Tag: Patriots

The Jets Gave Up On Le’Veon Bell. Are the Patriots Interested in the Former All-Pro?

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ESPN – The New York Jets’ rocky relationship with Le’Veon Bell came to an abrupt end Tuesday when the team announced it had released the running back.

The move concluded a 19-month tenure that was filled with disappointment and broken promises. Bell, who arrived as a marquee free agent in 2019, never clicked with coach Adam Gase, who opposed the signing from the outset.

That Jets contract (4 years $52.5 million) was a disaster from Day 1, but imagine picking Adam Gase over Le’Veon Bell?? It’s hard to tell if after 1 year + 4 games in New York if he is already washed up or if the Jets are just sucking the life out of him. I mean he’s only 28 years old, granted it’s an old 28 considering his monumental workload at Michigan State. But you’d have to think he still has a couple good years left in him. Adam Gase, the offensive guru responsible for (read: worked in the same building as) Peyton Manning’s record setting 56 TD season in Denver, has now traded, released, and generally made the Jets’ best players worse. All-Pro Jamal Adams. Former All-Pro Le’Veon Bell. First Round QB Sam Darnold. All three were seemingly key building blocks for a rebuilding team. Two of them are now gone and Darnold, despite flashes of the potential that made him the third overall pick two years ago, looks to be stuck in neutral.

So Patriots fans do you want Le’Veon Bell? He officially becomes a free agent at 4 pm on Wednesday. It’s basically become a cliche around here to say the Pats are in on Veteran X whether it’s Calvin Johnson, or Larry Fitzgerald, or AJ Green. The Pats are in on all of these guys and then nothing happens. Now the Pats are rumored to be in on Le’Veon Bell. Except, this time it’s the Jets. The Jets bought HIGH on Bell and sold LOW, getting absolutely nothing in return and releasing the former All-Pro running back. The Patriots absolutely do not need another running back with James White, Damien Harris, Rex Burkhead, and eventually Sony Michel already in the mix. But Bill Belichick is nothing if not a man who enjoys stomping on the graves of his enemies. I cannot even imagine the size of the grin on Belichick’s face as he thinks about picking the latest failed experiment of his rival off the scrap heap and turning him into a weapon for the Patriots as they fight for another Super Bowl title.

The Pats absolutely do not need him, but there are few teams out there that could utilize Bell better than New England. Now let’s look at Bell’s side of it. He legit sat out an entire season in Pittsburgh because he wanted a new deal and didn’t want to risk blowing out his knee right before his one big pay day.

Like LeBron or Sebastian, high school graduates
Straight to the league, I ain’t waitin’ for my knee to blow
Yesterday I was needin’ this dough

Then he signs a gargantuan contract with New York to be their bellcow back and take the Jets back to prominence. Only for the new head coach in town, aforementioned offensive guru and recently fired Dolphins coach Adam Gase, to immediately shit all over the move.

Hows that for a welcoming party? Bell drastically underperformed and battled injuries, but even when he was healthy the team around him was getting worse and the rift between him and the head coach was getting wider. You think that guy is motivated at all to stick it to his former boss?

What better way than to sign on with their biggest rival and beat the Jets’ brains in and win a ring in New England? It’s a win win for both sides as Bell signs on with a competent team that will utilize his talents, reestablishes his value, and helps him try to get that elusive Super Bowl ring before signing another big deal somewhere else this offseason. It’s the playbook that Darrelle Revis and Trent Brown perfected in recent years.

Not to mention that every player we thought was a bum while playing for Gase has THRIVED since getting away from him. Just look at Ryan Tannehill. Under Joe Philbin for the first three years of his career in Miami, Tannehill improved every. single. year. Touchdowns, Yards, Yards per Game, Completion Percentage, Quarterback Rating, even his total Rushing Yards ALL improved every single year. Enter Adam Gase. Tannehill played a mixed bag of two seasons under Gase (he missed 2017 due to injury) as the Dolphins floundered and the coach publicly threw his QB under the bus. Both got 86’d by the Dolphins as Gase went on to do Gase things in New York, while Tannehill won Comeback Player of the Year with the Titans.

