Another One Bites the Dust
Posted by Mike Giardi December 15, 2008 at 2:17 pm
The Patriots are not a great team. Heck, they might not even be a good team and yes, this is coming from the guy that had them pegged as a possible AFC rep in the Super Bowl. But I’m a sucker for this story. The amount of adversity they have overcome this season is bordering on the ridiculous. It happened again yesterday. They lose both Matt Light and Gary Guyton in the opening half, and neither returns. Just add them to an impressive list:
That’s a partial list of players on the IR, not including Pierre Woods, third-rounder Shawn Crable or Tank Williams. The Pats have also lost Lamont Jordan for 8 games, Stephen Neal 6, Lewis Sanders 5 and both Sammy Morris and Ty Warren for 3. Pretty heady list, and I question if anyone else in this league could go through that and still be thickly in the playoff hunt. But the Patriots are. That makes this season almost as rewarding and impressive as anything they’ve done in the Belichick era.
So will they be playing in January? Yeah. I think they run the table and get the help they need, be it in the division or with another Ravens loss. Can they do damage once there? Not unless Belichick can pull a Christmas Miracle with his defense. Those guys still can’t stop anybody, especially when it matters. But that’ll be the focus for another day. Today, I’m just enjoying what the Pats have done to get to this point.
Sights & sounds from Gillette
Posted by Reiss' Pieces August 25, 2008 at 1:15 pm
FOXBOROUGH -- Patriots coach Bill Belichick (10:45 a.m.) held his daily press conference and media members interviewed players in the locker room (11:10-11:55 a.m.) at Gillette Stadium.
Here are some sights and sounds:
This breakdown not good
Posted by Christopher L. Gasper, Globe Staff August 25, 2008 at 12:00 am FOXBOROUGH - Before he was a household name, Bill Belichick was an anonymous young assistant who coached special teams.
Media Movement All Over The Place
Posted by Bruce August 15, 2008 at 8:30 am
Last night we learned about the changes at the Globe, which included Tony Massarotti moving over from the Herald, and Chad Finn earning himself a sweet promotion.
This morning, David Scott has more on the move, but also reports on new hires at weei.com, which include Jeff Goodman, Alex Speier and wait for it…Ron Borges.
Ron Borges?
Seriously? Ken Powers wasn’t available? Mike Barnicle turned them down? Patricia Smith wasn’t interested?
My interest and enthusiasm in their new venture just sunk considerably. They were doing things right all the way up until that point. Michael Felger, Rob Bradford, Goodman and Speier are all relatively young guys who understand how things work in the new age of sportswriting. For the most part they have a fresh perspective on things, and don’t stir up stuff just to get noticed (well, except for Felger.)
Borges throws all that out the window. The quotes from Dennis and Callahan in Scott’s piece are just nauseating. Yeah, I’m sure Bill Belichick is shaking in his shoes at the thought of Borges back in Foxboro. That’s provided of course that he knows how to get there. He hasn’t been seen down there in a long time, even before his (wink wink) retirement from the Globe.
I had high hopes for this new weei.com. Borges just about kills it for me. You hire him, you lose your credibility. Simple as that.
Bad move, guys.
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The Red Sox hitters are surely sorry to see the Texas Rangers pitchers leave town. Boston finished off the sweep of the Rangers with a 10-0 victory at Fenway Park last night. The Red Sox scored 37 runs in 3 games off the Rangers…
Globe beat reporter Amalie Benjamin has the game story. Jeff Horrigan has the Red Sox continuing their hot hitting since the Manny Ramirez trade. Paul Kenyon has the Red Sox finishing off their roundup of the Rangers. Jeff Goldberg has Daisuke Matsuzaka once again letting the runners on, and once again not letting them score. Bob Stern has the Red Sox pounding the Rangers one more time. Garry Brown has more on the demolition at Fenway. Phil O’Neill has another big inning leading the way for Boston.
Tony Massarotti has David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis proving to be a formidable 3-3 combination. Barbara Matson has Ortiz especially sorry to see the Rangers go. Ortiz has regain his power stroke in this series, and even enjoyed an early departure last night. Still, I can’t help but remember the reaction from the media when Pedro Martinez left the ballpark early after a start. I’ve got absolutely no problem with Ortiz (or Pedro) going home early, but it’s interesting to note the difference in reaction. Steven Krasner analyzes the lack of success by the Rangers pitching in this series. Massarotti says that the Blue Jays will provide a much stiffer test for the Boston bats.
