The NFL announced on Monday that they would be flexing the Week 11 matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots from 1 p.m. to 4:25 p.m.

Week 11 is the first week that the NFL allows the flexing of more meaningful games into prime time or late afternoon positions.

Originally the schedule called for only two late games on November 18.  FOX is carrying the New Orleans Saints at Oakland Raiders at 4:05p and CBS carries the San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos game as the second half of their doubleheader at 4:25p.  Now CBS will also have the Indianapolis at New England matchup.

It is expected that Colts/Patriots will only see select markets (Indy and New England) while most of the country will continue to receive the Chargers/Broncos game. At this time CBS still plans on leaving the announce teams as scheduled and the Jim Nantz/Phil Simms duo will remain calling the San Diego at Denver game.

NBC also chose to keep the Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers as the Sunday Night Football game for Week 11.

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Grading the Patriots First Half

Eight games into the NFL season is a good time to get a feel for how the 5-3 New England Patriots are doing along with some grades.

The coaching staff has done a pretty good job.  They’ve taken a lot of young players on both sides of the ball and are mixing them in fairly well. 

My points of contention with the staff are the flow of the play calling which I discussed a week or so ago.  Even though they lead the league in scoring and yards gained offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels needs to open this puppy up.  He has to realize he’s driving a sports car and not a family sedan.  The tools are there he needs to use them.

My other contention is the secondary coaching.  The cornerbacks and safeties coaches need to get these guys to play smarter and get better positioning.  There has been an incredible amount of pass interference penalties garnered by the Patriots DBs and that needs to stop.

Overall I give the staff a B minus.

Like in years past the offense is going to carry this team and as soon as McDaniels realizes that he has Tom Brady at the controls and not Tim Tebow the team will be better off.

This team has lost games this season for the mere fact that the offense didn’t make convertible plays to continue drives or with some poor play calling down the stretch.  By converting on some of these all three losses could very well be wins.

The offensive line has had its ups and downs this season.  They have had games when they’ve done a great job protecting Brady and others where they weren’t so good.  They’ve had games when the team has been able to run the ball at will and a couple where they haven’t.  They need to be more consistent and with the occasional absence of G Logan Mankins and the loss of G Brian Waters the line isn’t the same.

I give the offensive line a B minus/C plus.

The skill players on offense have been very good.  The receivers, with the exception of drops on catchable balls, have done well.  The group as a whole, Brandon Lloyd, Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Julian Edelman have all contributed. 

The wide receivers get a B.

The tight ends, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, Daniel Fells and Mike Hoomanawanui are among the best in the league with Gronk being All-World and Hernandez, when healthy, a close second.  Fells and Hoomanawanui have both played small parts but have done what's been asked.

The tight ends get an A minus.

The running backs have added a dimension this team hasn’t had in a while and may possibly never have had before and that’s a three-headed monster of Stevan Ridley, Danny Woodhead and Brandon Bolden.  And lately even the oft-injured Shane Vereen has seen a spike in playing time and been productive when given the chance.  All four add something to the team and are becoming extremely valuable.

The running backs get a B plus.

And that leaves us with Tom Brady.  13 seasons into one of the most illustrious careers in NFL history he is slowing no signs of slowing down.  He has been good but not as good as he can be.  He has had games this year where he has been a bit inaccurate and not as sharp as he can be.  But when put in the hurry up no huddle offense he is a pure assassin.

The quarterback gets a B; the offense as a whole gets a B as well.

Defensively this team is a tale of two different units.  The run stoppers vs. the pass defenders and the run stoppers are top notch. 

A front seven that has two big ass lineman in the middle in Vince Wilfork and Kyle Love with several athletic ends led by rookie Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich and Jermaine Cunningham and a swarming group of linebackers led by Jerod Mayo, 3rd year player Brandon Spikes and rookie Dont’a Hightower are really good against the run. 

It’s the pass defense that is suspect.  There have been too many penalty flags against the secondary, especially in the known passing downs.  Plus they’ve given up an exceptional amount of big pass plays.  I hate to bring it up but the Seattle game was just brutal especially against a rookie quarterback who has been nothing but average.  With the exception of Jones and Ninkovich there hasn’t been much of a pass rush either.

But even with the big plays against them somehow the team is 12th in the league in points allowed when they should be much worse.

Defensively I give the run stopping front seven a B plus and the secondary a D.  Overall the defense as a whole gets a C minus.

The team I am going to undergrade.  I realize they should probably be higher but there’s a lot of untapped potential here and they need to make the adjustments that take them from a good team to a very good or great one.  Bill Belichick teams have a history of having great second halves and playing their best football after Thanksgiving and I expect more of that in 2012.

Overall the team is given a C plus.

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Patriots Acquire Talib

On Thursday afternoon the New England Patriots made a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to acquire some defensive backfield help.

New England got CB Aqib Talib and a 7th round pick in 2013 in exchange for a 4th round pick in the same draft.

Albert Breer of the NFL Network talked to some NFL execs that weighed in on the deal saying Talib is a “good player, but a head case. Will help, if he buys in.”

Another exec added that he has “No. 2 corner ability.  He’s got talent, but discipline, consistency are issues.  Better athleticism than technique.”

This move may also allow the Patriots to move Devin McCourty from cornerback to safety on a regular basis.

ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss resets the 2013 Patriots draft picks after the deal.

News and Notes

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had his weekly day after conference call with the media on Monday.  (patriots.com)

QB Tom Brady had his weekly Patriots Monday call in. (WEEI)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. St Louis  (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Rams (ESPN Boston)

Patriots defense improved with exotic pressure packages (Boston Globe)

Welker thinks he’s okay after injuring his ankle vs. Rams. (Boston Herald)

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 152-64.

Since 2003 New England is 35-7 in October games.

New England is 65-35 on the road since 2000.

The Patriots lead the all-time series 7-5 vs. the Rams, which includes a Super Bowl win.

The Patriots are 4-2 as the road team in the series.

New England had 473 yards of offense on Sunday for the 17th consecutive game.  They broke the tie with St. Louis for most consecutive games a team has had at least 350 yards in offense.

Patriots released LB Bobby Carpenter and CB Sterling Moore during the bye.  They signed LB Mike Rivera and LB Derrick Martin.  TE Alex Silvestro was released from the practice squad.

Bill Belichick’s 197 wins are good for 8th all-time.  He is now 197-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick coached teams are 5-1 vs. the Rams, he is 4-1 with New England including a Super Bowl win.

Tom Brady is 3-1 vs. the Rams including 1-0 in the Super Bowl.  Overall including playoffs he is 145-44.

Brady was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against St Louis.

Brady has 316 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 40 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 85-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 109 consecutive games including playoffs, 92 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

LB Jerod Mayo and LB Brandon Spikes led the team on Sunday with 8 tackles each.  Mayo now has a team high 92 tackles and Spikes is 2nd with 68.

Mayo also forced a fumble for the second week in a row.  He now has 2 forced fumbles on the season.  DE Rob Ninkovich leads the team with 4 forced fumbles.

Ninkovich and DE Chandler Jones each had a sack against the Rams.  Ninkovich is now 2nd on the team in sacks with 5, Jones leads the team with 5.

The Patriots sacked St Louis Rams QB Sam Bradford 2 times, while Brady and Ryan Mallett were not sacked.

Jeff Fisher in his 18th season as a NFL head coach is 145-125.  He is 5-6 in the playoffs all with Tennessee/Houston for an overall record of 150-131.

He is 1-6 vs. New England (including the playoffs) in his career, 0-1 with St Louis.

Sam Bradford is 11-23 in his career as a starting QB. 

He is 0-1 vs. the Patriots.

St. Louis is 2-4 vs. New England as the home team in the series.

New England is PLUS 13 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 3 INT and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 9 INTs and 11 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots are 57 for 117 (48.7%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 43 for 101 (42.6%) in 3rd down efficiency and 4 for 10 (40%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 24 of 38 (63.1%) in the red zone while opponents are 11 for 18 (61.1%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 19 for 26 (73.1%) and opponents are 8 for 11 (72.7%).

Next Week

The Patriots will have their bye week.  When they return they host the Buffalo Bills on November 11 at Gillette Stadium.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

The New England Patriots and St Louis Rams went overseas for the 2012 NFL International Series Game at Wembley Stadium in London.  The English hadn’t seen such a forceful offensive onslaught since the Patriots whipped the Tampa Buccaneers in their last London appearance, 35-7 in 2009. 

When Tom Brady and company were done with the Rams there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who claimed supremacy on the field on this day.

Brady, a 2 time NFL MVP, along with third year TE Rob Gronkowski and 2nd year RB Stevan Ridley led the potent New England attack.

Brady went 23 of 35 for 304 yards with 4 TDs and 0 INTs and no sacks and finished with a passer rating of 131.  Brady threw TD passes to WR Brandon Lloyd of 19 yards and 9 yards and to Gronkowski for 7 yards and 14 yards.

In addition to the 2 TD catches Gronkowski grabbed a total of 8 passes for 146 yards with a long on the day of 32 yards.  Then of course it was the post TD celebrations.  The first was the “Changing of the Guard” or as Gronk put it was “that little nutcracker dude that’s guarding the house.”

The second could only be describe as a tribute to “Magic Mike”.

Ridley had his 4th 100-yard rushing game of the season and scored his 5th rushing TD on the year.  He had 127 yards on just 15 carries and all of his carries were either on 1st or 2nd down.  He is truly becoming a force to be reckoned with and it was nice to see him get back on track after a pair of tough games against Seattle and New York.

The defense did a nice job today for the most part.  Look no defense is going to be perfect and cut out all the big plays but they made some adjustments and after the 50-yard TD pass by Sam Bradford to WR Chris Givens on the Rams first drive the big plays were minimized.

New England held St Louis to 17 first downs (7 rushing, 9 passing, and 1 by penalty) a total of 326 yards (107 rushing, 219 passing) and were very stingy in third and fourth down.  The Rams only had 4 plays the entire game of 20 yards or more which is marked improvement over the past 5 weeks.

The team should be feeling good about itself right now.  They sit at 5-3 and in first place in the AFC East as they head into their bye week.  Their November games are home games against Buffalo, Indianapolis and a Thanksgiving road trip to face the Jets.  All three are winnable games and with wins will put the division out of reach yet again.

Patriots at Rams Gamebook includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.

Patriots at Rams Game Recap.

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Turning Point of the Game

The Patriots blew the game open in the 2nd quarter with three scoring drives.  All were 9 plays and they went for 83, 78 and 56 yards.  They used an elapsed time of 9:42 to score 21 points.

Offensive Players of the Game

TE Rob Gronkowski had 8 catches for 146 yards and 2 TDs and RB Stevan Ridley ran for 127 yards and 1 TD on 15 carries.

Defensive Player of the Game

Rookie DB Alfonzo Dennard made 5 tackles and had his 2nd career INT.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Solder

LG D. Thomas

C Wendell

RG Connolly

RT Vollmer

TE Gronkowski

WR Branch

WR Welker

WR Lloyd

QB Brady

RB Ridley

On Defense:

DE Francis

DT Wilfork

DT Love

DE Jones

LB Ninkovich

LB Mayo

LB Spikes

CB Wilson

CB Arrington

S Dennard

S McCourty

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. G Logan Mankins (hip/calf)

2. S Steve Gregory (hip)

3. S Patrick Chung (shoulder)

4. RB Brandon Bolden (knee)

5. TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle)

6. LB Tracy White (foot)

7. DE Trevor Scott (hamstring)

Rams

1. QB Austin Davis

2. WR Danny Amendola (shoulder)

3. LB Mario Haggan (thigh)

4. DT Matt Conrath (knee)

5. T Wayne Hunter (back)

6. T Rodger Saffold (knee)

7. DE Eugene Sims (knee)

The spread (Patriots MINUS 7 1/2) WAS covered.  The over/under (47) WAS COVERED.  I TOOK the points (RAMS) and took the OVER.  I am now 2-6 vs. the spread and 5 of 8 calling the under/over.

