by Greg Doyle
greg@bostonsportsmedia.com

Yes, there were turnovers. Five of them. That’s not good. But does it correlate into otherwise bad play? No, not necessarily. Because the Patriots did play a good game Sunday and beat another good team. It was a tough, physical game and players did cough the ball up on both sides. But the Patriots did enough positive things to escape and that they played a pretty good game overall, other than coughing it up, is pretty encouraging going forward.

QUARTERBACK: Tom Brady played a terrific game, his second in a row. This is perhaps the best two game stretch he has had this season and that is reason for optimism in and of itself given the up and down nature of his year so far. But he was once again extremely accurate. And his legendary leadership was on display late in the game when it was in the balance. From the long, improvised pass to Ben Watson on the go-ahead touchdown drive, to his scrambling juke of Bears linebacker Brian Uhrlacher, Brady led the Patriots in every way he could and was the major reason the Patriots were able to pull the game out.

RUNNING BACK: Not a great day running the ball. Both Laurence Maroney and Corey Dillon dropped fumbles. Maroney did a nice job in the passing game, as did Kevin Faulk. But the running game has been somewhat sporadic lately and at least some of the blame has to go to the running backs. They need to turn up their level of play here late in the season and play more as they did earlier in the year.

WIDE RECEIVER: A quiet night here. Chad Jackson could have had a big night. But just barely missed a long bomb in which he got himself wide open. Perhaps a dive there would have been called for, though Jackson appeared to gamble a bit and try to catch it in stride so he’d have the touchdown. Rookie mistake. Make sure of the catch first. Later, he seemed to draw a pass inteference call that inexplicably wasn’t called (especially puzzling given the lesser ones thrown against the Patriots a short time later). Reche Caldwell made a few catches, but made a bad decision stepping out of bounds on one late in the game as the Patriots tried to kill the clock. I’m sure he’ll get an earful about that in films this week. Still, I like the way he has worked himself into the offense and is getting downfield more. Troy Brown had one big catch, but beyond that the receivers were quiet.

TIGHT ENDS: Good night from both Daniel Graham and Ben Watson. Graham made one outstanding catch early in the game, as good as you will see. And Watson had some good catches as well. Though the caveat to that is he dropped a couple and fumbled once. His first drop popped high in the air after a ferocious hit and allowed Chicago to intercept. Its hard to blame him too badly for that one, the hit was just perfect. But he let a few others drop as well. I don’t think this is really a major problem, but an occasional one for Watson. He’s had a very good year and is a tremendous weapon at tight end. He’s made big catches all year. If he could just become slighly more sure handed, he could become among the top 3 tight ends in football. He could be that good.

OFFENSIVE LINE: An outstanding day pass blocking. Stephen Neal was one of the few who did a nice job in the run game as well. Chicago has a tough front seven. The line didn’t do much in the run game, but credit Chicago for that. They’re tough. It wasn’t for a lack of trying and they did such a good job pass blocking, overall it was a good effort for the line.

DEFENSIVE LINE: A very good day. Ty Warren was again a force, particuarly early. Vince Wilfork had perhaps his best game, going against a Pro Bowl level center in Olin Kreutz. Richard Seymour had a sack, a fumble recovery and a blocked field goal on special teams. The backups were fairly quiet. Jarvis Green hasn’t done much for a few games, it would be nice to see him step up and he was very quiet Sunday.

LINEBACKER: The backers were playing very well until Junior Seau went down with injury. After that, you saw Chicago run the ball a bit more effectively. That is somewhat worrisome as the Patriots depth will be exceedingly thin now that Seau is lost for the year. Roosevelt Colvin has been better lately, though I disagree with assesments he’s had a great year. He’s was bad early in the season, good lately, but still not at the level he played at last year, in my opinion. He’s simply had too many missed tackles, quiet days rushing and dumb plays to call it a great year. Even Sunday, his offsides penalty in the second half was costly, stupid and helped the Bears continue a drive. He needs to play more focused and has been better lately, but pretty good isn’t good enough. They need him to step up his game down the stretch here and eliminate the missed tackles, over pursuit and dumb penalties.