And don’t even get me started on Kenyan Drake. After 3+ seasons in Miami where Drake failed to top 644 rushing yards in a year, Drake rushed for 633 yards in 8 games with the Cardinals last year. After never rushing for more than 4 touchdowns in Miami, Drake rushed for 8 touchdowns in 8 games in Arizona last year. Drake is also more than DOUBLING his yards per game in Arizona compared to Miami as he has turned into a stud away from Adam Gase.

These turnarounds from Tannehill and Drake post-Gase legitimately offend me as a football fan. The clock is ticking on that man’s head coaching career as the Jets continue to be the worst team in football.

He’ll probably latch on somewhere else pretty quickly because the NFL is incestuous with former coaches just being recycled all across the league, but if I’m running the Jets the next move I make is the same Gase made with Le’Veon Bell, send him packing.

There’s Something About Losing a Winnable Game That Stings Something Fierce

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All aboard the Joey B Express because this train is leaving the station and to be honest with you I am not sure where it’s heading.

What started out as an aberation in this era (the past 15 years or so) of Boston sports, an anomaly, has turned overnight into what economists, stylists, and actually, human fucking beings in general call a “trend”.

One could say this startling reminder of athletic mortality began last December, well before we knew Corona was anything other than a Mexican beer brewed in Kentucky, when the Patriots decided to simply not show up against the Tennessee Titans in the wild-card game, allowing Derrick Henry to run roughshod without even considering stacking the box and, I don’t know, asking Ryan fucking Tannehill to beat us . We all sat there rather calmly all game, thinking “any second now”. Any second now McDaniels would wake up, figure things out, and the offense would cook a quick 21 point cake to get us the dub. Any second now the Mayo/S.Belichick brain trust on defense would unleash the Boogeymen and, fucking I don’t know, spy the aging QB who was running all over us, all the whole being known to throw more picks than a blinded Nathan Peterman. None of that happened though and we lost. To the Titans. In the playoffs.

Things seemed to get back to normal after that befuddling end to 2019. The Bruins played just about up to expectations this season, especially when considering they had to stop their season then restart inside a bubble. The Bs also had to deal with their starting goalie going out to fetch some milk, or in his case probably wings, and never coming back. The Sox sucked this year but at this point I’m pretty sure we’re all just about rooting for that given how hateable their ownership is.

Then our sports world got weird again in the form of the Bubble Celtics. King Marcus Smart, First of His Name, The J’s, and company started a little sluggish but really hit their stride at the end of the bubble season. They proceeded to thrash the 6ers in four. But then they had to go to fucking war with the Raptors, a war which they won. It was entertaining as hell, absolutely captivating, but at the same time, a bit discouraging. On paper, with Toronto having lost Kawhi, our squad should have beaten Toronto a little more handily. no offense to the other 6. Fred van Fleet just shouldn’t be able to lead a team to a seventh game against the young guns from Boston, in my opinion. So I was a little wary heading into our series with Miami.

Now, I don’t hold Jimmy Butler in as high regard as say, the prostitutes in Rio de Janeiro or, more relevantly, other basketball fans. I’ve just never seen “it”. But all the same going up against him and a good supporting cast did not excite me all that much. So I was pretty shocked watching the series play out. Not in the final score of the games themselves or watching the basketball actually go in the hoop or not, just everything else. We simply looked better. We played better. We were more athletic. We were a more cohesive team. But we just didn’t win. We didn’t execute. We didn’t actually score. We didn’t….beat a not as good team. It made zero sense. It must have been how the USSR felt watching the 1980 Olympics. I don’t know how to say. “How the fuck is this happening?” in Russian but I gained some empathy for Sergei and Pavel out in Moscow that series.

I carried that series in my gut with me. I figured it’d be there for awhile. It turns out I was wrong as I carried it around with me until just last night. With Cam Newton having tested positive for the big C19, the Pats trotted out journeyman not-extrordinaire Brian Hoyer against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. And by the 5:00 minute mark (or thereabouts) of the 3rd Quarter, guess what? We should have been winning. But we weren’t. How? Down a respectable 6-3 with the clocking ticking away at the half, Hoyer decided to take a sack rather than throw the ball away, costing us a field goal attempt that not even Nick Folk would have (probably) missed. then, with the score still 6-3, Patrick Mahomes laid an egg on his first drive on the second half. HUGE stop for the D. Hoyer then led an excellent, strategic, balanced drive down the field to get us to the 13. When Josh Mc could advance us no further on the ground, Hoyer dropped back to pass, held on to the ball too long AGAIN, and got stripped. Kansas City ball. Now instead of being 9-3 New England AT A MINIMUM it was Chiefs ball going the other way. Momentum had swung way to far the other way to ever come back to us. We lost 26-10 on a day where our receivers were showing up a little, our D was playing out of their minds, and weird-voice-having Patrick Mahomes was playing like shit.

That leaves us with THREE (3) instances of us just not winning games our eyes have told us we should since last December. In the time it takes to conceive and have a child (I’ve been told) that child would have born to a family that was absolutely bewildered by its sports franchises inability to win games against opponents they should have beaten, sometimes soundly. Instead their birth certificates would have beared names like “FUCKING FRANK CLARK” and “Tyler Herro Looks Like The Third Fucking Chainsmoker.” What a world.

And this, sadly, ladies and gents, is what sports fandom really feels like. I remember it. I’m not so young that I don’t remember asking no one in particular, with tears almost in my eyes, “Why can’t we just win?” I hope this isn’t just it, for the record. I hope I haven’t seen my last championship until I’m too old to care. I hope Cam Newton comes back, Brian Hoyer is locked in the abandoned Showcase Cinema at Patriots Place, and we catch fire with the rest of what looks like an excellent team. I hope the Bruins and Celtics come back next year refreshed, energized by having some (hopefully) semblance of consistency in their lives. I hope, and I can’t stress this enough, John Henry and the rest of the Sox ownership gets Epsteined and are forced to sell.

I hope we become winners again.

-JoeyB.

Silver Linings from the Patriots’ Loss to the Chiefs

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I am not a silver linings type of guy, as I said yesterday there are no moral victories in the National Football League. Yes, the Patriots lost 26-10 to the Chiefs last night, BUT there are some things to build on here for a team that was not playing with a full deck.

Defense Delights
The Patriots defense was masterful for much of the night (except for 2 dropped picks) holding the Chiefs to their lowest offensive yards total all season, just a week after they dropped 517 yards and 34 points on the Ravens. Patrick Mahomes was held to 236 yards and 2 TDs (both of which were about 2 foot tosses). The Pats also stifled Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the Chiefs running game all day, holding CEH to just 64 yards on 20 carries. Travis Kelce only had 3 catches for 70 yards on the night, but killed the Pats on a 45 yard reception late in the game.

RIP to the Brian Hoyer Era
The Brian Hoyer era lasted a grand total of 44 minutes.

Hoyer killed the Patriots with rookie mistakes all night long before mercifully getting benched by Belichick. I am normally a pretty calm guy watching the game and scrolling twitter in between plays, but I literally YELLED at my TV when Hoyer took that sack to end the first half and cost the Pats a field goal.

You can argue that the team was too cavalier with their timeouts, but thats because they had a guy in his 12th year in the NFL under center. He should know better so that was infuriating to watch. Hoyer only made it worse later in the game when a pass rusher blew by him and instead of immediately getting the ball out, he patted the ball somehow thinking the defender was gone. Nope, that guy immediately peeled back and forced the fumble on Hoyer who for some god forsaken reason still had the ball in his hands. Hoyer’s Awareness rating in Madden must have taken a nosedive after this performance.

In came Jarret Stidham, who the Pats finally reached their breaking point and relented on letting him play after Stid had the gall to go to a wedding over the summer. All it took was less than 3 quarters of watching Brian Hoyer playing for Belichick to pull the plug on that experiment. Physically Stidham looked pretty good as he chucked the ball around with ease. He made the typical mistakes of a young QB, but he also had some alarmingly bad throws with 3 picks (1 of which was called back). I don’t know if thats an accuracy issue or a decision making issue, but one of his interceptions was on an underthrown ball in the face of pressure. If he just steps up in the pocket to avoid the rush, this is a TD.

