Thursday Morning Third Down Back

By Patty O'Tool Downs Joey Galloway - It's a good thing they had a home game yesterday. Brady might have dropped Galloway out of the plane at 30,000 feet. I really, really wish we had kept Greg Lewis instead (seeing Lewis all over Sports Center this morning hasn't helped). Special Teams - Bluh . We look like C-R-A-P on kick-off coverage. The Redskins - Oh my Gawd, they suck. Doesn't anyone else see how bad they suck? Ups Brady - Was he pissed at the end of the first half or what? I like it. It also looked like he had a ton of time all day. Fred Taylor - Wow, he looked really good. I don't know how many more miles are left on those tires, but I like what I saw yesterday. And it's amazing how much better the play-action works when there is actually the threat of a running game. Defense - I've been right about the D. They're good. Not great. But good. Granted, a huge part of that has been that they haven't had to spend that much time on the

By Patty O'Tool The Patriots play their third regular season game at home against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday September 27 th at 1:00 PM. So far, my predictions have not been so hot. But like some unholy combination of Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, I'm just gonna keep talkin ', ONLY LOUDER. If my predictions have been off, that's YOUR FAULT. 1) Defense - The defense has been surprisingly decent so far. Who would have guessed? Their biggest challenge to date comes this week. 2) Penalties - I think there were 4 "Delay of Game" penalties last week. Wha ? Huh? I don't think I've ever seen that with Brady at the helm. I'm guessing they spent some time on that in practice this week. 3) The Game Plan - Where was the screen game last week? I would have called twelve straight screens to Kevin Faulk , but that's just me. Not a big fan of the play calling so far this year. Hopefully, they'll get back to the ground game this week.

By Patty O'Tool Downs Joey Galloway - Either Brady is overthrowing him, or he's running the wrong route on every single play. Tom Brady - He doesn't look right. ugh. This could be a long season. Me - I'm hurtin'. That one sucked. Moving on... Ups Julian Edelman - Played OK. Not great, but OK. Defense - I thought the defense played well (Wilhite especially). The fact that defense isn't the glaring weakness we thought it was going to be has been a pleasant surprise so far. Uniform Record: Pat Patriot 1 - 0. Flying Elvis 0 - 1.

By Patty O'Tool The Patriots play their second regular season game at the New York Jets on Sunday September 20th at 1:00 PM. I will be watching Sunday Services at the Church of the Immaculate Hoodie from the comfort of my couch (Have you gone to HD yet? You'll never leave the house again...) 1) Rex Ryan - Is he nuts or what? But at least we know he has a pulse (unlike, say, Dick Jauron). I like getting your team fired up and all... But what if they go out there and lose? Like Butthead says, "You can talk the talk, but you have to... uh... like... walk, too." (Plus there's this in case you missed. Tremendous, but not in any way safe for work.) 2) Tom Brady - The rust should be off this week. It was against the Jets in '07 that we first saw that "Brady to Moss" was going to be something special. I expect Tom to kick some ass. Plus, you can tell he's pissed about all the "embarrass the Patriots" talk that has been coming from

By Patty O'Tool Down Tom Brady (0:00 - 55:00) - Shaking the rust off? Feeling out the new knee? Where's the Tom Brady I knew and loved from 2007? The footwork doesn't look like what we're used to seeing out of Brady. Like he's trying to get it there all with his arm. Bill O'Brien (QB Coach / Unofficial Offensive Coordinator) - Dude, you've got the keys to one of the best offensive machines ever assembled. Act like you know what you're doing. Joey Galloway - I think I saw him out there last night, but I'm not really sure. Up Tom Brady (55:00 - 60:00) - There he is! Pierre Woods - Way to be in the right place at the right time to force that fumble. And kudos to Meriweather for standing McKelvin up until help could arrive. Way to play smart football, guys. Ben Watson - He made a couple of great grabs. Unfortunately, those two TDs will probably be his total for the year. It was a win, but it sure wasn't pretty. Either the Pats aren't as

By Patty O'Tool The Patriots play their first regular season game at home against the Buffalo Bills on Monday September 14 th at 7:00 PM. What a great first weekend of NFL Football. Hopefully, you got to watch a game or two. Good times. (Except for the Redskins. Watching Jason Campbell makes me hate football.) FOR THE LOVE OF GAWD, WHY AREN'T ALL MONDAY NIGHT GAMES INVOLVING TWO EAST COAST TEAMS ON AT 7:00 PM? It just makes too much sense. Nobody on the West Coast is going to watch this game anyway. Plus, I'm old. I want to go to bed at a reasonable hour. 1) DE-FENSE (clap clap clap). I'm looking for nothing short of 4 sacks and 2 picks tonight. We should able to build up a big lead and get after Edwards early and often. If we give up more than 14 points to the Bills, I'm going to consider that a disappointment. 2) Pats' Secondary: I expect this group to be much better by the end of the season. Good thing we get to start easy. T.O. or no T.O., it&#

The Patriots traded Richard Seymour to Oakland for 2011 first-round pick over the weekend. My first thought was " Whaaaat ?!" And then I paused and thought about it a bit. And I reached for my special Belichick Kool Aid I keep on ice for occasions such as this. If Belichick thinks Seymour has lost a step, who am I to judge? He's obviously not the same player he was 3 - 4 years ago. When was the last time you saw Seymour make a play? Jarvis Green and Mike Wright come in off the bench and make plays all the time. Just sayin '. Does this mean we get to keep Vince Wilfork when his contract is up? Yes? Good. I'm in. Was Seymour going to leave after this year anyway? Probably. So is one year of Seymour worth a first round pick two years down the road? I say yes. Plus it's OAKLAND's pick. So you know it will be a top 10 pick.

By Patty O'Tool The Patriots play their fourth preseason game at home against the New York Giants on Thursday, September 3rd at 7:30 PM Oh man, do I hate the Giants. I still wake up thinking about how close we were to 19 and 0. I don't think I'll ever get over that. Here's five things I'll be watching for on Thursday: 1) Tom Brady. How well does he hold the clipboard on the sideline? Does he hold it with his left hand or his right hand? Will he be in uniform or street clothes? These are the big questions for #12 tonight. 2) Laurence Maroney . OK, kid. I've been apologizing for you for three years now. Show me something. 3) Joey Galloway. I have no emotional attachment to this guy. I could care less if makes the team. He looks like crap out there so far. 4) Linebackers. Bruschi's gone. We're young and fast now. But are we any good ? 5) BenJarvus Green-Ellis. This might be the last time we see him a Patriots uniform. If he gets cut, som

What?! We could have had Ron Dayne instead of Belichic k ? Why?! Why?!