SECONDARY: Great day here. What else can be said about Asante Samuel, other than he had a shut down day that included three interceptions and sound run defense? Samuel has been good all year, but Sunday was the highlight. Ellis Hobbs was solid on the other side though he drew a pass interference penalty and possibly could have had another. Artrell Hawkins was good again and the penalty thrown against him was completely bogus. You simply can’t play a receiver better than he did and I’m sure the coaches are confused what they could tell him to do better on that play. James Sanders appears to be getting more comfortable as well and had a very good day. Several times he came up in run support and made nice plays and he was good in coverage as well. He actually reminded me of Rodney Harrison in his style of play a couple times and that is as high a compliment as you can get for a Patriots safety. I like the direction his game is headed in. Troy Brown played well also and and its amazing to see how he’s taken to the defensive back role.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Ken Walter returned to the Patriots after being away for several years and his first punt was a thing of beauty. High and unreturnable and about 45 yards. But after that, his next two were a bit shaky, though unreturnable. Stephen Gostkowski booted a nice 52 yard field goal to end the first half and his kickoffs were good. Coverage was good all night as well on special teams. A good day. They’ve picked up their play.

The Patriots have what should be an easy win in Detroit next. It would be surprising if they didn’t handle them easily, but I suppose stranger things have happened. We shall see. Until then.

by Greg Doyle
Greg@bostonsportsmedia.com

Now that is more like it. It would be tempting, even valid, to somewhat dismiss the Patriots dominating 35-0 win over Green Bay this past Sunday. Afterall, Green Bay played a dreadful game and barely mustered any opposition at all. But that wouldn’t be fair to the Patriots. A close look at the tape of the game reveals excellent play all around. Very few poor individual efforts, let alone plays, could be found at all in taking a second look at this game. So lets take a look at each individual unit.

QUARTERBACK: This was Tom Brady’s best game of the year. Better than even the Minnesota game. In Minnesota, he made at least a few bad throws, including a poor interception. This Sunday, you would be hard pressed to find even one poor throw. Oh, maybe the slightly too high pass to Mike Vrabel in the endzone (maybe it was just a Michigan-Ohio State thing?). But besides that, Brady was in a zone. Accurate, good decisions, calm, in control. The touchdown throw to Ben Watson in the corner of the end zone was as good a throw as an NFL quarterback can make. All day long, he simply sliced and diced Green Bay so badly, they never really had a chance. He was just on. And for once, there wasn’t even small displays of being erratic. If he can stay focused like he was Sunday, we may just yet see a return of the old Tom Brady week in and week out. The key is to start stringing these performances together in a row, rather than being up one week, down the next. If he can regain consistency, it’ll make the Patriots very tough to beat.

RUNNING BACK: An okay performance. Laurence Maroney had his moments. His touchdown on a flats swing pass late in the game featured a memorable move that left Packers linebacker Nick Barnett falling helplessly to the ground. Heath Evans proved a good short yardage choice again, converting a big fourth down run. Kevin Faulk had a big early catch to help get the Patriots offense untracked. Only Corey Dillon had a bit of an off game. He fumbled once (although it wasn’t entirely his fault) and didn’t find much running room. He did have a touchdown, however.

WIDE RECEIVER: A pretty good day. Reche Caldwell again showed toughness and that he is getting more and more comfortable in this offense. He is also starting to get downfield more often. You’d have to say, much to probably everyone’s surprise, he has been one of the more consistent and solid players on offense this season. Chad Jackson, although he only had one catch, seemed to do a nice job and looks to be getting more comfortable. Look for his playing time and production to start increasing down the stretch here assuming he stays healthy. Jabar Gaffney took a step back, dropping a ball early and only contributing one catch. He also needs to find consistency. Troy Brown was his usual self, catching some good move-the-chains type passes in the slot once again.

TIGHT END: A very good day. Ben Watson had some big catches and also his blocking is noticeably improved this year. Although he only caught one pass (a touchdown), Daniel Graham looked more himself this week and did a better job blocking. He also drew a big penalty in one on one coverage to set up the Patriots second touchdown.

OFFENSIVE LINE: A very good day overall. The right side was much improved with Stephen Neal back in there. Neal is one of the Patriots more underrated players and his solid blocking created some good holes for the Patriots in the second half. Nick Kaczur start at right tackle and was good. Ryan O’Callaghan was back filling in there as well and did a good job, though he did have a couple penalties. Dan Koppen partially contributed to the Corey Dillon fumble that almost cost the Patriots points by getting unacceptably blown backwards into the play. He was solid otherwise though, as was the rest of the line.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Ty Warren was back and noticeably improved this unit. He is having a superb year and continued his fine play on Sunday, dominating the man on him. All along the line, there was no room to run for Green Bay and the defense as a whole held the Packers to 5 first downs. A lot of that started up front with the dominance of the line.

LINEBACKER: A good day here too. Mike Vrabel was active. Roosevelt Colvin was much improved in coverage and Tully Banta-Cain was disruptive in reserve. In the middle, Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau were good filling the holes all day long and giving Green Bay zero room to run.

SECONDARY: Nice job here for this shorthanded unit. The strategy was to take away Donald Driver and make the Packers throw to Greg Jennings. It worked to perfection. Driver was quiet and Ellis Hobbs and Chad Scott were able to shut down Jennings one on one. At safety Artrell Hawkins had a good day. James Sanders had one of his better days as a pro, though I did spot him out of position on one play that ended up being an incompletion. Still, a nice job filling in from him.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Poor job punting again from Josh Miller. The coverage was much better this week. Kevin Faulk ripped off one long punt return, but also dropped one just prior to the half which could have hurt, though Faulk managed to jump on the loose ball himself.

Now a bigger test comes Sunday versus the 9-1 Chicago Bears. It’ll also be the debut of the Patriots new field turf surface at home. Should be a very entertaining game. Until then.

Well, this was certainly an unpleasant, ugly game to look back at it. Having slogged through the tapes, not much positive can be found yet again this week. It was simply the second poor performance in a row for the Patriots and that has to be somewhat worrisome. Every team is entitled to a slump, I suppose. But in the Super Bowl years of the Patriots, a slump may have meant one off game that they usually pulled out anyways. Or one poor loss. But two is a cause for concern. Particularly at home. On to the individual units.

QUARTERBACK: Tom Brady has not been himself this year. There can not be any debating that. I suppose we do have mention the changes at receiver. Logically, that has to contribute. But clearly, it goes beyond that. Sunday, the bouts of inaccuracy we have seen this year was evident. The poor decisions. Some bad throws were actually rescued by his receivers and turned into catches. I really can’t say what is wrong with Brady. Its just inconsistency because at times he is fine and looks like the old quarterback we’ve grown to know around here. Technically, nothing really stands out. He has velocity, he makes some great throws at times. Its just not there all the time. I don’t think the patchwork offensive line helped much Sunday, but still Brady is not playing that well.

RUNNING BACK: Seriously, what is up with Corey Dillon. Don’t get me wrong, Dillon played well Sunday. When he played. He ripped off a nice 55 yard run Sunday which featured a “get offfff me” stiff arm and though he ran out of gas at the end, it was still a nice run. But after that, he disappeared until after halftime. Why? Why does he seem to leave the game so often these days? He came back in the second half and made some more good runs, but was out of the game again quickly afterwards. Its puzzling. Laurence Maroney didn’t do much with his chances, which was unfortunate considering he was in there most of the time for Dillon.

WIDE RECEIVER: A nice day, overall. Reche Caldwell had an outstanding day catching big passes all over the field. He was certainly the star of the day. Jabar Gaffney too had a nice day in his first extended playing time and showed an ability to get separation on numerous plays. Look for his playing time to increase. Doug Gabriel on the other hand fumbled on a first half play and was not seen or heard from again. Apparently the carelessness with the ball led to him being made an example of.

TIGHT END: Daniel Graham returned, but did not seem his usual self. His blocking was a bit below par for him. Ben Watson didn’t do much in the passing game but did have some nice blocks to help spring Dillon. David Thomas was quiet and did not show up in any aspect of the game tape positively that I saw.