He did hit N’Keal Harry with a pretty touch pass in the back of the end zone for a touchdown on his first career completion though so that was nice to see.

Harry was a huge disappointment last year for various reasons, but it seems the experience of being in Year 2 combined with the power of positive reinforcement from Cam Newton hyping him up has paid huge dividends. Ironic, considering one of Tom Brady’s best friends is Tony Robbins, the de facto king of positive thinking, but it takes Cam Newton to bring it out of Harry.

Turnovers Galore
The Pats were uncharacteristcally sloppy, turning the ball over four times compared to just once by the Chiefs. You’re rarely going to win a game when you lose the turnover battle, you are never going to win a game against the Chiefs when you spot them points.

Young Guys Shine
Chase Winovich has officially arrived this season and particularly in this game as he was wrecking havoc and hurrying Mahomes all night long. Very encouraging to see for a team that is desperate for some pass rushers after all the players that either left via free agency or opted out this season.

Damiere Byrd looked like a legit NFL receiver yet again with five catches for 80 yards, but he also saw 10 targets so the QBs (not just Cam Newton) seem to trust him to make plays.

Damien Harris FINALLY stepped onto the field and he did not disappoint, racking up 100 yards in his first significant NFL game action. Harris only had 4 touches all of last season and was a scratch most weeks so I have been dying to see the former Alabama back get some significant work. With Sony Michel back on IR this is Harris’ time to shine and I think he probably takes the RB1 job for good. Granted the Pats routinely roll out multiple runningbacks on any given week, but I think Harris is the locked in bellcow back moving forward if he stays healthy.

Kyle Dugger looked great and his athleticism was apparent as he made some touch tackles, which impressed me the most considering the Patriots’ top pick was essentially playing Division II football last year.

Get Well Soon Cam
The Patriots showed they can hang with the class of the league if they play their best football, which they did for large shares of the night. Their QB play is what ultimately sunk them, but if these two teams meet again later this season it would be with Newton under center who obviously turns the Patriots offense into a completely different beast.

Edelman Drops
Jules had the dropsies last night, including a pass deflected off his hands that turned into a walk-in pick six for the Chiefs.

It’s tough to see Edelman drop more and more balls as he gets up there because he has been so money for so long for this Patriots team. It’s something to keep an eye on. He is far from washed, as we saw in the Seattle matchup when Edelman had one of the best games of his entire career with Newton slinging him the ball. But it makes sense for the Pats to not have their entire offense depend on a 34-year-old receiver.

Although Edelman’s potential heir to the New England Slot only had one catch last night, Gunner Olszewski sure as shit made it count with this one.

Give Me a Break
Looot of breaks went the Chiefs way last night and the Pats were still hanging around for most of the game. By far the worst was the fumble return that was whistled dead WAY too quickly and ultimately ruled a sack.

The clear strip and fumble return was blown dead by the refs who said they thought Mahomes was “in the grasp” of defenders.

Now I understand the irony of a Patriots fan complaining about a quarterback sack not being called a fumble, but that call was horrific. Total hose job.

There was also the Chiefs punt returner somehow not touching that bouncing ball a la Edelman in the AFC Championship, and the brutal roughing the passer call on Mahomes who should have won an Oscar on the play.

Overall this team looked pretty good playing the defending SB champs with their 2nd and 3rd string quarterback after commuting to Kansas City the day of the game. They showed they can hang with the best of them so I look forward to seeing this team back at full strength. The Pats are now 2-2 and 2 games back in the AFC East though trailing the Bills who look legit behind sudden MVP candidate Josh Allen. I knew the Bills would be good this year, but I did not expect this type of jump from Allen so kudos to them. The race for the AFC East crown is on now.

With Cam Newton Out Due to COVID-19, the Brian Hoyer Era Begins Tonight

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Spin cycle activated. Yes, Brian Hoyer hype videos do indeed exist.

Now that Cam Newton is out for at least this game if not multiple games after testing positive for COVID, we get a peak at what the Patriots would have looked like had they never signed Cam in the first place since Hoyer was QB1 earlier this summer.