This is the 11th regular season NFL game played outside the United States and 6th played in London.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 152-64.

Since 2003 New England is 35-7 in October games.

New England is 65-35 on the road since 2000.

The Patriots lead the all-time series 7-5 vs. the Rams, which includes a Super Bowl win.

The Patriots are 4-2 as the road team in the series.

New England had 473 yards of offense on Sunday for the 17th consecutive game.  They broke the tie with St. Louis for most consecutive games a team has had at least 350 yards in offense.

Bill Belichick is now 197-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick coached teams are 5-1 vs. the Rams, he is 4-1 with New England including a Super Bowl win.

Tom Brady is 3-1 vs. the Rams including 1-0 in the Super Bowl.  Overall including playoffs he is 145-44.

Brady has 316 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 40 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 85-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 109 consecutive games including playoffs, 92 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

LB Rob Ninkovich and DE Chandler Jones each had 1 sack on the day for minus 25 yards.

LB Jerod Mayo had a forced fumble.

Mayo and LB Brandon Spikes led the team with 8 tackles each.

Rookie CB Alfonzo Dennard had an INT for the second consecutive week.  Rookie S Tavon Wilson also had an INT his 3rd of the season.

Spikes and CB Marquis Cole led the team with 2 passes defensed a piece.

S Nate Ebner led the team in special teams tackles with 3.

Roster moves this week:

• on Saturday the Patriots placed CB Ras-I Dowling on IR
• signed CB Malcolm Williams from the practice squad

The Patriots sacked St Louis Rams QB Sam Bradford 2 times, while Brady and Ryan Mallett were not sacked.

New England is PLUS 13 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 3 INT and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 9 INTs and 11 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 6 for 7 (86%) in the red zone.  They had 6 TDs and 1 FG.

New England was 7 for 12 (58%) on third down conversions and 1 for 1 (100%) on 4th down attempts.

Jeff Fisher in his 18th season as a NFL head coach is 145-125.  He is 5-6 in the playoffs all with Tennessee/Houston for an overall record of 150-131.

He is 1-6 vs. New England (including the playoffs) in his career, 0-1 with St Louis.

Sam Bradford is 11-23 in his career as a starting QB. 

He is 0-1 vs. the Patriots.

St. Louis is 2-4 vs. New England as the home team in the series.

The Rams were 3 for 10 (30%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on 4th down attempts.

St Louis was 0 for 1 (0%) in the red zone.  Backup QB Kellen Clemens threw a red zone INT.

St. Louis is MINUS 2 in turnover differential.  The offense has given up 8 INT and 3 fumbles, while the defense has 8 INTs and 1 fumble recovery.

Walt Coleman was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 49 (wind chill of 45) and mostly cloudy.

Attendance – 84,004 at Wembley Stadium in London England.

Post Game Interviews

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conference via patriots.com

This Week in the AFC East

Miami ripped the NYJets, 30-9

Buffalo had a bye

AFC East Standings

Patriots                   5-3/2-0

Dolphins                  4-3/1-1

Jets                        3-5/2-2

Bills                        3-4/0-2

Next Week

The Patriots will have their bye week.  When they return they host the Buffalo Bills on November 11 at Gillette Stadium.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credit: ap photo

This Week

The New England Patriots play the St. Louis Rams at Wembley Stadium in London England on Sunday at 1 p.m.  The Rams have been designated as the home team for the NFL’s International Series Game.

This is the 11th regular season NFL game played outside the United States and 6th played in London.

The Patriots		—-	The Rams
Overall	4-3		Overall	3-4
Road record	2-2		Home record	3-1
AFC East	0-2		AFC East	0-1
NFC	0-2		AFC	0-1

Walt Coleman is the referee for the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from 5dimes.eu on Yahoo Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 7 1/2.  The over/under is 47. 

My Prediction is Patriots 28, Rams, 21. Take the points (Rams) and take the over.  I am 2-5 against the spread and 4 of 7 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The NFL is reporting the game as a sell out.

Getting to the Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Great Britain make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for the London England.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions and parking information, parking map and a Wembley Stadium seating chart.

Tailgating

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com.  There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.  I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good. 

And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages.  With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks.  You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time.  Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver.  Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

CBS in televising the game regionally and Jim Nantz will do play by play while Phil Simms will provide the game analysis.  You can look here for your local affiliate.

See if you’re getting the game courtesy of J.P. Kirby at the506.com.

The DirecTV designation is Channel 711.

Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules; flex scheduling and commercial breaks.

Radio

The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak will do the game analysis. It all starts with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh with the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.

The Patriots Radio Network call is available on Sirius Channel 107 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Rams Radio Network has Steve Savard calling play by play and D’Marco Farr doing the color with Tony Softli on the sidelines via their flagship station ESPN 101, WXOS-FM. 

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 128, XM Channel 230 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 828.

Sports USA as well will carry the game to a national audience of its affiliates with Larry Kahn and Ross Tucker calling the game.

Patriots All Access

Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team.  It’s hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.

• Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Providence RI on WNAC Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
• Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
• Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.

You can also watch it anytime on the teams website in the media section.

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Last Week

The Patriots nipped the Jets in OT at home, 29-26.  The Rams lost at home to the Packers, 30-20.

History

• The Patriots lead the all-time series 6-5, which includes a Super Bowl win.
• The NFL designated the Rams as the home team in this game.
• The Patriots are 3-2 as the road team in the series.
• This is the sixth time the teams have met since the Rams moved to St. Louis from Los Angeles in 1995.
• The Patriots have won the last three games in the series including Super Bowl XXXVI.
• The two teams last met in 2008 in Foxboro, a 23-16 Patriots victory.

Patriots Team Notes

Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 418-368-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in seven appearances.  Overall they are 23-16 in the post season.

They last appeared in the playoffs in 2011 when they beat Denver home in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 45-10 and defeated Baltimore 23-20 in Foxboro in the AFC Championship Game.  They lost Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants 21-17. 

The Patriots were 13-3 (2-1 in playoffs) in 2011 and are the defending two-time AFC East Champions as well as the defending AFC Conference Champions.  They have won the division 8 times and the conference 5 times since 2000.

New England will travel 11,480 miles round trip between the trips to Seattle and London or more than 11 NFL teams will travel all season.

This is second regular season outside of the United States for the Patriots.  They played Tampa Bay in London in 2009.

New England is 65-35 on the road since 2000.

The Patriots are 34-7 in October games since 2003.

If New England gets 350 or more yards of offense on Sunday they will break the tie with St. Louis for most consecutive games (16) a team has had at least 350 yards in offense.

The Patriots are 1st in the NFL in points per game with 31.0.  While they allow 23.3 points per game good for 19th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 14 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 15 times.

New England is PLUS 11 in turnover differential tied for 1st in the NFL. The offense has given up 3 INT and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 7 INTs and 11 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots are 50 for 105 (47.6%) in 3rd down efficiency and 0 for 2 (0%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 40 for 91 (44%) in 3rd down efficiency and 3 for 7 (42.9%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 18 of 31 (58.1%) in the red zone while opponents are 11 for 17 (64.7%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 14 for 17 (82.4%) and opponents are 8 for 11 (72.7%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 197.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 216.
• Have the most conference titles, 6.
• Have the most division titles, 11.
• Have the most playoff wins, 19
• Have played the most playoff games, 29.
• Are tied for the most playoff seasons, 13.
• Have the best playoff win percentage, .671.
• Have drafted the most Pro Bowl players, 20.

New England set the following team records in 2011:

• Total yards, 6,848.
• First downs, 399.
• Net passing yards, 5,084.
• 100+ yard receiving games, 18.
• Games with 30+ points, 12 (tied for most in NFL history).

Patriots Staff Notes

This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Thursday press conference on the Rams.

Bill Belichick coached teams are 4-1 vs. the Rams, he is 3-1 with New England including a Super Bowl win.

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 179-100 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 143-56 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 17-7 in the playoffs, 16-6 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 196-107.

Belichick’s 196 wins are good for 8th all-time. 

Belichick is one of five head coaches in NFL history whose father (Steve Belichick) played in the league.  The others are former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley (Dick Haley), former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan), former Cincinnati head coach David Shula (Don Shula) and former NY Jets head coach Joe Walton (Frank Walton).

Belichick is one of just four coaches to win three Super Bowls, joining Chuck Noll (4), Joe Gibbs (3) and Bill Walsh (3).  Those men are all in the Hall of Fame.

He is the only coach in NFL history to win three championship titles in four seasons.

He is the only coach in NFL history to have led his team to 10+ wins in 9 consecutive seasons.

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels held the same position last season with the Rams.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Solder
• LG: D. Thomas
• C: Wendell
• RG: Connolly
• RT: Vollmer
• TE: Gronkowski
• TE: Hernandez
• WR: Lloyd
• WR: Welker
• QB: Brady
• RB: Ridley

Defense:

• DE: Ninkovich
• DT: Wilfork
• DT: Love
• DE: Jones
• LB: Mayo
• LB: Spikes
• LB: Hightower
• LCB: Dennard
• RCB: Arrington
• S: McCourty
• S: Wilson

Patriots Players Notes

This Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 2-1 vs. the Rams including 1-0 in the Super Bowl.

Overall Brady is 128-38 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 144-44.  Brady is a 7 time Pro Bowl QB; two time NFL MVP and has won 3 Super Bowls while twice being named the games MVP.  He is also listed as the 21^st Greatest Player in the History of the NFL according to the NFL Network.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL.

Brady has 312 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 128 career wins he is 5th all-time.

Brady finished the 2011 season with 5,235 passing yards and joined Drew Brees (5,476 in 2011 and 5,069 in 2008), Dan Marino (5,084 in 1984) and Matthew Stafford (5,038 in 2011) as the only players in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards in a single season.

Brady has thrown for at least 1 TD in 39 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 84-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

On the season Brady is 186 of 285 (65.3%) for 2104 yards with 12 TDs and 3 INTs his QB rating is 96.9.  

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 108 consecutive games including playoffs, 91 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker leads the team with 54 catches for 688 yards.

TE Rob Gronkowski has 32 receiving touchdowns and 33 touchdowns overall (30 receiving and 1 rushing) since 2010. The NFL record for most receiving touchdowns in a player’s first three NFL seasons is 43 by Randy Moss and the NFL record for most touchdowns overall by a player in his first three NFL seasons is 47 by Barry Sanders (4 receiving and 43 rushing).

He leads the team with 5 TDs, RB Stevan Ridley is 2nd with 4 TDs.

K Stephen Gostkowski has two field goals of 50 or more yards in 2012.  With one more he will be the first Patriots kicker with three field goals of 50 or more yards in one season.

Gostkowski (7 for 10) needs one more field goal of 50 or more yards to tie Adam Vinatieri (8 for 17) for most in team history.

He had the 2nd game winning FG in OT in his career last Sunday. 

Gostkowski is now 23-for-25 (92%) in his career in the fourth quarter or overtime when the score of the game is within seven points.

WR Matthew Slater’s father Jackie played his way into the NFL Hall of Fame as defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams.

Rookie DE Chandler Jones leads the team with 5 sacks; the other DE Rob Ninkovich is second with 4 sacks.

Jones also leads the team with 10 QB hits.

DE Rob Ninkovich leads the team in forced fumbles with 4 while Jones and LB Brandon Spikes have 3 forced fumbles each.

CB Devin McCourty leads the team along with rookie S Tavon Wilson in INTs with 2 each.

McCourty also has team high 9 passes defensed in 2012. Wilson is 2nd with 4 passes defensed.