OFFENSIVE LINE: A bad day. Billy Yates and Nick Kaczur were starting on the right side and that represents a change from the opening day lineup. Yates was ineffective before getting hurt. Kaczur was also ineffective and eventually Wesley Britt came in for him. This patchwork unit needs Stephen Neal back desperately. Too much pressure and inconsistency in the run game was at times the line’s fault. They are not playing up to their early season play at the moment.

DEFENSIVE LINE: An ineffective day. Whether it was injuries or whatever, Richard Seymour did not show up at all. Vince Wilfork was surprisingly handled easily by the center of the Jets line and they controlled the gaps and ran decently, particularly on their first touchdown drive. With the Patriots missing Ty Warren for the game, Jarvis Green did not pick up the slack. Marquise Hill made a rare appearance in the second quarter, promptly went offsides and was never seen or heard from again. He could be on thin ice with his roster spot. Mike Wright did not display his previous hustling, good play. Overall, the worst game of the year for this unit.

LINEBACKER: A quiet day. Roosevelt Colvin had a sack, but continued to miss tackles at times, as well as midjudge coverage out of the backfield. Junior Seau was good again and Tedy Bruschi was definitely improved this week. But neither was great. Mike Vrabel was quiet and had among his worst games as a Patriots, not showing up at all. A bad day here as well.

SECONDARY: I didn’t think this unit was that bad. Ellis Hobbs got beat for a touchdown and could have been beat for another one earlier in the game, but the unit was okay for the most part. I was not real impressed with Asante Samuel’s job on the last Jets, clock-killing drive in which he allowed his man to slip around him for a critical first down. Artrell Hawkins had a nice day at safety.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Bad coverage on kickoffs was on display again. They did pop a couple decent returns. Josh Miller had some terrible punts, punting it deep into the Jets end zone on one occasion when the Patriots were trying to pin the Jets deep. That is just horrible. He didn’t even come close to keeping it on the field and putting it inside the 20. A bad day overall yet again. Brad Seeley needs to get all these units playing up to par. Its killed them against the Colts and hurt them again Sunday.

On to Green Bay, a game that is looking a lot tougher. Much tougher than it did before. Until then.

by Greg Doyle
Greg@bostonsportsmedia.com

A look back at Sunday night’s 27-20 Patriots’ loss to Indianapolis was just as unpleasant as watching it live. Make no mistake about it, the Patriots played a very bad game all around. I suppose some solace can be found in the fact as bad as they played, there they were with a chance to tie the game in the final minute and a half deep in Indianapolis territory. Still, had they managed to do so, they still would have been significantly outplayed and that is disappointing in and of itself. Lets look at the units

QUARTERBACK: Tom Brady has had a decidely up and down season. Sunday was a definite down point. Perhaps the most down of the season, even more so than the Denver game. Sure, three of the four interceptions he threw were tipped. It unclear to me exactly what Indianapolis did to throw off Brady, but it looks like mainly they just mixed things up. They bumped his receivers off the line on occasion. They doubled his favorite receiver, Ben Watson, on big downs. They threw blitzes at him from different spots. Their front four generated a decent pass rush all night. It was enough to throw off Brady’s accuracy and cause some turnovers. The first interception to hault a drive on the Patriots first drive was an incredibly bad decision unlike Brady to make over the years. He was off on a lot of other throws. He needs to pick up his game and play more consistently if the Patriots are to have a chance to go far this year. One has to think that the passing game, in general, took a step back this week and they’re still a work in progress bound to have ups and downs.

RUNNING BACKS: A decent night. Corey Dillon had two touchdowns. He’s had the habit of pulling himself out of the game since he’s gotten here after longer runs. But those runs seem to get shorter and shorter as the years go by. Its gotten to the point where any run over six yards Dillon seems to pull himself out of the game. With a runner like Dillon, sometimes his powerful style is most effective when it comes right in a row. Bull them over with a seven yard run? Hit them in the mouth again with a repeat dose of the hard-charging Dillon. But he’s out of the game a lot of the time before they can really pound it with him. And against a team like Indianapolis, who is most vulnerable to a power back, that hurts. Laurence Maroney had a good game and was seemingly inches away from breaking a couple runs. Kevin Faulk makes me nervous. And lo and behold, tipping the ball up in the air on the last Patriots drive ended their chances. Its getting to the point with Faulk, the risk-reward analysis is starting to tip towards the risk side. Its getting to the point where I’m not sure I’d use him in a one score game much, except perhaps on third down when you need a pass catcher.

