Former Patriot and current Giants defensive back Logan Ryan just gave us the quote of the year when asked to describe Tom Brady.
“We have much respect for each other. To me, he’s the ultimate test as a player. He’s like the final boss in Mario or whatever game you might play when you’re on the last level and they have hammers and cannonballs and everything going off in the game. He presents every threat to you possible.“via SNY
That is more than just a quote from Logan Ryan, that’s art. Brady may not be on our team anymore (*pours one out*), but he’s still my quarterback. With that being said, get your Brady is the Final Boss t-shirts now!
Seattle lost to Arizona on a last second field goal in a wild overtime back and forth affair last night, but the Seahawks may not have even made it a game if not for this DK Metcalf play. In an uncharacteristically bad pass in the red zone (except for this one), Russell Wilson threw an ill advised slant that the Cardinals’ Budda Baker easily intercepted and was off to the house. It should have been an easy pick six as there was nothing but green turf between him and the end zone, except Metcalf was not having it. Metcalf turns on the jets, sprints 90 yards, and runs Baker down from behind.
It was eerily reminiscent of one of the greatest plays in Patriots history that actually came in a loss. In 2005 the Patriots were coming off back to back Super Bowl titles and finished a mediocre 10-6, which was still good enough to win the AFC East. That was essentially fool’s gold though as this team just was not that good and it was before Tom Brady really became the Tom Brady that would carry the Patriots and lead countless comebacks for years to come. After trouncing the Jaguars (and Brady’s current QB coach Byron Leftwich), the Pats moved on to play the Broncos led by Jake the Snake Plummer in the AFC Divisional round. Down 10-6 late in the 3rd quarter, the Patriots were in the red zone and threatening to take the lead. Brady gets pressured out of the pocket and rolls right, throwing on the run and tossing up a jump ball to an allegedly 5’10” Troy Brown. The throw was picked off by All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey, who was 2 yards deep in his own end zone before taking off and running it back for a would be pick six. Only for Patriots tight end Ben Watson to run something like 110 yards from the opposite side of the field to chase down Bailey and SMOKE him at the one yard line.
Bailey was ruled down at the 1-yard line, which should have been ruled a touchback and Patriots ball but it was 15 years ago so I’m not gonna get worked up about that before I even finish my morning coffee.
The Patriots would go on to lose the game 27-13, but it was one I’ll never forget because of that one Ben Watson play.
Oh and the guy that DK Metcalf chased down ran a 4.4 40-yard-dash at the combine by the way so it’s not like he was running down some out of shape linebacker. If only the Patriots could draft receivers like that…
I know that headline is the definition of first world problems and every Jets, Bills, and Dolphins fan in America is probably reaching for the closest pencil to stab me in the eye with. BUT, that doesn’t change the fact that in the midst of a bizarre, start and stop, don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it UNPRECEDENTED season, the Patriots officially have a losing record this late in the year for the first time since 2002! That is WEIRD! A lot of factors have gone into that, mainly the greatest quarterback of all time leaving town, but also this goddamn pandemic screwing with rosters and schedules all across the league.
I mean the Patriots have played all three of their QBs at various points this year and Cam Newton just missed the better part of the last two weeks of practice after a positive COVID test. Add in the fact that the Pats are dealing with injuries/other COVID issues and the team was forced to roll out some Papier-mâché amalgam of an offensive line unit yesterday. Newton was mostly mediocre throwing the ball yesterday with 2 picks and only completing 17 passes all day. In fairness, Newton has completed 15, 30, 17, and 17 passes in each game he’s played in this year so it wasn’t a disastrous drop off, but he did have his worst QB Rating of the year by far at 51.6.
Newton did rush for 76 yards and a TD though, including a 30+ yard run where he stiff armed the shit out of a defender at the end.
Another thing that stuck out to me was the decision to go for 2 instead of just kicking the extra point after scoring to put the game within 9. That was head scratching. If they just kick the XP then they’re only down 8 points, but failing to get the 2 point conversion put the Pats down by 9, which requires them to score twice to come back. Now I know the analytics stat heads say it’s actually smart because getting that play out of the way affects the game script and the team then knows they need two scores regardless, instead of banking on getting a 2 point conversion at the end and leaving yourself no time. I’m not a math or economics guy so I don’t want to sound like a disgruntled scout at the Moneyball table, but that sounds like a bunch of malarkey to me. Luckily it ended up not hurting them after Drew Lock melted and threw two picks to put the Pats right back in the game.
Trent Green: And the key there is no interceptions by Drew Lock.
Or do we rightfully give him and Cam shit for being incapable of moving the ball against a team that just barely beat the Jets the week before? I mean you never want to say it’s a waste if it works, but it didn’t result in a win so it’s kind of a waste to call all these trick plays against the goddamn Broncos because now it’s on film for future opponents to study. The element of surprise is what makes these plays work, despite the fact that I’m almost positive the Pats tried to run this same exact play on the prior series when Edelman got immediately tackled for a 2 yard loss.
I’m pretty sure the play where Newton went out for the reception is the same one that Brady got hurt on last year too. So it just goes to show the stark contrast of this year’s team vs last year’s; there are certain areas where Newton has helped tremendously as Brady nearly broke his leg on that same trick play last year. But the Pats are in a lot more rock fights this year and are just looking to keep opposing teams under 20 points as they’ve become much more reliant on the running game, the defense, and sleight of hand.
I want to err on the side of patience considering Newton and the team barely practiced the last week or two, but hey the same thing happened to the Titans after they flipped the bird to COVID protocols and they rolled in their first game back after essentially zero practices. So who the hell knows what to expect from this team, but I do know there is potential for an elite unit there. Just look back 3 weeks to the Seattle game, which they lost, but Newton went off for 397 yards and 1 TD plus 47 yards and 2 TDs on the ground. So if the Pats can get it together and find some semblance of consistency, which is easier said than done in these UNPRECEDENTED TIMES, then they can be dangerous.
Random Silver Lining of the Day
Cam Newton is in fact not afraid to dive into the pile to recover a fumble, despite sports talk radio hosts roasting Newton about that for weeks after signing with the Pats. Forgetting the fact that the moment in question was one play in a game that happened nearly 5 years ago. This was actually a huge moment that kept the Patriots’ slim chances alive. Cam didn’t play great, but it wasn’t for a lack of grit.
I was flipping back and forth between playoff baseball and the Bucs Bears game last night before settling in for the last few minutes of Thursday Night Football when I saw it was a one score game late in the 4th. The Bears were down and they were driving and after a couple boneheaded plays and a back breaking sack it looked like the Bears were cooked. Except I forgot Nick Foles is a mediocre quarterback who has made a deal with the goddamn devil. BDN dialed up a halfback wheel route rub play and lofted a perfect pass, while backpedaling, right into David Montgomery’s basket, anticipating exactly where the RB would be before he was even past the line of scrimmage.
Facing a key 2nd & 11, #Bears QB Nick Foles identified man coverage and yelled "Rub! Rub!" to Allen Robinson, scheming David Montgomery wide open against a blitz.
That sealed the deal for the Bears right? Nope! Because half the coaches in this league are morons, rather than running three straight downs, forcing the Bucs to burn all their timeouts, and then kicking the Field Goal to win it with no time left, the Bears instead opted to throw the ball and stop the clock! That left more than a minute on the clock for Tom Brady to do Tom Brady things.
Brady came out of the gates firing and rifled a 12 yard completion to Mike Evans who easily got out of bounds to stop the clock. Now the Bucs only needed like 30 yards to get into FB range and get out of there with a win.
Incompletion. Four yard completion. Clock still running. Incompletion off the hands of Gronk. Now if you’re keeping track at home, those three plays put the Bucs at 4th and 6 with a do or die play. Brady throws an incompletion to Brate over the middle. Game over.
Except you then hear Troy Aikman and Joe Buck saying Brady is still on the field looking confused…and then we get this damning shot.
Brady apparently thought it was only now 4th down. What the hell has happened down in Tampa Bay? Never in all my years of lovingly gazing at my TV watching TB12 have I ever seen him make a mental mistake like that. Sure everyone makes physical mistakes, makes bad plays, throws bad passes, but this was different. This was a pure mental error that you just do not see from guys like Brady. The internet was quick to roast him for the gaffe.
It just goes to show what happens when you go from the, as Julian Edelman would say, “Happily Miserable” structure of the Patriots under Bill Belichick to the loosey goosey, deep ball loving, win or lose we still booze head coach in Bruce Arians.