Marty Dobrow has a minor league notebook in the Globe, and examines a rash of oblique strains in the Red Sox organization. Rich Thompson’s minor league notebook has Bartolo Colon on the road back to the majors.
Benjamin’s notebook has Jon Lester trying to help out Clay Buchholz. Horrigan’s notebook has Dice-K once again walking a tightrope last night. The ProJo notebook has more on Matsuzaka. Goldberg’s notebook says that Kevin Youkilis is making a case for league MVP. Brown’s notebook has Paul Byrd getting ready for his first Red Sox start tonight. O’Neill’s notebook also makes the case for Youkilis as AL MVP.
Patriots
Over on Patriots Daily, Scott Benson examines whether the Patriots can or will carry five running backs on their roster.
Christopher L. Gasper has a look at the Patriots signing of veteran safety John Lynch. Christopher Price has more on the Lynch signing. Carolyn Thornton says that Lynch could end up being a big presence in the Patriots secondary. Eric McHugh thinks Lynch should fit well here. Jennifer Toland writes that Lynch could fill the void left by Tank Williams being placed on IR. Mark Farinella looks at this year’s carbon-dated addition to the Patriots roster.
Karen Guregian says that adding Dom Capers to the coaching staff might be the best move the Patriots made in the offseason. Thornton has rookie QB Kevin O’Connell doing all he can to learn from Tom Brady. Guregian has more on the rookie learning how to play the position in his first NFL camp. Farinella has a look at Kenny Smith, who gets a feature written about him for the second day in a row. Thompson has punter Chris Hanson secure in his role with the team.
Price tells us what to watch for during Sunday night’s game. Ian M. Clark has a Ruud family reunion on tap for Sunday night. Mike McMahon looks at former Boston Patriot Daryl Johnson going into the Morgan State Hall of Fame.
Gasper’s notebook has Jason Webster getting close to returning to action for the Patriots. Guregian’s notebook has more on the signing of Lynch. Toland’s notebook has Dean Pees talking about some of his young players on defense. McHugh’s notebook examines the impact on he safety depth chart that the Lynch signing will have.
Misc
Steve Bulpett and Marc J. Spears report on the Celtics signing first round pick J.R. Giddens.
Spears also has the United States’ men’s basketball team taking care of business with Greece yesterday.
Mark Blaudschun has a media column on NBC Sports reporter Bob Neumeier. Neumy mentions that WEEI wasn’t “fair” in their contract offer to him, which is why he left his show with Dale Arnold.
Shawn Crable follow-up
Posted by Reiss' Pieces August 7, 2008 at 3:10 pm
On the second day of training camp, Bill Belichick talked about how the Patriots, like other teams, had placed a higher value on certain parts of their draft board than in past years.
Players like a third cornerback, third receiver, third-down running back, and second- and third-down rusher were closer to starter-like status based on their growing importance in today's game.
At that time, I wrote that the second- and third-down pass rusher was a point of particular interest and that rookie linebacker Shawn Crable, one of the team's third-round picks, was a player who seemed targeted for that role.
Following up on that thought through 18 training camp practices, Crable has created some havoc as a rusher. Initially, he probably does project mostly in a second- and third-down rushing role.
But after watching him to this point, he should not be overlooked as a possibility to emerge as a full-time outside linebacker in the 3-4 alignment at some point. While his legs might not look the part -- and might make one question if he can set the edge in the running game against bigger tight ends and tackles -- he has other attributes (e.g. long arms) that help him in that challenging aspect of playing the position.
Crable said that element of containment has been one of his biggest adjustments coming from Michigan.
"You're the end of the defense, so you have to set the edge and can't let plays get outside," he said. "In that terms, it's a lot different because the guys here are a lot stronger than they were in college."
Walkthrough session
Posted by Reiss' Pieces July 29, 2008 at 10:33 am
FOXBOROUGH -- The Patriots have taken the field for their ninth practice since training camp opened last Thursday. This session, held on the upper practice fields behind Gillette Stadium, is a walkthrough, with players in shorts and T-shirts.
Walkthroughs are light practices in which players slowly go through parts of the playbook.
It is likely that coach Bill Belichick identified a few items that he wants the team to work on tonight in full pads, in the presence of the NFL referees who are in town, and the team is touching up on those areas this morning.
Three referees are here, and they are wearing their official uniforms on the practice field this morning. Butch Hannah, a respected umpire who dons number 40, is one of the officials in town.
On a personnel note, TE David Thomas is on the field for the walkthrough. Thomas had left yesterday's practice, under his own power, with a member of the team's training staff.