WIDE RECEIVER: Quiet night for this group. Congratulations to Troy Brown for setting the all-time Patriots record for receptions. Doug Gabriel and Reche Caldwell both had one big catch, but were quiet otherwise. This group needs to improve its play more.

TIGHT END: A decent day for Ben Watson, who had four catches despite close coverage from the Colts. David Thomas got himself open a couple times but Brady couldn’t hit him.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Inconsistent here as well. They were dominant at times run blocking in the first half, but in limited opportunities in the second half weren’t quite as good. They did allow some pressure in the second half particularly in the passing game as well. Billy Yates, filling in at right guard for Stephen Neal, clearly is a downgrade at that spot as well and the Patriots miss Neal.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Pretty good night for this crew. Richard Seymour had one of his better games. He created consistent pressure. The rest of the line was good. This is one unit that more than held its own.

LINEBACKER: Its becoming a legitimate question to begin to ask if Tedy Bruschi has began a decline in his career as he is not nearly playing at his old level and hasn’t all year. He used to be a playmaker, but hasn’t made many this year. He seems to be unable to shed blocks on running plays as effectively as he used to. Hopefully for the Patriots its just a slump and he’ll turn it around the second half of the year. Junior Seau, on the other hand, continues to play well even at his advanced age. He had an excellent game Sunday. The outsiders backers, Mike Vrabel and Roosevelt Colvin were good as well.

SECONDARY: A good night for Chad Scott. Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs, though it wasn’t all their fault, weren’t spectacular at corner. They had some moments, but it wasn’t enough. Rodney Harrison failed to be in position on the Colts first drive on third and long and allowed a receiver to get open to continue the drive. Then he got hurt, which was a problem for the Patriots. No one else stood out.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The Patriots generated a couple decent returns, but were horrendous on kickoff coverage all night. It was a big factor in the Patriots never really forcing the Colts into bad field position all night and a battle they lost. The punting was mediocre. They did cause a turnover, but it was offset by bad coverage. Stephen Gostkowski missed one easy field goal.

Overall, a disappointing night for the Patriots. They simply played one of their worst games of the year and it cost them. They can beat the Colts, but have to be on the very top of their game to do so. They’ll have to be a much better team if they do get a chance again and whether they will be, with all the new parts, is still an open question. The Patriots are a good team. Even a very good team. But to beat the Colts, who are clearly still among the league’s best, they’ll have to be great. They have about a half a season to turn themselves from a very good team into a great team or their ultimate goal will not be reached this year.

The Jets come to Foxboro Sunday. Until then.

A very good performance by the Patriots last Sunday, overall, in their trip to Buffalo. A look back at the film reveals it wasn’t quite the blowout, at least in the first half, competitively as the score suggests. But, nevertheless, a fine win and one in which the Patriots became more and more in control as the game wore on. Buffalo was a game opponent for awhile, but the Patriots were too much for them and imposed their will on Buffalo to cruise to victory. Lets break it down by units.

QUARTERBACK: Tom Brady had a pretty good game. But I’m not sure I agree with some of the commentary I heard he was more on than any other game this year. I just didn’t see that. He was certainly more on than against Miami, a team he usually struggles with. But he missed some throws. For example, on the fourth play of the game on offense, he missed a wide open Reche Caldwell streaking down the right sideline. That’s a throw he should hit. Later, he could have made a better throw on another play which could have been a score to Caldwell, though it did hit Caldwell in the hands. Overall, however, it was a solid performance. We’re just still waiting for the vintage performance we know Brady has in him. I’m sure its coming.

RUNNING BACK: Not an overly productive day. Corey Dillon ran hard and had two touchdowns. Laurence Maroney struggled a bit with dancing in the hole, though admittedly he wasn’t presented with much. Heath Evans had a good day, including a great block on Corey Dillon’s first TD run. Kevin Faulk made a heads up play jumping on a loose ball in the second half.