If that highlight video doesn’t make you feel any better, well let’s take a look at Hoyer’s career stats. Hoyer’s teams are 16-22 when he is the starter and he has a career 59.1 completion percentage, 7 yards per attempt career avg, 52 touchdowns and 32 picks, with an 82.5 career QBR.

Time to test the theory that Belichick can win with anybody under center, but this is his biggest test since Matt Cassel was taking snaps in 2008.

There’s also Jarrett Stidham on the bench, but if you believe what you hear on talk radio, which I take with a gigantic grain of salt, the team apparently buried him on the depth chart after he took a road trip to Texas for a wedding during the offseason. I always found that, if true, to be an over the top punishment, even for Belichick. But hey when the greatest quarterback of all time leaves town creating a wide open, glowing opportunity for you to become a starter in the NFL, you probably don’t want your boss to think you’re doing anything other than playing, practicing, studying, and dreaming about football.

With on again, off again Patriots QB Hoyer most likely getting the start tonight the Pats have gone from -7 point underdogs to -11, which would be the third largest spread in the league this week. So Vegas is not feeling it.

I think the Pats are probably going to get dusted tonight if we’re being honest. They were already big underdogs to begin with, now they’re starting their backup QB on the road, on short notice, and are straight up commuting to Kansas City on game day to play the defending Super Bowl champs.

Theres no moral victories in the NFL, but hey if you want a silver lining, maybeeee this helps the Patriots if they end up playing the Chiefs again in the playoffs since KC won’t have any game tape of Cam vs the Chiefs. I don’t want to come off like an In Belichick We Trust goon so I’m going to leave it at that, but hey you asked for a silver lining.

The real problem is what if Cam misses multiple games? The Patriots play the Broncos next week, who they should be able to beat without Newton and then thankfully Week 6 is their bye. So that would give Newton three weeks before hopefully returning for Week 7 vs the 49ers, who would presumably have Jimmy G back by then. But you never know, Eduardo Rodriguez came down with COVID and missed the rest of the season due to complications.

Also considering not a single other Patriots player tested positive, for a guy who is renting a place, who intentionally did not move his family to New England because it’s a “business trip,” and orders vegan takeout food rather than going out — how the hell did he even get coronavirus?

Despite Newton being the only Patriots player to test positive, the NFL was quick to launch a full scale investigation into the team for not properly following safety procedures. FOH, Goodell.

Welp, hopefully Newton, as we hope for anyone that has contracted COVID, recovers and is back to full strength quickly. Until then, enjoy the Brian Hoyer Experience.

Tom Brady Went From Belichick Criticizing Him Privately to Bruce Arians Dumping All Over Him Publicly

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Bruce Arians came out of the gates FIRING on Sunday after losing the first game of the Tom Brady era and if I were Brady I would be bullshit for getting thrown under the bus in Week ONE. I’m half expecting Brady and Gronk to drop a Hit Em Up remix dissing Arians before next weekend.

Its been widely reported that one of the reasons Tom Brady left New England, other than it was just time for a change of scenery, is that his relationship with Belichick had started to grate on him. Belichick treated Brady like a first year player (or Fucking Johnny Foxboro according to Giselle) and gave him just as much criticism as the next guy in the locker room. Except Belichick did it privately. You never heard a word about this in press conferences even if Brady played like garbage, which he rarely did. Welp, if getting criticized privately bothered Brady he must love whats going on in Tampa Bay right now.

Arians went out of his way to very publicly blame both interceptions on Brady. Now I’m no film geek so I’m not sitting here watching the All-22, but I would bet my non-existent house on the fact that Tom Brady is reading coverages better than Mike Evans.

To paraphrase the great Katt Williams “…maybe we should stop beating our kids……publicly.”

Even if it was TB12’s fault, you just overhauled your entire team and moved heaven and earth to bring the greatest player of all time to a city known for nothing but strip clubs and you immediately rip the guy the first chance you get? Now that he has a real QB in the room, Arians is like Kelly Kapoor in a blazer.

Granted, Brady isn’t going to just go into the tank and pout because his coach criticized him on TV, but uhhh this ain’t exactly helpful. I had this discussion with Big Z the other day, but this is literally the worst offseason ever for a 43-year-old QB to change teams. As Big Z put it, meetings were outlawed and preseason games cancelled.