LB Jerod Mayo leads the team in tackles through 6 weeks with 84 (55 solo).

DT Vince Wilfork has 3 recovered fumbles.

WR Matthew Slater has a team high 8 tackles on special teams, CB Kyle Arrington is 2nd with 4 tackles.

Former Rams on the Patriots are TE Mike Hoomanawanui, WR Brandon Lloyd, LB Bobby Carpenter, TE Daniel Fells and WR Greg Salas (practice squad).

New England C/G Dan Connolly is from Chesterfield MO and attended SE Missouri State.

There are only three players on the team who played on at least one of the Super Bowl championship teams, Brady (3), Branch (2) and Vince Wilfork (1).

Roster moves this week:

• Signed LB Mike Rivera to the practice squad.

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  RB Brandon Bolden (knee); CB Ras-I Dowling (thigh); S Steve Gregory (hip); LB Jerod Mayo (illness/elbow); DE Trevor Scott (hamstring) and LB Tracy White (foot) did not practice.  DE Ron Brace (back); S Patrick Chung (shoulder); WR Julian Edelman (hand); TE Rob Gronkowski (hip); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring); WR Brandon Lloyd (knee); G Logan Mankins (calf/hip); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) were limited in practice.  DT Kyle Love (knee) had full participation in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list.  RB Brandon Bolden (knee); CB Ras-I Dowling (thigh); S Steve Gregory (hip); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); DE Trevor Scott (hamstring) and LB Tracy White (foot) did not practice.  DE Ron Brace (back); S Patrick Chung (shoulder); WR Julian Edelman (hand); TE Rob Gronkowski (hip); LB Jerod Mayo (illness/elbow); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring); WR Brandon Lloyd (knee); G Logan Mankins (calf/hip); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) were limited in practice.  DT Kyle Love (knee) had full participation in practice.

On Friday, it was announced that Aaron Hernandez, Patrick Chung, Steve Gregory, Brandon Bolden, Ras-I Dowling, Trevor Scott and Tracy White will not play in Sunday's contest.

The Patriots captains for 2012 are QB Tom Brady, DT Vince Wilfork, G Logan Mankins, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty and WR Matthew Slater (special teams).

The Patriots have 5 New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA); LB Niko Koutouvides (Plainville CT) and OL Jamey Richard (Weston CT – IR).  They have 14 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are CB Will Allen (Syracuse – IR); DE Ron Brace (Boston College); WR Deion Branch (Louisville); RB James Develin (Brown – Practice Squad); RB Tony Fiametta (Syracuse – Exempt List); DE Justin Francis (Rutgers); S Stephen Gregory (Syracuse); DE Chandler Jones (Syracuse); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); OL Donald Thomas (UConn); OL Matt Tennant (Boston College); TE Alex Silvestro (Rutgers – Practice Squad); OL Jeremiah Warren (South Florida – Practice Squad) and NT Vince Wilfork (Miami).

The Patriots have 6 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

Rams Team Notes

Here is the Rams roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Rams Schedule/Results

The Rams all-time record is 516-510-20 and they are 19-24 in the playoffs with their last playoff appearance coming in 2004. That season the Rams went on the road and beat the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Wild Card game but lost to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Divisional game. 

The Rams have appeared in three Super Bowls losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots and beating the Tennessee Titans (XXXIV).

The Rams also won two NFL Championships in 1945 as the Cleveland Rams and in 1951 as the Los Angeles Rams.

This is St. Louis’ first International regular season game.

The Rams will play one home game per season in London at Wembley Stadium in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

St. Louis is 2-3 vs. New England as the home team in the series.

The Rams are 26th in the NFL in points per game with 18.6.  While they allow 20.1 points per game good for 10th in the NFL.

The St. Louis defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 21 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 21 times.

St. Louis is EVEN in turnover differential, tied for 14th best in the NFL.  The offense has given up 6 INT and 3 fumbles, while the defense has 8 INTs and 1 fumble recovery.

The Rams are 30 for 88 (34.1%) in 3rd down efficiency and 4 for 7 (57.1%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 34 for 91 (37.4%) in 3rd down efficiency and 2 for 4 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

Rams Staff Notes

Read what St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Jeff Fisher in his 18th season as a NFL head coach is 145-124.  He is 3-4 in his first season as a head coach with the Rams; he was 142-120 in 17 seasons with Tennessee and Houston.  He is 5-6 in the playoffs all with Tennessee/Houston for an overall record of 150-130.

He is 1-5 vs. New England (including the playoffs) in his career all with the Titans franchise.

Fisher is 4th in regular season wins among active coaches with 145.

He is one of nine current NFL head coaches with NFL playing experience having played as a defensive back and punt returner for five seasons with the Chicago Bears.

Gregg Williams was supposed to be the Rams new defensive coordinator under Fisher this season but was he suspended for at least the entire season by the NFL for his part in the bounty program as the defensive coordinator with the New Orleans Saints.

Williams was replaced by Dave McGinnis who is Asst. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator.

Rams OL Coach Paul Boudreau, Sr. held the same position with the Patriots from 1997-98.  He also coached at Boston College.

Rams Asst. OL Coach Andy Dickerson was an operations assistant with the Patriots from 2004-05.  He played and coached at Tufts University.

Rams RB Coach Ben Sirmans held the same position at Boston College from 2007-11.  He also played and coached at the University of Maine.

Rams Asst. Special Teams Coach Paul Boudreau, Jr. attended Boston College and coached at Brown, Mass Maritime and Northeastern.

Rams Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Hunter
• LG: Sh. Smith
• C: Turner
• RG: H. Dahl
• RT: B. Richardson
• TE: Kendricks
• WR: St. Smith
• WR: Givens
• WR: Gibson
• QB: Bradford
• RB: Jackson

Defense:

• DE: Long
• DT: Langford
• DT: Brockers
• DE: Quinn
• LB: McIntosh
• LB: Laurinaitis
• LB: Dunbar
• LCB: Finnegan
• RCB: Jenkins
• S: C. Dahl
• S: Mikell

Rams Players Notes

Sam Bradford is in his 4th season with St. Louis after being the top overall draft pick in the 2010 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma.  He has a career record of 11-22.

He has never played against New England in his career.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 20th best quarterback in the NFL.

This season Bradford has completed 131 of 219 passes (59.8%) for 1592 yards.  He has 7 TDs and 6 INTs for a passer rating of 81.5.

RB Steven Jackson is the Rams all-time leading rusher with 9,473 yards.  Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson (7,245) and Marshall Faulk (6.959) are 2nd and 3rd all-time.

Jackson has rushed for 1,000 yards in seven consecutive seasons.

Jackson has the most rushing yardage among active NFL running backs.

LB James Laurinaitis leads the team in tackles with 87 (61 solo).

DE Robert Quinn leads the Rams in sacks with 7; DE Chris Long is second with 4.  They each have 12 QB hits a piece to lead the team.

CB Cortland Finnegan has a team leading 3 INTs for St. Louis.

Rookie CB Janoris Jenkins leads the Rams with 9 passes defensed in 2012.

TE Matthew Mulligan is a native of Bangor ME. 

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  WR Brandon Gibson (illness); LB Mario Haggan (thigh); T Wayne Hunter (back); T Roger Saffold (knee) and DE Eugene Sims (knee) did not practice.  WR Danny Amendola (shoulder) and DT Matt Conrath (knee) were limited in practice.  

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. T Wayne Hunter (back); T Roger Saffold (knee) and DE Eugene Sims (knee) did not practice. WR Danny Amendola (shoulder); DT Matt Conrath (knee); LB Mario Haggan (thigh) and TE Mike McNeil (knee) were limited in practice. WR Brandon Gibson (illness) had full participation.   

St. Louis captains for 2012 are QB Sam Bradford, RB Steven Jackson, LB James Laurinaitis and RB Brit Miller (special teams).

The Rams have 3 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are TE Matthew Mulligan (Maine); RB Isiah Pead (Cincinnati) and LB Jo-Lonn Dunbar (Boston College).

St. Louis has 8 retired numbers they are: 7 – Bob Waterfield; 28 – Marshall Faulk; 29 – Eric Dickerson; 74 – Merlin Olsen; 75 – Deacon Jones; 78 – Jackie Slater; 80 – Isaac Bruce and 85 – Jack Youngblood.

Next Week

The Patriots will have their bye week.  When they return they host the Buffalo Bills on November 11 at Gillette Stadium.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Despite Woes Patriots Defense Still Creates Turnovers

We all have our feelings on the Patriots defense, especially the secondary and the gaping amount of yardage they yield.  But as a whole the New England defensive unit is among the league leaders in turnover ratio.

They came into the Week 7 matchup with the New York Jets tied for first with a plus 10. The offense had given up 3 INT and 3 fumbles, while the defense had 6 INTs and 10 fumble recoveries.

After Sunday they now sit at plus 11 in the giveaway/takeaway stat after recovering 1 of 3 Jets fumbles and having rookie CB Alfonzo Dennard get his first NFL INT off of  Mark Sanchez deep in the red zone.

Last season the Patriots finished 3rd in the NFL in turnover differential with a plus 17.  That mark led the AFC and trailed only San Francisco (plus 28) and Green Bay (plus 24).  The plus 17 they had in 2011 was 10 more than the next closest AFC team, which was Houston who finished at plus 7.

Since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994, New England leads the NFL in giveaway/takeaway ratio with a plus 133.  The next closest team in that time span is the Kansas City Chiefs who are plus 88 and then Green Bay is third at plus 72.  I was stunned that noted takeaway teams like Pittsburgh and Chicago were not in the top three.

Luckily in years past whenever the team needed a big play on defense they have gotten it and that was the case once again on an autumn afternoon in Foxboro in 2012.

 

Play Calling Suspect

At the end of last season offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien left the Patriots to take the head coaching job at Penn State University and former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels returned to his old job to take O’Brien’s place.  But after 7 games in 2012 the offense seems to have hit a wall at times and is being called ”uncreative” by many and others are just openly criticizing the play calling by McDaniels.

I have often said during games that to me the Patriots offense is at its best when they put Tom Brady in the no huddle give him the personnel he needs on the field to run it and just give him the plays and let him go.

Sunday there were times it seemed like they would start clicking in a no huddle or hurry up only to end up going back to a traditional offense.  Other times it seemed as if they would be moving ball by throwing it only to inexplicably call a run play.

Then there was the ultra slow developing flea flicker in which Brady had a wide open Aaron Hernandez shooting down the seem but he could do nothing with it because he hadn’t gotten the ball back yet.

One of the best drives they had in the game was on their second possession of the first half that led to the first Rob Gronkowski TD catch.  In a no huddle, shotgun starting at their 42 yard line they went 7 yard pass to Hernandez.  Incomplete to Gronkowski; 19 yard pass to Gronkowski; 11 yard pass to Hernandez and incomplete to Brandon Lloyd.  Stevan Ridley ran for 4 yards to the Jets 17 and then Brady hit Gronk in the end zone for a TD.

58 yards on 7 plays in 2:19, perfect.

Then their very next drive they started on their own 20 gained 36 yards and after 9 plays they ended up punting.  They used 4:34 but got no where.  Of the 9 plays they ran only 1 was in a no huddle and that got negated on a Jets encroachment penalty.

The other plays in the drive were a 2 yard pass to Julian Edelman; a Shane Vereen 2 yard run; a Ridley 4 yard run for a 1st down at their 33.  Brady then threw incomplete deep to Lloyd; Vereen had a 4-yard run and Gronk caught a 13-yard pass for a 1st down at the 50-yard line.  Ridley went for no gain.  Brady threw to Gronkowski for 7 yards that got called back on holding call on Donald Thomas.  Now 2nd and 20 Brady throws incomplete deep to Lloyd and then 16 yards to Welker forcing the Patriots to punt on 4th and 4.

There was no rhythm to the drive it was like the offense and McDaniels totally lost the feel for the game.  They were leading 14-7 at this point and with an effective uptempo drive they’d have killed about the same amount of clock and possibly come away with at the very least a Stephen Gostkowski field goal and best case another touchdown and start pulling away.

The failure to move the ball on that drive and maintain what they had the drive before was the start of letting the Jets hang around.  On the next Jets possession they got they safety to go up 16-7 but when they got the ball back after the free kick, they ran 4 plays and then had to punt again.

That drive was 3 Ridley runs for 15 total yards gaining a 1st down and then on 3rd and 5 Brady got sacked for a 9 yard loss killing the drive.

Something needs to change with the offensive flow for this team.  McDaniels just needs to put the ball in Brady’s hands and let him fly.  O’Brien was always good for giving Brady the plays he liked best and let him go, McDaniels needs to go back to that part of the offensive philosophy.

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News and Notes

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had his weekly day after conference call with the media on Monday.  (patriots.com)

QB Tom Brady had his weekly Patriots Monday call in. (WEEI)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. New York  (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Jets (ESPN Boston)

Patriots secondary reached a new low Sunday against the Jets (ESPN Boston)

The good, bad and ugly from the win (ESPN Boston)

Gostkowski was clutch in getting Patriots past Jets (Boston Herald)

Five takeaways from Jets – Patriots (Boston Globe)

Ninkovich on forcing the OT fumble (Boston Globe)

McCourty: “My teammates saved my life today” (Boston Globe)

New England is 9-3 when wearing throwback uniforms.  6-0 as the home team.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 151-64.

Since 2003 New England is 34-7 in October games.

Since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994 the Patriots are 25-14 vs. the Jets.

New England is 55-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001 in the regular season.  In that time span they are 29-6 in division home games.

Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002 the Patriots are 69-14 at home in the regular season.

Bill Belichick’s 196 wins are good for 8th all-time.  He is now 196-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick is 19-10 vs. the Jets in his career.  He is 18-9 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes two playoff games (1-1).

Tom Brady is 17-5 vs. the Jets including 1-1 in the playoffs.  Overall including playoffs he is 144-44.

That was Brady’s 35th career game winning performance with the team tied or losing in the fourth quarter.  That was his second comeback win against the Jets, the first was in December of 2001 when New England won 17-16 after starting the 4th quarter trailing 16-14.  Of the 35 game winning performances that was his 10th against an AFC East opponent.

Brady has 312 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 39 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 84-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 108 consecutive games including playoffs, 91 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker did not get 100-yards receiving so he will share the team record for four consecutive games with 100-yards receiving.

CB Devin McCourty was the deep man for kickoff returns.  He had a costly 4th quarter fumble but he also had a 104-yard return for a TD.  He returned the ball 6 times for 199 yards.

LB Jerod Mayo led the team on Sunday with 11 tackles (10 solo).  Mayo now has a team high 83 tackles with 54 of them being solo.

Mayo also forced a fumble as did LB Rob Ninkovich.  Ninkovich now leads the team in forced fumbles with 4 this year.

Ninkovich also led the team with 1.5 sacks and 2 QB hits.  Ninkovich is now 2nd on the team in sacks with 4, DE Chandler Jones has 5.

Ninkovich had his 2nd fumble recovery of the season on Sunday.

The Patriots sacked New York QB Mark Sanchez 4 times, while allowing Brady to be sacked 1 time.

Rex Ryan is 31-24 in his fourth season as a head coach.  He is 4-2 in the playoffs for an overall record of 35-26.

He is 3-5 vs. New England in his career.

Mark Sanchez is 3-5 vs. the Patriots including 1-0 in the playoffs.

Sanchez had two fumbles on Sunday and both were costly.  The first gave the Patriots a safety and a 16-7 lead in the second quarter.  The second one in OT secured the win when he got strip sacked at the Jets 28-yard line and Ninkovich recovered the ball at the 25-yard line.

Jets S LaRon Landry had a game high 12 tackles, that’s an awful lot for safety to have in a game.

New England is PLUS 11 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 3 INT and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 7 INTs and 11 fumble recoveries.

The Patriots were 2 for 2 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs. New York was 2 for 4 (50%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs and 2 FGs.

New England was 9 for 17 (53%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts. The Jets were 8 for 15 (53%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

Next Week

The Patriots visit London England to face the St. Louis Rams next Sunday at Wimbley Stadium.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Aye. aye, aye.

The New England Patriots are truly the cardiac kids as once again the frittered away a two score lead with less than 9 minutes to play only to beat the visiting New York Jets in OT, 29-26 at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

To look at the stats the numbers are as even as you can get without trying to make it look that way and that’s how the game played out.  It shouldn’t have though.  New England really outplayed the New York in the first half but defensive lapses that have haunted the team all year reared their ugly head again in Week 7.

It what looked to be a promising defensive turnaround in the seasons first two weeks the last five have been anything but stellar on that side of the ball.  The one bright spot was this week the three biggest pass plays against the Patriots were 23,24 and 26 yards instead of 44, 50 and 51 yards like last week in Seattle.

Now the offense is starting show signs of lack of consistency with some really odd play calls coming at the most inopportune times.

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and QB Tom Brady need to work out these kinks as does defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and the secondary coaches and players.

This team is much better than a .500 team and while they sit a 4-3 now there destiny appears to be 9-7 and one and done in the playoffs.  Things need to change on both sides of the ball and quickly before this season is gone.

New Englanders watched a baseball team screw away a season we don’t need to watch a football team do it too.

Jets at Patriots Gamebook.  Includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.

Jets at Patriots Game Recap.

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Turning Point of the Game

Patriots DE Jermaine Cunningham and LB Rob Ninkovich combined to sack and strip Jets QB Mark Sanchez of the ball in OT to seal the win.

Offensive Player of the Game

Jets WR Jeremy Kerley had 7 catches for a career high 120 yards.

Defensive Player(s) of the Game

Patriots LB Rob Ninkovich had 6 tackles (4 solo), 1.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 2 QB hits, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Solder

LG D. Thomas

C Wendell

RG Connolly

RT Vollmer

TE Gronkowski

TE Hernandez

WR Welker

WR Lloyd

QB Brady

RB Vereen

On Defense:

DE Cunningham

DT Wilfork

DT Love

DE Jones

LB Ninkovich

LB Mayo

LB Spikes

CB Dennard

CB Arrington

S Wilson

S McCourty

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. G Logan Mankins (hip/calf)

2. S Steve Gregory (hip)

3. S Patrick Chung (shoulder)

4. RB Brandon Bolden (knee)

5. DE Jake Bequette

6. LB Tracy White (foot)

7. DE Ron Brace (back)

Jets

1. DT Sione Pouha (back)

2. DT Kenrick Ellis (knee)

3. S Eric Smith (knee)

4. RB Bilal Powell (shoulder)

5. WR Clyde Gates (shoulder)

6. QB Greg McElroy

7. C Cliff Schlauderlaff

The spread (Patriots MINUS 12) WAS NOT covered.  The over/under (47) WAS COVERED.  I GAVE the points (PATRIOTS) and took the OVER.  I am now 2-5 vs. the spread and 4 of 7 calling the under/over.

Patriots wore their 1980’s throw back uniforms during the game featuring a red jersey, white pants and white helmet with Pat the Patriot on it.

New England is 9-3 when wearing throwback uniforms.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 151-64.

Since 2003 New England is 34-7 in October games.

Since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994 the Patriots are 25-14 vs. the Jets.

New England is 55-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001 in the regular season.  In that time span they are 29-6 in division home games.

Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002 the Patriots are 69-14 at home in the regular season.

Bill Belichick is now 196-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick is 19-10 vs. the Jets in his career.  He is 18-9 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes two playoff games (1-1).

Tom Brady is 17-5 vs. the Jets including 1-1 in the playoffs.  Overall including playoffs he is 144-44.

Brady has 312 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 39 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 84-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 108 consecutive games including playoffs, 91 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

LB Rob Ninkovich had 1.5 sacks of the teams 4 sacks on the day for minus 9 yards.

Ninkovich and LB Jerod Mayo each forced 1 fumble.

Mayo led the team with 11 tackles (10 solo).

Ninkovich also had the lone fumble recovery that sealed the win for the Patriots.

Rookie CB Alfonzo Dennard had his first NFL INT.

Dennard, CB Kyle Arrington and CB Ras-I Dowling each had 1 pass defensed.

Arrington, S Tavon Wilson, WR Julian Edelman and TE Mike Hoomanawanui each made 1 special teams tackle.

Roster moves this week:

• on Saturday the Patriots released OL Matt Tennant
• signed LB Jeff Tarpinian from the practice squad

The Patriots sacked New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez 4 times, while allowing Brady to be sacked 1 time.

New England is PLUS 11 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 3 INT and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 7 INTs and 11 fumble recoveries.

The Patriots were 2 for 2 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs.

New England was 9 for 17 (53%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

Rex Ryan is 31-24 in his fourth season as a head coach.  He is 4-2 in the playoffs for an overall record of 35-26.

He is 3-5 vs. New England in his career including playoffs.

Mark Sanchez is 30-24 as a starting QB and is 4-2 in the playoffs for an overall record of 34-26.

He is 3-5 vs. the Patriots including 1-0 in the playoffs.

New York is 36-35 vs. the AFC East in the regular season since 2001.

New York has lost 14 of the last 21 meetings with New England including playoffs.

The Jets are 4-9 all-time at Gillette Stadium.  Overall as the road team in the series they are 25-29-1.

The Jets were 8 for 15 (53%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

New York was 2 for 4 (50%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs and 2 FGs.

New York is EVEN in turnover differential.  The offense has given up 7 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 7 INT and 5 fumble recoveries.

Jeff Triplette was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 62 and partly cloudy.

Attendance – 68,752 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.

Post Game Interviews

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conference via patriots.com

This Week in the AFC East

Tennessee nipped Buffalo, 35-34

Miami had a bye

AFC East Standings

Patriots                   4-3/2-0

Dolphins                  3-3/0-1

Jets                        3-4/2-1

Bills                        3-4/0-2

Next Week

The Patriots visit London, England to face the St. Louis Rams next Sunday at Wimbley Stadium.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credits: cbs screenshot, ap photo

This Week

The New England Patriots host their AFC East Rivals the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA on Sunday at 4:25 p.m.

The Jets		–	The Patriots
Overall	3-3		Overall	3-3
Road record	1-1		Home record	1-1
AFC East	2-0		AFC East	1-0
AFC	3-2		AFC	3-1

Jeff Triplette is the referee for the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from 5Dimes.eu via Yahoo Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 12.  The over/under is 47.

My Prediction is Patriots 34, Jets, 14.  Give the points (Patriots) and take the over.  I am 2-4 against the spread and 3 of 6 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 198th consecutive sell out  dating back to the 1994 season opener.  The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.

Tickets to the game, if available, can be purchased through Ticketmaster.  You can check the availability here.

The Patriots are reporting they have found two strings of counterfeit tickets this season and they advise fans to buy their after market tickets from a reputable source.

After market tickets are available through the Official Patriots Ticket Exchange where season ticket holders can sell their unused seats to fans on the season ticket waiting list.

Getting to the Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Foxboro make sure you check out the links.

Patriots will once again wear their throwback uniforms against the Jets.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Foxboro MA.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking information and map and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.

Tailgating

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com.  There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.  I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good.

And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages.  With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks.  You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time.  Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver.  Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

CBS in televising the game regionally and Jim Nantz will do play by play while Phil Simms will provide the game analysis.  You can look here for your local affiliate.

See if you’re getting the game courtesy of J.P. Kirby at the506.com.