#Bucs coach Bruce Arians on Tom Brady: "He looked like Tom Brady in practice all the time so it’s kind of unusual to see that in a ballgame because they didn’t do things that we didn’t get ready for. Everything they did we thought we were ready for.''
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.
But I thought it was all Jameis’ fault??
Bruce Arians QB’s ALWAYS have career high interceptions.
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.
I woke up to the news that old friend and former Patriot Stephen Gostkowski missed FOUR kicks last night, including an extra point, and I just cringed. Granted one of them was tipped at the line, but holy hell what a disaster for the former Patriots place kicker.
Gostkowski missed 3 Field Goals and 1 Extra Point to leave 10 (!!) points off the board for the Titans (-3)
Now to be fair Stephen Gostkowski was statistically one of the best kickers in the league when he was with the Patriots. And it says a lot that the Pats started just their third kicker in a season opener in the last 20 years on Sunday. However, I never felt 100% comfortable with him kicking in late game situations. I wondered if maybe that was just be me remembering some isolated incidents, but then I went and actually looked it up. Nope, completely justified.
Missed extra point in SB LI
Missed FG AND missed extra point in SB LII
Missed 46 yarder in SB LIII
Missed extra point in the 2015 AFC Championship
Missed game winning FG to lose to Arizona in 2012
Belichick not trusting him and going for it on 4th and 13 at the 32 in SB XLII
Granted he didn’t finish the season due to injury, but he also missed four extra points in 2019.
So best of luck to Gostkowski in Tennessee, love ya, mean it, but Titans fans you are in for a wild ride. Now excuse me while I return to my team as they flip flop between a career journeyman in Nick Folk and a kicker the Pats drafted in the 5th round before cutting!
Dont’a Hightower now becomes the fourth Patriot to opt out of 2020, joining OT Marcus Cannon, FB Danny Vitale and OL Najee Toran. https://t.co/NzfDCxgXEh
And so Patriots RB Brandon Bolden also is planning to opt out of the 2020 season, which would make him the fifth New England player to miss this season.
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.
Am I a piece of shit because I still believe that in the current NFL climate, the Patriots will be better than most people expect because Bill Belichick will have them far better prepared and everyone else will be a mess by comparison?
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.
As you all have heard by now the Patriots did the most Patriots thing ever this week and signed a former elite player on a massively team friendly deal. The marriage of Cam Newton and the Patriots is not something I expected, but I also was told by the Boston media all offseason how high the team was on Jarrett Stidham with Brian Hoyer being the adult in the room for at least a little while. Welp, it seems like Belichick had merely been eyeing a fancy new toy for months just waiting for the price to drop before finally deciding to pull the trigger. Newton comes to New England on an incentive laden one-year prove it deal as the signal caller looks to bounce back from an injury shortened season last year.
Jarrett Stidham’s head must be spinning right now. The heir apparent to the Patriots QB1 only had to beat out veteran journeyman Hoyer to earn the job. Now he’s got Hoyer and a former league MVP boxing him out of the starting gig. Stidham took a road trip to Texas with the wife and got Wally Pipped before he even got off the Pike. Stidham checking his ESPN notifications and seeing the Newton signing:
By the way, this also goes to show you to never, ever, ever discount what the wise guys are saying in Vegas. Oddsmakers had the Patriots as the favorites to sign Newton months ago and we all thought what the hell are they talking about? Whoops.
Julian Edelman seems to already be on board with the former MVP coming to Gillette though.
Using the infamous and ridiculous Cam Newton font in his post legitimately made me laugh out loud.
Although Tom Brady was immediately in Edelman’s comments like an ex-girlfriend trying to honey dick him.
You left Jules, Tom! Let him be happy with someone else.
I’ve been a big fan of Ham Newton’s game ever since his days at Auburn when he crushed my dreams as a Boston based Oregon stan in the National Championship. So I’m pretty excited to see what one of the most dynamic QBs in the game can do with the best coach in the history of the league.
KEY STATS
People point to Newton’s career 59% completion percentage as a reason why he won’t fit here, but I fully expect the Pats to run the snot out of the ball this year. They were already trending that way the last couple of seasons, drafting Sony Michel in the first round, and this past offseason using the franchise tag to bring back Left Tackle Joe Thuney. Now factor in that Newton’s completion % is nearly 10% higher on play action than it is on non-play action plays. His completion percentage on play action is 68%, which will pick teams apart if the Pats can develop a decent running game in 2020.