Some people thought it came off as Arians yet again throwing his QB under the bus, most notably Emmanuel Acho was chirping the Bucs coach.

The problems went far beyond the QB for Tampa though as they were an undisciplined mess on Sunday with tons of penalties, miscommunications, and ugly plays like the muffed kickoff return that two Bucs had to legit work together to somehow pull off.

If, and this is a gigantic if, the Bucs can get their shit together they are obviously a very talented team and can do some damage in the NFC. I have never doubted Tom Brady once in my life, so I’m certainly not going to start now, but they better get organized.

The Bill Belichick Subway Commercial Has Finally Arrived

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The internet was set ablaze about six weeks ago when Belichick was spotted filming a commercial for sandwiches and I’ve been counting the days since waiting for the finished product. Pretty good. It’s got Bill’s trademark dry, deadpan humor, but as the great Will Hunting once said: “So what’d I think? I’m holding out for something better.”

I need to see the second version or the directors cut of this commercial with Belichick going HAM on a cold cut combo.

We will not rest until that footage sees the light of day, but maybe they’re just saving it for behind the scenes footage in the next Super Bowl champs DVD?

What Will the Patriots Roster Look Like?

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We are now five days away from the deadline for NFL teams to cut down to 53 man rosters. Came at us fast huh? Yikes. With a shorter training camp and no preseason, evaluating players had to of been a lot harder this year, not to mention the fact that the beginning of the season should be a gigantic shitshow.

As websites of our ilk are want to do, I figured I’d take a crack at breaking down what the Patriots’ 53 man roster might look like, based on rumblings and grumblings I’ve heard from the the various media actually allowed to attend camp. The Patriots in particular are kind of a bitch to predict given they play so positionlessly in some areas. But here goes nothing.

OFFENSE
Quarterbacks (3)
Keep: Cam Newton (QB1), Jarrett Stidham, Brian Hoyer
Cut: Brian Lewerke

No shockers here. If reports are accurate Cam is really starting to run away with the QB1 job. Not just because of his passing either. He has obvious superiority when it comes to athleticism and the energy he brings to the offense, I’m told, is palpable. Stidham gets another year to learn and Hoyer can stand in as old reliable.

Running Backs (4)
Keep: Damien Harris, Rex Burkhead, James White, Sony Michel
Cut: J.J Taylor

Word out of camp is we could see Harris picking up a lot more carries this year. I’ll be fine with that as it takes the load off Blanco and allows him to be the de facto 2nd or 3rd option in the receiving game. Sony Michel, whichever version, will start the season splitting carries with Harris while Burkhead can fill in wherever needed

Fullback (1)
Keep: Jakob Johnson

I have half a mind to doubt myself in keeping a Fullback. That said the Pats run game statistically fell off a cliff without a FB last year and Johnson by all reports has played really well this camp.

Tight Ends (2)
Keep: Devin Asiasi, Dalton Keene
Cut: Ryan Izzo, Jake Burt, Paul Quessenberry, Rashad Berry, Paul Butler

This seems strange for me to even write but I think Belichick may go full “fuck it” and roll the rookies out there. Camp is so hard to judge on its own merits, but Asiasi has looked like the receiving threat we didn’t know existed when we drafted him and both youngbloods have looked good blocking. Thus we reach the end of the line for Izzo.

Wide Receivers (6)
Keep: Julian Edelman, N’Keal Harry, Mohammed Sanu, Jakobi Meyers, Gunnar, Olszewski, Damiere Byrd
Cut: Isaiah Zuber, Devin Ross, Jeff Thomas

Probably not a ton of surprise here. Harry has apparently looked great this camp, adapting his college game of just snatching shit out of the air with zero separation to the pros. Gunnar, they say, now looks more like a WR than an interesting project. Sanu gets a chance to prove he doesn’t suck. Meyers gets to prove he wasn’t a one year preseason wonder.

