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The Patriots on Tuesday released tight end Marcellus Rivers for the fourth time since the season started.  Rivers played in three games this season with New England and had no catches. He was previously signed by the Patriots on August 8th and released on September 1st, re-signed on September 3rd and released on September 8th, and was re-signed on October 3rd and released on October 6th and re-signed on October 10th.  

On Wednesday the Patriots released safety Ray Ventrone who they had activated off the practice squad list on Saturday for the Indianapolis game.  Ventrone had take the roster spot opened by Sammy Morris going on IR. 

With Rivers and Ventrone being released the Patriots moved wide receiver Chad Jackson and cornerback Eddie Jackson from the PUP list to the active 53-man roster.

The NFL announced on Tuesday that the Patriots home game on December 9th against the Steelers has been moved from 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.  The move was requested by CBS to move the game into a better TV time slot.

Wide receiver Randy Moss was named AFC Offensive player of the Week.

Head coach Bill Belichick was nominated for Motorola NFL Head Coach of the Week after the team beat the Indianapolis Colts on the road 24-20.

Defensive lineman Jarvis Green was nominated for GMC Defensive Player of the Week he had five tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in the teams win over the Colts.

At this time it looks like the Patriots have no interest in running back Corey Dillon.  Head coach Bill Belichick said on Monday that at this time they will go with the four backs they have, Laurence Maroney, Kevin Faulk, Heath Evans and Kyle Eckel. 

CBS took responsibility for the repeating crowd noise and the NFL issued this statement:

“CBS has informed us that the unusual audio moment heard by fans during the Patriots-Colts game was the result of tape feedback in the CBS production truck and was isolated to the CBS broadcast. It was in no way related to any sound within the stadium and could not be heard in the stadium,” said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel was a guest on ESPN 890 in Boston on Tuesday and had this to say about Don Shula’s comments regarding an asterisk should the Patriots finish undefeated this year.

“I think that we try to go out there and play hard every week. And I don’t think that guys are going to draw on an old retired coach and old washed up players to pump us up. We play hard. We try to go out there and play hard. That’s our job every week is to go out there and play hard. To play for our team, my teammates, my coaches, the respect factor, that’s what I try to go out and play for, and I think everybody else on our team does the same thing.”

Linebacker Tedy Bruschi weighed in as well on the Shula comments:

“If someone questions your integrity, if someone questions who you are, if someone questions the organization you’ve been a part of ever since you walked into the league, would it upset you?” the linebacker asked, according to the Boston Herald. “So yes, it does upset me. I can’t control how people feel about it. I can’t control what comes out of their mouths. I only control what I do out there and what we do as a defense and what we do as a team. We keep winning and playing hard. If they want to keep saying those things, maybe we just need to play a little bit harder.”

But not so fast because that beeping noise you hear coming from Miami is the sound of Don Shula backpeddling on his comments. 

Shula told ESPN’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” on Thursday that if the Patriots finish with a perfect record to match that of his 1972 Dolphins, then there “shouldn’t be any attachment to it,” referring to a possible asterisk next to New England’s name in the record books.

“If they run the table, and they win all the games, then they are doing it within the rules of the National Football League,” Shula said. “And there shouldn’t be any asterisk to it.

Retired players and coaches are entitled to their opinions but this whole ’72 Dolphins thing and the purported celebrations, etc and then original comments by Shula just make them look petty and pathetic.  A great coach like Shula should just fall back on the comments he made Thursday.  It makes him look gracious.  I also don’t totally blame Shula for the original comments, he was after all just answering a question but unless you have a standard answer or one formulated in your mind maybe your better off passing on the question until you do.

But it continues to amaze me that when it comes to the Patriots that current players and coaches just don’t keep their opinions to themselves.  No one seems to be as adapt at taking the smallest comment and turning it into motivation.

UConn head football coach Randy Edsall has become a Bill Belichick disciple.  Edsall read David Halberstam’s book about Belichick “Education of a Coach” and then was present during training camp because he wanted to see how Belichick runs his team and how he motivates.  Something must have rubbed off because Edsall’s UConn Huskies are 8-1 and ranked 13th in the BCS standings.  Edsall said the biggest thing he took away in his time spent with Belichick was to not let the players or coaches look beyond your next opponent. 

For the second time in four weeks the Patriots will grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.  It shows the five linebackers Adalius Thomas, Mike Vrabel, Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi and Rosevelt Colvin all smiling. 

 SI Cover

The issue contains an article on the linebackers called “Welcome to the Backerhood” and talks about how the group does things “the Patriot way”.

Safety Rodney Harrison had his best game of the season on Sunday against Indianapolis holding tight end Dallas Clark to 2 catches for 15 yards plus he had an interception.  Harrison credited his play to lots of film study and he was reportedly in the film room til the wee hours of Sunday morning looking at clips.  When he was done he knew the pass routes better than the Colts receivers did and it showed in his play.

ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli has his mid season All-Pro selections: 

Offense:

  • WR- Randy Moss, New England
  • WR- Braylon Edwards, Cleveland
  • TE – Antonio Gates, San Diego
  • LT – Matt Light, New England
  • LG – Eric Steinbach, Cleveland
  • C – Andre Gurode, Dallas
  • RG – Chris Snee, NY Giants
  • RT – Mark Tauscher, Green Bay
  • QB -Tom Brady, New England
  • RB – Adrian Peterson, Minnesota
  • RB – Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia

Defense:

  • RE – Jared Allen, Kansas City
  • RT – Albert Haynesworth, Tennessee
  • LT – Tommy Harris, Chicago
  • LE – Aaron Kampman, Green Bay
  • OLB – Mike Vrabel, New England
  • MLB – Barrett Rudd, Tampa Bay
  • OLB – Keith Bulluck, Tennessee
  • CB – Asante Samuel, New England
  • SS – Bob Sanders, Indianapolis
  • FS – Sean Taylor, Washington
  • CB – Charles Woodson, Green Bay

Special Teams:

  • PK – Rob Bironas, Tennessee
  • KR – Leon Washington, NY Jets
  • PR – Devin Hester, Chicago
  • P – Andy Lee, San Francisco 

In a FOXSports .com article they did some number crunching and it appears that the Patriots have a statistical probability of 55.3% of going undefeated.

The Sporting News gives three reason’s why the Steelers won’t have a chance when they visit the Razor in December.

  1. I don’t see it. First off, it’s at Foxborough. Remember, the Steelers lost at Arizona and at Denver, both now 3-5 teams. Overall, they have one victory over a team that’s above .500 — the 5-3 Browns, who are much different team than the Week 1 version, who happen to play at Pittsburgh this week.
  2. Then there is the Steelers’ pass coverage. In the past against Pittsburgh, the Patriots have abandoned the run and spread the field with three- and four-wide receivers to reduce the number of blitzing linebackers and to spread the secondary thin.  With Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Donte` Stallworth all providing mismatches in single coverage, when the Steelers do blitz, they will be even more vulnerable to getting burned one-on-one deep. With the way the Patriots’ offensive line is protecting Tom Brady and the way Brady is delivering downfield lasers, good night.
  3. The Ravens did little right on Monday night, but one thing they did do is keep up their history of stuffing Willie Parker with their front seven. Look for the Patriots to take a page from Baltimore with similar personnel alignments in the 3-4.

The Patriots return to action on Sunday November 18th when they visit the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park NY, kickoff is at 8:15 p.m.  The game will be seen nationally on NBC and heard along the Patriots Rock Radio Network.