Well where do we start this week after an absolute ass kicking at the hands of the, uh, Miami Dolphins. As I wrote in the game report the only good aspect from a Patriots standpoint was the special teams. The same unit that looked so awful in the preseason has been fantastic in the three games. While Matt Cassel was far from effective this loss can’t be pinned on him as he wasn’t on the field missing tackles of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams and he wasn’t leaving Miami receivers open downfield. The offensive line was pretty pathetic too. So maybe it’s best they have a week off so this can stew a while longer.
Here are the AFC East Standings as of today:
- Buffalo 3-0
- New England 2-1
- NY Jets 1-2
- Miami 1-2
The Bills are 3-0 for the first time since 1992 and the Patriots are not in first place for the first time since Week 6 of the 2003 season.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made his weekly Patriots Monday appearance on WEEI Monday afternoon.
On Monday the team released RB Kyle Eckel. He was inactive for the game against Miami after signing with the team a week earlier. He was signed for what seemed like insurance with Laurence Maroney suffering a shoulder injury and LaMont Jordan having foot issues. Now the team has a slot open on the 53-man roster.
The Patriots need to bury this game much like they did in 2001.
The outcome of the game was surely shocking to a lot of people.
In the blow out rookie QB Kevin O’Connell made his NFL debut playing 8 plays at the end of the game when the result was all but in the books.
Matt Cassel’s play dropped off yesterday in the loss. But some guy named Brady also lost his second NFL pretty handily to the Miami Dolphins as well. After that things turned out okay I guess.
The New England defense was completely fooled and seemed as if they failed to make adjustments or didn’t make the correct one’s.
A look at who is up and who is down after the shellacking by Miami.
Ellis Hobbs set a team record for most return yardage in a game on Sunday. That’s a record that’s probably not a good one because it means you got scored on a lot.
According to the CHB we now live in an alternative universe.
Do you think Matt Cassel would look good in purple? Charlie Walters on the St. Paul Pioneer Press thinks Cassel could be the Vikings QB in 2009.
On this date in Patriots history the team broke ground on Foxboro Stadium in 1970. The stadium opened less than a year later on September 19, 1971 when the New England Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders, 20-6.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Rodney-Harrison-says-Ricky-Williams-is-dirty-bu?urn=nfl,109589
Any comment Steve?
Rodney Harrison says Ricky Williams is dirty, but not in the sense of ‘he needs a bath’
By MJD
You can call Ricky Williams dirty if you’d like. But if you do, for the sake of accuracy, you should probably be calling him a “dirty hippie,” not a “dirty football player.” Patriots safety Rodney Harrison went for the latter. From the Boston Herald:
Rodney Harrison, in fact, called it dirty. When asked if it was because Williams hit Vrabel below the knees after Brown already had scored, Harrison answered in the affirmative.
“You said it better than me,” Harrison said. “There’s no place in the game for that. (But) it’s part of the game. You have to protect yourself. It’s disappointing that guys don’t take care of each other, but we’ll just have to be on guard, because there’s some dirty stuff out there.”
I’m sure he’s kidding. He has to be kidding. This is like Chris Henry saying that Warrick Dunn has character issues. It’s like Scott Linehan saying Bill Belichick doesn’t prepare his team very well. This isn’t the pot calling the kettle black, this is the pot calling a snowflake black.
This is the same Rodney Harrison who was voted by his peers as the league’s dirtiest player in 2004. The same Rodney Harrison was given the same title by the same people in 2006. And the same Rodney Harrison who was voted in 2008 as the league’s dirtiest player by the head coaches of the league.
The Herald chose to play up the “OMG, Ricky Williams smoked marijuana!” angle, sneaking in a couple of clever digs like, “Ricky Williams hit a sticky issue,” and “The Patriots weren’t happy about getting smoked [by the Dolphins].”
If you want to bring up the herb, it seems to me that it argues against Ricky Williams being a dirty player, as potheads are generally pretty mellow. Also generally pretty mellow are yoga instructors, vegans, and holistic healers, all areas in which Ricky has dabbled.
Maybe Williams crossed the line on a play, maybe he didn’t. You can make that call for yourself. But Rodney Harrison, who makes more dirty plays in a quarter of football than most guys make in a career, doesn’t get the make the judgment call on anyone else.
Related: , Ricky Williams, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots
Sticky Ricky’s block was cheap and dangerous.
Tim is right, Rodney Harrison has zero credibility to speak out on cheap hits or drug use for that matter. He should defer to other Pats veterians that don’t carry his baggage.
Michael to be honest I didn’t see the play I heard them talking about it and I know it occurred on the 62-yard TD run. If Williams did block Vrabel how its depicted it’s dangerous.
As for Rodney he is being his same vocal self he’s been his whole career whether here on in San Diego. I don’t agree with his past HGH use I don’t buy the defense of theuse. I think at times he does step over the line on the football field but its him that has to answer to it and Rodney himself has been on the side of some cheap hits himself, including one that ended his season in Tennessee a few years ago. Maybe it’s payback, maybe it’s karma all I know is I’m glad he plays for my team because regardless of the questionable calls he creates with his hits (and some of the penalties/fines are possibly based on rep and past judgements), Rodney is all about team and protecting his teammates.
Funny thing is Rodney is a pussy cat compared to players that came before him.
From Mike Reiss’ mailbag on Reiss’ Pieces: