Thursday Morning Third Down Back

The New England Patriots play Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday January 20th at 6:40 PM. Protecting the ball even as he dives for the pylon. That was some straight up Patriots porn last week.  Definitely should have been TV-MA.  The Patriots came out and blew doors.  Game balls to Julian Edelman and Sony Michel for their efforts in last week's victory over the Chargers.  Nice job! Let's rewind the tape and see how close my predictions were last week: I expect a close, competitive game on Sunday.  Way off!  It was essentially over by halftime. I think the deciding factor will be how much of a game the Patriot's running backs have collectively  Pretty close! Brown Power Rankings: 1) Troy 2) Clancy 3) Millie Bobby 4) W. Earl 5) Sterling K. 6) Charlie 7) Jim 8) Alton 9) Samantha 10) Bobby 11) Foxy Here are three areas of concern for me this Sunday night: 1) The de...

The New England Patriots play Philip Rivers and the San Diego  Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium in the AFC Divisional Playoff round on Sunday January 13th at 1:05 PM. Who's got two index fingers and isn't going anywhere?  That guy! Getting a first round bye nine years in a row is amazing.  Nine years in a row!  I'll be shocked if that ever happens again. I expect a close, competitive game on Sunday. I think the deciding factor will be how much of a game the Patriot's running backs have collectively (both running the ball and catching the ball out of the backfield). Wall Power Rankings: 1) -E 2) Mending 3) -ace Shawn 4) Wonder 5) Another Brick in the 6) John Here are the running backs I'll be keeping a close eye on on Sunday: 1) James White - 87 receptions for James White this season.  Not bad! 2) Rex Burkhead - Burkhead has proven to be force in the running game and the passing game*.    (*when he's healthy) 3...

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 AFC #1 seed New England Patriots play Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette on Sunday January 22nd at 6:40 PM. That kick return (makes Italian chef kissing fingers gesture). First half of divisional round game against the Texans was ugly.  Sloppy!  Patriots rusty from the bye week?  Were the Texans just playing out of their mind?  Eh.  Maybe a little bit of both. This is a very good Steelers team the Patriots are playing this week.  But it doesn't feel like a very deep Steelers team.  The Patriots defense should be able to take away Pittsburgh's main offensive weapons. Supposedly half the Steelers have the flu.  Genius Bill Belichick strikes again!  Diabolical. Ben Power Rankings: 1) Franklin 2) & Jerry’s 3) Dover 4) edict Cumberbatch 5) Roethlisberger 6) Folds 7) Gazzara 8) icio Del Toro Here's three things I'm looking forward to watching Sunday night: 1) Malcolm Butler - It's...

The AFC #1 seed New England Patriots play Brock Osweiler Tom Savage Brock Osweiler and the Houston Texans at Gillette on Saturday January 14th at 8:15 PM. This could be Vince's last game.  Shout out to the Big Man. Are you excited for this game?  I'm excited for this game. O'Brien Power Rankings 1) Miles 2) Richard 3) Conan 4) Bill 5) Chloe Here's three things I'm looking forward to watching Saturday night: 1) LeGarrette Blount - Feels like a Blount force trauma game.  ( Late editorial note: LeGarrette Blount (Illness) Misses Practice For Second Straight Day.  Yikes.  Scratch that.) 2) Offensive Line - The line had a heck of a good year.  Brady stayed clean.  The running backs had plenty of room.  Shout out to Dante Scarnecchia for coming out of retirement. 3) Dont'a Hightower - I think he's healthy again.  They've been moving him around more lately.  Watch where they have him line up before the play starts...