlights included a crushing blow on Buffalo’s Anthony Thomas that resulted in an early three-yard loss, as well as a big hit on Bills’ running back Dwayne Wright that jarred the ball loose, resulting in a fumble that was returned by Ellis Hobbs 35 yards for the final touchdown of the night.

But more importantly than grasping the physical aspect, Sanders has clearly mastered the mental aspect of playing defensive back in the Belichick system.

“He understands the defense, he understands our adjustments and how the defense has to shift based on what the offense does before the snap,” Belichick said of Sanders, who has 45 tackles this season. “That’s part of a safety’s job, to make those adjustments and communicate those to the corners or in some cases the linebackers.”

“That’s an important part of his job, and he does it well,” added the head coach. “He’s very good at it and he works hard at it. He’s one of the hardest working players on the team, and we have a lot of them, and he’s up there.”

FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK

1. “Spygate” fallout. The Eagles were one of the most quotable teams in the wake of the Patriots’ videotaping scandal, with several players telling the media — many of who were joking and many of who were ultra-serious — exactly what they thought of New England, and not all of it was positive. It’ll be interesting to see how much of it will be used as bulletin-board material by the Patriots, and how much will be discussed in the postgame Q-and-A’s.

2. Do the Patriots prepare for starting quarterback Donovan McNabb or backup A.J. Feeley? In what’s become as much a Philadelphia tradition as cheese steaks and the Mummers’ Parade, McNabb suffered his annual November injury last Sunday. This time, it was an ankle and thumb that slowed him Sunday against the Dolphins. His status remains a colossal question mark, and even trying to read between the lines via injury reports will be useless, because Philadelphia Head Coach Andy Reid told the media Monday that McNabb doesn’t need to practice this week to start against New England.

3. How the Patriots go about trying to stop Brian Westbrook. Philly’s do-everything running back — at his best, a Marshall Faulk clone — is the sparkplug for their offense. The 5-foot-10, 203-pound Westbrook had a career-best 148 yards rushing against Miami on Sunday, and is the fifth-best rusher in the league entering last night with 849 ground yards. In addition, he already has 518 receiving yards, tied for a career-best season output. (He’s been hobbled lately by knee and abdominal injuries, but is likely to play Sunday night.) If New England can contain Westbrook, they can significantly slow down the Eagles’ offense.

4. If Mike Vrabel can do something that hasn’t been done since 1995. Remarkably, no New England player has registered double-digits in sacks in a season since Willie McGinest finished the 1995 season with 11. (Since then, McGinest got to 9 1/2 twice and Vrabel got 9 1/2 once.) Vrabel enters Sunday’s game against the Eagles with 9 1/2 sacks. He’s a pretty good bet to reach double-digits Sunday night, especially against a Philadelphia offensive line that has allowed 32 sacks this season, 28th-worst in the league as of last night.

5. Randy Moss. Just as he demands constant attention on the field, his week-to-week performance within the context of the New England offense also makes him impossible to ignore. Moss continues his campaign to be the first wide receiver in the history of the league to win MVP honors, entering Sunday’s game against the Eagles with 66 catches for 1,052 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns. In the three occasions he’s faced the Philly defense, the Eagles have managed to hold him under 100 yards receiving each time — his best day against Philadelphia came in 2001 at the Vet, when he caught seven passes for 95 yards and a touchdown in a 48-17 loss to the Eagles.

STAT OF THE WEEK

22. The Patriots are a whopping 22-point favorite against the Eagles if Philadelphia starts A.J. Feeley at quarterback Sunday night, according to Las Vegas Sports Consultants senior oddsmaker Mike Seba. Seba said the Patriots would open at -18 if Donovan McNabb is behind center.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I saw the real 81. I think he had like 170 yards and four touchdowns. Yeah, I saw the real 81. But I don’t really get into that. I have a job to do, and that’s to go out and block and catch balls. To try to go out there and try to duplicate or do something better than a receiver did on Sunday is not my game, and I don’t want to do that.” — Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss on whether or not he saw Terrell Owens finish with four TDs earlier in the day against the Redskins.

Christopher Price is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the Patriots since 2001 for Boston Metro. He’s served a contributor to ESPN.com, SI.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The Miami Herald. He’s written “The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower,” and can be reached at chris@patriotsdaily.com.

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com

When it comes to stopping Buffalo running back Marshawn Lynch, Patriots offensive lineman Ryan O’Callaghan figures it’s pretty simple: “Get a lot of people hitting him.”

