RED SOX LAND CHRIS SALE

I haven’t blogged about the Red Sox in a long time. But this deserves it. The Red Sox just traded future stars (maybe, who knows) Yoan Moncada and Micahel Kopech for the Chicago White Sox ace, Chris Sale. A rotation of Sale, Price, Porcello, Pomeranz and the ghost of Bucholz/Owens/E-Rod.

Wow. But, as the talking heads are bound to talk about on WEEI: is this enough to bring David Ortiz out of retirement (lolz roflcopter no.)

Update: That’s a lot of prospects. Dombrowski does not care about the health of the farm, eh?

Tom Brady: (Still) Good At Football

The headlines tomorrow in Boston: The Patriots won, but was it pretty enough? Fun task for the local media – why don’t you go ask the Browns if they’d like to have a win like this. Go on the road after a tough loss and shove the football down a lesser team’s throat? Sounds good to me. On to the next one.

PS: Dion Lewis’ knee is looking prettay prettayyyy good to me. Jukes for days.

PPS: Malcolm Mitchell >>>> Brandon LaFell. The Patriots may have finally drafted a solid WR. Fingers crossed.

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PPPS (I probably should’ve just kept writing this blog): Really good to see the Patriots continue to rotate LBs through Jamie Collins’ old spot during the game. Van Noy is a welcome addition.

Patriots Have A Lot To Learn

well-that-sucked

The defense played like garbage tonight. I have no idea why Matt Patricia was married to the idea of dropping 25 people into coverage instead of getting after Wilson, but that’s for him to explain. Also, did Jabaal Sheard punch his dog this week or something? He was a non-factor tonight when they could’ve used some help off the edge. The lack of pressure, coupled with the defensive line getting pushed around at times, made Seattle’s offensive line look like a bunch of Pro Bowlers out there. And that was supposed to be their achilles heel!

Seattle played a solid game, punched the Patriots defense in the mouth, and won. Props to them for that, and for proving to the Patriots that you can’t just throw out Coleman as your third DB and hope for the best. Or else you give up 348 yards passing and 3 TDs.

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Pats Player To Watch: Elandon Roberts

Keep your eye out for Elandon Roberts today (LB), who will help the Patriots try to replace Jamie Collins Sr. Hightower and Roberts should see a lot of action in the box since Malcolm Butler will be blanketing Doug Baldwin (WR) and Patrick Chung will be helping another DB (Eric Rowe/Logan Ryan) on Jimmy Graham (TE). When Russell Wilson gets frustrated, and even before that, I expect Seattle to incorporate some runs, short passes and screens, which is when we’ll see Hightower and Roberts flying across the field. Although, we might see Roberts a bit limited if the Pats choose to bring in the ghost of Rob Ninkovich, and/or Barkevious Mingo, on some of the more obvious passing downs.

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Dion Lewis: Officially Back (sorta)

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Well this is exciting. The NFL is not known for big deals around midseason, unlike the MLB. Therefore, activating Dion Lewis from the IR is akin to an MLB team acquiring a fantastic setup man with their sights set on October. Plus they didn’t have to give up too much to get him a roster spot.

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Belichick Breakdown: Week 8

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Oh hey there folks. It has been a bit since I’ve posted, and for that I apologize. I guess the last couple Patriots seasons took a lot more out of me than I thought. From writing about the highs of the Super Bowl in the ’14 season, to the lows of the ’15 season*, my desire to write went out the window.

But, watching the Cubs win their first World Series in 108 years sparked that little voice in my head that wants to do nothing but read sports, watch sports and write about sports.

Anyway – I’m starting small, with this hilarious moment from the week 8 Belichick Breakdown, where the legend goes over some top plays with Scott Zolak. It’s worth a watch.

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Well that sucked

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Just blah. The worst thing about that game, for me, was that the Broncos were the better team for almost the entirety of the game. Sure the Patriots had moments where they looked like the dominant group from the divisional round, but holy crap did they look awful for the most part. There is no singular call to blame this on, and no I don’t think working tablets would’ve turned everything around for New England.

Remember when I said that the Pats would win because the offensive line would hold and Edelman would get involved and have a big day? Well never mind about that. The offensive line let Brady get hit an astounding 23 times. It’s hard to operate an offense when you get hit so frequently. It’s basic shock therapy, and at a certain point Brady was feeling ghost pressure when the Broncos would only rush three guys. It was awful.

The line was bad, but I can’t take anything away from the Broncos. At one point they put two guys on the right side to stop Von Miller, who streaked right by them. Their defense is scary good. As I said in my preview post:

With Von Miller and Demarcus Ware in the front seven and Aqib Talib holding down the secondary with Chris Harris, these guys have more than enough football IQ, and veteran leadership, to execute a complex game plan that will frustrate and confuse Brady. – It’s Horse Hunting Season 

And unfortunately that’s exactly what happened. It also didn’t help that Brady was the leading rusher for the Patriots, as the offensive line couldn’t even get a push going to get White/Jackson/Bolden any holes to break through. As my friends kept yelling via group text, the Patriots were better off taking a knee on many of the early downs instead of handing the ball off. Without a running game to worry about, the Broncos defensive line feasted on the Patriots.

So we’re on to the offseason. Let the talk of free agents, draft needs (offensive linemen, running back, etc.) and deflategate round 2 commence. PS: Go NFC team (probably the Panthers at this moment)!

Deflategate: One Year Update

“If I had to stake my reputation and my career on it, the Patriots balls match the ideal gas law, okay? And I don’t know why people can’t get that. Alright?” – MIT Professor, and Philadelphia Eagles fan, John Leonard

I promised myself I wasn’t going to write anything about Deflategate turning one year old since so much has already been written about it. Today, I decided to got back on that promise to myself after reading this New York Times article.

Here is the main point of the article if you don’t have time to read the full thing (which I highly recommend):

The edited lecture went up on YouTube on Dec. 1 and has been viewed more than 17,000 times. It is utterly convincing. Leonard told me that if an M.I.T. undergraduate made the kinds of mistakes that Exponent made, “I would force them to repeat the experiment and correct the analysis.” Based on his study of the data, Leonard now says: “I am convinced that no deflation occurred and that the Patriots are innocent. It never happened – True Scandal of Deflategate Lies in the N.F.L.’s Behavior

And that’s all I’ll say on the matter. On to Denver.

Lets. Fahkin’. Go.

I saw this hype video on Barstool and I had to share it with everyone. Any video that gives me all of the chills deserves to be shared as much as possible. A big shout out to Robert Apse (whoever that is) for hosting this on YouTube.

 

I typed out the full narration for your enjoyment:

You’ve heard the story before. Scripts have been written. And reworked. And rewritten.

It’s number one vs. number 199. Some of football royalty vs. the underdog. It’s about records. Bragging rights. It’s about four simple letters: G, O, A, T.

But this isn’t about Brady vs. Manning. This is about much more than that. This is about New England. And we haven’t shied away from rivalries. Ask Laimbeer. A-Rod. And Komisarek.

But it has to be close to be a rivalry. Let’s be honest – it’s never been close. This is about a bunch of rebels, who built a city of champions with their bare hands. This is about being remembered. This is about legacy. No, this is about Boston sports legacy.

This is for Red. For Russell. For Williams. For Orr. For Bird. For all fans standing in the bitter cold. For Bledsoe. Troy. Vinatieri. Willie. Rodney. Teddy. Junior. And all of them.

The plays. The catches. The stops. And, the silence. This is about toughness; mental and physical. It’s about who pushes with the line and dives headfirst for that pylon.

That’s the foundation for legends. Are you ready? 

*Mark runs headfirst through a wall*

It’s Horse Hunting Season

^One of these things is not like the others!

And just like that, conference championship weekend is upon us. Feels like just yesterday I was reading pre-season reports about Travaris Cadet, getting excited for Aaron Dobson’s breakout year (there’s always next year?) and listening to ‘experts’ prattle on about this being the year the Pats would fall apart, and how the rest of the AFC East would supplant the Patriots. Guess not!

The old, and very tired, narrative for the AFC Championship game is TOMMMM BRADYYYY vs. PEYYYYTONNNN MANNNINNG! PART 17! A comparison that doesn’t even matter anymore, as Brady has already won.

brady vs manning

As you can already tell, I don’t agree with that label for this game, or any game these two QB’s have played against each other. Unless the NFL has drastically changed it’s rules for Sunday’s game – and with this league, you never know – Brady and Manning will never be on the field at the same time. They won’t meet at midfield and trade punches (If only, right? Because that’d be hilarious), Brady won’t sack Manning, and Manning won’t pick off Brady. Hell, the only time they’ll be near each other is during the pregame/postgame handshake slash bro-hug.

Sure, it’s fun to compare two all time QB’s as they command their respective troops on the field, but this isn’t Brady vs. Manning, it’s two hall of fame QB’s going against impressive defenses. Guess who agrees with me? Tom Brady! Does he say “it’ll be great to play Peyton Manning this week?” Nope. See below:

“It’ll be fun to play another Peyton Manning lead team…this game is gonna come down to how well we play this week. Ah, in this environment. Nothing that’s happened in the past is gonna matter. It’s just going to matter – you, know – how well we go out and play, and how well we execute.” – Tom Brady in an interview with WEEI

Brady Manning

Notice the subtle difference? It’s not about playing Peyton, it’s about playing the team Manning leads. Understand what my buddy Tom and I are getting at? Good. With that in mind, here are my thoughts on why the Patriots will win this game – and why they might lose it.

Continue reading “It’s Horse Hunting Season”