The DirecTV designation is Channel 712.

Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules, flex scheduling and commercial breaks.

Radio

The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak will do game analysis. It all starts with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh with the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.

The Patriots Radio Network call is available on Sirius Channel 93, XM Channel 226 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Jets Radio Network has Bob Wischusen calling play by play and former Jet Marty Lyons doing the color via their flagship station WEPN-FM, ESPN New York 98.7.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 86 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 821.

Dial Global Radio Sports will be broadcasting the game to their national affiliates.  Kevin Kugler and Mark Malone will call the action.

Sports USA as well will carry the game to a national audience of its affiliates with Bob Fitzgerald and Ross Tucker calling the game.

Patriots All Access

Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team.  It’s hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.

• Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Providence RI on WNAC Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
• Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
• Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.

You can also watch it anytime on the teams website in the media section.

To continue reading, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Last Week

The Patriots lost in the last minute on the road to the Seahawks, 24-23.  The Jets routed the Colts at home, 35-9.

History

• The Patriots lead the all-time series 53-52-1 including playoffs.
• The Patriots are 28-25-1 as the home team in the series.
• The lone tie in the series (24-24) came on October 2, 1966 when both clubs were part of the AFL.
• Since Gillette opened in 2002 New England is 8-4 (including playoffs) vs. the Jets at home.
• The Patriots swept the 2011 season series from the Jets winning Week 5 at Gillette, 30-21 and Week 10 at The Met 37-16.

Patriots Team Notes

Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 417-368-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in seven appearances.  Overall they are are 23-16 in the post season.

They last appeared in the playoffs in 2011 when they beat Denver home in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 45-10 and defeated Baltimore 23-20 in Foxboro in the AFC Championship Game.  They lost Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants 21-17.

The Patriots were 13-3 (2-1 in playoffs) in 2011 and are the defending two-time AFC East Champions as well as the defending AFC Conference Champions.  They have won the division 8 times and the conference 5 times since 2000.

Since the 2002 division realignment this is the first time Week 6 or later that all four teams in one division have been tied for 1st place.

The Patriots will wear their red throwback jerseys and Pat Patriots helmets this weekend against the Jets.

New England is 8-3 when wearing throwback uniforms.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 150-64.

Since 2003 New England is 33-7 in October games.

Since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994 the Patriots are 24-14 vs. the Jets.

New England is 54-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001 in the regular season.  In that time span they are 28-6 in division home games.

Since Gillete Stadium opened in 2002 the Patriots are 68-14 at home in the regular season.

An AFC East rival has not swept the Patriots in a season series since 2000 when Miami and New York swept them.

The Patriots have swept the Jets 14 times in the series the last time was in 2011.

The Patriots are 1st in the NFL in points per game with 31.3.  While they allow 22.8 points per game good for 15th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 11 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 13 times.

New England is PLUS 10 in turnover differential tied for 1st in the NFL. The offense has given up 3 INT and 3 fumbles, while the defense has 6 INTs and 10 fumble recoveries.

The Patriots are 41 for 88 (46.6%) in 3rd down efficiency and 0 for 2 (0%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 32 for 76 (42.1%) in 3rd down efficiency and 3 for 7 (42.9%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 16 of 29 (55.1%) in the red zone while opponents are 9 for 15 (60%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 13 for 16 (81.3%) and opponents are 7 for 10 (70%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 196.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 215.
• Have the most conference titles, 6.
• Have the most division titles, 11.
• Have the most playoff wins, 19
• Have played the most playoff games, 29.
• Are tied for the most playoff seasons, 13.
• Have the best playoff win percentage, .671.
• Have drafted the most Pro Bowl players, 20.

New England set the following team records in 2011:

• Total yards, 6,848.
• First downs, 399.
• Net passing yards, 5,084.
• 100+ yard receiving games, 18.
• Games with 30+ points, 12 (tied for most in NFL history).

Patriots Staff Notes

This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Jets.

Bill Belichick is 18-10 vs. the Jets in his career.  He is 17-9 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes two playoff games (1-1).

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 178-100 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 142-56 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 17-7 in the playoffs, 16-6 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 195-107.

Belichick’s 195 wins are good for 8th all-time.

Belichick is one of five head coaches in NFL history whose father (Steve Belichick) played in the league.  The others are former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley (Dick Haley), former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan), former Cincinnati head coach David Shula (Don Shula) and former NY Jets head coach Joe Walton (Frank Walton).

Belichick is one of just four coaches to win three Super Bowls, joining Chuck Noll (4), Joe Gibbs (3) and Bill Walsh (3).  Those men are all in the Hall of Fame.

He is the only coach in NFL history to win three championship titles in four seasons.

He is the only coach in NFL history to have led his team to 10+ wins in 9 consecutive seasons.

Belichick is the former defensive coordinator for the Jets from 1997-99 under Bill Parcells.  He was head coach for less than 24 hours before resigning to take the Patriots job.

Linebackers coach Pepper Johnson played for the Jets in 1997 and 1998.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Solder
• LG: D. Thomas
• C: Wendell
• RG: Connolly
• RT: Vollmer
• TE: Gronkowski
• WR: Branch
• WR: Lloyd
• WR: Welker
• QB: Brady
• RB: Woodhead

Defense:

• DE: Cunningham
• DT: Wilfork
• DT: Love
• DE: Jones
• LB: Mayo
• LB: Spikes
• LB: Ninkovich
• LCB: McCourty
• RCB: Arrington
• S: Dennard
• S: T. Wilson

Patriots Players Notes

This is Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 16-5 vs. the Jets including 1-1 in the playoffs.

Against the Jets he has had a game passer rating of 100 or more 8 times.  The highest rating is 148.8 from 2010.

He has also had 6 games with a completion percentage of 70% or better with the high being 78.6 in 2007.

Overall Brady is 127-38 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 143-44.  Brady is a 7 time Pro Bowl QB; two time NFL MVP and has won 3 Super Bowls while twice being named the games MVP.  He is also listed as the 21^st Greatest Player in the History of the NFL according to the NFL Network.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL.

Brady has 310 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 127 career wins he is 5th all-time.

Brady finished the 2011 season with 5,235 passing yards and joined Drew Brees (5,476 in 2011 and 5,069 in 2008), Dan Marino (5,084 in 1984) and Matthew Stafford (5,038 in 2011) as the only players in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards in a single season.

Brady has thrown for at least 1 TD in 38 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 83-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

On the season Brady is 160 of 243 for 1845 yards with 10 TDs and 3 INTs his QB rating is 97.2.

Brady has 2 rushing TDs in 2012 with one more he will tie a career high.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 107 consecutive games including playoffs, 90 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker has four straight 100-yard games tying a team record.

Welker leads the team with 48 catches for 622 yards.

TE Rob Gronkowski has 30 receiving touchdowns and 31 touchdowns overall (30 receiving and 1 rushing) since 2010. The NFL record for most receiving touchdowns in a player’s first three NFL seasons is 43 by Randy Moss and the NFL record for most touchdowns overall by a player in his first three NFL seasons is 47 by Barry Sanders (4 receiving and 43 rushing).

K Stephen Gostkowski has two field goals of 50 or more yards in 2012.  With one more he will be the first Patriots kicker with three field goals of 50 or more yards in one season.

Gostkowski (7 for 10) needs one more field goal of 50 or more yards to tie Adam Vinatieri (8 for 17) for most in team history.

RB Stevan Ridley leads the team with 4 TD’s all of them rushing TDs.

DE Chandler Jones had his first two sack game of his NFL career last Sunday in Seattle.

Jones has three forced fumbles in 2012 the team record for most in one season is five by LB Mike Vrabel.

Rookie DE Chandler Jones leads the team with 5 sacks; the other DE Rob Ninkovich is second with 2.5 sacks.

Jones also leads the team with 10 QB hits.

Jones, Ninkovich and LB Brandon Spikes lead the team with 3 forced fumbles each.

CB Devin McCourty leads the team along with rookie S Tavon Wilson in INTs with 2 each.

McCourty also has team high 9 passes defensed in 2012. Wilson is 2nd with 4 passes defensed.

McCourty is a native of Montvale, N.J. and attended Rutgers University.

LB Jerod Mayo leads the team in tackles through 6 weeks with 72 (44 solo).

DT Vince Wilfork has 3 recovered fumbles.

WR Matthew Slater has a team high 7 tackles on special teams, CB Kyle Arrington and rookie S Nate Ebner are 2nd with 3 tackles each.

Arrington played football at Hofstra University.

S Steve Gregory was born in Brooklyn NY and was named Newsday and New York Daily News All-City WR at Curtis High School in Staten Island NY

DL Justin Francis played at Rutgers University

RB Danny Woodhead and CB Marquice Cole are former Jets.

There are only three players on the team who played on at least one of the Super Bowl championship teams, Brady (3), Branch (2) and Vince Wilfork (1).

Roster moves this week:

• None

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  RB Brandon Bolden (knee) and LB Tracy White (foot) did not practice.  S Patrick Chung (shoulder); WR Julian Edelman (hand); S Steve Gregory (hip); TE Rob Gronkowski (hip); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring); G Logan Mankins (calf/hip); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) were limited in practice.  DT Kyle Love (knee) had full participation in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. .  RB Brandon Bolden (knee); S Steve Gregory (hip); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); G Logan Mankins (calf/hip) and LB Tracy White (foot) did not practice.  DL Ron Brace (Back); S Patrick Chung (shoulder); WR Julian Edelman (hand); TE Rob Gronkowski (hip); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) were limited in practice. DT Kyle Love (knee) had full participation in practice.

The Patriots captains for 2012 are QB Tom Brady, DT Vince Wilfork, G Logan Mankins, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty and WR Matthew Slater (special teams).

The Patriots have 5 New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA); LB Niko Koutouvides (Plainville CT) and OL Jamey Richard (Weston CT – IR).  They have 14 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are CB Will Allen (Syracuse – IR); DE Ron Brace (Boston College); WR Deion Branch (Louisville); RB James Develin (Brown – Practice Squad); RB Tony Fiametta (Syracuse – Exempt List); DE Justin Francis (Rutgers); S Stephen Gregory (Syracuse); DE Chandler Jones (Syracuse); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); OL Donald Thomas (UConn); OL Matt Tennant (Boston College); TE Alex Silvestro (Rutgers – Practice Squad); OL Jeremiah Warren (South Florida – Practice Squad) and NT Vince Wilfork (Miami).

The Patriots have 6 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

Jets Team Notes

Here is the Jets roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Jets Schedule/Results

The Jets all-time record is 362-424-8 and they are 12-13 in the playoffs with their last playoff appearance coming in 2010.  That season the Jets lost on the road to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game, after having beaten Indianapolis and New England on the road to get there.

The Jets last appeared in a Super Bowl following the 1968 season and defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 to win Super Bowl III. At that time was considered the biggest upset in sports history.  They were the first AFL team to win the Super Bowl.

The Jets also won the 1968 AFL Championship when they beat the Oakland Raiders, 27-23 at Shea Stadium.

New York is 36-34 vs. the AFC East in the regular season since 2001.

New York has lost 13 of the last 20 meetings with New England including playoffs.

The Jets have swept the Patriots 14 times in the series the last time was in 2000.

The Jets are 4-8 all-time at Gillette Stadium.  Overall as the road team in the series they are 25-28-1.

The New York defense has allowed opponents to convert 45.7% (37 of 81) of the time on 3^rd down, while the offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 39.0% (32 of 82).  On 4th down the jets defense has allowed opponents to convert 100% (2 of 2) of the time, while the offense has a 4th down conversion rate of 100% (4 of 4).

The New York defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 9 times in 6 games.  Their quarterbacks have been sacked 11 times.

The Jets are 20th in the NFL in points per game with 22.2.  While they allow 23.5 points per game good for 19th in the NFL.

