Skip to main content

Five Things to Watch This Week - Week 11

The Patriots play their tenth game of the year at Bank of America Stadium against the Carolina Panthers on Monday, November 18 at 8:40 PM.

Welcome back.  It feels like forever since we've last seen a Patriots game.

How'd the Patriots look against the Steelers?  Pretty good!

Shane Vereen may play again this week.  Looking forward to seeing him back out there.


COACH GOING TO YELL AT THE BEN.  TOTALLY NOT THE BEN'S FAULT!


Andre Power Rankings

1) the Giant

2) 3000

3) Carter

4) that seal movie

5) Dawson


Here's five guys I'll be staying up late to watch Monday night:

1) Tom Brady - Brady had  432 yards and 4 TDs last week (252 yards in the first half) against Pittsburgh.  Plus he looked the most comfortable I've seen him all season.

2) Aaron Dobson - It feels like Dobson is finally breaking away from the other rookie WRs.

3) Stevan Ridley - Ridley has been looking strong.

4) Chandler Jones - 8.5 sacks already this year.  That's a lot of sack.

5) Danny Amendola - I suppose I should say something nice about Amendola here.  Ummm... He had a good game... I guess?  (I'd still rather have Welker back...)


Did Michael Hoomanawanui have a catch last week?

YEAH!


My prediction: Pats 27, Panthers 21

My prediction (Season): 12 - 4*

ADJUSTED!

*I've been sticking with 10 - 6 all season up to this point.  But it's probably pretty unlikely they're going to go 3 - 4 over the last seven games.

*****

This year, we're going to have regular contributions from Fake Bill Belichick for your reading pleasure.  Here's this week's selection from Fake Bill Belichick's third book "My Life Away From Football":

Last offseason.  Still looking to see if there was something I could do other than football.

Actually thought about retiring for a bit.  Went to see my old mentor Bill Parcells and see how he was doing in retirement.

"You want a beer?"

"No thanks.  It's 9:45 in the morning."

"Bourbon then?"

"Uh, no."

"Fine.  More for me then."

"Congratulations on your Hall of Fame induction, Coach."

"Thanks!  I'm thinking of skipping the ceremony."

"Seriously?"

"Nah, not really!  I'm just messing with you.  Got you good, didn't I?"

"Yeah.  I guess so."

"So what brings you down here today, Billy Boy?"

"Thinking about maybe leaving coaching.  I'm wondering if I've lost my passion for it."

"WHAT?  I'd go back in a second if I could.  Never walk away."

"OK."

"Remember the time we made Charlie Weis do the truffle shuffle?"

"Yes."

"That was awesome."

"Yeah.  I guess it was kinda awesome."

"What other line of work are you going to make memories like that?  Did I tell you about the silk panties on gameday thing?"

"Yeah, I'm not doing that."

"Besides... What else are you going to do with yourself?  It's not like you're going to get an analyst job and go on TV or anything.  You hate those people."

He was right.  He may be completely crazy.  But he was right.

I had to get back to coaching.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Three Things to Watch This Week - Week 15

The New England Patriots play The Ben and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Sunday December 16th at 4:25 PM. Plenty of positive takeaways from last week... well, until the last play (Gronk didn’t want to get in the way of a 69 yard touchdown). Gronk shouldn't have been out there on the last play.  There's no way a gimpy Tannehill was going to chuck one 70 yards.  Harrumph. Powers Power Rankings: 1) Boothe 2) Austin 3) Stephanie 4) Vested in me 5) Bleeding  6) (Irish whiskey) Here are three things I'm feeling good about this week: 1) Josh Gordon - Gordon has been better than expected so far.  Can you imagine the numbers Gordon could have put up if he had been here his whole career (and, well, sober)?  Guh. 2) James White - James White rules. 3) Jacob Hollister - I thought this was going to be Hollister's breakout year...  So far, he has 4 catches for the season.  There's still time! Did Rob Gronkowski play last week...

Five Things to Watch This Week - Week 14

The Patriots play their thirteenth regular season game at home (!) against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday December 13th at 1:00 PM at Gillette Stadium. Oh man...  I picked a hell of a year to start a Patriots blog... I feel like I'm chronicling the Fall of the Roman Empire. The offense looks stale.  The defense went from "young and fast" to "inexperienced". And a big part of the problem is... (gulp)... Brady.  He looks too predictable out there at times.  Welker is making him better at this point. Here's what I think is going on:   - Some of the creativity is gone from the offense.  Bill O'Brien is no Josh McDaniels   - Nobody is stepping up after Welker and Moss.  Sam Aiken is nice special teamer / 4th or 5th receiver, but they could actually use a Gaffney or a Stallworth.   - Brady has got a baby on the way (UPDATE - he just had a boy).  Don't laugh.  He looked like crap last time he had a kid coming.  (To...

Five Things to Watch This Week.

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...