O’Callaghan knows better than most — he was a college teammate of Lynch at Cal, and got to know Lynch pretty well. He cleared a path for him for two seasons, helping Lynch gain 1,246 rushing yards in 2005.

“We hung out together all the time,” O’Callaghan said of Lynch. “He’s funny, real funny. He’s very passionate about his family. He’s a guy who didn’t come from the best area, but it says something about him that he’s been able to make something with his life. I’m happy for him.”

He’s not shocked at what the rookie running back — the best rookie running back in the NFL not named Adrian Peterson — has been able to accomplish this season with the Bills. The 21-year-old Lynch has had a hand in seven of the 10 touchdowns the Buffalo offense has registered this season. In addition, he ranks fifth in the NFL with 751 yards rushing, and his 196 carries rank second behind Pittsburgh’s Willie Parker.

Lynch is scheduled for more tests on his injured left ankle after sustaining an injury in a comeback win against the Dolphins on Sunday, but Bills Head Coach Dick Jauron hopes the rookie running back will be ready to play against the Patriots Sunday night at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium. That doesn’t shock O’Callaghan.

“He’s strong,” O’Callaghan said of the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Lynch. “He’s got good movement, and he’s hard to bring down.”

That was certainly the case when the Patriots and Bills met in Week 3. Of the running backs the Patriots have faced this season, Lynch perhaps turned in the second-best performance, gaining 74 tough yards on the ground against New England in a 38-7 win for the Patriots. That trails only Colts running back Joseph Addai, who had 112 yards rushing and 114 yards receiving. (Statistically, Lynch’s performance stood as the best rushing performance against New England until Miami’s Ronnie Brown ran for 76 mostly soft yards in Week 7.)

Lynch’s Week 3 numbers were commendable for any running back, especially when you consider the Patriots are holding opposing running games as a whole to an average of just 90.6 yards per game, the sixth-best number in the NFL.

“He doesn’t shirk,” Jauron of Lynch after he rushed for 61 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s win over Miami. “He doesn’t shirk in practice, and he definitely doesn’t shirk on game day.”

FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK

1. How the Patriots go about trying to neutralize Aaron Schobel. New England held the defensive end to just 1/2 a sack the first time these two teams met earlier this season. In that one, they blunted him using a variety of blocking combinations — eight, by our count, including one where linebacker Mike Vrabel lined up opposite Schobel as a tight end in a goal-line situation. In all, left tackle Matt Light got the better of him when the two went head to head 23 of 29 times.

2. Post-bye week letdown. Under Bill Belichick, the Patriots have gone 5-2 in games played the week after a bye. Curiously, this week will mark the fifth time in the last eight years New England will face the Bills following a bye. After a loss in 2000, the Patriots have won the last three post-bye week meetings against Buffalo by an average score of 27-13.

3. Buffalo will be the first team this season that will be facing the Patriots a second time — will they do anything differently? Did the Bills learn anything about the Patriots from their Week 3 matchup? Specifically, will Buffalo focus more of its coverage on Randy Moss in the passing game, or leave him in single coverage — as they did for much of Week 3 — and risk getting burned?

4. Can Laurence Maroney duplicate his Week 3 effort against the Bills? The second-year running back rushed for 103 yards against the Bills in Week 3, the second-highest single game total of his career. The Patriots will lean heavily on the young running back, who has yet to prove he can pull his weight as the featured back on a consistent basis.

5. Starting fast. For the Patriots, it’ll be absolutely imperative to get out of the gates quickly in this one. On a four-game win streak, the Bills and their fans are starting to feel pretty good about themselves. If New England affords them the slightest glimmer of hope, a sold out Ralph Wilson crowd — which will have spent most of the afternoon in the parking lot preparing for the game — will try to make the game as difficult as possible for the Patriots.

STAT OF THE WEEK

4.7. On average, one out of every 4.7 catches for Randy Moss this season has resulted in a touchdown. (He has 56 receptions and 12 touchdowns.)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“It’s kind of like the Iditarod, those sled dogs. Every single day you have to pull that sled, and at night you eat your food and think about pulling that sled the next day.” — Patriots tight end Kyle Brady on the road ahead for New England.

Christopher Price is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the Patriots since 2001 for Boston Metro. He’s served a contributor to ESPN.com, SI.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The Miami Herald. He’s written “The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower,” and can be reached at chris@patriotsdaily.com.

