Probably the biggest surprise regarding New England’s draft class is that all 12 players made the final roster. Even DT Darryl Richard wasn’t visited by the turk.

It may take one to three years to find out if the whole draft class pans out or which ones get left on the side of the road. But how do the Pats rookies stack up against their peers?

The players have to get playing time in order to make these comparisons fair. It’s really a losing battle as it boils down to five against about 250 rookies. But New England’s newbies compare well overall:

Continue reading "Rookies vs Rookies"

I’m holding true to my belief that Brady needed seven to eight weeks to find his comfort zone. As the season went on, we noticed the progress Brady made, step by step.

His second half against Buffalo was a complete 180 of the first half. After being blitzed nearly to death against the New York Jets, Brady carved up Atlanta and starred down Baltimore’s Ray Lewis-led defense and came out ahead.

Not happy with his inaccuracy on deep balls against Denver, Brady put on a clinic against Tennessee, throwing six touchdowns and connecting on a handful of passes downfield. And Brady put it all together in London in a sound defeat of Tampa Bay.

Continue reading "The Real Tom Brady"

While the numbers look good, I’m not sold on Maroney’s performance against Tennessee. It’s not just because the Titans are a bad team. Laurence started off well, hitting holes quickly. But after the 45-yard touchdown, his feet were pitter-pattering again.

I’ll give Maroney the benefit of the doubt, but only to a point. It was a snowy field so maybe to keep his traction Laurence chopped his feet. I’d believe it, except Maroney has a history of stuttering in the backfield. That, and on one run, he tried to bounce it outside instead of taking what was available. Old habits die hard.

Continue reading "Staying On the Run"

(3-3) Houston Texans 28
(4-2) Cincinnati Bengals 17 

Every once in a while, Houston goes ballistic and puts up mega-points. Matt Schaub once again proves he’s a fantastic fantasy QB… five games a season. The Bengals aren’t an elite team, so you had to expect a letdown eventually after winning four straight. Now they dropped back with Pittsburgh, who are also 4-2, but technically behind since the Bengals beat them head-to-head.  

(6-0) Minnesota Vikings 33
(3-3) Baltimore Ravens 31 

Why won’t anyone beat the Vikings?! Steven Hauschka’s missed 44-yard field goal keeps the legend of Brett Favre in Minnesota going strong for another week. Who thought that the Baltimore defense would be the team’s weakness this season? They don’t deserve to be called “good” with the amount of points they’re allowing. Take that Ray Lewis.

Continue reading "Joes Final Drive Week 6"

     The Kingpin set the stage for another mind-blowing experience, as the Saints ascended into the NFC South’s top spot. New Orleans Country Club Banquet Chef David “Fine Dinin’ Dave” Wright laid out an outstanding six course meal worthy of Crescent City royalty, which consisted of slow cooked (12 hours) beef brisket, smashed potatoes, ranch-style baked beans, cornbread muffins, cold slaw, and homemade chocolate chips cookies. The Kingpin’s diehard Saints fans always pack the city’s finest venue to yell for the Black ’n’ Gold. Waiting for reasons to explode, the raucous crowd utilized Dave’s awesome eats to fuel deafening eruptions. Rivaling Section 645 insanity, Pierre Thomas’s deal sealing run rocked Uptown so hard that unsuspecting yats felt the tremors in Chalmette. Intense emotional outbursts create unforgettable memories which remind us that living life to the fullest defines a truly great human existence.

Continue reading "Big Daddy Says Ask And You Shall Receive"

Earlier this season, Harrison, 36, a two-time Pro Bowl selection who earned two Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, expressed his contempt for Owens during an interview on WEEI’s The Dale and Holley Show. 

Prior to Harrison’s interview on WEEI, Owens, 35, a five-time All-Pro selection, had again ridiculed the Patriots for the Spygate controversy in the days leading to the Bills season-opener in Foxboro. 

“I’m so pumped about T.O. opening up his big mouth about the Patriots,” said Harrison, the only player in NFL history to record both 30 sacks and 30 interceptions. “I can actually put a bounty on T.O. if I wanted and not get in any trouble.” 

Continue reading "Terrell Owens Rodney Harrison Rex Ryan Bernard Hopkins vs Roy Jones Vitali Klitschko"

Earlier this season, Harrison, 36, a two-time Pro Bowl selection who earned two Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, expressed his contempt for Owens during an interview on WEEI’s The Dale and Holley Show.

Prior to Harrison’s interview on WEEI, Owens, 35, a five-time All-Pro selection, had again ridiculed the Patriots for the Spygate controversy in the days leading to the Bills season-opener in Foxboro.

“I’m so pumped about T.O. opening up his big mouth about the Patriots,” said Harrison, the only player in NFL history to record both 30 sacks and 30 interceptions. “I can actually put a bounty on T.O. if I wanted and not get in any trouble.”

Continue reading "Terrell Owens is Worse Than a Clown TO is a Clown Pocket"

(1-2) Detroit Lions 19 (1-2) Washington Redskins 14 

The Lions had to win eventually. Though it would be an unfortunate day for whatever unlucky team they defeated. Jim Zorn will keep his job… for a while longer. Congrats to the Lions and the fans that actually showed up to see it.

  
Get ready to lose next week.

(3-0) Minnesota Vikings 27
(2-1) San Francisco 49ers 24 

We’ve all seen or heard of Favre’s late game heroics. I blame Mike Singletary’s defense, which put only two players on the endzone. There were five Niners in the middle of the field! Everyone knows when they need a touchdown on the final play of the game you stack men in the endzone so they can bat the ball down. Horrible call from a good coach.

Continue reading "Joes Final Drive Week 3"

Today is Saturday September 26, 2009 so you have a little more than 24 hours to get your fantasy act together or you may end up with that crucial week 3 L.  

It has been a very interesting week in fantasy land for me.  Lots of wheeling and dealing, some unfortunate attempts at cheating and a hazy injury to Marion the Barbarian.  Let’s begin with this “cheating” situation:

So, I am in a random NFL.com fantasy football league. We’ll call it the “Bush League” which is a very appropriate title for so many reasons.  One great fantasy insight that I’ve picked up this year is setting up my fantasy alerts.  (In most leagues you can set up regular e-mail alerts that notify you of a player’s status, league transactions, starting line-ups, trades, etc).  These alerts are very useful because it allows me to check on important league activity without having to log into the site every five minutes.  My fantasy alerts proved to be very useful this week. 

Continue reading "Welcome to Fantasy Land"

The following off-season, after witnessing the failure of last year’s decisions (promoting Ellis Hobbs to right corner back and signing Deltha O’Neal), the Pats again addressed the problem area by drafting Darius Butler and signing veterans Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden.

The results so far: Zero interceptions.

That doesn’t mean they are doing a poor job. They did fine against Buffalo. And with the exception of Wilhite being targeted in the second half, the secondary has been mostly solid.

Continue reading "Very INTeresting"