Troy Brown retires

If there is one player who was the perfect Patriot during the last 15 years, it was Troy Brown.  Troy Brown did everything on this team.  No, literally, he did everything, he played on return teams, he played on block teams, he was a Pro Bowl wideout, and when the team a few years ago was destroyed by defensive backfield injuries, Brown played defensive back.  I could write a book on the clutch plays Troy Brown has made during his tenure, and I am sure every Patriots fan has memories of number 80 doing something on the field, either catching passes from his back, making a clutch punt return or picking off Drew Bledsoe, or maybe even a play I forgot.

Brown was never as flashy or as newsworthy as others at the position.  He never did fancy dances, or push ups in his driveway or fake mooned a crowd, but week in and week out Brown played with everything he had, and is an example for young players to look up.  Watching Wes Welker now, he reminds me a lot of Troy, the shifty moves, the work ethic, everything.  Even watching welker in Miami before he signed here, watching him play, the first thing I thought of is “He reminds me of Troy.”  I would love to see the Pats offer him a position, either on the coaching staff or even the front office.

Dolphins destroy Pats 38-13.

Today in Foxoborough, the New England Patriots suffered their first regular season loss since 2006.  The Dolphins were led by Ronnie Brown who had 4 rushing touchdowns and a passing TD.  The Pats defense was shellshocked by a formation which had Chad Pennington lining out wide and Ronne Brown in a shotgun position where the QB would line up.  But even if the Pats could stop this formation, it didn’t matter as the Pats were carved all over the field, during one span allowing Pennington to complete 11 straight passes.

The offense wasn’t that much better.  Matt Cassel was awful, once again attempting a dink and dunk offense which led to a 19/31 for a measly 131 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. The running game was stagnant too, as it totaled less than 100 yards.

The Pats now head into their off week next week before heading out to the west coast to play the 49ers week 5.  The Pats have a lot of work to do the next 13 days, as they looked worse than awful and there might have been some weaknesses discovered today which could haunt the Pats for the rest of the season without Tom Brady leading the offense.

Week 3 preview, Miami @ New England

The 2-0 New England Patriots hope to head into next week’s off week with some momentum going against the 0-2 Miami Dolphins.  Joey Porter from Miami has already opened his mouth, virutally predicting victory because “Tom Brady isn’t back there.”  Too bad for Porter, the Miami Dolphins don’t have the firepower on offense or the talent on defense to beat the Patriots this week.

The Patriots offense has to be breathing a colective sigh of relief after seeing Jason Taylor leave via a trade in the preseason, and seeing Zack Thomas leave for Dallas.  Furthermore, the Phins were torched by the Cardinals last week for over 400 yards and 31 points, and while the Pats offense looked stagnant last week in New York, going 1/5 in the Red Zone TD conversions, this will be a nice home start for Cassel with nowhere near the pressure of a hostile road start in New Jersey vs the hated New York Jets.    I can see the Pats moving the ball at will Sunday afternoon.

The Pats on defense will be using the old plans they have used against the Jets for the last few years, as Chad Pennington is now the starting QB for the Dolphins, and he might be benched for Chad Henne sooner rather than later.  They have been trying to establish a double backfield attack with Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, but neither player can get anything going behind a young rebuilding offensive line.

I see a laugher happening Sunday.  The Dolphins are once again in contention for the #1 pick in the draft, and the Pats have this week and the bye to prepare for back to back west coast games weeks five and six.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not, Week 2

Another week, another win.  The team looked great yesterday.  Here are the people who looked good, and the people who need some reps last week.

Who’s Hot

Lamont Jordan-Could be this year’s version of Corey Dillon from two years ago, an older vet who can’t carry the load, but will grind clock.  11 carries and 62 yards, all in the second half and all after Maroney missed time with an injury.

Stephen Gostkowski-Usually 4/4 on field goal attempts is reason enough for a mention here, but the five touchbacks yesterday pinning the Jets at their 20 and taking Leon Washington out of the return game might be the more impressive feat.  He made the defense’s job yesterday a lot easier by not having the defense have a short field to defend.

Richard Seymour-Welcome back Big Sey!  Seymour is one of the best defensive lineman in the game, but hasn’t been healthy for a few years, now at 100%, he looks like he is returning to dominating form.  Had a huge sack and 3 tackles all going against Jets off season pick up Alan Faneca.

Adalius Thomas-Made the play of the chasing and sacking Brett Favre while Leon Washington was trying to block him costing the Jets almost 20 yards and letting the Pats ice the game.

Who’s Not

Chris Hanson-From hot to not hot for Hanson.  This week he was needed to pin the Jets deeper inside their territory after the Pats would stall, instead he had a couple of touchbacks.

Red Zone offense-1/5 in converting red zone chances for touchdowns.  This could be Josh McDaniels not wanting to pass the ball with Cassel in, playing conservative instead of aggressive, but the play calling was very predictable and hopefully they have more faith in Cassel in the red zone next week vs Miami.  Usually we see packages with Mike Vrabel in at tight end and direct snaps to the running back, or even the famous Statue of Liberty play vs Jacksonsville in the playoffs last year.  The Pats will need touchdowns, not field goals, so the Pats will need to work on that.

Cassel, Pats beat Lord Favre and the Jets 19-10

The Tom Brady-less New England Patriots all week had to hear the doubters.  The people thinking now it was the Jets time, with them making wholesale changes in the off season and bringing in Brett Favre.  Well today in Matt Cassel’s first start in almost eight years, he walked into enemy territory and picked up his first win as a professional starter.

The Pats took an early lead after the Jay Feely shanked a field goal on the Jets first drive and were not in danger the rest of the game, as the Pats defense held the Jets in check by confusing Brett Favre and limiting the big play.  The Pats also picked off Favre once, which lead to the Pats only touchdown of the game coming on a Sammy Morris dive over the pile.

The Pats defense was stellar all game long.  The line was getting pressure and Favre spent a good amount of the game rolling out from pressure.  And while they gave up a fourth quarter touchdown, it seemed like the Pats were in constant control, even after the Jets scored a fourth quarter touchdown to cut it to a six point game.

Matt Cassel played the role of caretaker very weel, posting 16/23 with 165 yards.  The running game was led by Lamont Jordan, getting playing time for an injured Laurence Maroney getting 11 carries for  62 yards.  Sammy Morris did have a rushing touchdown but zero yards on eight carries.  Kevin Faulk returned to the Pats and had 7 touches for 66 yards.  Wes Welker was the lead reciever, having 7 catches for 72 yards.  Rodney Harrison led the Pats with 8 tackles, with rookie Jerod Mayo having 7 tackles.  The Pats now prepare for a home date against the Miami Dolphins next weekend.

Week 2 Preview, @ New York Jets

Well, the first full week of the Matt Cassel Era is against the one of the Patriots hated rivals, the New York Jets. The Jets were a busy team in the off season, rebuilding their offensive line, getting defensive depth, and trading for Brett Favre.  The Jets are in “win now” mode with coach Eric Mangini on the hot seat after a playoff birth his first year follow by a sub .500 record last season.  Usually these games have lots of bad blood, as it was last year’s game in New Jersey where the Spygate saga broke, not to mention the history with Bill Parcells including Bill Belichick’s day as “HC of the NYJ.”  This game might be more important for the Jets than the Patriots, as the Tom Brady injury now takes a lot of pressure off the Pats, as now the Pats went from thinking of another run at perfection to just another team.  Anywhere, here is a preview of this week’s game.

When the Pats have the ball

With Matt Cassel starting, I expect a lot of the Pats spread em out offense to be reigned in and the Patriots to use the run game along with a shorter, more ball control focused passing attack.  The Jets on defense have plenty of playmakers, a secondary with second year corner Darrelle Revis and safety Kerry Rhodes being future Pro Bowlers, along with a very good front seven led in the middle with nose tackle Kris Jenkins and linebackers Eric Barton and David Harris, along with Calvin Pace bringing a pass rush from the outside and first round pick Vernon Gholston.  Last week, the Pats didn’t expect to have Matt Cassel leading the offense, so now with a week to game plan, I expect a little less predictability out of the offense, as last week they seemed to be predictable and Kansas City took advantage of it by staying close in the game.  I expect the Pats offense to put up some points, but they won’t come easy, because the Jets defense is very underrated and right now, Matt Cassel is and unknown, he could come in and be like Tom Brady was in 2001 and manage the game, not make turnovers and give the team a chance to win, or the preseason Matt Cassel could show up and the offense could stall.

When the Jets have the ball

When facing the Jets the last few years when they had Chad Pennington, you didn’t need to defend the full field. Pennington’s lack of arm stregnth  meant defenders only had to defend the ball 10-15 yards past the line of scrimmage.  Now with Brett Favre at quarterback, you have to defend the whole field.  But you have to keep in mind that Favre is more turnover prone than Pennington, and will force balls into places.  The Jets have a rebuilt offensive line which features offseason signing Alan Faneca and Damien Woody, which as already led to starting running back Thomas Jones matching is 2007 rushing touchdown total after last week’s season opener.  On the outside, the Jets best pass catcher is Jerricho Cotcherry, as Coles is dinged up and not at 100%, and tight end Chris Baker just exetended his contract. The Pats secondary, which had a couple of questionable moments last week will be under fire this week. Cotcherry will be a handful, but I think the Pats will be able to keep everybody else in check.  The Pats defense was solid last week except for one play at the end, and I know with this being a rivalry game and without the gut punch that was Brady getting knocked out early the team will be ready to roll.

My prediction, even without Brady, I think the Patriots are still the class of the AFC East.  The Jets struggled vs Miami last week at full strength, and with a week of preperation for Cassel as starter, I think the Pats will come out with a game plan to make the offense productive while forcing Favre to make plays and hopefully make mistakes.  Pats win 24-14.

Who’s Hot, Who’s Not, Week One

On the heels of a disasterous few days for Patriots fans, here is the weekly take on who improved their stock, and who might get less playing time.

Who’s Hot:

Matt Cassel-Had a solid performance, 13/18 with 152 yards and a touchdown on his first drive, a drive that started on the one and after two runs that went nowhere, hit Randy Moss on a 50 yard strike which got the Pats out of a jam and gave them momentum after the Brady injury.

Sammy Morris-Had the Pats rushing touchdown, along with five catches to go along with his ten carries along with recovering a fumble which could have led to the Pats third turnover of the day.

Chris Hanson-The seldom used punter averaged over 50 yards per punt, including a punt that went 70 yards.  Hanson might see more action now with Tom Brady being hurt.

Who’s Not

Jabar Gaffney-Had zero catches on the day, and chances are he might see the same amount of production with the Pats having to reign in the passing attack with Cassel in.

James Sanders-He made the mistake that allowed Darling to catch the pass late in the game which could have lead to a tie.

And finally, the rookie watch

Jerod Mayo started, and had a total of 6 tackles and made no glaring errors.  Terrance Wheatley had no stats, but once again upon looking at his play did not make any mistakes playing as a substitute defensive back.  Matt Slater almost had a costly fumble but Sammy Morris recovered it.

Tom Brady placed on injured reserve ending his season.

QB Tom Brady today was placed on injured reserve, ending his season with a knee injury.  Brady played in two drives in a season after he set the single season touchdown record.  Matt Cassel for now will be the starter, and chances are a quarterback could come in if Cassel is ineffective, because as of now, rookie Kevin O’Connell is the other quarterback on the roster.

Now what does this mean for the season?  Well, Matt Cassel will have to make his first start since high school in a high profile game against the Jets.  The offense now will see a lot more running the ball with Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris and even LaMont Jordan.  Also I expect there to be a game plan like the 2001 Pats had on their way to their first Super Bowl, using more of a controlled passing attack instead of the spread offense the Pats used last year.   The Pats should still win the division, but its no longer a lock as it was before yesterday.

Cassel led Pats win opener 17-10

One of the main stories of the Patriots preseason was the rash of injuries they were suffering, well today the injury bug bit again, and this time it bit the most important player.  Tom Brady only played two drives before suffering what looks to be a severe knee injury.  Below is a picture of the play which Brady was injured.  Live the play did not look good, and looking at that picture it does not look good for Brady’s chances of playing this season.  We will know more later in the week, but I expect to see Brady miss in best case scenario, a few weeks and at worst case, the rest of the season.

Despite having two turnovers on their first two drives, the Pats defense stood tall making two stands, and when Matt Cassel took the field, fans, myself included, expected the worst, as KC special teams play pinned the Pats inside their own 2 yard line, with a quarterback who has only seen mop up duty, and you might have had a possible disaster, instead Cassel moved them down the field, with help from Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris, and hit Randy Moss in the back of the end zone for the first points of the regular season.  Kansas City then hit a late field goal to cut the lead 7-3.  In the second half, the Pats held the Chiefs in check, eventually Adalius Thomas came on a blitz and hit Brodie Croyle and forced him out of the game while adding a Sammy Morris touchdown the end the third quarter up 14-3.  Early in the 4th, Chiefs back-up quarterback Damon Huard hit a jumping Dwayne Bowe in the end zone to cut the lead once again to four points, making it 14-10.  The teams then traded possessions with punts until midway through the quarter when Ellis Hobbs picked off Huard at mid field which led to a five minute drive which led to a Stephen Gostkowski field goal to give the Pats a touchdown lead.

Kansas City would not go down without a fight though, as with a minute left, Huard hit Darling in the middle of the field and he wouldn’t be stopped until the Pats 5 yard line.  The Pats then held four times, a pass, a run then two more passes, with no more yards allowed to put this hard fought game to rest.

Brady in his two drives was 7/11 with 76 yards.  Both of his drives ended in fumbles, one by Wes Welker, one by Randy Moss.  Cassel was 13/18 for 152 yards and a touchdown.  Laurence Maroney had 10 carries for 51 yards, and Morris had 10 carries for 53 yards with a touchdown along with 5 catches for another 34 yards.  Randy Moss and Wes Welker each had 6 catches.  Moss had 116 yards and a score, Welker had 51 yards.

