by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

Surprising news comes from Foxborough this afternoon, where Mike Reiss reports the Patriots have released third-year receiver Chad Jackson, the 36th pick in the 2006 NFL Draft.

The move comes one day after Jackson had apparently made the club as the Pats cut down to the required 53-man limit. Perhaps it had been last gasp attempt to exchange Jackson for a future pick that necessitated the extra day. Either way, the big story is the Pats have given up on a 23-year old player to whom they had already committed significant resources.

Early in camp, Jackson had some well-documented problems getting on the same page with Tom Brady, but by the end of the month, he had been responsible for what were arguably the team’s two best scoring plays of the pre-season. His slip on a fade route Thursday night cost the Pats the ball, leaving an easy end zone interception for R.W. McQuarters; a microcosm of the player’s career here if we ever saw one.

Nobody’s getting rich on blowing the 36th pick in the draft. And if I recall correctly, this was a player that Bill Belichick worked out himself. By the way, what is it with the Patriots and collegiate pass catchers? Since selecting David Givens with the 244th pick in 02, the Patriots have drafted TE’s and WR’s Bethel Johnson (03/pick 45), Spencer Nead (03/234th), Ben Watson (04/32nd), PK Sam (04/164th), Andy Stokes (05/255th), Jackson, David Thomas (06/86th), Garrett Mills (06/106th) and Matthew Slater (08/153rd). Much like Johnson before him, the Pats will be reminded again and again of this high-profile whiff.

This must have been interesting news for C.J. Jones and Ray Ventrone, who are now presently better pro prospects than a guy who once went in the second round. Jones had a moment or two in the pre-season (good and bad), and maybe his long kick return on Thursday night gave him a final push on to the roster. Ventrone was the wide receiver group’s sturdiest runner after the catch this month, and maybe he works his way into the slot somehow if Wes Welker is slow to recover from a rib injury he suffered a couple of weeks ago.

Ventrone catching passes from Tom Brady? As Chad Jackson and the Patriots reminded us earlier today, you never know.

The Pats are now at 53 players, including the suspended Kevin Faulk.  They’ll have a choice of standing pat for a week (after all, they’ll only use 45 players against the Chiefs, the only game Faulk is due to miss) or adding an allowable 54th man while they still have the Faulk exemption, delaying the final roster decision another week.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

Near as I can figure, this is the way the Pats 53-man roster shakes out after the final cuts were announced today:

Offense (28*)
Quarterback (3) Brady, Cassel, O’Connell
Running back (5*) Maroney, Faulk*, Evans, Jordan, Morris
Wide receiver (9) Moss, Welker, Gaffney, Jackson, Washington, Aiken, Jones, Ventrone, Slater
Tight end (3) Watson, Thomas, Spach
Offensive line (8) Light, Mankins, Koppen, Yates, Kaczur, Hochstein, Britt, Connolly

Defense (23)
Defensive line (6) Seymour, Wilfork, Warren, Green, Wright. L. Smith
Outside linebacker (4) Thomas, Vrabel, Woods, Crable
Inside linebacker (5) Bruschi, Mayo, Alexander, Guyton, Izzo
Cornerback (4) Hobbs, L. Sanders, Wheatley, Wilhite
Safety (4) Harrison, Lynch, Meriweather, J. Sanders

Special Teams (3)
Specialists (3) Gostkowski, Hanson, Paxton

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

The Pats cut three players and re-assigned two others today and here’s a quick reaction on the roster moves:

Stephen Neal Will Miss the First Six Weeks

I’ve been wondering if Neal would go to PUP for the first month and a half. He hasn’t been anywhere near practice with his shoulder injury. At least he’ll be back this year. It’s left now to Billy Yates and John Welbourn to hold it together through the first 37% of the season. Neither has been impressive in the Pats’ three pre-season losses. Maybe it will be Russ Hochstein, on second thought.  Can Mike Flynn play guard? It would be good for his job prospects if he could.

Ryan O’Callaghan Will Miss Season

It’s no Neal by order of magnitude, but I still think this hurts the Pats anyway. O’Callaghan has some ability, and two years under Dante Scarnecchia. Quick, name the Pats’ backup tackles after Wesley Britt. Oliver Ross (who hasn’t been spotted since July; another guy who may land on PUP) and Jimmy Martin. No denying the Pats are entering the season with a depleted offensive line, even with Matt Light back and practicing.

