With the New England Patriots in their bye week on Sunday the news and notes do not seem to be as readily available but we will attempt to dig some things up for you.
Bill Belichick spent part of his bye week at Rutgers on Friday night watching his son Steven who is a long snapper play for Scarlet Knights. He even wore a suit and tie. The coach was also seen having lunch with his girlfriend in Nantucket on Saturday.
Belichick had his weekly Monday media meeting via conference call about the week ahead.
While the coach was tending to family members TE Rob Gronkowski was hanging out with a reputed porn star. As long she isn’t a spy planted by Mike Tomlin, more power to him.
While Rob was “Gronking” a porn star, his brother Dan was doing something different. This week’s “Football Journey” on ESPN Boston highlighted Patriots TE Dan Gronkowski.
Former Patriot CB Ty Law was named the Gridiron Club of Boston’s Man of the Year this week. It’s a very nice honor for Law.
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Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald writes that OL Marcus Cannon, a cancer survivor, may start practicing this week but probably will not play in any games.
The Boston Globe has a story on Patriots DE Andre Carter.
The Patriots owner, Robert Kraft speaks his mind to the Globe.
ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg puts the Patriots 2008 draft in focus.
Patriots LT Matt Light will be honored at the Hockomock Area YMCA Legends Ball on November 15th.
The Patriots reportedly will look to make a decision on RB Kevin Faulk by the end of the week. By November 6th they either have to activate him or put him on the IR, those are the only two solutions. The same decisions will have to be made on DL Brandon Deaderick and DE Ron Brace with in the next two weeks. If any of the three are activated a corresponding player release will need to be made to keep the roster at 53.
Mike Reiss and the five things he has learned about the Patriots and his Top 5 questions about the team.
Brady and Belichick may break the tie with Miami’s Dan Marino and Don Shula as the winningest quarterback-head coach combination in the Super Bowl era with a win on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Brady passed former teammate Vinny Testaverde for 8th all time on the TD pass list with his 277th against Dallas. Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas is 7th with 290.
LB Jerod Mayo (MCL) is looking at a possible return against Pittsburgh, the week of practice will tell a lot. In addition to Mayo, players who missed the last game against Dallas with injuries were S Sergio Brown (chest), CB Ras-I Dowling (hamstring), WR Julian Edelman (ankle), S Josh Barrett (hamstring/thumb) and T Sebastian Vollmer (back). QB Ryan Mallett was a healthy scratch for the 5th time in 6 weeks.
AFC East Standings
Patriots 5-1/2-1
Bills 4-2/1-0
Jets 4-3/1-1
Dolphins 0-6/0-2
New England plays the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on Friday.
Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem
