More from Wes

After today's disheartening loss against the Flyers (Montreal is now down 3-1 and I don't know if we are coming back this time) and no recovery in sight for the Red Sox (even though at least Ellsbury is back...here's hoping...but Dice-K is pitching tonight.............................), let's switch the focus to football, where everything and anything seems possible, even if some people are choosing to write off the Patriots already, more than three months before the season actually starts.* Wes Welker gave an interview in which he reiterated that his knee feels peachy keen and offered up the following description of Tom Brady:

“He looks really good. He’s working hard, he’s getting after it. It’s always ‘one more’ with him. If it’s not perfect, it’s ‘another one, another one.’ He’s like ‘two more to this side’ and I’m like ‘So that’s about 10.’ You love to see it, but at the same time, you’re looking at your watch and like ‘My parking sticker is about to run out of time here. Let’s go.’ It’s good to see.”

I like that we have the kind of players that worry about expired parking.

*Yeah, I'm irked by all of these developments. What gave it away?

Congratulations to Wes Welker

Apparently Wes's knee is doing okay, which is fabulous news. But even better is the fact that he managed to construct a sentence that combined almost every single Patriot cliche:

"So we have to make sure guys are setting good examples and kind of channeling that down to younger guys and making sure we’re on the same page and working hard together and playing together and being mentally tough together."

If only there had been a 'it is what it is.' Nonetheless, Belichick of the Week for Welker on that one.

Everything comes up Patriots

Life is good as a Pats fan today:

1) We won. On the road. And not one single running back dropped a ball!

2) The Jets lost. Now this makes me happy any week, but particularly now since one more loss and they are out of the playoff race.

3) The Dolphins lost. It was a particularly painful loss, no less, with Henne getting intercepted in OT. Again, that puts them another game away from the playoffs.

4) We only have to win one more game to advance to the playoffs.

5) Randy played a great game. I LOVE YOU RANDY MOSS!

(Tom and Wes...not so much. But don't worry. My love for both of you is unconditional).

Hopefully we don't blow it and some of the major injuries (especially Warren and Wilfork) are back next week.

Everyone starts going after Moss

I don't think that this needs to be said, but I love you, Randy Moss. You bring joy and happiness to my Sundays. You can run ahead of almost anyone and catch absolutely unbelievable passes. Your contribution to the Patriots has been nothing short of astounding.

That being said, yesterday was not your day. First, Brady was intercepted when he was throwing to Moss, which most of us interpreted as 'Moss didn't run the route correctly.' Tom's radio interview today provided a different interpretation. I may stick with mine, though. Then, on his one catch of the day for 16 yards, he turned it over. Seriously. Patriots need some freaking remedial 'how to hold the football' drills or something. Even Wes let one drop this week, which is unusual (but he made up for it with 105 yards on 10 catches. You're doing just fine there).

But then Yahoo picked up on this story (as they are wont to do) and turned it into 'Moss about to screw Patriots over and leave weakened, pathetic franchise in his wake (if you don't think he's capable, consider Minnesota and Oakland)'. I am exaggerating, but not by much. Furthermore, apparently Tony Dungy called Moss 'fragile' on SNF last night and said that in all of his years of coaching, he had never once sent a player home for anything under any circumstances at all, no sirree.

Dungy, when you have three Superbowl rings -- or for that matter, three Superbowl appearances -- you can offer advice to Bill Belichick on how to coach. Until then, you don't get to say anything.

Moss may have had a bad day (and he did), but that's okay. Everyone has bad days sometimes. I still love you.

We beat the Jets

My feelings on this game: meh.

It wasn't much of a game, but I'm glad that we won. Welker had a phenomenal day, catching 15 throws for 192 yards (!). Moss didn't have such a day, but did a great job keeping Revis covered. Remember crazy Revis? Yeah, he was still pretty good.

Mazz had the following anecdote in his column today:


'Slightly more than two years ago, when Welker first joined the Pats, Brady playfully described Welker as being like a "puppy’’ during training camp, Welker returning the huddle each time as if playing a game of fetch. The playful jabs have since come as regularly as the 12-yard receptions. Yesterday, Brady took note of Welker gesturing for the quarterback’s attention on what was a 43-yard pass play - ``He mailboxed his hand,’’ said the quarterback -- and didn’t miss the opportunity to deliver the ball to the Jets’ 3-yard line, setting up a touchdown that gave the Pats a 21-0 edge.

"It’s hard to see because he’s about 5-foot-7,’’ Brady cracked.'

My favorite response:

'mw383 wrote:

i mailbox my hand sometimes twice a day.'


Okay, I'm over this game. Time to play the 10-0 Saints.

Edelman breaks arm

Apparently at the end of the game Sunday, Julius Edelman broke his arm. This is clearly a problem because we just released Joey Galloway yesterday (which tells you how bad this is). However, Belichick seemed to hint in a press conference yesterday that they would fill the position from within. Could be a promotion from the practice squad. Stay tuned.

Julius Edelman is the one who does the semi-Wes Welker plays.

Play Calling

Okay, we have a new offensive coordinator (of course, because our previous one beat us this afternoon). And I know that at times, we complained and griped about him. Too many fancy-pant plays. Not enough rushing. But he did get us the 18-1 season and kept the team going when we had Matt Cassel step in. I know that I complained too, and I stand by that.

But...

What on earth happened today? Why were we running with the clock tick-tocking away at the end of the 4th quarter? I mean sure, Denver has a good defense and Watson was off the field with an injury, but did we not have one single new play to throw out there that could confuse the Broncos? I mean, they figured out the 'pass to Welker' thing (even though not all of those passes were on). I will be forced to assume that Moss was covered for most of the game because he didn't show up much. But still, we should have tried to run it more in the 3rd, when we wanted to run out the clock, not in the fourth when we needed big plays?

Also, the only way for Moss and Brady to start connecting is practice, practice, practice. You may not remember when the Pats were merely scoring 34 points at the start of the 2007 season, but I do. And what I also remember is that Moss and Brady did not connect on every play. In fact, I'd give them about a 50% chance. Remember the last regular season game against the Giants? Brady passed long down the field, Moss missed. Next play, Brady did it again (it was his 50th TD) of the season on the exact same play and they did it. So let them try on some of those 2nd and whatevers.

Also, was Edelman even on the field in the second half? They didn't seem to throw to him. Try a double Wes Welker, I'll bet McDaniels wouldn't know what hit him.

Incidentally, Kevin Faulk (who has never been my favorite but did pretty well last year so I laid off on him) averaged - ready for it - 2 yards a carry (4 attempts, 8 yards). That is wretched.

What we learned this week

A lot!

1) Buffalo and Cleveland fought to a 6-3 conclusion in favor of the Browns. Both of these teams are officially disaster zones.

2) Brady needs to throw to people apart from only Welker (actually I was not happy with the second half game-calling at all, but I may save that for another post).

3) The Cowboys ain't what they used to be. Or what they should be. They almost lost to the winless Kansas City Chiefs. Kudos to the Chiefs, Cowboys....really?

4) Jacksonville may be the most unpredictable team out there. Last week they destroyed the Titans. This week they were smunched (yes, I invented a word) 41-0 by Seattle. This is not exactly a powerhouse team. Now, I understand when the Raiders get smunched 44-7 by the Giants, even though inwardly it may make me confused (Eli? Was he kidnapped and replaced with a clone who doesn't make stupid plays and throw interceptions?). But not Seattle destroying you. That's just wrong.

5) Matt Schaub has apparently still not learned that the way to win football games is to not (repeat, not) throw interceptions right near the end.

6) Josh McDaniels can look really evil when he's mad at special teams.

7) The Ravens are a team that gets penalized a lot, and not only when they play the Pats.