New York is PLUS 1 in turnover differential, 13th best in the NFL.  The offense has given up 6 INT and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 7 INT and 4 fumble recoveries.

Jets Staff Notes

Read what New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Ryan is 31-23 in his fourth season as a head coach.  He is 4-2 in the playoffs for an overall record of 35-25.

He is 3-4 vs. New England in his career including playoffs.

Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano is a West Haven CT native.  He played and coached at the University of New Haven.  He also coached at Boston University.

Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Bill Hughan served as an assistant coach at Yale University in New Haven CT.

Offensive Line Coach Dave DeGuglielmo was born in Cambridge MA graduated from Lexington High School in 1986 and played at Boston University.

Defensive Quality Control Coach Brian Smith coached seven seasons at UMass.

Quarterbacks Coach Matt Cavanaugh was a second round draft pick of the Patriots in 1978 and played for New England for five years (1978-82).

Jets Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Ferguson
• LG: Slauson
• C: Schlauderaff
• RG: Moore
• RT: Howard
• TE: Cumberland
• WR: S. Hill
• WR: Kerley
• QB: Sanchez
• RB: Greene
• RB: Hilliard

Defense:

• DE: Wilkerson
• NT: Pouha
• DE: DeVito
• LB: Scott
• LB: McIntyre
• LB: Harris
• LB: Pace
• LCB: K. Wilson
• RCB: Cromartie
• S: Bell
• S: Bush

Jets Players Notes

Mark Sanchez is 30-23 as a starting QB and is 4-2 in the playoffs for an overall record of 34-25.  Sanchez was the Jets 1^st round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft out of Southern California.

He is 3-4 vs. the Patriots including 1-0 in the playoffs.

Sanchez was the 23rd best of the 30 starting quarterbacks rated by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski.

DE Mike DeVito is a native of Wellfleet MA and played college football at Maine.

OL Vladimir Ducasse was born in Haiti and moved to Stamford CT in 2002 and played high school football at Stamford High School.  He went on to play football at UMass and was drafted in the 2nd round in 2010.

RB Lex Hilliard was with the Patriots earlier this season before being released.

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  DL Kenrick Ellis (knee); WR Clyde Gates (shoulder); C Nick Mangold (ankle); RB Joe McKnight (ankle); NT Sione Pouha (back); RB Bilal Powell (shoulder) and S Eric Smith (knee) did not practice.  WR Steven Hill (hamstring); TE Dustin Keller (hamstring); LB Bart Scott (toe) and LB Bryan Thomas (hamstring) had limited participation.  WR Jeremy Kerley (finger); S LaRon Landry (heel); OL Brandon Moore (hip); LB Calvin Pace (shoulder); QB Mark Sanchez (back) and G Matt Slauson (knee) had full participation in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list.  DL Kenrick Ellis (knee); S LaRon Landry (heel); C Nick Mangold (ankle); RB Joe McKnight (ankle); RB Bilal Powell (shoulder) and S Eric Smith (knee) did not practice. WR Clyde Gates (shoulder); NT Sione Pouha (back); LB Bart Scott (toe) and LB Bryan Thomas (hamstring) had limited participation. WR Steven Hill (hamstring); TE Dustin Keller (hamstring); WR Jeremy Kerley (finger); OL Brandon Moore (hip); LB Calvin Pace (shoulder); QB Mark Sanchez (back) and G Matt Slauson (knee) had full participation in practice.

New York does not name team captains.  They are appointed on a weekly basis prior to the game.

The Jets have 6 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are DB Aaron Berry (Pittsburgh); OL Vladimir Ducasse (UMass); CB Darrelle Revis (Pittsburgh – IR); RB Bilal Powell (Louisville); DE Mike DeVito (Maine) and DE Muhammad Wilkerson (Temple).

New York has 3 retired numbers they are: 12 – Joe Namath, 13 – Don Maynard and 73 – Joe Klecko.

Next Week

The Patriots visit London England to face the St. Louis Rams next Sunday at Wembley Stadium.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Talking Trash; Showing Class

The blogosphere and the main stream media have been abuzz since Sunday night when Seattle Seahawks DB Richard Sherman (@rsherman_25) tweeted a pic of himself yelling at New England Patriots QB Tom Brady after the Seahawks came back to stun the Patriots.

Sherman’s photo had a caption of him saying, “Are you mad bro?”  Seems that either prior to or at some point during the game Sherman and fellow DB Earl Thomas engaged Brady in some trash talking and Brady, who is known for some yapping, replied to come see him after the game when they (the Patriots) win.

Well Sherman did, hence the photo.

There’s always a lot of trash talking in the NFL between players and fanbases, we here at Sox & Dawgs have had some engaging conversations with Steelers, Chargers and Jets fans over the years.

And when your team wins, if you choose, you get to be the one to talk and the others should shut up and take it, especially if they had given it back at some point earlier.  Brady did that Sherman was yelling at him, Brady put his down and kept walking.  He knew he lost all he had to do was look at the scoreboard to remind him of that fact.  New England lost in part because of some poor decisions by the two-time NFL MVP, hey it happens.

I have absolutely no problem with Sherman yapping, in fact, it was kind of funny.  The Patriots have no one to blame for that loss except themselves.  That game was there for the taking and several times all they needed was one more play and failed time and time again.  Seattle won they deserved it, they took it when it was given to them.

What I have an issue with is the members of the Patriots fanbase who need to act like douchebags and tweet dumb, stupid, nasty comments to Sherman because he did exactly what Brady told him to do.  Brady got called on it.  It doesn’t happen often and fewer times when he is directly responsible for a good portion of the loss.

You as Patriots fans hate it when other teams fanbases talk bullshit after a loss so why stoop to that level and do it yourself?

Next time show some class, take the loss and keep your mouth shut and fingers off the keyboard.

To continue reading, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Patriots Secondary was Porous

Seattle rookie QB Russell Wilson had a decent day for the most part.  On six plays though he looked like the Second Coming of Steve Young.

Overall Wilson was a solid 16 of 27 and his yardage total of 293 was something you see every week in nearly every game in the NFL nowadays.  Where Wilson excelled was on 6 passing plays that totaled 222 passing yards (237 total yards when you add a personal foul penalty that occurred on one play), all of the passes were over 20 yards, with the largest being 51 yards (plus 15).  Here are those six plays courtesy of the Gamebook.

        Yards Qtr       Play Start                Play Description

• 66 4        1-10-SEA 17 (9:17) R.Wilson pass deep middle to G.Tate to NE 32 for 51 yards.  PENALTY on NE-B.Spikes, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at NE 32.

• 50 1        3-9-SEA 16 (4:25) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep middle to D.Baldwin to NE 34 for 50 yards.

• 46 4        1-10-NE 46 (1:27) R.Wilson pass deep middle to S.Rice for 46 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

• 29  1        1-10-SEA 31 (10:53) R.Wilson pass deep right to S.Rice ran ob at NE 40 for 29 yards.

• 24 1        1-15-NE 24 (1:59) R.Wilson pass deep middle to D.Baldwin for 24 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

• 22 1        1-10-NE 40 (10:29) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep right to Z.Miller to NE 18 for 22 yards.

A lot of fans and media are really questioning the talent in the secondary as well as the coaching of cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer and safeties coach Brian Flores.  I think the talent is there especially in rookies Alfonzo Dennard and Tavon Wilson.  I also think Devin McCourty is better than people make him out to be but he maybe better suited for safety because at times his cover skills are suspect.

This is the third season in a row the secondary has been porous and something needs to drastically change.

Former Patriots CB Ty Law chimed in on the New England secondary “It’s screwed up across the board from a talent standpoint and a leadership standpoint.”

Face it Rodney Harrison and Law are not walking through that door so this group needs to get better and find a leader if this team is going to survive.

News and Notes

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels all had conference calls with the media on Monday.  (patriots.com)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. Seahawks (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Seattle (ESPN Boston)

A look at the positional grouping on offense and why the running game couldn’t get going (ESPN Boston)

Best and Worst of Patriots at Seahawks (Boston Herald)

No end to Patriots secondary concerns (Boston Herald)

Aaron Hernandez a factor in his return (Boston Herald)

Where is the finish, Patriots? (Boston Herald)

Patriots refuse to capitalize on chances (Boston Herald)

Five takeaways from Patriots – Seahawks (Boston Globe)

Patriots suffer key injuries in loss to Seattle (Boston Globe)

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 150-64.

Since 2003 New England is 33-7 in October games.

The Patriots are 4-3 as the road team in the series, 3-2 at the Kingdome and 1-1 at CenturyLink Field.

That was the 7th game since 2009 that New England has given up a lead in the last five minutes and lost the game.

After scoring only 10 points in the first 50:39, Seattle scored 14 points in the final 9:21.

New England had the ball on their 41 yard line first and ten with 3:02 to play holding onto a 6 point lead.  They went three and out using only :24 seconds of clock time.

The Patriots last three drives ended on two punts and a losing the ball on downs.

Bill Belichick’s 195 wins are good for 8th all-time.  He is now 195-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick coached teams are 3-2 vs. Seattle, he is 2-1 against the Seahawks with New England.

Tom Brady is 1-1 vs. the Seahawks.  Overall including playoffs he is 143-44.

Brady has 310 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 38 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 83-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.  Sunday was one of those rare games when the Patriots lost.

Brady threw two INTs Sunday the first ones he has thrown since Week 2 when Arizona’s Patrick Peterson picked him.  He went 179 attempts between INTs.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 107 consecutive games including playoffs, 90 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker tied a team record with his fourth straight game with 100-yards receiving.

Welker returned 4 punts for 68 yards total (17 yards per return) with a long of 27 yards.

WR Matthew Slater hurt his ankle and left the game, Patrick Chung suffered a shoulder injury and RB Brandon Bolden suffered a knee injury and did not return.

DE Chandler Jones led the team on Sunday with 9 tackles (4 solo).

Jones also led the team with 2 sacks and 3 QB hits.

Jones and LB Jerod Mayo also each had a forced fumble.

LB Rob Ninkovich and Mayo each had a fumble recovery on Sunday.

The Patriots sacked Seattle QB Russell Wilson 2 times, while allowing Brady to be sacked 1 time.

Seattle head coach Pete Carroll overall is 53-54 including playoffs.  He is 2-1 vs. New England, 1-1 with New York and 1-0 with Seattle.

QB Russell Wilson is 1-0 vs. the Patriots.

The Seahawks have the 7th best home record in the NFL since 2002 they are 59-30 including post season.

New England’s defense had 5 tackles for loss for 17 yards.

The Patriots offense had 26 first downs (5 rushing, 20 passing, 1 by penalty) compared to 17 (4 rushing, 11 passing 2 by penalty) for the Seahawks.

New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 10. The defense has recovered 10 fumble and has 6 INT.  The offense has given away 3 fumbles and has 3 INT.

New England was 8 for 18 (44%) on third down conversions and 0 for 1 (0%) on 4th down attempts.  The Seahawks were 4 for 12 (33%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

The Patriots were 1 for 6 in the red zone.  They had 1 TD, 3 FGs, 1 turnover and 1 take over on downs.  Seattle was 2 for 3 (67%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs and 1 FG.

Next Week

The Patriots will host the New York Jets next Sunday at Gillette Stadium.  Kick off is at 4:25 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

This Week

The New England Patriots visit the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA on Sunday at 4 p.m.

The Patriots		–	The Seahawks
Overall	3-2		Overall	3-2
Road record	2-1		Home record	2-0
NFC West	0-1		AFC East	0-0
NFC	0-1		AFC	0-0

Clete Blakeman is the referee for the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from 5dimes.eu via Yahoo Sports has the Patriots MINUS 3 1/2.  The over under is 44 1/2.