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com

The move is a simple one, really: Extend your elbows outward so your arms are at a 90-degree angle from the rest of your body. Put your hands back to back with your palms facing outward. Then, push your hands apart quickly.

For Randy Moss, it’s a touchdown celebration that signifies separation from a defensive back. But the move is much more than that — it’s a distinct shot at those who suggested the 30-year-old wide receiver was over the hill entering this season and was now unable to get the sort of separation from opposing defenders that had made him a world class wide receiver in the past. How’s that workin’ out for you?

It’s a move opposing coaches are now seeing with greater frequency, much to their chagrin.

“We didn’t have an answer for Randy Moss today,” said Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy after Sunday’s game where Moss had nine catches for 145 yards and a touchdown in the 24-20 win over the Colts.

And while his touchdowns have become signature events punctuated by the separation shuffle, his coaches and teammates are becoming accustomed to it all. Even his impressive one-handed grab over the middle against Indianapolis — a pass that few receivers in the history of the Patriots’ franchise could have made — wasn’t a shocker for New England Head Coach Bill Belichick.

“I can tell you, though, standing out here at practice, anybody will tell you that’s not the first one,” Belichick said of the grab. “It’s not the 10th one. In fact, you saw it against — who was it there, Dallas or Miami or somebody? — in the end zone, where he just…

“Honestly, he does that on a pretty regular basis.”

The on-field numbers are staggering (56 catches, 924 yards, 12 touchdowns), but the impact stretched far beyond what he can do when he has the ball. He’s a persistent threat, a unique player who demands constant attention whenever he’s on the field. As a result, other wide receivers are benefiting — Wes Welker is on pace to shatter career-bests in receptions, yards and touchdowns, while fellow wideout Donte Stallworth and tight end Ben Watson aren’t far off pace to set personal bests of their own.

“You’ve got to pick your poison,” said Cleveland Head Coach Romeo Crennel of the New England passing game.

As for the whole “Moss won’t work in a Belichick system” argument, well, just ask his teammates how that’s going. In June, after spending just over a month with his new team, he accompanied them to the funeral of former Patriots defensive lineman Marquise Hill. On other teams, a star of such magnitude would get an extra locker to store more stuff. In Foxborough, he gets the same treatment as everyone else, storing his gear in the same space that practice squad wide receiver C.J. Jones gets.

Just as Moss continues to put separation between him and defensive backs, it’s appeared he’s put plenty of distance between his old rep as a franchise killer.

“I think everything that has been written and said about him is probably the complete opposite of what we’ve experienced,” said Brady of Moss. “He’s a great teammate, a great player. He’s very coachable. He’s selfless. He’s a great worker. He leads by example. He has a bunch of great qualities.”

STAT OF THE WEEK

32. Of the 602 total plays from scrimmage through nine games, the Patriots’ offense has registered just 32 negative plays, excluding kneeldowns.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We’re 9-0 and it doesn’t really matter. What matters to us is January. Our goal is to win the AFC East and be in the best position we can be in going into the playoffs.” — Quarterback Tom Brady after Sunday’s game.

Christopher Price is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the Patriots since 2001 for Boston Metro. He’s served a contributor to ESPN.com, SI.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The Miami Herald. He’s written “The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower,” and can be reached at chris@patriotsdaily.com.

by Christopher Price
chris@patriotsdaily.com

With the Patriots’ offense on the goal line, everyone seems to know what’s going to happen when Mike Vrabel enters the game. Everyone can hear over the public address system when the referee announces, “No. 50 is reporting as eligible.” And everyone knows that when the converted linebacker lines up at tight end, the chances are pretty good he’s going to get the football.

So why does Vrabel have so many touchdown catches?

The Ohio State grad has made a career as a part-time tight end — he caught his eighth regular-season touchdown pass and his 10th overall TD pass (including two in the playoffs) on a 2-yard scoring catch from quarterback Tom Brady in the second quarter. It was his second of the season — Vrabel also caught a touchdown pass on Oct. 1 at Cincinnati.

Each of Vrabel’s 10 career receptions have been for touchdowns — including one in Super Bowl XXXVIII and one in Super Bowl XXXIX. Including his one career interception return for a touchdown, Vrabel now has totaled nine career regular-season touchdowns, the fifth-highest total in a New England uniform by a current Patriot (trailing only Troy Brown, Kevin Faulk, Randy Moss and Benjamin Watson).