WIDE RECEIVER: A pretty good day. Reche Caldwell made some effective catches, including a big one for first downs on each of the first two drives on third down. He was open and could have had some other big plays with just a little bit more precision in the timing with Tom Brady. Troy Brown chipped in a couple catches and Doug Gabriel had a decent day, including scoring a touchdown. Chad Jackson showed up too, with a nice thirty-five yard touchdown which was a well-run route, as well as a 14 yard gain on a reverse on the first drive.

TIGHT END: A good day for Ben Watson with five catches. Some nice blocking from David Thomas as well, including a very smart decision to bypass Aaron Schobel on Jackson’s reverse where he recognized Schobel didn’t have an angle and Thomas moved down field to block someone else instead, even though he had Schobel lined up in his sites and could have leveled him.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Not a great day, but some outstanding play at times. Dan Koppen got some good push in the middle, as usual, on a number of plays. Stephen Neal got out and made some good blocks in space. But Matt Light struggled with Schobel, as he has always done and the line gave up some pressure, particularly in the first half. Buffalo’s quick defensive line isn’t the ideal for the Patriots in the passing game. But overall, not a bad day.

DEFENSIVE LINE: A pretty good job here too. They created pressure on Bills quarterback J.P. Losman. Although he had his moments, Bills running back Willis Magahee was held pretty much in check. Vince Wilfork dominated in the middle, which was the key to the inability of the Bills to really get a ground attack established all day.

LINEBACKER: Roosevelt Colvin had his best day since early in the season, both against the run and creating some pressure in the passing game. Junior Seau was active in the middle and Mike Vrabel had one of his best games of the season, including causing a fumble on a sack. This group appears to be coming together better.

DEFENSIVE BACK: A great day for cornerback Asante Samuel, who had blanket coverage most of the day and another interception. Chad Scott continued his hard hitting good play and Rodney Harrison gets better and better every week as he returns from injury. Eugene Wilson made a nice touchdown saving play by running down Magahee on a shovel pass early in the game on a drive that ended up only resulting in a Buffalo field goal.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Stephen Gostkowski’s kickoffs again were outstanding, a feature of his game that has been overlooked and has been among the best in the league this year. Josh Miller again quietly had a nice day and the coverage was good, save one return, against a tough Bills special teams unit.

A tough game in Minnesota awaits on Monday night next week. Minnesota is a loud venue and tough to play in and the Vikings are playing conservative, smart football. Their defense is really turning into one of the better defenses in the NFL, so the Patriots will have their hands full. Until then.

A look at some national articles that mention the Patriots:

From Jeffri Chadiha on SI.com, in an article on the pressures young quarterbacks face:

The only quarterback I’ve seen who has managed his early success without facing any criticism is New England’s Tom Brady. Granted, he has more hardware in his house than you’ll find in your local Home Depot, but he has also managed his career in a way that young quarterbacks should emulate. He hasn’t written any books. He didn’t do many endorsements early in his career, Even his current ads downplay his personality. Brady has carefully manipulated his image so that it doesn’t conflict with his team’s perception of him. Today he’s as close to being “one of the guys” as a rich, handsome, three-time Super Bowl champion with a hot actress girlfriend can be.

From Sports Illustrated, Lisa Altobelli has a “First Person” look at Rodney Harrison.

On his Super Bowl XXXVIII win and the photo of him under a hail of confetti with his arm in a sling:

I had it blown up, and it’s hanging in my basement. Tears are flowing down my face, and my arm is broken: It signifies my career and life. There was so much pain and hard work. I remember days [growing up] it was 100 degrees. I would be running up and down the street in the neighborhood, and people would laugh at me, saying, ‘Are you crazy? You’re not going anywhere.’ That motivated me. You’re not going to outwork me. You may be faster, you may be bigger, you may be stronger, but you won’t outwork me. And I’m not afraid. I don’t care if you’re 6′6″ and 300 pounds, I’m going to try to make you pay.

From Vic Carucci’s Tuesday Huddle on NFL.com:

– I never saw how the New England Patriots would be a good fit for Randy Moss, if they had ever pulled off the much-speculated trade with the Raiders for his services. Yes, the Patriots need a receiver and Moss is talented, but his poor attitude simply doesn’t seem to have a place on a team built with players who don’t bring the divisiveness that Moss brings. Bill Belichick is a great coach, but I don’t think even he could get Moss to buy into his team-first approach.