My Prediction is Patriots 24, Seahawks, 17. Give the points (Patriots) and take the under.  I am 2-3 against the spread and 3 of 5 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The Seahawks are reporting the game as a sell out. It is their 80th consecutive sellout.

Tickets to the game, if available, can be purchased through Ticketmaster.  You can check the availability here.

Getting to the Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in the great Northwest make sure you check out the links.

The Seahawks are retiring Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy’s number at half time.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for the Seattle WA.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions and parking information, parking map and a CenturyLink Field seating chart.

Tailgating

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com.  There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.  I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good.

And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages.  With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks.  You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time.  Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver.  Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

CBS in televising the game regionally, Ian Eagle will do play by play while Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts will provide the game analysis.  You can look here for your local affiliate.

See if you’re getting the game courtesy of J.P. Kirby at the506.com.

The DirecTV designation is Channel 712.

Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules; flex scheduling and commercial breaks.

Radio

The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak will do the game analysis. It all starts with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh with the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.

The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 91 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Seahawks Radio network has Steve Raible calling play by play and Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon doing the color with Jen Mueller on the sidelines via their flagship stations 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO FM 97.3.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 139, XM Channel 231 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 826.

Sports USA will carry the game to a national audience of its affiliates with Larry Kahn and John Robinson calling the game.

Patriots All Access

Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team.  It’s hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.

• Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Providence RI on WNAC Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
• Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
• Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.

You can also watch it anytime on the teams website in the media section.

To continue reading the New England Patriots @ Seattle Seahawks Week 6 preview, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Last Week

The Patriots held off the Broncos at Gillette Stadium 31-21.  The Seahawks beat the Panthers in Carolina, 16-12.

History

• The Patriots lead the all-time series 8-7.
• The Seahawks are 2-4 as the home team in the series.
• This is the second meeting between the two teams at the CenturyLink Field which opened in 2002.
• The Patriots have won the last two games in the series after a five game losing streak.
• The two teams last met in 2008 in Seattle, a 24-21 Patriots victory.

Patriots Team Notes

Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 417-367-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in seven appearances.  Overall they are 23-16 in the post season.

They last appeared in the playoffs in 2011 when they beat Denver home in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 45-10 and defeated Baltimore 23-20 in Foxboro in the AFC Championship Game.  They lost Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants 21-17.

The Patriots were 13-3 (2-1 in playoffs) in 2011 and are the defending two-time AFC East Champions as well as the defending AFC Conference Champions.  They have won the division 8 times and the conference 5 times since 2000.

The Patriots are 4-2 as the road team in the series, 3-2 at the Kingdome and 1-0 at CenturyLink Field.

The Seahawks are the only non-divisional team that the Patriots have played twice in the regular season in the same year. That scheduling oddity took place during the 1993 season, the only year in which the league’s 16-game schedule was played over an 18-week span and each team was allotted two bye weeks.

New England is 33-6 in October since 2003.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 150-63.

The Patriots have had two straight games with 200 yards or more rushing. If they reach 200 yards rushing at Seattle it will be the first time they have had a stretch of three straight games with 200 yards rushing since having a stretch of four straight 200-yard games in 1978.

The Patriots have scored seven rushing touchdowns in the last two weeks.  It’s the first time since 1978 that the Patriots have had as many as seven rushing touchdowns in a two-game span. New England had eight rushing scores in a two-game span in 1978 when it scored four times on the ground on both Oct. 22, 1978 vs. Miami and on Oct. 29, 1978 vs. the New York Jets.

New England is the first team since the merger in 1970 with three consecutive weeks of 30 or more first downs.

The Patriots are 1st in the NFL in points per game with 33.0.  While they allow 22.6 points per game good for 17th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 9 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 12 times.

New England is PLUS 10 in turnover differential tied for 1st in the NFL. The offense has given up 1 INT and 3 fumbles, while the defense has 6 INTs and 8 fumble recoveries.

The Patriots are 33 for 70 (47.1%) in 3rd down efficiency and 0 for 1 (0%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 28 for 64 (43.8%) in 3rd down efficiency and 2 for 5 (40%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 15 of 23 (65.2%) in the red zone while opponents are 7 for 12 (58.3%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 12 for 15 (80%) and opponents are 7 for 10 (70%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 196.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 215.
• Have the most conference titles, 6.
• Have the most division titles, 11.
• Have the most playoff wins, 19
• Have played the most playoff games, 29.
• Are tied for the most playoff seasons, 13.
• Have the best playoff win percentage, .671.
• Have drafted the most Pro Bowl players, 20.

New England set the following team records in 2011:

• Total yards, 6,848.
• First downs, 399.
• Net passing yards, 5,084.
• 100+ yard receiving games, 18.
• Games with 30+ points, 12 (tied for most in NFL history).

Patriots Staff Notes

This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Jets.

Bill Belichick coached teams are 3-1 vs. Seattle, he is 2-0 against the Seahawks with New England.

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 178-99 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 142-55 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 17-7 in the playoffs, 16-6 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 195-106.

Belichick’s 195 wins are good for 8th all-time.

Belichick is one of five head coaches in NFL history whose father (Steve Belichick) played in the league.  The others are former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley (Dick Haley), former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan), former Cincinnati head coach David Shula (Don Shula) and former NY Jets head coach Joe Walton (Frank Walton).

Belichick is one of just four coaches to win three Super Bowls, joining Chuck Noll (4), Joe Gibbs (3) and Bill Walsh (3).  Those men are all in the Hall of Fame.

He is the only coach in NFL history to win three championship titles in four seasons.

He is the only coach in NFL history to have led his team to 10+ wins in 9 consecutive seasons.

Belichick is 5-4 in West Coast games as the Patriots head coach.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Solder
• LG: D. Thomas
• C: Wendell
• RG: Connolly
• RT: Cannon
• TE: Gronkowski
• WR: D. Branch
• WR: Lloyd
• WR: Welker
• QB: Brady
• RB: Ridley

Defense:

• DE: Ninkovich
• DT: Wilfork
• DT: Love
• DE: Jones
• LB: Mayo
• LB: Spikes
• LB: Carpenter
• LCB: McCourty
• RCB: Arrington
• S: Chung
• S: T. Wilson

Patriots Players Notes

This Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 1-0 vs. the Seahawks.

This is his first ever game in Seattle.  When the Patriots visited the Seahawks in 2008 Brady was on IR with a torn ACL.

Overall Brady is 127-37 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 143-43.  Brady is a 7 time Pro Bowl QB; two time NFL MVP and has won 3 Super Bowls while twice being named the games MVP.  He is also listed as the 21^st Greatest Player in the History of the NFL according to the NFL Network.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL.

Brady has 308 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.

Brady has 127 career wins he is 5th all-time.

Brady finished the 2011 season with 5,235 passing yards and joined Drew Brees (5,476 in 2011 and 5,069 in 2008), Dan Marino (5,084 in 1984) and Matthew Stafford (5,038 in 2011) as the only players in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards in a single season.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 37 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 83-15 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

On the season Brady is 124 of 185 for 1450 yards with 8 TDs and 1 INT his QB rating is 102.8.  Anything above 100 is considered exceptional.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 106 consecutive games including playoffs, 89 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker has three straight 100-yard games and can tie a team mark if he reaches 100-yards receiving at Seattle.

Welker leads the team with 38 catches for 484 yards.

TE Rob Gronkowski has 30 receiving touchdowns and 31 touchdowns overall (30 receiving and 1 rushing) since 2010. The NFL record for most receiving touchdowns in a player’s first three NFL seasons is 43 by Randy Moss and the NFL record for most touchdowns overall by a player in his first three NFL seasons is 47 by Barry Sanders (4 receiving and 43 rushing).

WR Brandon Lloyd has played 8 games vs. Seattle he has 30 catches for 496 yards and 3 TD’s.

CB Devin McCourty leads the team along with rookie S Tavon Wilson in INTs with 2 each.

McCourty also has team high 8 passes defensed in 2012. Wilson is 2nd with 3 passes defensed.

LB Jerod Mayo leads the team in tackles through five weeks with 64 (42 solo).

Rookie DE Chandler Jones leads the team with 3 sacks; the other DE Rob Ninkovich is second with 2.5 sacks.

Jones also leads the team with 7 QB hits.

Ninkovich and LB Brandon Spikes lead the team with 3 forced fumbles each.

DT Vince Wilfork has 3 recovered fumbles.

WR Matthew Slater has a team high 5 tackles on special teams, rookie S Nate Ebner is 2nd with 3 tackles.

WR Deion Branch, LB Niko Koutouvides and LB Tracy White are former Seahawks.

There are only three players on the team who played on at least one of the Super Bowl championship teams, Brady (3), Branch (2) and Vince Wilfork (1).

Roster moves this week:

• Announced the retirement of RB Kevin Faulk

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  WR Julian Edelman (hand); S Steve Gregory (hip); TE Michael Hoomanawanui (concussion) and LB Tracy White (foot) did not practice.  RB Brandon Bolden (knee); QB Tom Brady (shoulder); DE Brandon Deaderick (ankle); DT Justin Francis (ankle); TE Rob Gronkowski (hip); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring) G Logan Mankins (calf/hip); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); RB Shane Vereen (foot); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) were limited in practice.  DT Kyle Love (knee) had full participation in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. S Steve Gregory (hip); TE Michael Hoomanawanui (concussion) and LB Tracy White (foot) did not practice. WR Julian Edelman (hand); RB Brandon Bolden (knee); DE Brandon Deaderick (ankle); DT Justin Francis (ankle); TE Rob Gronkowski (hip); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring) G Logan Mankins (calf/hip); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); RB Shane Vereen (foot); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) were limited in practice.  DT Kyle Love (knee) had full participation in practice.

The Patriots captains for 2012 are QB Tom Brady, DT Vince Wilfork, G Logan Mankins, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty and WR Matthew Slater (special teams).

The Patriots have 5 New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA); LB Niko Koutouvides (Plainville CT) and OL Jamey Richard (Weston CT – IR).  They have 14 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are CB Will Allen (Syracuse – IR); DE Ron Brace (Boston College); WR Deion Branch (Louisville); RB James Develin (Brown – Practice Squad); RB Tony Fiametta (Syracuse – Exempt List); DE Justin Francis (Rutgers); S Stephen Gregory (Syracuse); DE Chandler Jones (Syracuse); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); OL Donald Thomas (UConn); OL Matt Tennant (Boston College); TE Alex Silvestro (Rutgers); OL Jeremiah Warren (South Florida – Practice Squad) and NT Vince Wilfork (Miami).

The Patriots have 6 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

Seahawks Team Notes

Here is the Seahawks roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Seahawks Schedule/Results

The Seahawks all-time record is 272-297-0 and they are 8-11 in the playoffs with their last playoff appearance coming in 2010. That season the Seahawks beat the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints in the NFC Wild Card game at home but lost on the road to the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional game.

The Seahawks appeared in one Super Bowl (XL) losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-10.

The Seahawks were the only team to under major uniform changes with the NFL change over to NIKE as the uniform provider.  The major changes are:

• Colors: Wolf Grey, College Navy, Action Green
• Modified color scheme mirrors the Pacific Northwest wilderness; blue waters, snow-capped mountains, green lush landscape
• Jersey incorporates graphics inspired by northwest coastal Indian art
• Broad chest graphic outlining the shoulders echoes the stance of a Thunderbird Totem. The Seahawks mark above the heart honors the team.
• Feather-pattern graphic on helmet, in numbers and on pants represents natural elements of the Pacific Northwest, again inspired by the coastal Indian art
• The 12 feathers on the pant leg stripe represent the 12th Man. They have been in the stands for decades, now on the field as well.
• 12 feathers are also featured on each side of the neckline and the 12th Man logo is sewn on the inside back collar of the jersey.
• *The Seahawks logo on helmet is bigger and bolder, connecting at a point in the back of the helmet.