It was a bittersweet victory for the Pats, a tough win in which all of Patriots Nation will be holding its breath as we await word on Tom Brady’s status for next week’s game vs Lord Favre and the Jets.

Patriots Preview-Game One, vs Kansas City

Finally this weekend, the NFL season begins for real.  The New England Patriots open the season at home against the Kansas City Chiefs.  The Chiefs are rebuilding their defense after trading  Jared Allen in the offseason to the Vikings for draft picks, and drafted LSU prospect Glenn Dorsey in the draft, but on offense, the Chiefs are a team loaded with weapons, with the ageless Tony Gonzalez at tight end, Larry Johnson coming back from a broken foot, and young wideout Dwayne Bowe which will test the Pats semi-rebuilt defense.  The Pats come off a very unimpressive preseason, and coupled with some interesting roster moves this week, including cutting Fernando Bryant and John Lynch from the defense and adding Deltha O’Neal.  The defense which looked stagnant during the preseason no longer can be vanilla and will have to make plays, since the games are for real now.  And offensively, while the Pats looked awful, Tom Brady is back under center, Matt Light is back at left guard, Wes Welker is healthy after his rib injury and it looks like the offense will be just about at full throttle, as only Ben Watson might miss the game as he hasn’t practiced all week.  Here is a preview of what to hopefully expect Sunday afternoon from the defending AFC Champions.

When the Pats have the ball

The Chiefs defense as I said earlier is rebuilding.  They traded Jared Allen who lead the team in sacks last year, and added Glenn Dorsey  and Brandon Flowers n the draft to go with good young players like DL Tamba Hali and LB Derrick Johnson.  Linebacker Donnie Edwards and cornerback Patrick Surtain are veteran players that have been in the league for a while and add leadership, but this young defense will face a tough test early in the season, going against the reigning MVP in Tom Brady, the reigning offensive player of the year in Randy Moss and one of the highest scoring offenses in the history of football.  I can see the Pats moving the ball at will on this team, as these guys right now will have issues stopping the Pats machine, either with the combo of Welker and Moss through the air or Maroney and Morris on the ground.  Even if Brady isn’t at 100%, which is unlikely since he was not on the practice report yesterday, this will be a good chance for him to get his feet wet and see game action for the first time this season.  It will be interesting to see if the Pats still have what some fans would call the “GFY” or the “FU NFL” mentality of running up the score and punishing the opposition almost like a NFL game was a game of Madden.  They could very easily drop 40-50 points if they want to send more messages after the off season of more “Spygate” talk and doubting of the dynasty, along with the offseason of seeing the David Tyree miracle catch and hearing about the loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl.  The Pats will score at will Sunday and expect the Gillette scoreboard operator to have a busy day putting up points.

When the Chiefs have the ball

On paper, the Chiefs have a great bunch of skill players.  Larry Johnson, even though coming off of an injury plagued season, when healthy is one of the best at his position, but he has a lot of miles on his legs, as over the last 3 years, no back has had as many touches as he has.  Their best weapon in the passing game is tight end Tony Gonzalez, who had 99 catches last year and even though he is heading into his 12th season in the league, he is showing no signs of slowing down.  And on the outside, Dwayne Bowe, last year’s first round pick, almost had a thousand yards and is one of the most dynamic young wideouts in the league with a great future in front of him.  The key to this game is going to be if Brodie Croyle, the third year quarterback and in his first full year of starting after taking over in the second half of last year, continues to mature.  The Pats defense will be starting as of now two rookies, middle linebacker Jerod Mayo and cornerback Terrance Wheatley.  It will be interesting if the Chiefs find a way to match up Gonzalez on Mayo and Bowe on Wheatley and force the rookies to have to make plays.  The Gonzalez match-up is the most important match-up of the game in my opinion, as Bruschi is too slow to stay with him, and if Mayo with some safety help can’t contain him, they might need to use Adalius Thomas and weaken the pass rush.  Luckily for the Pats, the Chiefs line isn’t the same dominate group it was earlier this decade, so the trio of Seymour, Wilfork and Warren will be able to get pressure in the passing game and might be able to contain Johnson if he isn’t completely healed from his foot injury.  This is the first time in a few years this line is all at full health, as Seymour has been injured the last few years but in camp and preseason had looked phenomenal and looks to be a force.  It could be a long day in the Chiefs backfield if the line can’t hold the front three in check.

Prediction

On paper, this is a mismatch.  The Pats are a Super Bowl contender, and the Chiefs will probably  have a top ten pick in next year’s draft.  And this isn’t even talking about the mismatch on the sidelines, Bill Belichick vs. Herm Edwards.  This is going to be a good chance for Mayo and Wheatley to get their feet wet for the first time in a real NFL game, while letting Brady have his first action of the season, while getting ready for the week two match-up versus division rivals the New York Jets.  I predict, just like last year, a 38-14 start to the season.