From Pete Prisco’s Blog Quick Hits:

The New England Patriots amaze me at how they constantly plug in guys to their offensive line and never seem to miss a beat.

This season they have tackle Ryan O’Callaghan starting at right tackle and the line has played well.

A year ago, they started rookie Logan Mankins at left guard all season and also started rookie tackle Nick Kazcur at times. They also played most of the season without starting center Dan Koppn, yet still won the division and won a playoff game.

Why are they able to do this? Line coach Dante Scarnecchia is one of the best in the NFL.

“Dante gets guys ready to play,” Koppen said. “He’s not afraid to put the young guys out there and just let them play.”

O’Callaghan, a second-round pick from Cal, has been a pleasant surprise. He’s done a good job in the run game and in pass protection.

No matter who the Patriots seem to put in the lineup, they always have a good line. They lose players like Damien Woody, Joe Andruzzi and others, yet they keep playing well.

It’s time Dante Scarnecchia gets the due he deserves as a great line coach.

From John Clayton on ESPN.com:

Nothing doing on Moss, Porter fronts: The chances of Raiders receivers Randy Moss or Jerry Porter being traded to the Patriots were a longshot at best. The Patriots weren’t really interested in Porter, and his suspension due to insubordination in practice last week scared off a lot of teams that might have been interested. Moss was another story. There really wasn’t much talking going on between the two teams. Oakland was in a tough spot. If the Raiders received a first-round pick for Moss, they would be perceived to be taking a discount. It would be hard for the Patriots to give up the No. 1, so a deal was not imminent.

From Len Pasquarelli’s Tip Sheet on ESPN.com, talking about players eligible to come off the PUP list:

• RB Patrick Pass, New England (toe): The kind of experienced, utilitarian guy you don’t miss until he’s absent, Pass does a little of everything for the Patriots and is a valued veteran. Pass can play fullback or tailback, is a solid pass protector on third down, returns kickoffs and also plays on all of the special teams coverage units. A seventh-year veteran, Pass, 28, has just 1,161 yards total offense from scrimmage, but New England coaches will feel a lot better about their depth when he returns.

From Andrea Kremer’s Blog on NBCSports.com:

On the Raiders Handling of Jerry Porter:

A final thought, mercifully, on the Porter fiasco.

Remember, the Patriots who always find a way to win. Well, when they reached an impasse with Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch, they didn’t make it personal because as one team president told me, when a situation becomes a ’stare down,’ no one wins. You have to make a business decision, not an ‘I’ll show this guy ‘personal one.”

So the Patriots cut their losses and parted with Branch for a hefty number one pick next year — masterful negotiating, although the price Tom Brady “pays” is a whole other story.

Similarly, the Broncos didn’t make it personal with disgruntled receiver Ashley Lelie, (why is it always the receivers?!) rather they shipped him off to Atlanta in a three team deal.
That’s why the Patriots and Broncos, and not the Raiders, are winners on the field and in the front office.

Power Rankings:

Carucci’s Power Poll on NFL.com:

4. New England (4-1; unchanged): Maybe an extra week of practice has allowed the Patriots to improve the timing of their passing game.

Pete Prisco’s Power Rankings on Sportsline.com:

4 Coming out of the bye, they are on cruise control to the AFC East title. They get another chance this week to tighten the grip at Buffalo.

From the ESPN Power Rankings:

6 (7 last week) Patriots 4-1-0 Unless they trade for a WR before the deadline, the Patriots really need rookie Chad Jackson to become more of a contributor.

From Charles Robinson’s Yahoo! Sports Power Rankings:

5. New England Patriots (4-1) – Say goodbye to that awful field at Gillette Stadium now that the Patriots have been told by the NFL to revamp their surface. Field Turf should be in place by December. Coach Bill Belichick should shed a tear because in December and January, that torn up field used to be an advantage.