Offensive Lineman (9)
Keep: David Andrews, Yodny Cajuste,  Jermaine Eluemunor, Shaq Mason, Joe Thuney, Isaiah Wynn,Michael Onwenu, Tyler Gauthier, Korey Cunningham
Cut: Ben Braden, Hijalte Froholdt, Justin Herron,

A lot of this is guess work. My first six, whether they start or not, I think are shoe ins. After that I’m not too sure. An example of this is whether they’ll keep Cunningham, a veteran backup Tackle from last year’s squad,  or 6th round pick Herron. I went with Cunningham.

Defense

Defensive Tackles (4)
Keep: Adam Butler, Lawrence Guy, Byron Cowart, Beau Allen
Cut: Bill Murray, Xavier Williams, Nick Thurman, Michael Barnett

Guy and Butler are locks and things get interesting after that. The Pats kept Cowart around so that should count for something. They have an old nemesis in Allen that they have a history of keeping around.

Edge Players (6)
Keep: Chase Winovich, John Simon, Afernee Jennings, Derek Rivers, Shalique Calhoun, Deatrich Wise Jr.
Cut: Tashawn Bowers, Brandon Copeland

This is sooooo goddam tricky. Tne Patriots front seven should be considered its own state of matter. Wise and Calhoun stay for now as reports are that Josh Uche is getting a lot of looks as a MLB of all things. Jennings is listed off the edge here even though I think he’ll play a swiss army, elephant backer role akin to Hightower- If not now than in the future. One could argue Wise Jr. is also now a DT but whatttever.

Linebacker (3)
Keep: Ja’Whaun Bentley, Josh Uche, Cassh Maluia
Cut: Terez Hall, De’Jon Harris

Again, some are listing Uche as a rusher but he’s getting a lot of looks inside. Maluia should see a lot of snaps this year as well. Bentley gets to prove he’s the next Boogeyman.

Cornerbacks (6)
Keep: J.McCourty, Stephon Gilmore, J.C Jackson, Jonathan Jones, Joejuan Williams, Justin Bethel
Cut: Michael Jackson, Myles Bryant, D’Angelo Ross

I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Williams was cut, although he should get another year. Jackson looked good on the field last year but has been torched a bit this camp. Jonathan Jones was a pleasant surprise in coverage last year. JMac and Gilmore are the 1-2. Bethel gets stashed for his S/T expertise.

Safeties (5)
Keep: D.McCourty, Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips, Terrance Brooks, Cody Davis
Cut: N/A

The Pats have a group of one Pro Bowler, a few solid players, and two unknowns at Safety this year. Dugger was the surprise second rounder out of the DII rankings. He has received positive reviews this camp though. My onion with him has been this: We play a ton of man. Tight Ends are all the rage so teams are drafting big ass safeties (basically small LBers, called “moneybacks”) to cover them. If all a first year guy has to do is “go cover that big ass tight end” it should be easy enough to see what we have.

Specialists (4)
Kicker: Justin Rohrwasser,
Punter: Ryan Allen
Special Teams Ace/WR: Matthew Slater
Long Snapper: Joe Cardona
Cut: Nick Folk

I just cannot see Bill Belichick quitting on a 5th round pick with a big leg. Everything else is obvious.

Offense:  25
Defense: 24
Specialists: 4
Total: 53

 

The 300s is Looking For Bloggers

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With everyone either remote or part-time, we know you’ve got some time on your hands so The 300s is looking for interns and part-timers to blog about Boston sports, national sports, golf, TV, movies, video games etc. We’ll give writers a platform, promotion on social media, and the opportunity to write about what you like.

If you’re interested send an email to Red@The300s.com and let us know what you want to write about and any samples you might have.

Patriots QB Jarrett Stidham Might Be Injured, Probably Wraps Up the QB “Competition” With Cam Newton

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So it came out this morning that Jarrett Stidham suffered an injury, the extent of which is anyone’s guess, but it was serious enough for the team to take him to the hospital.

I guess this eliminates the need for a blog I had started writing yesterday morning: Would the Patriots Ever Really Run Multiple QBs in the Regular Season? Someone asked Belichick if he would consider the option since all three QBs were splitting reps pretty evenly until yesterday. And I don’t mean play multiple QBs when Hoyer starts the first 3 games and throws 9 interceptions and gets benched. I’m talking about a college style offense where Stidham plays 20 snaps and then Josh McDaniels sends Cam Newton in with his own package of plays. You know the old saying, if you have two quarterbacks you have none. It’s an old saying because it’s true.

