Thursday Morning Third Down Back

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Philip Rivers and the San Diego Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium on Sunday October 29th at 1:00 PM. We get it.  You vape. Mash Power Rankings: 1) -ed potatoes 2) monster 3) (movie) 4) bill 5) dastardly  We lost Hightower for the season ?  Farts. With inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, let's focus on the ground game this week: 1) Dion Lewis - I've never seen anyone cut and change direction as fast as he can. 2) James White - He's been fantastic on third downs.  He's like that third bowl of porridge for this offense.  Juuuuust right. 3) Rex Burkhead - Is this the week Burkhead has his breakout game?  Maybe! My prediction:  Patriots 27, Chargers 24 ***** This year, we're going to have regular contributions from Fake Bill Belichick for your reading pleasure. Arrrgh!  It be me, the Dread Pirate Bill. The only thing I love more than ...

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons at Gillette Stadium on Sunday October 22nd at 8:30 PM. Not a touchdown Quinn Power Rankings: 1) Mighty 2) Anthony 3) Colin 4) Doctor 5) Harley ... 39) Dan An 8:30 PM game?  Yikes.  I'm not going to be able to watch this ones with my sons Macallan and Lagavulin. I know the Patriots are 4 - 2 but... eh?  I just don't know. I think at this time last week I would have picked the Falcons over the Patriots.  With the revenge factor and whatnot.  But then... the Falcons blew a 17 point lead and lost to the Dolphins?!  For real?  That can't be right. 1) Dont’a Hightower - He doesn't get a ton of them, but Hightower has this strange ability to just go out and get a sack in a really big moment. 2) Dion Lewis - Lewis got some extra work after Mike Gillislee put one on the ground last week.  He deserves more touches. (Just two th...

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Josh McCown and the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday October 15th at 1:00 PM. Martin Power Rankings: 1) Chief Brody 2) Scorsese 3) Steve (defensive tackle) 3a) Steve (actor comedian) 4) Short 5) Lawrence 6) George R.R. 7) Starr 8) Freeman 9) Sheen 10) Dean 11) Mull The Patriots won ugly last week.  The good news is... that still counts as a win.  The bad news is that it took 3 missed FGs by the Bucs to seal the deal . I've got to be honest with you.  I felt a little bad for Nick Folk.  Going out there and yakking 3 kicks in front of the home crowd has got to be a horrible feeling. Moving forward.  I'm going to try to be as positive as possible this week. 1) Malcolm Butler - I still feel like he's our best corner.  He's a great tackler.  And he helps out in the run game.  (UPDATE: Stephon Gilmore is out this week.) 2) Brandin Cooks - I ...

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on Thursday October 5th at 8:25 PM. What do we think of the defense so far? Marvin Rankings: 1) Suggs 2) Berry (Your cousin! Marvin Berry!) 3) Marvin from  Pulp Fiction (1994) 4) Gaye 5) Lee 6) Hamlisch 7) Windows and Doors 8) Hagler Ooooh boy, that was poor last week.  Not just the last second field goal.  I mean sure, that was rough, too.  But everything leading up to that was ugly.  Can we get one stop on defense? Just one?  Please? Here are three things I'm worried about for Thursday (in addition to the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow): 1) Stephon Gilmore - Did they sign Gilmore to that huge contract just because he's tall?  So far that looks like his only skill. 2) Rob Gronkowski - Every time I see three guys take Gronk down, I'm afraid he's not going to get up again....