8) The Patriot tuques are the best (something else I just learned: if you Google 'Patriot tuque,' this blog is the second hit).

Wes Welker doing better

We can all sigh with relief that Wes Welker is doing better. Let's hope he doesn't have any problems (Moss wasn't at practice yesterday, but that was apparently not an injury scratch).

This was my favorite part from the Welker interview (if you didn't see it, Josh McDaniels was sporting the Belichick last weekend during the Denver game):

'How does Denver coach (and former Patriots offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels look in a hoodie compared to Patriots coach Bill Belichick?: "I don't know -- once there's an original, you can't stray from that. Me, personally, I kinda like to set the trend."

Asked if that's what he did Sunday when he was spotted with a plaid scally cap: "Exactly, a little edgy hat. Some people wouldn't be comfortable enough with themselves to do that."'

Ravens will not be fined, league sucks

So those Ravens who were complaining about the calls? The ones who would have been fined in a split second last season (see previous comments on 'fines,' particularly those from the Indianapolis Colts game last year)? They are not being fined this time around. That is total crap. The league needs a consistent policy here. And let's not forget, this is the same league that charged Wes Welker last year for making a snowman.

In case you're curious, here is the infamous Suggs hit. Did Brady signal for a penalty? Yes. What is a penalty? Yes! Dude was charging straight for his knee! He could have avoided the direct helmet going toward it, he wasn't being pushed by another player.

In an even stupider move by the league, Mike Wright (Patriots) did get fined for hitting the Ravens' QB on the helmet. Because that's consistent.

Reiss provided a nice analysis of who has been fined for what in regards to QB penalties. Baltimore is leading with 4 calls against, and the Patriots are second with 3. Because the refs are biased for us, obviously.

Argh. Whatever, it's time to let this go. Championship teams don't lose because of 'bad' calls, they win in spite of them.

Much, much better

The Pats looked like the Pats again today. Although sadly they carried some traces of the 2008 Pats, in that their red zone conversion was not great. But much was good:

1) If that's Randy Moss with a back injury, then everything is going to be o-k. He played a great game, running for over 100 yards and coming up with the big plays when he needed to.

2) Tom's precision is coming back. Sure, there were some plays where he was off. But overall he kept things together.

3) The running game -- while not spectacular -- was still pretty good. Fred Taylor came through with some key plays, picking up big yards (105 total).

4) Overall, I thought the defense played very well, allowing only 10 points. This was without Wilhite, Mayo, and Wilfork, who went out during the game. Now I would prefer not to have to play the rest of the season without these guys, but considering who was left, I thought that they did a great job. Also, Gonzalez was allowed no big plays and our corners played like corners. Yay!

5) I believe we were penalized twice for 5 yards. Much better than the past two weeks and more in line with what we expect from the Belichick-run Patriots.

There is one player who I still have issues with, but I will save that for a separate post. Followers of this blog can probably take a wild stab as to who that is.

As usual, though, the sky has not fallen and all was not over last week. I wonder too if part of the problem was that last week, we had expected Welker to play and designed routes involving him. This week, his absence was less noticeable. Edelman, while no Wes Welker, came up with a few nice plays, one of which was rather Welkeresque.

I don't want to go into 'panic mode' or anything, but...

Apparently both Welker and Moss are listed as questionable for Sunday's game. Now, don't get me wrong. I'd much rather see them sit now than not have them in a couple of months. But I'd rather have those two playing with Brady than pretty much anyone else in the entire universe!

Loss to the Jets

Okay, but at least we can feel slightly better that we did not lose to Mangini's Jets on the same play that they had been running all game (which is how we lost to them last year).

This year, they put up a good battle and eventually won it. The final score was 16-9, so we were within a TD. I'm concerned that, like last year, we're having problems completing once we get into the red zone. If we had scored three TDs instead of three FGs...well, speculation gets us nowhere, really.

I feel like in a way, there is positive here. We saw our weaknesses. That is good. I'd rather see them in Week 2 than in Week 10, when we can't change much. The defense was very good in the first half (mind you, the Jets got smarter in the second half and decided maybe they should, you know, try letting their QB throw). We'll be better in our next match-up because there will be tape of this Jets team that our coaches can study. Things are still a bit rusty, but I feel like we have potential. It would be great if we started living up to that soon.

Wes Welker was out with a knee injury, BOO! I thought that his replacement, Edelman, did pretty well. Not Wes Welker well, but let's be reasonable.

PS - Dear Joey Galloway, PLEASE CATCH THE DAMNED BALL!!!

Wide receiver paradise

The Patriots have signed Joey Galloway from Tampa Bay. That means that we have, like, the greatest WR combinations ever: Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Greg Lewis, and Joey Galloway. Provided everyone stays healthy, our offense should be utterly and completely ridiculous.

Not to mention that we will have Tom Freaking Brady throwing the ball.

*drooling already*

And Matt Cassel makes three (if you count Pioli)

Matt Cassel was also traded to the Chiefs as part of the Vrabel deal. We got their second-round pick in return.

I know, I was 34 minutes slow on this story. That's what happens when I do work.

You might be asking, 'That's it?' I know that I was. Here is Reiss to explain. One thing to bear in mind: there is no guarantee that Cassel will step up at the same level. Somehow I don't think that we can forget he had Wes Welker and Randy Moss in New England (even if he wasn't throwing to Randy so often, it did mean other teams had to compensate for him in their defensive coverage). So yeah, now let's use that 2nd round pick for Good and not Evil. Or maybe just for a corner.

And here's Mark from NH with a parting thought:

"Ye of little faith. Do you think there is no master plan in place, not yet disclosed.
In Bill we trust. Come on you cranks, he didn't get to the top of the food chain being stupid."

Follow-up on Snow-Angel-Gate

The NFL has been nominated as the Grinch of the (sports) Year. Even over the New York Yankees. And it's all for the fine on Wes Welker (which came on Christmas Eve no less) for making that snow angel.

No Fun League

Wes Welker was fined $10 000 for making a snow angel on Sunday. The league rule states that you are not allowed to 'go to the ground' after a touchdown unless it is to pray.

They couldn't have just let him off with a warning? Come on!

Wes Welker is A-OK

He is at practice and even talked to the press about the hit. *phew*

And Roosevelt Colvin has taken #95. His #59 is being worn by Guyton. His interview seemed good.

Mostly a frustrating day

Said Reiss before the game: "It is cold and wet here at Gillette Stadium. With that in mind, ball security will be something to watch." Wow. Was it ever.

I could talk about interceptions. I could talk about fumbles. I could talk about plays that really, hugely, gigantically cost us. I could talk about how Randy Moss couldn't hold onto the ball.

My main concern overriding most others though is that I hope Wes Welker is okay. Guess we will find that out later this week. Because if not, ARGH!

(I mean, it's already pretty much an ARGH all round, don't get me wrong, but that would be rubbing salt straight into that ARGH).

The knowledge that the Jets lost isn't even cheering me up at this point. To Denver. I guess I need to mention that they lost to Denver. So I guess I've got that going for me.

As you probably expected, Indy pulled off a 10-6 victory against Cleveland with their only score coming from an interception. ARGH! ARGH! ARGH!

How many yards???

Reiss breaks it down really nicely:

The Patriots got 511 (!) net yards.

Matt Cassel threw for 400 of those. He ran for 62 of those. He also had 30 completions.

Wes Welker caught 7 for 108 yards. Watson had 88. Keller, that infamous #81 on the Jets, had 87.

Mayo ruled the field with 20 tackles, although we probably all noticed that.

Gostkowski set a personal record for most field goals in a season (24). If he gets to 32, he'll beat the club record. In a way, I want to see him do this. In a way, I really don't because I want to see more touchdowns.