Thursday Morning Third Down Back

The Patriots play their fifteenth game of the season at Gillette against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday December 24th at 1:00 PM. Yay!  Saturday football. Don't look now, but the Pats are on track to have the number one seed in the AFC. Really. With that defense. Really. Aaron Hernandez makes it rain against the Broncos. Dear Santa - I want a pass rush for Patriots this year for Christmas in these last few games.  Please?  What's that?  We lost Andre Carter last week?  Oh... OK. Here's five guys in the secondary I'll be hoping can pick things up a bit in the next few weeks: 1) Patrick Chung - Will Chung be back this week ?  Maybe!  2) Devin McCourty - Is he getting slightly less terrible as the year goes on?  Kinda.  Not a great sophomore year for #32. 3) Kyle Arrington - Also questionable.  I see a lot of "questionables" on the injury report this week.  Outlook not good. 4) James Ihedigbo - I think he got h...

The Patriots play their fourteenth game of the season against the Denver Tebows Broncos at Invesco Field at Mile High on Sunday December 18th at 4:15 PM. Aaaaand we're back to 4:15 games this week.  Crap. Also... There's only three regular season games left.  Crap crap. Who had their sexual assault charges dropped this week?  THIS GUY! Anyone watch any ESPN this week?  I'll recap for you: Tebow.  Tebow Tebow. Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow. Tebow Tebow? Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow Tebow. How do you contain Tebow?  He's too fast for a lineman to catch him.  He's too big for a defensive back to take him down.  If I'm the defensive coordinator for the Patriots this week, I want linebackers taking up space and making tackles.  Linebackers everywhere.  Put 5 or 6 of them out there at a time (note to self - do we even have 6 healthy linebackers at this point?)....

The Patriots play their thirteenth game of the season against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field on Sunday December 11th at 1:00 PM. Oh wow... That field looks like crap. I predicted a complete and total blow-out last week ... and I was way off.  I can't handle watching this defense give up 500 yards every week. From now on, I'm going to turn the channel when the Pats don't have the ball.  Maybe I'll watch a movie or something. Here's five guys on offense I'm going to be watching this week: 1) Tom Brady - Brady is going to have to play out of his mind for us to do anything in the playoffs. 2) Benjarvus Green-Ellis - It's December.  Time to start giving BJGE the rock. 3) Stevan Ridley - Still loving this kid.  4.8 yards per carry. 4) Chad Ochocinco - Up to 12 catches on the year now.  Or, you know, about one game's worth of balls for Wes Welker. 5) Matthew Slater - And let's go with Matthew Slater.  Sure. Why not? Also, Mike S...

The Patriots play their twelfth game of the season against BYE the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette on Sunday December 4th at 1:00 PM. Finally!  A 1 o'clock game!  This pleases me.  Hopefully I can watch the whole game without having to get off the couch.  That's pretty much all I want in my life these days... a little uninterrupted couch time. Vince Young is not so good. There's been some great battles between the Pats and Colts over the last decade... But this one isn't even going to be close.  Belichick is going to unleash the dogs with bees in their mouths.  He rarely misses an opportunity to rub an old rival's nose in it while they're down (see Pats vs. Redskins 10/28/07 ). He's five unsung heroes of the Patriots 2011 season I'll be watching this week: 1) Aaron Hernandez - Quietly having an excellent season.  He's not getting in the end zone as much as Gronk (who is?), but he's been playing pretty darn well.  He's already caught...

The Patriots play their eleventh game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday November 27th at 4:15 PM. Sorry about the delay.  We were off having another kid.  So far the Patriots are 2 and 0 since Kid #2 got here.  He actually slept on my tummy while we watched the Pats - Jets game in the hospital.  THAT'S GREAT NAPPING. Jazz hands! Have you seen the schedule the rest of the year?  Oh man, that's soft.  Lots of lousy teams and backup quarterbacks.  We're going to win 12 or 13 games.  And, of course, none of it matters if we go one and out again in the playoffs.  *deep breath - composes self*  Moving on... He's five guys I'll watching closely this week: 1) Tom Brady - Brady has been getting off to sloooow starts the last few weeks.  He's looked great in the second half, but lousy at the beginning of these games.  I hope he's not hurt. 2) Rob Gronkowski - GRONK HANG ON TO...

The Patriots play their eighth (is that really how you spell "8th"?  Something doesn't look right...) game of the season against the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium on Sunday November 6th at 4:15 PM. Rough week last week, Guys.  After the game I put on my Belichick pajamas, crawled into bed and cried myself to sleep. I felt a little better when I woke up Monday morning.  We're still 5 and 2.  All is not lost. This doesn't look like a Super Bowl defense, but nobody else out there really scares me right now.  Nobody is running away with the AFC at this point.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that things are still wide open.  It's only November. I know, Bill.  I couldn't watch, either. Did Chad Ochocinco have a catch last week? NO.  There's been a number of disappointments on this team this year.  Here's five guys I'm hoping to see do something on the field this week: 1) Chad Ochocinco - My expectations were low whe...

The Patriots play their seventh game of the season against the Steelers at Heinz Field on Sunday October 30th at 4:15 PM. Impressive win over the Cowboys two weeks ago.  I didn't think they had a chance of pulling that one out. I also listed 5 guys (mmm... Five Guys ... ) who had a chance of picking off Romo in that game.  And the correct answer was... Kyle Arrington.  Nailed it. NEW FEATURE -- Did Chad Ochocinco have a catch last week? NO.   Chad Ochocinco with one of his many, many catches this season. Here's five things I'll be watching for this week: 1) Tom Brady - Brady has traditionally shredded the Pittsburgh defense.  They don't mix things up much.  If you do the same thing over and over again, #12 will kill you. 2) Rob Gronkowski - Even on the bye week, Gronk totally scored .  I've got him on my fantasy football team.  I should get points for that, no? 3) New England Pass Defense - Let's be optimists here and list them as...