Thursday Morning Third Down Back

The Patriots play their fourth game of the year at the Georgia Dome against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday September 29th at 8:30 PM. After a 3 - 0 start, we're playing our first real  team of the season this week (sorry Bills fans) .  The schedule gets a lot more challenging over the next few weeks.  Everybody hold on to your butts. The "Gronkowski  is back" rumors are heating up this week.  Eh.  I'll believe it when I see him on the field.  Until then, he's Keyser Soze. ( "Nobody believed he was real... Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him..." ) Last week I referred to Rob Ninkovich as a "gem".  This week, he got a three year contract extension.  Coincidence?  Yes, probably. Bill is super excited for Sunday's game, you guys. How are the new WRs working out so far? Catches per game:         Week 1         Week 2               Week 3 Kenbrell Thompkins 4

The Patriots play their third game of the year at Gillette against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday September 22nd at 1:00 PM. Bluh. I don't ever remember being 2 - 0 and feeling this lousy about my team. The defense has looked good so far. The offense has looked... not good. Fortunately Tom Brady is being super patient and understanding with the young receivers and not making too big a deal out of things. WHY MUST I BE SO HANDSOME?! I feel bad for Brady.  I'm sure this isn't how he planned his last few years in the league.  Hopefully this offense gets better fast.  (NOTE: Also remember this man literally goes home to his supermodel wife and owns a castle with a moat .  Let's not feel too bad for him.) It's not time to hit the PANIC BUTTON just yet.   But maybe we break out the lower your expectations button for this season.  (See that?  That's a much less threatening font.) Stephen Power Rankings: 1) King 2) Colbert 3) Gost

The Patriots play their second game of the year at Gillette against the New York Jets on Thursday September 12th at 8:25 PM. That was a horrible win in Buffalo last week.  That was the very definition of an ugly win.  LET'S OVERREACT TO EVERYTHING WE JUST SAW! There was NO pass rush.  There was NO pass defense. The running game was good... Except for the fumbles. The new wide receivers looked lost.  (Belichick's going to pull 4 guys out of the stands next week and see if Brady can throw to them.)  Brady must have thrown a fit on the flight back. (A very handsome, stylish fit of anger...) The good news is the defense only gave up 14 points. The bad news is Kenbrell Thompkins just fell over again (maybe there's a reason he went undrafted). I must have this outfit. Jamie Power Rankings: 1) Lannister  (what?  It's  Jaime  Lannister?  Eh... Close enough.) 2) Collins 3) 's Cryin' 4) Lee Curtis  ( Relevant! ) 5) Farr ... 11,895) Lynn Sig

The Patriots play their first game of the year at The Ralph against the Buffalo Bills of Western New York and the Greater Toronto Area on Sunday September 8th at 1:00 PM. Another off-season is in the books.  Football is BACK! I'm guessing this will be a bit of a down year for the Patriots.  Too much roster turnover on offense.  But, thankfully, for this team that means going 10 and 6. The AFC East is just... bad.  Awful.  Rather terrible, even.  I don't see how they go less than 5 - 1 in the division.  Then it's just play .500 against the rest of the teams on the schedule.  Boom.  10 and 6. I'm not even expecting good  out of this defense.  I'd be happy with just average . I have no idea who this is. Nate Power Rankings: 1) Solder 2) Fisher  3) Dogg  ( What?  He's dead?  R.I.P., Nate Dogg ) 4) Silver 5) the Great 6) Ebner 7) Robinson The good news is we still have TB12.  And as long as you have Brady, you&