If the Pats do want to jam Newton into the Tom Brady quick, short pass offense? His accuracy is not as good as Brady’s (Brady is 63% career), but their time holding onto the ball and average yards per throw is surprisingly close. In 2018 (Newton’s last *almost* full season with 14 games) Cam averaged 2.69 Time to Throw compared to Brady’s 2.62 seconds and 5 Completed Air Yards compared to Brady’s 5.6. He also had a Passer Rating of 94.2 compared to Brady’s 97.7 with a Completion Percentage of 67.9 compared to Brady’s 65.8.
Tom Brady is the GOAT and my favorite athlete of all time, but Cam Newton is not a bad replacement if healthy. Newton also only threw two more picks than Brady despite having an Aggressiveness % of 17.2 to Brady’s 13.9. And if that stat is entirely new to you as it is one I found that fits my agenda, have no fear: “Aggressiveness tracks the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes that are into tight coverage, where there is a defender within 1 yard or less of the receiver at the time of completion or incompletion. AGG is shown as a % of attempts into tight windows over all passing attempts.”
INJURY HISTORY
As with any player, especially at QB, a recent injury history like Newton’s is alarming. Pats Pulpit does a great job of breaking it down extensively, but here are the spark notes.
January 2019 – Shoulder surgery on his throwing arm
December 2019 – Foot surgery for a Lisfranc fracture
2014 – Ankle Surgery
It’s not an overly lengthy injury history, but it is a very recent one. Shoulder and foot injuries for a 31-year-old mobile QB are not ideal. Thats why he was available though and the last thing you want to do is repeat the Dolphin’s fatal mistake when they passed on Drew Brees in 2006 because of his shoulder injury. They went with Daunte Culpepper instead and have sucked for the past 14 years, meanwhile the Saints took a chance and won a Super Bowl as Brees flourished into a Hall of Famer.
FIT WITH PATS
As I mentioned earlier, this Patriots team already seemed poised to run the hell out of the ball so bringing in Cam Newton makes sense as they could utilize any of their half dozen runningbacks (is Damien Harris still alive and well?) and run the old Full House package from Madden ad nauseum. I don’t expect the Patriots to morph into an RPO team overnight like the Ravens did with Lamar Jackson, but I do expect a ton of Shotgun and spreading the defense out so Newton can utilize his strengths.
I honestly think James White might catch 100 balls this year (career high 87 in 2018). Newton looves throwing to his runningbacks. Sure he’s had the best RB in the game in Christian McCaffrey, but Newton threw to his RB1 more and more each year. From 2016-2019 McCaffrey had 80, 107, and 116 receptions on 113, 124, and a whopping 142 targets last year. Somewhat surprisingly that was *only* 8th in the NFL in total targets, but it also was 34 (!) more than any other RB in the game.
Obviously the Patriots have not had a mobile quarterback really ever, even before Brady, but when you see the actual numbers compared to Newton it is jarring.
Mobile quarterbacks have only very recently started to find success in the NFL so it clearly never hurt the Patriots before, but adding this element to their offense will be a welcome bonus to having Newton under center.
Mike Reiss said on ESPN the other day he believes the Pats will keep their offense 75% the same with about 25% changed to suit Newton.
Lets not forget that Josh McDaniels did in fact draft Tim Tebow in the first round back in 2010 while he was the HC in Denver. The Pats also had some fun with their most mobile quarterback since Doug Flutie when Jacoby Brissett was forced into emergency starting duties against the Texans in 2016. The Pats ran some RPO and Brissett ran the ball 10 times that game, including this 30 yard TD on a designed QB run.
And Brissett’s not even a mobile quarterback! He just looked that way compared to the Clydesdale that is TB12. Cam Newton ran a 4.59 40 yard dash at the combine compared to Brissett’s 4.94. Granted Newton has since had foot surgery, but my point is the Pats had a great game plan for a guy that runs a slower 40 time than me. Imagine what kind of damage they can do with a guy like Newton?