Each touchdown looks relatively similar — Vrabel slips unnoticed past the defensive line on a short little down and out or down and in play. But each of his touchdown catches has its own wrinkle. There’s the occasional element of surprise — like his catch against the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, as well as his first career TD catch against the Chargers back in 2002. Sometimes, he simply beats the coverage — like his effort against Philadelphia and Jevon Kearse in Super Bowl XXXIX.

But many times, he gets help from his teammates. That appeared to be the case Sunday against the Redskins, when Vrabel was able to get so wide open in the right corner of the end zone was thanks in large part to some trickeration along the offensive line, which made it look like New England was going to run the ball.

“I think it was a good sell by the offensive line,” said Brady of the play, which culminated with a two-yard catch by Vrabel that put the Patriots up 14-0 and served as the latest example of the fact that Ohio State and Michigan guys really can co-exist in peace.

“If they’re playing the pass and you run it then they’re screwed, and if you try to make it look like a run and Vrabel slips out for a pass, then you leave him open.”

Head Coach Bill Belichick said Sunday, the Redskins were doing their due diligence and playing to stop the run first in that situation. But when you get into that sort of situation, you’re forced to pick your poison — Belichick recalled a play earlier in the season against the Chargers when San Diego used the same sort of formation — with ex-New England offensive lineman Gene Mruczkowski at tight end — and ended up scoring on a short pass from Philip Rivers to Lorenzo Neal.

“It’s tough on the goal line. You’re trying to stop the run, play-action passes. You’re only defending a yard, so it’s tough,” Belichick said. “We gave one up earlier in the year to San Diego, right? Standing out there, it looks like he’s out to practice early. That’s tough.”

In the end, it doesn’t matter which position you play. If you’ve got a good set of hands and can get open, Brady’s going to find you — even if you did go to Ohio State.

“He’s very good at evading defenders and getting off the line of scrimmage,” Brady said of Vrabel. “He’s very quick [and] he uses his hands well. He’s got good hands when he catches it.”

FIVE THINGS TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK

1. How the New England defense goes about trying to stop Indianapolis tight end Dallas Clark. The Patriots were tormented by Clark in last year’s AFC Championship Game — he finished with six catches for 137 yards. Safety Rodney Harrison struggled at times when faced with Dallas tight end Jason Witten earlier in the season, a good tight end. It remains to be seen how they will go about stopping Clark.

2. How the Indy defense goes about trying to stop Randy Moss. If the Patriots are worried about stopping Clark, the Colts are just as concerned about Moss. Historically, they’ve done OK, but that might only be because they’ve faced Moss just once — Dec. 24, 2000, when the Vikings played at the RCA Dome and lost, 31-10. In that one, Moss finished with one catch — a touchdown pass from Daunte Culpepper — for 42 yards.

3. If the Patriots try and run a lot of play-action. According to the 2007 Pro Football Prospectus, the Colts allowed an astounding 7.6 net yards per pass on play-action fakes last season. Laurence Maroney appears to be nearly back to full strength — he was on the field for 24 of the 76 offensive snaps the Patriots had against the Redskins. If he’s anywhere near healthy, a resurgent Maroney will provide some depth in the running game and force the Colts to respect the possibility of play-action.

4. The continued assimilation of Richard Seymour into the No. 1 defense. The results of our highly unscientific data — we may have missed him for a play or two in the fourth quarter — show Seymour on the field for 18 of the 53 defensive snaps Sunday against the Redskins. After missing the first seven weeks of the season, the Pro Bowl defensive lineman had some rust against Washington, but will likely play a larger role in the defensive game plan this week against Indianapolis.

5. If the Patriots and Colts can break the scoring record for the RCA Dome. According to the Indianapolis media guide, the record for most points scored in a game by two teams at the RCA Dome is 79, when the Colts beat the Packers on Nov. 16, 1997, 41-38. There’s a pretty good chance that the Patriots and Colts will come close to shattering that mark on Sunday.

STAT OF THE WEEK

164. With 38 interception-free passes Sunday against the Redskins, Tom Brady has now thrown 164 straight passes without an interception, tying the longest such streak of his career.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“It’s our job to keep them off the board. This is football, it’s a competitive sport. They are a good team. We just have to do what we need to do to keep them out of the end zone.”— Washington safety Pierson Prioleau, speaking with reporters about whether or not the Patriots ran up the score on the Redskins.

Christopher Price is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the Patriots since 2001 for Boston Metro. He’s served a contributor to ESPN.com, SI.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and The Miami Herald. He’s written “The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower,” and can be reached at chris@patriotsdaily.com.