Webster, Eckel, Wendell See Coach, Bring Playbook

I am surprised but not surprised about Jason Webster. On one hand, I fully embranced the idea that the veteran Webster could make a contribution, but once he couldn’t get on the field, it was inevitable that he’d be well behind the rest of the field when he returned. The two rookies - Wheatley and Wilhite - were also clear factors here. Eckel always gave his best but there was no way he was making the roster. Wendell probably had a lesser chance than Eckel.

The big cutdown happens on Saturday, and we’ll see what they come up with for key spots like the secondary, linebackers, o-line, receivers and backs. Your input is, as always, welcomed in our comments section.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

I’m vacation traveling today, but before I head out, I wanted to mention a Sunday morning blog entry from former Herald sportswriter Michael Gee.

These days, I find myself checking his Homegame blog more often than I ever did his Herald writings. Whether that says more about me, or Gee’s time with the Herald, I don’t care. Point is, he’s doing good work with the blog and it deserves a larger audience.

Exhibit 1 is this clear-eyed tone-setter that seems in part to be in response to the ‘Super Bowl Hangover?’ storyline that has reared its head in the early days of camp. As Gee says, that question would be better asked next January than today.

My recommendation is that you bookmark Homegame and pop by at your leisure to see what Gee has cooking, whether your interest lies in the Pats, Sox, Celts or whatever. With this blog, Gee’s putting out far better stuff than the tiresome, hackneyed columnists working the traditional beat these days.

Final note: if you haven’t yet read Chris Warner’s A Letter From Camp, a recount of his pilgrimage to Foxborough last Friday, please do. See if it doesn’t inspire you to make the trip yourself.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

Ben Coates was never a favorite at this address, but even I won’t dispute that the tight end fully earned a place in the Patriots Hall of Fame, as the team announced today.

It just shouldn’t have come at the expense of Jim Nance.

“I guess it was just my time,” said Coates in a statement released by the Pats. Was it?

I’m all for the fan balloting idea here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t bitch about the results anyway. It’s easy enough to see where this one was decided. The majority that ruled were fans that first arrived on Route 1 in the wake of the Parcells-Bledsoe-Kraft harmonic covergence. 

Make no mistake about it, I completely appreciate the fans that have come to Foxboro over the last fifteen years; by investing in the Patriots the way they did, at the time they did, they helped save the team for everyone. That should not be forgotten. Especially by those of us whose dollars never seemed to make the difference before.

I just don’t think many of them have any respect for Patriots football played before 1993. Too often we hear too many sum up the team’s ancient history in one word: “laughingstock.”

That’s not true. There were teams and players that we could be proud of all along. Like the team’s all-time leading touchdown scorer (still) and the only Patriot to be named league MVP twice (consecutively).

People are entitled to their own version of events as they see them, just as I am. But it would be wrong to callously overlook the contributions of the guys that laid the bedrock here, and diminish their still-great accomplishments as a joke, just because we weren’t personally there to see it.

That history should be important to us. That history of the team, warts and all, should be the touchstone to which we return on occasion, if only to ensure we never completely take for granted the bountiful feast that lies before us now. We might also choose, while there, to honor the men that helped make the Patriots a part of all of our lives.

I think it came down to this for the average voter: I saw Coates, myself, when the Patriots were ‘legitimate’, and I never saw Nance, who played when they ‘weren’t’.

That’s cold, man. There’s no question Coates should be in the Pats Hall, but right now, this minute? And what of the players who came before, like Nance, and others, who are no less qualified? Will a big part of Patriots history fall victim to fading memories?

That’s what would have been so great about a Nance induction. It would have been validation of a sort, for that period of the team’s history. It would have not only been a knowing nod to Nance, who performed above and beyond, but to his teammates as well. It would have been a full embrace from the team to which they gave their careers, and which now stands as one of the preeminent franchises in sports. It would have been an acknowledgement of their too-often forgotten part in making it so.

It’s a missed opportunity that Nance will not be posthumously honored as the first Hall member to be inducted at the new Hall at Patriot Place when it opens this fall.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

I didn’t know Dan Pires.

So it must be a measure of the man he was that I find myself oddly heartbroken here tonight, as I read through the tributes generously offered by many of his colleagues and friends in the wake of his sudden passing earlier today.