The Seahawks are the only remaining NFL team to never have worn their white jerseys for a home game.

Since 2002 Seattle has allowed the 5th fewest points at home in the NFL.

The Seahawks have the 7th best home record in the NFL since 2002 they are 58-30 including post season.  The Patriots have the best home record in that span they are 77-16.

Seattle is the home team for the just the third time in the last 10 meetings with New England.

This is the start of 3 games in 15 days for the Seahawks.  They play again on a short week when they travel to San Francisco on Thursday.

The Seahawks have never shut out the Patriots, while New England has turned the trick twice in 1977 and 1982.

Each home game the Seattle Seahawks have a former player or local celebrity or sports personality raise the 12th man flag in the south endzone. The 12th man flag will be raised this week by former Seattle All-Pro tackle Walter Jones.

The Seahawks opponents at home have committed the most false start penalties in the NFL since 2005 with 112.  Most of that is attributed to crowd noise made by the Seattle fans.

Seattle has the third youngest roster in the NFL the average age is 26 years, 103 days.

The Seattle defense has not allowed a TD since Week 3 vs. Green Bay.

The Seahawks defense ranks first in the NFL in yards per game (258.6); yards per play (4.4); pass yards per play (6.0) and points allowed by a defensive unit (54).

Overall based on points allowed as a team (70) they are the second rated defense in the NFL.

The Seahawks defense has allowed opponents to convert 38.7% (24 of 62) of the time on 3^rd down, while the offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 32.8% (21 of 64).  On 4th down they are 3 of 7 (42.9%) while opponents have converted 1 of 2 950%).

The Seattle defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 16 times in 5 games.  Their quarterbacks have been sacked 10 times.

The Seahawks are 28th in the NFL in points per game with 17.2.  While they allow 14 points per game good for 2nd in the NFL.

Seattle is MINUS 1 in turnover differential, tied for 17th best in the NFL.  The offense has given up 6 INT and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 3 INT and 4 fumble recoveries.

Seahawks Staff Notes

Read what Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Pete Carroll in his 6th season as a NFL head coach is 50-51.  He is 17-20 in his third season as a head coach with the Seahawks, he was 6-10 with the New York Jets and 27-21 in 3 seasons with New England.  He is 2-3 in the playoffs (1-1 with Seattle; 1-2 with New England) for an overall record of 52-54.

He is 1-1 vs. New England in his career all with New York.

Carroll served as the Patriots Head Coach from 1997-99. He led the Patriots to an AFC East title in his first year as head coach and a wild card berth the following year.

Seahawks Offensive Coordinator Darrel Bevell coached wide receivers at UConn from 1998-99.

Quarterbacks Coach Carl Smith spent time in New England and served as the Assistant Head Coach and Quarterbacks Coach in 1997 and the Tight Ends Coach from 1998-99.

Seahawks Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Okung
• LG: J. Carpenter
• C: Jeanpierre
• RG: Paul McQuistan
• RT: Giacomini
• TE: Miller
• TE: Moore
• WR: Rice
• WR: Tate
• QB: R. Wilson
• RB: Lynch

Defense:

• DE: Bryant
• DT: A. Branch
• DT: Mebane
• DE: Clemons
• LB: Hill
• LB: Wagner
• LB: Wright
• LCB: Sherman
• RCB: Browner
• S: Chancellor
• S: E. Thomas

Seahawks Players Notes

Rookie Russell Wilson was named the Seahawks starter before the last preseason game and he is 3-2 in his first year.  Wilson was Seattle’s third round pick last April out of Wisconsin via Maryland.

Wilson is the shortest starting QB in the NFL at 5’11”.

He was the 6th rookie QB drafted in the 3rd round or later to start Week 1 since 1970 and the first since 2005 when Kyle Orton started for Chicago.

Wilson has struggled some in his rookie season he is just 79 for 125 for 815 yards with 5 TDs and 6 INTs and a QB rating of just 75.3.  Anything below 80 is considered subpar, above 80 is average, 90 is good, and 100+ is exceptional.

RB Marshawn Lynch has run for 508 yards on 113 carries (4.5 ypc).  He leads the NFC in rushing yards and is 3rd in the NFL.

WR Sidney Rice leads the team with 17 catches for 199 yards.

DE Chris Clemons leads the Seahawks in sacks with 5.5.  Since 2010 he is 6th in the NFL with 27.5 sacks.

He also leads the squad with 9 QB hits.

LB Brandon Browner leads the Seahawks with 2 forced fumbles.

LB Richard Sherman leads Seattle with 2 INTs and 7 passes defensed.

RB/KR Leon Washington has the second most kickoff returns for TD’s in NFL history with 7.  Josh Cribbs is the all-time leader with 8.

Rookie DE Bruce Irvin leads all NFL rookies in sacks with 4.5.

G John Moffitt is a native of Guilford CT and attended Notre Dame High School in West Haven CT.

T Breno Giacomini is a native of Malden MA and was a three-year starter at Malden High School.

K Steven Hauschka is a native of Needham MA and attended Middlebury College in Middlebury VT.

Only CB Marcus Trufant and LB Leroy Hill remain from the Super Bowl XL team.

G Paul McQuistan’s twin brother, Pat was just released by Arizona last week.  They were one of three sets of twins in the NFL this season along with Devin (New England) and Jason McCourty (Tennessee) and Mike (Pittsburgh) and Markice Pouncey (Miami).

The following players were listed on the injury report Wednesday.  G John Moffitt (knee) is out.  DT Jaye Howard (foot); DT Clinton McDonald (groin) and C Max Unger (hip) did not practice.  RB Marshawn Lynch (back) was limited in practice.

The following players were listed on the injury report Thursday. G John Moffitt (knee) is out.  DT Jaye Howard (foot); DT Clinton McDonald (groin) and C Max Unger (hip) did not practice.  RB Marshawn Lynch (back) had full participation in practice.

Seattle’s captains for 2012 are C Max Unger; DE Red Bryant; LB Heath Farwell (special teams) and RB Michael Robinson (special teams).

The Seahawks have 3 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member. They are K Steven Hauschka (Middlebury); T Breno Giacomini (Louisville) and DE Greg Scruggs (Louisville).

Seattle has 3 retired numbers they are: 12 – Fans (12th Man); 71 – Walter Jones; 80 – Steve Largent.

Next Week

The Patriots will host the New York Jets next Sunday at Gillette Stadium.  Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Ridley Running into Stardom

The last time the New England Patriots had a running back this good they had clock killin’ Corey Dillon or BenJarvis Green-Ellis.

While he isn’t as bruising as Dillon or as steady and sure handed as the Lawfirm now they have Stevan Ridley.

Ridley, a 2011 3rd round pick out of LSU, has really grown in his second season.  The only disconcerting part is that after not having fumbled in the first three weeks he’s put the ball on the turf twice in the last two games, with one this past Sunday being recovered by opposition.  His previous fumble took a fortunate roll in Buffalo and went out of bounds.

The fumble Sunday could have been costly with the team winning by ten points and the Broncos with plenty of time left to chew further into the lead.  But luckily for Ridley Denver’s Willis McGahee had a bigger fumble and New England was able to run the clock out on a win.

Fumbles aside, this kid is good.  I watched him at LSU and he was an outstanding college running back competing against SEC defenses week in and week out.

He is showing it now in the NFL too.  Week in, week out he is getting better, running for tough yards and running where there appears to be no hole.  You just see his silver helmet scooting through the line among the giants as he chews up yards and time and prolongs another New England drive.

In five weeks he has run for 490 yards on 102 carries for a 4.8 yards per carry average and he is on pace to be the teams first 1,000 yard rusher since Green-Ellis who was the first since Dillon.

Don’t be too hard on him for those fumbles, the kid looked devastated on Sunday and then relieved, and you know he is working hard to overcome those.  I for one am really thrilled with how well he has run against some good defenses.  He already has three one hundred-yard games this year with 125 against Tennessee, 106 against Buffalo and a career high 151 against Denver.

Hopefully for Ridley and the Patriots the best is yet to come.

To continue reading, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

News and Notes

Former Patriots RB Kevin Faulk has announced his retirement from the NFL and will hold a press conference at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday. (Boston Herald)

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick conducted his day after media briefing. (patriots.com)

QB Tom Brady had his weekly Patriots Monday radio chat on Monday morning. (WEEI)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. Broncos (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Denver (ESPN Boston)

Observations on the up-tempo approach; first half and second half (ESPN Boston)

The Patriots defense did its part against Manning (ESPN Boston)

Welker back on top (Boston Herald)

Defense making big plays (Boston Herald)

Best and Worst of Broncos at Patriots (Boston Herald)

Five takeaways from Patriots-Broncos (Boston Globe)

Rob Ninkovich gets back to high motor style of play (Boston Globe)

The Patriots are 68-14 at home in the regular season since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 150-63.

Since 2003 New England is 33-6 in October games.

The Patriots are 3-2 vs. Denver at Gillette Stadium.

New England has won 4 of the last 5 meetings including 1 playoff game.

Bill Belichick’s 195 wins are good for 8th all-time.  He is now 195-106 including playoffs in his career.

Tom Brady is 4-6 vs. the Broncos including 1-1 in the playoffs.  Overall including playoffs he is 143-43.

Denver head coach John Fox is 1-5 vs. New England including postseason (0-2).  He is 0-3 with Denver (0-1 in playoffs) and 1-2 with Carolina (0-1 in Super Bowl).

Peyton Manning is 7-13 against the Patriots, including playoffs (1-2).  He is 2-9 vs. the Patriots on the road.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 106 consecutive games including playoffs, 89 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Rookie CB Alfonzo Dennard made his Patriots debut on Sunday after being inactive with injuries the first four weeks.  DE Justin Francis also dressed for the first time but did not play.

The Patriots defense held the Broncos to just 70 yards rushing on 20 carries.  The longest carry they gave up was 11 yards.

Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas had a big game with 188 receiving yards on 9 catches but he had a costly fumble on Denver’s first possession.

Punters for both teams had one punt of at least 50 yards.

Both Chris Gronkowski (Denver) and Rob Gronkowski (New England) had a kick off return for 0 yards.

LB Jerod Mayo led the team in tackles on Sunday he had 13 (solo).

Mayo and DE Rob Ninkovich each had a QB sack. DE Chandler Jones led the team with 2 QB hits.

Ninkovich forced 2 Denver fumbles 1 by Manning and 1 by Willis McGahee, while CB Sterling Moore had a forced fumble on Thomas.

DT Vince Wilfork, DL Jermaine Cunningham and Moore each had a fumble recovery.

For the second week in a row the Patriots lost a fumble after going three weeks without losing one.

The Patriots sacked Denver QB Peyton Manning 2 times, while allowing Brady to be sacked 4 times.

New England’s defense had 2 tackles for loss for 5 yards.

The Patriots offense churned out 35 first downs (18 rushing, 16 passing and 1 by penalty) while the defense allowed 22 first downs by the Broncos (5 rushing, 16 passing and 1 by penalty).

New England set a team record with 35 first downs in one game.

New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 10. The defense has recovered 8 fumble and has 6 INT.  The offense has given away 3 fumbles and has 1 INT.

New England was 11 for 17 (65%) on third down conversions and 0 for 1 (0%) on 4th down attempts.  The Broncos were 7 for 13 (54%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

The Patriots were 4 for 5 in the red zone.  They had 4 TDs and 1 FG.  Denver was 3 for 4 (75%) in the red zone.  They had 3 TDs and lost 1 fumble.

Ed. Note: In game recap I identified a Broncos player as David Dreissen.  The correct identification is Joel Dreessen.

Next Week

The Patriots travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.  Kickoff is at 4 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII