Thursday Morning Third Down Back

The New England Patriots play Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium on Sunday September 30th at 1:00 PM. I get losing to Jacksonville in Jacksonville on a 114 degree day.  But Detroit?  Aww man.  RPI Graduates everywhere rejoice Cooks Power Rankings: 1) Brandin (They miss him more than I thought they would.) 2) Too Many 3) Captain 4) Regiment 5) Country Let's set the bar really low.  Here's three things I'd like to see for Sunday afternoon: 1) Something remotely resembling a ground game.  We are down to .75 functional running backs. 2) Anyone other than Gronk / James White catching the ball 3) The defense not giving up 11 yards per play. Pat's Recipe of the Week Homemade Pretzels I love this recipe.  I make as much as possible during the non-Summer months.  I might even make these during the game so I have something positive to focus on for Sunday. My prediction: Pats 14, Dolphins 56 **...

The New England Patriots play Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sunday September 23rd at 8:20 PM. Gordon Power Rankings 1) Cole 2) Flash 3) Kim 4) Levitt 5) Sumner 6) (Sesame Street) 7) Lightfoot 8) Shumway 9) Emily v 10) Hayword 11) the Big Engine 12) Jump 13) Josh (Who knew there were so many Gordons!) Here's three things I'm worried about for Sunday evening: 1) The secondary - Eric Rowe isn't making me forget about Malcolm Butler any time soon.  Assuming the Lions have changed their signals by now . Stafford might be able to throw all over the place on them.  Concerns.  I have them.  2) Tom Brady - TB12 got beat up pretty good last week, didn't he?  There was no rhythm (Did I spell that right?  "Rhythm"?  That doesn't look right.) .  I'd like to see some long sustained drives. 3) Sony Michel - With Jeremy Hill out on injured reserve, the Patriots started to work first round pick Sony...

The New England Patriots play Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans ("Texans"?  You guys still going with that name, huh?) at Gillette on Sunday September 9th at 1:00 PM. Old Business The defense was not good enough.  They didn't really improve it much in the off season.  Malcolm Butler should have played in the Super Bowl. Danny Amendola and Brandon Bolden are now Dolphins.  Did you know Brandon Bolden had been on this team since... 2012?!  I just assumed he would always be seldom seen but around forever.... like a special teams Cthulhu. New Business /checks roster //exhales audibly This draft class better turn out to be really good, or else we're boned.  And would it have killed them to add a standout wide receiver?  I could very easily see a 9 - 7 season. Chad Power Rankings:  1) -wick Boseman 2) (country) 3) hanging 4) and Jeremy 5) Johnson 6) Chad Hansen (Hey!...

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Carson Wentz Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sunday February 4th at 6:30 PM. One way or another, this feels like this might be the last night of the dynasty.  So enjoy it while you can (although I've said that 8 or 12 times before.  We're in uncharted waters here.  So... who the heck knows?) I'm cautiously optimistic about our chances on Sunday.  But I really hope both teams have a good time. Thanks again for coming along for the ride.  It's been an entertaining season. Lot of Smooth Criminal type leaning action in the AFC Championship Game. Olivia Power Rankings: 1) (fictional pig) 2) Wilde 3) (Twelfth Night) 4) Voldaren 5) d'Abo 6) Newton-John Game balls to Trey Flowers, Stephon Gilmore and Danny Amendola for their work in the AFC Championship game victory over Jacksonville.  Great effort! Here's three th...

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Blake Bortles and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday January 21st at 3:05 PM. Frank Power Rankings: 1) Reynolds 2) -a Potente 3) Rizzo 4) Oz 5) cocktail 6) Thomas 7) -enstein 8) Drebin 9) -lin, Mass. 10) -N-Furter 11) Sinatra 12) -lin Delano Romanowski Live look at Tom Brady's hands. Is Brady's hand OK?  I'm hearing it's just a cut, not a break.  But who the heck knows?  I'm not going to freak out about it.  Nothing we can do about it at this point.  We won't know for sure until halfway through the first quarter anyway. Here's three things I'm excited about for Sunday: 1) Rob Gronkowski - Visual reminder of what a matchup nightmare the Gronk is to cover.  2) Dion Lewis - Easily the team MVP for the second half of the season. 3) Danny Amendola - You forget Amendolas on the team sometimes... and then he h...

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Marcus Mariota and the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium in the AFC Divisional Playoff round on Saturday January 13th at 8:15 PM. I love watching Dion Lewis make tacklers miss.  I'll be sad if he's not back next year. Division Power Rankings: 1) Sub  ("I roll for coolness."  "You rolled a 1.  You have been... CAST OUT!") 2) cellular 3) Joy 4) Long 5) Bell Since the Patriots were off the last two weeks, let's take a look at the opposition: 1) Derrick Henry (Titans RB)  - That's a good baseball player name.  Sounds like a long reliever for the Cardinals. 2) Marcus Mariota (Titans QB) - How many touchdowns will he both throw AND catch ?  Nobody knows for sure. 3) Mike Mularkey (Titans coach) - I like using his last name as a curse word.  Very satisfying. My prediction: Pats 24, Titans 21 (That's if we get Tom Brady from the last month....  If Tom Brad...

The defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots play Tyrod Taylor and the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium on Sunday December 24th at 1:00 PM. "I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love." Winter Power Rankings: 1) Warmer 2) Soldier 3) Solstice 4) Alex 5) Olympics What a roller coaster of emotions that Pittsburgh game was.  Oh my.  It may have taken me a while to calm down after that. Here's three things I liked last week. 1) Malcolm Butler - Butler made a HUGE tackle to keep his guy in bounds on the play before  the final play last week.  That's a big part of the reason why the Steelers looked like a disorganized fire drill. 2) Duron Harmon - Nice interception!  Timely! 3) Rob Gronkowski - That whole last drive.  Whoa.  A guy that big shouldn't be able to move that well.  Also... Pittsburgh - that guy was KILLING you the whole second half. I...