The New Bedford Standard Times first broke the sad news to its readers, and offered a guest book where those who were touched by his friendship could share their thoughts. Tom Curran, Bert Breer, Chris Gasper, Dave Heuschkel, Chris Price, Doug Flynn, Alan Segal, Michael Parente, Paul Perillo and Mark Farinella are just some of those from the Pats beat past and present who pay their respects.

Even still, they are vastly outnumbered by the mournful chorus of less familar names who - tellingly - seemed to know Dan as a dear friend and neighbor first, and a reporter second.

My friend Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch followed with a brief post on the news, and I challenge you to read through Shalise Manza Young’s thoughtful reflections in the comments section (as well as those of Ian Clark) without finding a lump in your throat.

Speaking of BSMW, I can’t help but think of Jon Couture, Dan’s colleague at the paper, who I’ve had the pleasure of (virtually) chatting with from time to time. Jon’s a thoroughly decent and heartfelt guy, and I know this dispiriting news has struck him hard today.

Elsewhere on the Internet, Ian Logue of PatsFans.com also spread the word to members of his message board, as did the gang at PatriotsPlanet.com. It may say something about Dan that he often passed the time on fan forums, sharing his insight and enthusiasm for the team we all love. In an era when many of his colleagues seem to view the Internet with fear and loathing, Pires evidently embraced it, and tonight, many message boarders have dropped the usual cynicism and abject irreverence (and I mean that in the best possible way) to simply reflect on the loss of a man they came to consider as a friend.

It’s my hope that his wife and two children take some comfort in what appears to be a fundamental truth of his life; that their beloved husband and father was loved and respected and valued by so many.

by Scott Benson
scott@patriotsdaily.com

I’m not going to claim to be a real basketball fan, so I’ll try to temper the yahoo-ism a bit here, as being ‘that guy’ seems awfully unbecoming.

But God almighty were the Celtics great in their run to the team’s 17th world championship.

Let’s just say that as a result of some unsavory stuff awhile back, involving the team and the sport that we happen to most closely follow, the wife and I are trying to reconnect with what is to be a ’sports fan’ - namely, watching games and enjoying them, cynics and critics and clowns be damned. Yelling for a great play, or a shrewd coaching move, and ignoring the shit-stirring bystander dying to be noticed. We want to dwell inside the white lines, not the story lines.

So with it being playoff basketball and everything, we found ourselves watching as each series progressed, and while the intricacies of the game were lost on us, we certainly recognized familiar sights; like the menacing defense that chokes the air from even the most formidable scorers. The clutch offense that sometimes puts its biggest points on the board only through the sheer force of the individual and collective will of its players. The coaching staff with the hearts and minds of their team on a string.

Anyway, it was all terrific and I can’t help but reflect on the core group of fans that never left the team, even when good fortune did. I’ve come across a few in my Internet travels, and I’m thinking of all the times they noodled the ever-loving hell out of a meager Celtics roster that couldn’t win half its games. Today they have the champ - and a repeat - to discuss. That’s sports justice.

What’s even greater is that for a long time, more than twenty years, the once proud Celtics have largely played third fiddle to the more recently accomplished, and trendy, Red Sox and Pats. People almost forgot that it was the Celtics who first treated Boston to the unique thrill of repeated ultimate victory, and for that reason alone I’m glad they’re the toast of the town again today.

By that same token, of the six NFL, MLB and NBA championships won by local teams this decade, only one has been secured in Boston, and it was done by the Celtics this past Tuesday night. There’s something fitting about that too.

Best of all, the whole thing was about the games on the court. Yeah, I know David Stern and the officials took over there for a minute, as did the unkempt sensitivities of Kobe Bryant and his fellow Lakers, but for the most part, it was about Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, and the seemingly endless parade of role players who each brought fits of brilliance at the most opportune times. It was about a team doing all the big and all the little things, just like it’s supposed to be done, all the while bearing every bit the confidence and determination and execution a champion’s carriage requires.

Honestly, in light of recent events, and despite the abundance of riches bestowed upon us, it’s hard for we gridiron-oriented folks not to be a little bit envious of the Celtics and their fans this week. After all, for one brief shining moment……Camelot. Those moments are indeed rare, despite all recent evidence to the contrary.

Still, for all of us who love sports, and love Boston, and love everything those two things have come to represent in our lives, that envy dissipates quickly, replaced by an admiration and appreciation for a job well done.