Thursday Morning Third Down Back

The Patriots play their seventh regular season game at Gillette against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, October 31st at 4:15 PM. No column last week. I was home Friday with a sick toddler. It threw off my whole writing routine. Sorry if you spent your whole week looking forward to my Friday musings. /sad game show sound Let's get right back on that horse. Here's five things I'll be watching for this week. 1) Coaching - Did anyone think we'd be 5 and 1 at this point?  With this team?  I love love love me some Belichick. There's no one I'd rather have as a coach (and yes... I'm one of the people who consistently defends his need to go for it on forth down. Sometimes a little "Eff You" attitude is a good thing in football. Look at the way the Ravens totally turtled down the stretch against the Pats in Week 6). Look around the league. There's maybe 4 or 5 good coaches. That's it. We're not exactly living in a Golden Ag...

The Patriots play their fifth regular season game at Gillette against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, October 17th at 1:00 PM. We're back! I hate hate hate that bye week. I didn't know what to do with myself. I had to go run a 5K just to feel useful. On a personal note, I pulled my name off the Patriots season ticket waiting list last week. My name came up -- I finally would have gotten tickets next year. Eleven years I wanted on that list. But... I just don't have the free time I did when I was a younger man. I can't give up 10 Sundays a year out of my life. Watching the NFL on a high def TV is now such a good experience, it almost doesn't make sense to go to the games in person anymore. Watching the game at home means cheap beer and instant access to the bathroom. My couch is warm and dry. And I don't have to give up a whole day away from my family. But still... I'm a little sad about the whole thing. Here's five things I'll be...

"I felt a great disturbance in Patriot Nation, as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened..."

The Patriots play their forth regular season game at Joe Robbie Stadium Pro Player Park Pro Player Stadium Dolphin Stadium Dolphins Stadium Land Shark Stadium Sun Life Stadium against the Miami Dolphins on Monday October 4th at 8:30 PM. Our defense is... bad . Even I can't fool myself into thinking it's going to be OK anymore. The offense is going to need to up 35 points a week if we're going to have a chance. We're officially the Colts now. Here's five things I'll be watching for this week. 1) BenJarvus Green-Ellis - Maroney is gone. Fred Taylor hasn't practiced all week. Is this the week Law Firm becomes a star? 2) Randy Moss - He's still awesome. Go watch this in case you missed it last week. (The ref actually has pretty good coverage over the top...) 3) Tom Brady - One more win gives him 100 for his career. That's awesome. 4) Aaron Hernandez / Rob Gronkowski - Apparently the Dolphins have trouble covering Tight Ends . We have two great...