Well it would seem like thats out the window now if Stidham is in fact injured. Unless Cam is an absolute bonehead and can’t pick up any of the playbook, which he’s not, then there’s no reason to start Brian Hoyer over a former MVP. I’ll roll the dice with a former MVP every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Sorry Brian, you definitely got a raw deal here but those are the facts.

Granted the Patriots don’t every say anything about anything, but the team is already downplaying the significance of Stidham’s injury.

Who knows whats true and whats not, but I do know that you don’t go to the hospital unless something is seriously wrong. This isn’t the UFC where guys go to the hospital as a post fight routine. So something was hurting him enough that the team thought a visit to the hospital was warranted. Either way, this conveniently wraps up the QB “competition” before it ever really heated up. There were reports of Newton starting to take over more of the first team reps while Stidham had been having an atrocious week throwing multiple picks. So this makes it that much easier for Belichick to give the job to Newton while the team quietly reassesses what it has with Stidham and makes a long term decision at the QB position.

But for right now, it’s HAM Newton time.

The Patriots Are Dropping Like Flies as FIVE Players Have Now Opted Out of the Season Due to COVID

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Today has been a rough day for the New England Patriots and I haven’t even finished my morning Iced Tea from Dunkies. This was bound to happen as the guinea pig that is the MLB showed everyone just how quickly an entire sports league can turn into a disaster with this bastard that is coronavirus. The Marlins have had 17 guys test positive and because of the six degrees of separation other teams like the Phillies and the Yankees had to cancel games as they awaited their own COVID test results.

So if you’re an NFL player watching this quickly unfold, it has to make you think. Is this worth it? If you’re Dont’a Hightower and you’ve already made millions and millions of dollars and won three Super Bowls and you just had a baby, do you want to risk bringing that infection home with you? Even if you’re Clay Travis and you think the risk of getting into a car crash is worse (seriously), do you want to have the anxiety of worrying about that every day for the next several months? It seems like a lot of Patriots players are saying hell no.

Bert Breer was on Toucher and Rich this morning and half jokingly wondered aloud is this the price the Patriots pay for having a team comprised of a bunch of smart, thoughtful veterans. It’s a good question because if you’re a young player or a fringe roster guy you might not have secured the bag yet and you may never get another job that pays nearly as much as the NFL. So thats a risk you are a lot more willing to take than an established/paid veteran in this league. Especially when the average NFL career is like 3.3 years.

The question now is how much are the Patriots in trouble and what if even more players opt out? If you’ve listened to the McCourty brothers at all you have got to be worried about whether they’re going to play or not. Those two are intelligent and vocal guys and they have expressed valid, legitimate concerns with resuming play. Right now the Pats have lost their starting Right Tackle, their best Linebacker, a key special teams and depth RB, plus their fullback and another OL. All of this after the team was already tasked with replacing Tom Brady as well as key veterans like Jamie Collins, Kyle Van Noy, and James Develin.

To be brutally honest I don’t expect most of these leagues to finish the season. There’s just too many people interacting with one another and especially in the MLB with teams flying all around like its no big deal. Now imagine that with rosters triple the size in the NFL. The leagues that went with the bubble are the only real shot we have of seeing a completed season this year, but even the NBA has dudes hitting up the strip club for some drums and flats. I don’t know about you, but a strip club is one of the last places I’d want to be during a freaking pandemic. The NHL may be the only league to get through the year as they have a bunch of historically laid back homebodies in hockey players quarantined up in Canada.

Now I’m not going to panic about the Patriots just yet because I tend to agree with my friend here below, even if it is because I’m wearing rose tinted glasses that Belichick and Brady fused onto my face over the last 20 years.

But that’s assuming we even get to the start of the season. Players weren’t even due to report yet and the Patriots had five guys opt out. Lets watch this Marlins story play out a bit more and see if MLB can get back on track because we’re less than a week into the season and it already has the makings of a doomsday scenario.

However, if MLB can’t stem the outbreak and more importantly assuage any player concerns, it could be the harbinger of bad news for the NFL in 2020.