Belichick flaunts his Celtic Pride
Posted by NECN - Sports May 29, 2008 at 3:13 pm
(NECN: Foxboro, Mass.) - Apparently, there is a way to get Bill Belichick to be a chatting machine, and even smile! The secret? Don't ask him about the Patriots.
Belichick talked up his Celtic Pride today at the team's passing camp, praising the team for their Game 5 win over the Detroit Pistons, which he and Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi took in from courtside Wednesday night.
Personality Plus, Volume 3
Posted by Mike Giardi May 29, 2008 at 11:20 am
Today’s victim is Bruce Allen. He is the founder of the website, BostonSportsMedia.com. Bruce started this on his own, but it has grown leaps and bounds, and now there is plenty of original content and commentary to go along with a slew of the day’s best local sports links. Bruce also write a column once-a-week for the Metro. Without further adieu…here’s Bruce (I did that using my best Ed McMahon voice).
Is the Celtics season a success if it ends versus Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals?
We’d definitely have to place it in the “disappointment” category, especially after the way they romped through the regular season. At the beginning of the season there were a lot of unknowns, but they met every challenge and seemed to answer every question during the regular season. For them to now fall short of the finals, there’s no doubt there would be some major hand-wringing on the part of the sports media and fans around the region. That’s a little ironic given the hesitancy on the part of some prior to the season to even hand a playoff spot to the team after they acquired Garnett.
Is Doc a good coach?
Better than he’s given credit for. He can drive you nuts with his substitution patterns and he isn’t viewed as a strong X’s and O’s man, but earlier this season on an ABC game the analyst mentioned a strength of Rivers being that when the team comes out of a time out with a designed play, it almost always works. I initially dismissed that as just TV-speak, but I’ve been watching the rest of the season, and wouldn’t you know it, he usually does have the right play called coming out of a timeout. He’s shown himself to be flexible, the last few years he dealt with a kiddie corps roster and emphasized getting his guys experience in various situations, now with a grown up team, he’s changed his style to fit the team with good results.
Who’s better in the long run: Buchholz, Lester or Masterson?
They’ve all given us tantalizing glimpses of what they can be. It’s amazing that two of them have already pitched no-hitters in the majors. I’m going to go with Lester, even though his pitch counts can drive you nuts when he “nibbling” he showed in his no-hitter that he when he’s pounding the strike zone, he can literally be unhittable. He was hitting the mid 90’s on the gun - perhaps inflated - but that extra velocity made a big difference, hopefully his strength is only going to get better the further he gets away from his cancer treatment, and we know he’s tough sunofagun.
Is putting Joba Chamberlain into the rotation the right move for the Yankees?
It is if you’re a Red Sox fan. I really think there is no chance Joba is as good a starter as he is out of the bullpen for the Yankees. In the rotation he can only help them one out of every five days, and his stuff isn’t going to be as good as it is in the short, more frequent stints out of the bullpen.
Better job building a team: Pioli/Belichick or Theo and the Trio?
If we base it solely on championships, you gotta give it to the Patriots, three to two. The methods of the two franchises have actually been quite similar…identify and keep your core together…draft and develop young players, fill holes with free agents or trades and don’t overpay for anyone. They’ve both done an outstanding job of building solid rosters that are adaptable to different styles of play. They can beat you in many different ways.
If you could see one game, anywhere, who and where would it be?
1985-86 Celtics vs 1995-96 Bulls, at the old garden. Followed closely by the 2007 Patriots vs the 1972 Dolphins in Miami.
Should local sports anchors be unabashed homers?
I don’t see a problem with it. The majority of their audience is made up of fans of the local teams. I’ve never gotten the whole “we must remain objective” vow taken by some in the sports media. You can still point out the flaws and weaknesses of the local teams and remain a fan of them. When a sports anchor is showing highlights, I don’t mind some excitement at a great play or disappointment in failure. It connects them to their audience.
Best spot on Lake Winnipesaukee?
Haven’t been up there since I was a kid and my Aunt and Uncle had a summer place there. I was one of the youngest of 17 first cousins, so I really don’t have many good memories of those times. Perhaps that’s why I haven’t been back up there since I was 12. I’m just discovering this now. Thanks Mike Giardi, for unlocking painful childhood memories which apparently had been repressed all this time. I think I might need therapy now. I’ll send you the bill.
Best Flavor Ice Cream?
Edy’s Ice Cream Sandwich flavored ice cream. Trust me. It’s a seasonal flavor, but if you see it in your local freezer case, BUY IT. You won’t regret it.
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