PatsBlog: A Patriots Blog

I’ll start with the facts:

-He has not been present at the start of any practice

-He is listed as “missed portion” on the injury report

-He hasn’t talked to the media (Belichick probably doesn’t want him to)

-Matt Cassel is preparing as if he would get significant playing time

-Cassel has taken all of Brady’s snaps at practice

 From the looks of it, it seems to me that Brady won’t play the full game on Sunday.  However, according to backup Matt Cassel, ”he will play.”   If Brady doesn’t start, his 106 consecutive start streak will be broken.  Nevertheless, it seems we will be seeing significant playing time from second year quarterback Matt Cassel.  He’s the report on him:

-Fast, mobile, can scramble out of the pocket and make long runs

-Has a long, rocket arm, some have compared it to Tom Brady’s

-According to Belichick, has better understanding of offense, and has a more accurate arm than he did during his playing stint against the Dolphins in last years season finale

-This year: 5/7, 32 yards

-Last year: 13/24, 2 tds, 1 int

-Week 17 against Miami: 11/20 2td 0int 

The main question I see looking ahead to next week’s matchup against the Tennessee Titans is whether to maintain the team’s health versus maintaining their performance edge. How often do we see a team that earns a bye come out flat when they finally show up to play?
The worst case scenario was hinted at during the tail end of this past game against the Jags when Tom Brady looked to be momentarily incapacitated and my heart leaped into my throat. If Brady went down during a game that is essentially immaterial to our post-season situation, that would really suck. And I also wouldn’t worry so much about Brady missing his stride if he missed, say, half of a game. But again the chances of him becoming injured in one game are very low since he never really does get injured, but the idea of Matt Cassel leading us to the Superbowl would be far fetched.
More probable a scenario is what we have seen all year: a member of the defense becoming injured. One problem is we aren’t exactly deep at many of those positions; especially at linebacker. On the Patriots site Mike Vrabel is listed as both second string Outside Linebacker and first string Inside Linebacker. The Safety, Cornerback, and Defensive Tackle positions are more deep, but the team will need all hands on deck to contain Vince Young, if winning the game at all is the goal.
But what about the wide receivers? It is not as if the receiving corps has blown us away all year and deserves to sit back and rest on their laurels. Out of anyone on the team it is the receivers who will need a consinstent amount of snaps to stay at their best. Last week was great, with receivers bailing out their QB with snazzy catches. But if anything that is more reason to keep everyone in the game to keep a good thing going.
Therefore, I say bench (if at all possible) as many defensive players as possible while keeping the starting receivers active. It looks as though they want Maroney playing to get back to full health, although his exact condition has always been rather foggy. Dillon is the work horse, but even with him playing there is some risk for injury and our one-two punch at running back.
Winning as many games as possible is really nice, but what do people remember more, how many games the St. Louis Rams won in 2001 or who won the Superbowl that year? We need to think of the big picture now that we are in to the playoffs.

Happy holidays to whatever you are celebrating this Holiday season!

Happy Chistmashanakwanzkah!!!

Enjoy your time with your family and I will be back in one week!

Finally, we got it done.

 The scoreboard doesn’t say so, but we really dominated this game, and didn’t let up at any point.  I’m glad we took  the division, hopefully we can translate this small winning streak into a 12-4 finish at Tennessee next week.

-That Brady injury was scary, even though he came right back.  Matt Cassel was probably hyped up for a minute though.  Watch Bill put Brady as questionable for this week against Tennessee.

-We chose a gameplan, and stuck to it.  We came out from the beginning and said we were going to use a give and take passing attack, and it worked to perfection.

-David Thomas has taken advantage of his playing time with Ben Watson injured.  His two longest, diving catches were some of the best catches I have seen.  With those kinds of hands, he could be sticking around for years to come.

-Sauerbrun looked ugly.  His last punt was decent however.

-How did Ty Warren get snubbed of a Pro Bowl birth?  He really deserved it, proving again that he is an all-star player with strong play today.

-Bam Childress came out with 2 catches for around 7 yards.  Kelvin Kight hauled in one on the opening play for 9.

-Gostkowski’s 49 yard miss was his first miss after making 11 straight.

-What was up with that 74 yard Maurice Jones-Drew touchdown run?

Well… The Patriots have a new punter…

 We signed 33 year old punter Todd Sauerbrun to an undisclosed deal

He’s not as good as Josh Miller, but he’s good enough to get the job done.  Tell me if I’m wrong, but he got traded to Denver before ‘05 because he was found taking steroids while with Carolina.  At least he’s not too old (like Sean Landeta who we also worked out), and he averaged 43.8 yards per punt last year.  Sauerbrun has made 3 pro-bowls, even though he is still in his prime, his carreer has spiraled downwards due to his steroid scandal while in Carolina. 

I think that’s him forcing a fumble on Ellis Hobbs in last year’s playoff game.  Yep… that was that idiot

Ken Walter on IR - Oh wow, another player to go onto injured reserve.  Walter injured his foot during the game on Sunday.  I saw the play, he had a crappy punt, frusturated, he sprinted down the field to help make the tackle.  I saw him get up and limp and I was nervous…

Patriots Work Out Landeta - Nothing to fear though, the Patriots worked out 1000 year old punter Sean Landeta.  At least he is pretty good.  No deal was signed though.  Landeta was most recently with the Giants before getting cut.  Maybe the Patriots will look at former Pat Tom Tupa, why not?  They’re both ancient…

Patriots Work Out 2 Quality Veteran Linebackers: The Patriots worked out linebackers Orlando Ruff and Sam Cowart.  Oh yeah, they’re ancient too :)  By the way, sorry to those readers out there that are actually older than these guys, they’re just ancient for their positions.  I am pretty intrigued by Cowart though, who was a stable on the Bills defense for years.

Pats Jipped On Pro Browl: If I told you that Tom Brady didn’t make the Pro Bowl, you probably wouldn’t believe me.  If I told you that the NFL leader in interceptions (Asante Samuel) didn’t make the Pro Bowl, you still probably wouldn’t believe me.  If I told you that the best defensive lineman (this year) didn’t make the probowl (Ty Warren), or his massive counterpart nose tackle (Vince Wilfork), you probably wouldn’t believe me.  If I told you the ever so deserving Mike Vrabel didn’t make the Pro Bowl, you probably would believe me, but he really deserves to go.  Finally, If I told you LARRY IZZO didn’t make the Pro Bowl, you really should not believe me.  Guess who made the Pro Bowl?  Richard Seymour, that’s it.  Maybe Asante or Warren will make it as a “need” player, but we really got jipped this year.

With only two games remaining in the season, the Patriots would have totry to lose in order to miss the playoffs. Although they have not clinched, the bigger uncertainty than their chances of making the playoffs in my mind is who will their first opponent be.
As it stands now, the Patriots have the worst record among Division leading teams, which would have us facing a wild card team with the best record. We are looking at potential rematches with the Jaguars and Broncos, or whoever steps up in the last two weeks. I would be hoping to see the Jaguars in this scenario, even if Denver’s Jay Cutler is an untested QB. The history with Denver could play a negative role.
I would hope to clinch by next week so by the final regular season game we could rest some starters against Tennessee, but both the Titans and next week’s Jaguars will play tough ball. Those aren’t Lions or Texans so this stretch run is no cake walk by any means. The most perfect scenario for our hopes going forward is the return of our injured playmakers such as Laurence Maroney, Rodney Harrison, Benjamin Watson, and Vince Wilfork. It is amazing how well we are playing without these players but imagine how dominant we could be with them?
Perhaps with a Christmas miracle we will have a near full strength team before making our playoff run.

I’m not going to do a long game preview for this one, but certainly it’s a must win game.  After coming off a devastating loss to a not so good Miami team, a strong team tommorow could really help out this team’s moral.  Laurence Maroney should be back in action, and hopefully Tom Brady can keep hooking up with Reche Caldwell.  If the Patriots find a way to lose this one, I can’t see this season going anywhere for our team.  Also, O.J. Santiago was cut and signed TE Matt Kranchick.

Greg’s Prediction: Patriots 31 Texans 7

Pass On IR  -  Patrick Pass was placed on injured reserve yesterday with the same hamstring injury :(  …  Hopefully that means Maroney is ready to go again.  I don’t think Pass was hurt badly, I think its Bill’s excuse to keep him on the team, which I guess is better than cutting him.

Injury Report:

RB Patrick Pass (hamstring) : out, placed on injured reserve
S Rodney Harrison (shoulder) : doubtful
LB Eric Alexander (shoulder) : questionable
S Rashad Baker (thigh) : questionable
TE Daniel Graham (ankle) : questionable
CB Ellis Hobbs (wrist) : questionable
WR Chad Jackson (groin) : questionable
RB Laurence Maroney (back) : questionable
OT Ryan O’Callaghan (neck) : questionable
TE Benjamin Watson (knee) : questionable
NT Vince Wilfork (ankle) : questionable
DL Mike Wright (shoulder) : questionable
QB Tom Brady (right shoulder) : probable
LB Corey Mays (hamstring) : probable
DL Richard Seymour (elbow) : probable

Pro Bowl Update: (I stole this from Reiss’ Pieces Patriots’ Blog, hope he doesn’t mind…)

Special Teams
Larry Izzo - Currently in First Place

Quarterbacks
Tom Brady - Currently in Second Place

Defensive Linemen
Richard Seymour - Currently in Third Place
Ty Warren - Currently in Sixth Place

Cornerbacks
Asante Samuel - Currently in Fourth Place

Safeties
Rodney Harrison - Currently in Fourth Place

Linebackers
Tedy Bruschi - Currently in Fifth Place

Tight Ends
Benjamin Watson - Currently in Sixth Place

ROSTER MOVES:

-Singed TE O.J. Santiago to roster, veteran tight end who has started a lot of games.  The signing of Santiago likely means Ben Watson will miss the next game.

-S Guss Scott (yes, the former patriot) signed to practice squad along with DB Dustin Phinisee

-Doug Gabriel resigned with Oakland

-Terry Jones and Walter Rasby were worked out.  I really like Rasby so I hope he signs with us… I hope.

I said I was going to do some series on the 10 year anniversary of that 1996 Superbowl team, but of course, I never got around to it.  Here’s the first installment I promised.  The links can bring you to full player stats.  The links aren’t mine, but the notes to the side are.

*=still in NFL     **=won a SB with us     ***=still on Patriots