The second installment of the Patriots Free Agency Hindsight Report is ready for release after a significant week of movement!  Enough intro, let's get right into it here: -TE Ben Watson is officially a member of the Cleveland Browns.  No surprise that they lost him - they didn't have a lot of incentive to bring back a player that only had one season with at least 40 catches and 500 yards (2006 his third season: 49 catches, 643 yards, 3 TDs).  In fact, the Patriots faced almost the same situation in 2007 when they let 2002 first round pick TE Daniel Graham go after five seasons (none with at least 40 catches and 500 yards).  More on this later. -CB Leigh Bodden re-signed with the Patriots.  His new contract is for 4 years, $22 million, with $10 million guaranteed.  Starter's [...] Continue reading →

Welcome ladies and gents to the 2010 New England Patriots offseason.  I'm happy to be back at it again, as money is getting exchanged in this uncapped free agency period.  It's been another minute since the last time you all have heard from me, and my plan is to not give you all 2,000 words.  That said, this is the time of the year where plans start getting adjusted by external factors!  I'll call these reports the Hindsight Reports because all we are going to do is look back on them and judge.  Let me catch you all up on what's been up the last couple of weeks (besides the Combine, more on that jazz later): -WR Randy Moss conceded that 2010 will most likely be his last season in New England: I think what is interesting about this is that Moss' cited the fact that New England [...] Continue reading →

The New England Patriots' 2009 season has been over for some time now, but I still wanted to bring some closure to the final four regular season games of the season and the playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, while also keeping an eye on free agency and the draft.  Keep in mind, these grades are not reflective of the entire season, only the finish.  In my mind, the end of the season determines how a team should move forward in preparation for the next season anyway. To refresh peoples' memories: After a loss to the Dolphins at Miami dropped the Patriots to 7-5, the Patriots won three games in a row.  They broke their two game losing streak against the Carolina Panthers 20-10, won their first continental road game of the season at Buffalo 17-10, and had perhaps their most [...] Continue reading →

Hello, everyone.  It's been awhile since I've gotten to say that, so I guess there are some good things about Snowpacalypse 2010!  Now that the 2010 NFL season is officially over (now do you appreciate the Pro Bowl being over and done with before the big game?!), I'd like to reintroduce an article that I wrote a long time, way back in the last decade ("1999 A.D., New England Patriots B.B.", December 26, 2009): With a week left in the Y2K decade, there have been many who wish to ponder which team should stand as the representative of the NFL team of the 2000s.  I honestly don’t feel like writing that article right now, at least not until this season ends.  What I will say now is that unless the [...] Continue reading →

I've been away from the game for a while, ever since I predicted that the Baltimore Ravens would end the New England Patriots' season two weeks ago.  Since then, a lot of things have gone down in the league, some of them related to the Patriots: *QB Tom Brady and WR Randy Moss pulling out of the Pro Bowl due to injury.  Which pretty much confirmed what we already knew, that the Patriots just didn't have much left at the end of the season... *Questions surrounding the future of Patriots RBs Kevin Faulk and Fred Taylor.  Both are over 30, and with the shaky production of RB Laurence Maroney after four seasons, there will be some shake-up.  There is no way the Patriots are bringing back the same five running backs. *Starting RG Stephen Neal is contemplating retirement.  The [...] Continue reading →

And it begins: the 2009 NFL Playoffs are underway this weekend, and the 6th seeded Baltimore Ravens (9-7, 2nd in the AFC North) will go to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA to face the New England Patriots (10-6, 1st in the AFC East) Sunday at 1PM. This game will be a rematch of the week 4 game in New England that the Patriots won 27-21.  Though the Ravens have yet to beat the Patriots ever in five tries, the last two games (this season and in 2007) have come down to the final possession, and the already emotionally charged Ravens will be motivated by those close losses.  If the Patriots win this game, they go to San Diego to face the Chargers, and if the Ravens win, they will go to Indianapolis to face the Colts. RAVENS PASS OFFENSE vs. PATRIOTS PASS [...] Continue reading →

The new decade has already not been kind to the New England Patriots. On the Patriots' first drive of the game against the Houston Texans, WR Wes Welker made his 123rd catch of the season and ran for a first down (on third down, of course).  As he saw Texans SS Bernard Pollard, he tried to juke hard to the left to elude him ... and in the process, he blew his left knee out.  Just ugly.  I mention Pollard because the irony of his presence is not lost on any Patriots fan; in the 2008 season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, QB Tom Brady ... you know what happened.  For the record, I didn't think Pollard should have been blamed for Brady's injury (he was blocked into him), and Welker's injury was non-contact.  Welker just took a really bad step on the grass field at Reliant [...] Continue reading →

The first game in the year 2010 will be the last game of the regular season as the 8-7 Houston Texans host the 10-5 New England Patriots on Sunday, January 3, at Reliant Stadium.  While the Patriots have locked up the AFC East already, this happens to be the biggest game in Houston Texans franchise history.  The Texans still have a chance to make the AFC playoffs, but they do not control their own destiny.  In addition to a win, the Texans need at least two losses from these three teams: the Baltimore Ravens (at Oakland), Denver Broncos (hosting Kansas City), and New York Jets (hosting Cincinnati).  I don't like the Texans' chances, but I'm not here to talk about the Texans' playoff hopes, just their matchup with the Patriots.  Now, the Patriots also have something to play for, as [...] Continue reading →

For all of the talk about the New England Patriots' struggles this season, they put together one of their most complete games of the season Sunday, defeating the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars 35-7 to clinch the AFC East division.  They will host a playoff game at Gillette Stadium in January, where they went a perfect 8-0 this season. Less than two years after completing 26 of 28 passes for 262 yards and three TDs against the Jaguars in the 2007 playoffs, Patriots QB Tom Brady completed 23 of 26 passes for 267 yards and 4 TDs!  There's just something about the Jaguars secondary that makes Brady want to throw more TDs than incompletions.  The Jaguars had no answer for WRs Wes Welker and Randy Moss, who accounted for 69% of Brady's yards.  Welker caught 13 passes for 138 yards; [...] Continue reading →

In the last games of December 2009, the 7-7 Jacksonville Jaguars will visit Foxborough, Massachusetts in a must-win situation against the 9-5 New England Patriots.  The Jaguars have lost three of their last four games, most recently to the Indianapolis Colts 35-31 on Thursday Night Football.  After losing two straight games, the Patriots have won two in a row against the Carolina Panthers and last week against the Buffalo Bills, 17-10.  The win over the Bills marked the Patriots' first road win in the continental United States (their 35-7 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was at Wembley Stadium in London).  This is the Patriots 2009 home finale, where they are undefeated (7-0). The last time the Jaguars and Patriots met was in the Divisional Round of the 2007 NFL playoffs.  At [...] Continue reading →