EXPECTATIONS
I’ve said in the past that watching Newton last year he looked cooked, but coming off a shoulder surgery less than a year prior and then injuring his foot really decimated any chance he had of stepping into throws. Not to mention his ability to scramble, so its no surprise he looked terrible. But Cam was great as recently as 2018 even though his season was cut short after 14 games with the shoulder injury. In 2018 Newton threw for 3,400 yards, 24 TDs, 13 INTs, 67.9% completion percentage, 94.2 Rating, with 488 yards rushing and 4 TDs. A far cry from his MVP year, but this is also with him throwing to his runningback, DJ Moore, Devin Funchess, Jarius Wright, Curtis Samuel, something called Ian Thomas, and a 33-year-old Greg Olsen. Not a ton of household names in there outside of McCaffrey.
CBS Sports’ Will Brinson was on Toucher and Rich this week calling Cam the greatest QB in league history and is *very* high on the fit.
“I think if Cam is healthy, Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick will unleash a really lethal offense…Rob Gronkowski is the second greatest red zone threat in league history and Cam Newton is No. 1 because he can run the ball.”
Although would it surprise me if Belichick just up and decides it’s not working and cuts Newton in training camp? With an incentive laden one-year contract, it would not shock me. I’d hate to see that happen though because this is the most excited I’ve been to watch the Patriots since Brady left for Tampa.
The fit remains to be seen, but I think Newton is DYING to prove he is still an elite QB in a league that is now littered with mobile QBs. Newton was the prototype so it must really piss him off to see half a dozen QBs winning with his blueprint. He wants to prove he is still the alpha and if he is fully healthy, motivation will not be a problem so I am excited to see what Belichick and McDaniels do with him.
JERSEY TIME?
I have to admit, I was pretty meh on the new Pats jerseys when they came out, but I think part of that was probably with Brady leaving town there wasn’t really any other players that made me want to buy a $100 jersey. I already have an Edelman jersey, Devin McCourty flirts with retirement more and more these days, Dont’a Hightower is also on the wrong side of 30. I love Chase Winovich, but I need to see him on the field more before I even think about elevating him to jersey status. N’Keal Harry needs to catch about a dozen touchdowns this year to get into this conversation. So who does that leave? Maybe Stephon Gilmore? I guess if I had to pull the trigger it would be either White (a Super Bowl hero) or Patrick Chung (a longtime Patriot who does anything and everything). BUT, I gotta say, this looks pretty sexy.
I have a rule that I don’t buy jerseys of players unless they have recently signed a contract extension so as to not end up with another Sergei Samsonov jersey that immediately became a throwback about a week after I bought it. But if Ham Newton has 10 touchdowns in September, it’s going to be pretty hard to keep my credit card in my pocket. Even if he is only on a one-year contract.
Would still be a better jersey to won than the two *different* guys I’ve seen wearing John Lynch Patriots jerseys in Allston over the years (Lynch retired before the start of the 2008 season).
Or maybe the injuries have finally caught up to a guy who has absolutely abused his body for the past decade and Newton really is cooked. Well its a win-win situation for the Pats. They get a 31-year-old, hyper motivated former MVP QB, who will not be fazed in the slightest about replacing a legend and ultimately dominates with a fresh start OR we get A+ fashion shows every week that will provide weeks worth of content.
I have quoted Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech since I saw it painted on our weight room wall at UM in 1995. It’s a constant reminder to ignore the noise, buckle my chinstrap, and battle through whatever comes my way.
Talk about conflicting emotions watching this teaser for Tom Brady’s upcoming documentary, Man in the Arena. This is the type of stuff that was better than porn in my household for the last 20 years: The Brady 6, The Great Brady Heist, Tom vs Time. I could go on and on, hell I wrote a full blog about exactly this: A List of the Top Tom Brady Documentaries, Cameos, and Skits to Watch While Self Quarantining. Watching this now though is bittersweet knowing Brady is no longer a Patriot. Hopefully the NFL is able to play games this season, but even if they are my favorite player of all time is down in Florida and it’s not in a retirement home.
A lot of New England fans hold a grudge against Brady for leaving and while I am upset he left, I can’t hold it against the guy after everything he’s done for this franchise. He became the greatest player of all time with what amounts to two Hall of Fame careers, won 6 Super Bowls, and turned the Patriots into the most successful dynasty in league history. So if after 20 years of working for a hard ass like Belichick he finally had enough and wanted to enjoy himself a bit more, as a person I get that.
I can’t believe he’s partnering with ESPN for this though. Especially after the success of Tom vs Time on Facebook. On the one hand, if I was Tom Brady and the media brand that tried to smear my reputation and destroy my career multiple times asked to partner with me on a documentary I would tell them to go piss up a rope. On the other hand, Brady is trying to get his 199 Productions studio running at full speed right out of the gate and ESPN is is the Worldwide Leader so it makes business sense. I’d rather tell ESPN to kick rocks than go into business with them if I’m Brady, but I guess this is why I wouldn’t be a very good politician.
But my god get the tissues ready because this documentary is going to break me. I feel like my Perfect 10 girlfriend left me and I’ve just been avoiding those emotions for months pretending nothing happened. I advise everyone to take Bill Burr’s sage advice on how to handle a breakup and deal with the little things:
I am not a draft expert nor do I do enough research to put together mock drafts like some of the other bloggers here at The 300s, but hindsight is more fun anyways. With that being said, I have a pretty wait and see type attitude on the draft because it’s impossible to grade a draft before anyone even laces up their Nikes. Anyone who says they know otherwise is lying to you.
1st Round: Patriots trade the No. 22 pick to the Charges for two 3rd rounders, No. 37 and No. 71
Least surprising (non) pick of the draft, which doesn’t make it any less frustrating for everyone waiting for the Patriots to pick for 3 hours before they traded out. Schefter also said the Pats could still get the guy they wanted at No. 37 instead of picking him at No. 22. Well I guess give them credit for not reaching on their first pick THIS far, but maybe that says more about overvaluing a guy a bit much? Remains to be seen.
Their first pick of the night was a safety from a Division II school I’ve never even heard of. At first glance this seems like an absolutely bananas reach, but most mock drafts didn’t have Dugger too much lower than where the Pats took him. From all the reports I’ve read he seems to be a freak athlete with the ability to float around position-wise on the field plus he returns punts, which the Pats desperately need someone besides Edelman to do well. All things that Belichick loves. At 6’2″ he adds another big body at corner for the Pats next to 6’1″ Stephon Gilmore and 6’3″ Joejuan Williams. Projects to be an eventual replacement for Patrick Chung and could likely drop down to cover tight ends like Chung.
Also, Scott Zolak shamed anyone for shitting on a Division II player because of his experience playing with a DII player himself.
You can all sit there and laugh at D2 kids. I played with Ben Coates. One of the greatest TEs of all time. Stud, went to Livingstone College. It’s now defunct. We laughed at him til he took that pass in fiat 55 yards vs Bills. It’s football
Uche is an undersized edge guy who didn’t start a game at Michigan until his senior year, which doesn’t sound great, but is a high ceiling freak athlete who excelled at the Senior Bowl against other top competition. He also has the positional flexibility to play LB or on the line, which the Pats love.
Josh Uche can play linebacker or as a pass rusher in the Patriots' defense. Think Kyle Van Noy or Jamie Collins. Super athletic. He can fill multiple roles in the Patriots' defense. Shorter but super long arms.
This team is BARREN at tight end so I expect Asiasi to compete for the starting role Day 1 if he can pick up the playbook.
Oh hell yeah, Belichick. #Patriots draft Devin Asiasi, one of my favorite tight ends in the draft. Burst and speed to get vertical up the seam and change of direction. Pass-catcher. https://t.co/GH7iPEnAKo
3rd Round No. 101: Virginia Tech TE Dalton Keene (6’4″ 253 lbs):
Dalton “The Cooler” Keene. Dalton “Pain Don’t Hurt” Keene. This kid better have seen Roadhouse because I am not referring to him as anything other than Swayze references from here on out. People complained the Patriots did nothing to plan for life after Gronk last year so this year they went ahead and drafted two tight ends back to back in the 3rd. Seems aggressive, but the Pats got next to nothing out of the position last year and had one of the worst tight end groups in the league (37 catches, 2 TDs). The Pats haven’t taken two tight ends in the same draft, let alone back to back, since the Gronk/Hernandez draft in 2010.
Another tight end for the #Patriots: Dalton Keene was the best tester at tight end at the combine this year. https://t.co/7b52viqz2x
Kicker was a big need for the Pats after the debacle last season and cutting Gostkowski this offseason. Taking a kicker in the fifth round though is questionable. Taking a kicker that wasn’t really on anyone’s board also isn’t ideal. Oh and apparently there wasn’t even much game film of him except for a few YouTube clips. Sweet! Before the next pick was even in though the internet had descended on Rohrwasser for a tattoo on his arm that apparently symbolizes some right wing gun nut group the 3 Percenters. Jemelle Hill wasted no time in labeling his a white supremacist. Rohrwasser quickly denied that he supported the group saying he didn’t understand what the tat meant and he’d be getting it covered up. A bad look for the kid out of the gate, but not entirely unbelievable. He also had a questionable IG post about a controversial public speaker. Not a great start, but maybe we give the kid more than five minutes in the public eye before collectively deciding to #cancel him.
6th Round No. 182: Michigan OG Mike Onwenu (6’3″ 350 lbs):
New Patriots guard Michael Onwenu allowed two sacks in 1,198 pass-blocking snaps at Michigan, per @pff. Zero last season.
Patriots just got the OL steal of the draft imo. Michael Onwenu is a stud. Late 3rd rd grade from me. People overvalue traits a little bit at guard, plenty of guards that aren't elite athletes but physically and technically do just fine. That's him
6th Round No. 195: Wake Forest OL Justin Herron (6’5″ 305 lbs):
Herron was a four year starter and a team captain at Wake Forest last year.
The Patriots select Wake Forest OT Justin Herron with their next sixth-round pick, No. 195. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound Herron was a team captain last year, when he was a grad student at the school.
Absolute MONEY name. Mike Reiss projects him as a special teamer.
The Patriots select Wyoming LB Cassh Maluia with their next sixth-round pick (No. 204). He is 5-foot-11 and 231 pounds, and ran a 4.53 in the 40. Could be eyed with core special teams contributions in mind.
My biggest gripe with this draft was that the Patriots didn’t take a single WR in a loaded receiver class or a single QB even as guys like Jake Fromm continued to slide. It seems like Bill is pretty comfortable with Stidham throwing to the current depth chart of Julian Edelman, N’Keal Harry, Mohamed Sanu, and Jacoby Meyers. Not terrible, but it also wasn’t enough last year with Tom Brady throwing to them. So hopefully the combination of a young QB actually throwing to fellow young players, the addition of a couple tight ends, Sanu getting healthy, oh and the addition (for now) of WR Marquise Lee is a serviceable receiver core.
Almost as if he could hear all of our bitching from his place on Nantucket, Bill then signed two quarterbacks, four receivers, and another pair of tight ends (not including Thaddeus Moss) immediately following the draft. All four receivers are 5’11” or shorter though as the team may be looking to plan for the future at slot.
Undrafted free agents signed by the Patriots (via Patriots.com)
QB Brian Lewerke, Michigan State (6’2″, 213 lbs)
QB J’Mar Smith, Louisiana Tech (6′, 228 lbs)
WR Will Hastings, Auburn (5’10”, 175 lbs)
This one intrigues me the most as Hastings was Jarret Stidham’s go to slot receiver at Auburn.
WR Sean Riley, Syracuse (5’8″, 178 lbs)
WR Isaiah Zuber, Mississippi State (5’11”, 184 lbs)
WR Jeff Thomas, Miami (5’9″, 170 lbs)
TE Rashod Berry, Ohio State (6’3″, 263 lbs)
TE Jake Burt, Boston College (6’3″, 260 lbs)
Hey a guy I’ve actually seen play in person before! He also got a pretty big signing bonus so the Pats clearly see something.
Boston College TE Jake Burt, an undrafted free agent, is signing with the New England Patriots and is receiving $80,000 guaranteed to do it, one of the larger guarantees for undrafted TEs, per source.
As a fellow short, I love this pickup. The little wrecking ball racked up over 3,000 rushing yards in college so he’s not just a third down guy.
DT Bill Murray, William & Mary (6’4″, 280 lbs)
DE Nick Coe, Auburn (6’4″, 280 lbs)
DE Trevon Hill, Miami (6’3″, 248 lbs)
LB Kyahva Tezino, San Diego State (6′, 235 lbs)
LB De’Jon Harris, Arkansas (5’11”, 234 lbs)
“Per NESN, the Patriots gave Harris a significant deal to join the team, perhaps illustrating how high his chances are to make the team as an Elandon Roberts, early-down linebacker replacement.”
The 300s 