Dr Z’s Power Rankings on SI.com:

4) New England Patriots (4-1)
Still true to last week’s rankings. Bye week, leisurely relaxing, occasional TV viewing while watching the other poor devils getting the hell knocked out of them. Folks, this will get more interesting, I promise.

Peter Schrager’s Power Rankings on FoxSports.com:

6) (Last week, 7) Before the season, the Miami Dolphins were the chic pick to not only win the AFC East in 2006 — but to win the Super Bowl come January. Six weeks into the season, New England already holds a two-game lead in the division, is riding high after big wins over Cincinnati and the Dolphins, and are well on their way to a first round bye in the playoffs. Writing off Bill Belichick? Yeah, probably not the smartest idea.

A little less encouraging game than last week. But I suppose it would be easy to look at the ugly nature of yesterday’s win and forget a few things. First, it was a win. A division win at that, so even more important. Second, Miami knows the Patriots very well and always plays them tough. Most division games end up being tough, sometimes regardless of the quality of the opponent. So, while its true a look back at this game on film reveals it was probably the worst game the Patriots have played this season, overall, it was still a win and that in and of itself is a positive. Lets look at it positionally.

QUARTERBACK: Tom Brady has usually struggled against Miami and yesterday was no exception. He again made some good throws, but also some very poor ones. The good news is he didn’t turn the ball over and has mostly avoided that this year, despite not being on top of his game. One does wonder what’s wrong. I’m sure the theories will be flowing on talk radio for the next two weeks with a bye coming up. Lets stick with that old formula that the most likely answer is the simplest. In other words, its merely a matter of adjusting to new receivers and changes in the passing game that goes with new personnel. It will come around and its not like its been a total implosion. Again, turnovers have been avoided. So, the passing game has merely been mistake free, in general, but far from explosive. Hopefully some element of explosiveness will appear in time.

RUNNING BACK: Corey Dillon was running well, until sitting down in the third quarter seemingly with another injury. Laurence Maroney had his second off game in three weeks and Kevin Faulk didn’t do much on offense. On the up side, Heath Evans had a nice day including showing up surprisingly in the passing game and scoring his first NFL touchdown.

WIDE RECEIVER: Troy Brown had a nice game and made a couple very difficult catches in traffic. He also added a touchdown. No one else did much and this was an exceedingly weak game for this crew, save for Brown.

TIGHT END: A decent day for Ben Watson and David Thomas. Watson made a couple big catches and Thomas made one key one in which he took a vicious hit and held on. He also did a nice job blocking in extended time with Daniel Graham sitting out due to injury.

OFFENSIVE LINE: An uneven performance for the line. They created little room running, save for some good blocking in the middle of the line by Dan Koppen and Stephen Neal early in the game. And, although they only gave up one sack, their pass blocking wasn’t quite as good as its been other games. Definitely a down game for them.

DEFENSIVE LINE: A good game all around. Ty Warren continued his Pro Bowl level play. Richard Seymour had a nice game, as did Vince Wilfork clogging up the middle. Jarvis Green showed up again and had another decent game. A solid performance.

LINEBACKER: A pretty good day here too. Junior Seau and Tedy Bruschi were solid in the middle and Mike Vrabel was active. Another down day for Roosevelt Colvin and one wonders why he seems to have disappeared so much this season after a really strong year last year. He’s been alarmingly quiet, save the opener versus Buffalo.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: A solid day. Asante Samuel continued his solid year with two interceptions, the first for the secondary this year. Rodney Harrison was very active in run support and Ellis Hobbs gritted it out, playing decently despite a broken wrist. Chad Scott had another fine day and has been one of the more consistent players in the secondary this season. Not a bad day overall.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A nice day for Mike Wright blocking a field goal and tackling the Miami punter Donnie Jones after he mishandled a snap. Decent punting again from Josh Miller. But it was disappointing to see Kevin Faulk fumble again. He has unique talents, but I suppose it comes with knowing he’ll lose three or four fumbles on you over the course of the season and one or two of them could come back to really hurt you, as it did last year. Fortunately, his fumble against Miami did not cost the Patriots.

Next week is the bye and then another division game against Buffalo. The Patriots will need to play significantly better following the bye than they did this week on the road in Buffalo. Until then.