I think it’s time to ask the question no one ever wants to hear.  What’s wrong with Tom Brady?  Yesterday he was probably the most inaccurate I have seen him since he became a starter in 2001.  If he has been more off target than he was at times in the first 45 minutes of Sunday’s game I don’t recall it.

It wasn’t just this week either; this is the third week in a row that the offense has been mediocre and Brady as its leader is the one to questioned.

I refuse to believe that every missed pass New England has is the result of a bad route run by a receiver, the fact that Chad Ochocinco is on the field, poor protection or that the officials missed a call.

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald on his Twitter account wrote, “of Tom Brady’s 21 incompletions, 1 judged 7 to be poor throws. Another 7 were were batted by Giants due to poor reads/judgement”.

Face fact’s, on Sunday Cooper Manning, the third non-football playing son of Archie, could have beaten the Patriots with the way Brady executed his offense.

Granted it’s not all on one person.  The offensive line was atrocious on Sunday as well, especially T Matt Light.  Every time I looked up, Light was being bull rushed, pushed around, thrown to the ground and beaten down by Giants DE Osi Umenyiora that led to Brady being hurried, hit and sacked by Umenyiora and/or a plethora of other Giants players.

Light, though, wasn’t the only one as C Dan Connolly at times was severely mismatched and the line on the whole failed to give Brady the time he needed to throw.

All I know is the Patriots defense kept them in the game Sunday.  And it’s time to face some more facts, that isn’t going to happen often so, New England needs to straighten out the mess with offense and soon or they will be looking up at the Jets and Bills come playoff time.

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This is what Brady himself had to say about Sunday on WEEI AM/FM on Monday morning.

Belichick had his weekly Monday media meeting about the week ahead.

LB Dan Fletcher missed his second game with a thumb injury while S Josh Barrett returned to action after missing three games with hamstring and thumb issues.  RB Kevin Faulk who returned against Pittsburgh from the PUP list was inactive with a sore knee.  He had played a lot of snaps against the Steelers and probably was feeling it a little bit, while WR Taylor Price (hamstring) and DE Shaun Ellis (ribs) were also scratched with injuries.  LB Jermaine Cunningham, G Donald Thomas and QB Ryan Mallett were healthy scratches.  Mallett has been scratched 7 times in 8 games, while Cunningham and Thomas were out for the second week in a row.

LB Brandon Spikes hurt his knee in the 2^nd quarter and didn’t return now ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Spikes has a sprained MCL and is week to week.

LB Gary Guyton suffered a stinger that put LB Tracy White on the field who was caught cheating run on game winning TD.

Looks like there was a sideline incident in the 3^rd quarter with Albert Haynesworth and line coach Pepper Johnson on Sunday.  Apparently Johnson and Bill Belichick were upset with something Haynesworth did or didn’t do on the field and there were words exchanged between at least Johnson and Haynesworth if not Belichick as well.

Haynesworth did not play much in the final quarter.  Belichick say’s the situation was rotational.  Turns out Haynesworth didn’t play at all after the reported incident.

ESPN’s Tedy Bruschi dissects the Patriots loss to the Giants on Sunday.

Receptions for Ochocinco? Nada.  He went oh for Ochocinco.

Sunday’s loss snapped a few streaks: Patriots had won 20 consecutive regular season games at Gillette Stadium.  Tom Brady had won his last 31 starts at Gillette and the Patriots had won 18 games in a row at home against NFC opponents.

Chad Ochocinco’s post game comments via the Rap Sheet Blog.

The Herald’s Ron Borges says the Patriots best is no longer enough

S Sergio Brown was surprised by pass interference penalty on the final New York drive.

Until Sunday the Patriots had never lost to the Giants in the regular season since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994.

Brady and Belichick will have to wait another week to try for win number 117 as a QB-Coach combination.  They currently share the record of 116 wins with Dan Marino and Don Shula.

UMass product WR Victor Cruz was in control on Sunday.

Tom Brady may need counseling he appears to have trust issues.

A look at the Big 4 on special teams who as a unit are struggling.

And in the fourth, the defense rests.

Sunday’s game between the Giants and Patriots was first NFL game to be scoreless at the half in the 2011 season.

The pointless effort adds to losses.

ESPN’s Mike Reiss has the offensive and the defensive snaps for the Patriots.

This time the problem pointed to the offense.

This was the third time this season New England has had a four turnover game (Week 3 at Buffalo, Week 6 vs. Dallas and Week 9 vs. NY Giants) they are 1-2 in those games.

Breaking down the Giants final drive play by play.

The Patriots 3 Up, 3 Down in the loss to the Giants.

Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.

New England plays the New York Jets on Sunday at 8:20 p.m. at Met Life Stadium in the Meadowlands.  Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on Friday.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

Once again the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots stunning them behind the play of QB Eli Manning, 24-20 Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.

The win by the Giants by back some ugly wounds of Super Bowl XLII and ended the home team’s dominance of opponents in their stadium by snapping a 20-game home win streak.  It was also the first loss to a NFC East team since 2003 when they lost at Washington and the first regular season loss at home to the NFC since Green bay beat them in 2002.

After a scoreless first half things got heated in the final 30 minutes, with the lead changing four-times in the fourth quarter alone.

New York jumped out to a fairly quick 10-0 lead early in the second half behind a 22-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes and a Brandon Jacobs 10-yard run.  Both scores followed Tom Brady turnovers.

After having missed his first FGA to end the first half Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski got New England on the board with a 32-yard FG to cut the lead to 10-3 after 3 quarters.

A little over 30-seconds into the fourth quarter Brady got New England even when he found TE Aaron Hernandez for a five yard TD pass.  And just 7 minutes later Gostkowski gave them a 13-10 lead when he knocked down a 45-yard FG.

But in the final 3 minutes it was Manning who outdueled Brady for the win. While Brady was getting the Patriots a game leading TD with just 1:36 to play it was Manning who had put the Giants up 17-13 with 3:03 to play when he went ten yards to Mario Manningham forcing the Brady counter maneuver.

It didn’t last long because just as they did in the desert they left too much time on the clock.  Manning marched his team down field throwing a game winning 1 yard TD pass to TE Jake Ballard with 15 seconds remaining to send the Giants back to the Swamp with a 24-20 road win.

Turnovers and poor offensive play killed the Patriots today.  They really had no rhythm on offense all day until their final scoring drive.  And once again they had four turnovers, 3 by Brady (2 INTs, 1 fumble) with the Giants getting 10 points off the turnovers and another killed a good scoring chance by New England in the second quarter.

Then to make matters worse the offensive line play was once again atrocious.  It seemed like on nearly every play Brady was being harassed, hit, stripped, sacked or chanced by a gang of white jerseys.  T Matt Light was the big culprit as Giants DE Osi Umenyiora was in the offensive backfield all afternoon.

The defense actually looked pretty good, especially in the first half, they were hitting and covering the receivers pretty well and overall they didn’t play bad defensively.

Who would have thought the offense right now would be a bigger a problem them the defense?  Brady has looked very normal the last few weeks and when he looks normal it does not bode well for the men from Foxboro.

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

Giants at Patriots Game Recap via Associated Press.

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Turning Points of the Game

Giants QB Eli Manning scrambling for a 12 yard gain and 1^st down to keep the final drive alive and Patriots S Sergio Brown being called for pass interference on the one yard line that led to the final game winning score for the Giants.

Offensive Player of the Game

New York QB Eli Manning was 20 of 39 for 250 yards with 2 TD’s and 1 INT and led the Giants to a game winning drive with 1:44 left to play in which he threw the game winning TD pass.

Defensive Player of the Game

Giants LB Matthias Kiwanuka had 12 tackles, 6 of them were solo tackles, 1 pass defensed and had an INT.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT – Light
LG – Mankins
C – Connolly
RG – Waters
RT – Vollmer
TE – R. Gronkowski
TE – Solder
WR – Welker
WR – Branch
QB – Brady
RB – Green-Ellis

On Defense:

DE – Deaderick
DT – Wilfork
DT – Love
DE – Carter
OLB – Mayo
ILB – Spikes
OLB – Ninkovich
CB – McCourty
CB – Arrington
S – Chung
S – Ihedigbo

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. LB Dane Fletcher (thumb)

2. RB Kevin Faulk (knee)

3. WR Taylor Price (hamstring)

4. DE Shaun Ellis (ribs)

5. LB Jermaine Cunningham

6. G Donald Thomas

7. QB Ryan Mallett

Giants

1. RB Ahmed Bradshaw (foot)

2. WR Hakeem Nicks (hamstring)

3. C David Baas (knee)

4. CB Prince Amakamura (knee)

5. T James Brewer

6. T Stacy Andrews

7. RB Henry Hynoski

The spread (Patriots minus 9) was not covered but the over/under (51) was covered.  I am now 5-2-1 vs. the spread and 5 of 8 calling the under/over.

This was the first game to go to halftime scoreless in the NFL this season.

The overall series with the Giants is now tied 5-5 including the playoffs.

The Patriots are now 2-3 vs. the Giants at home and had their 4 game regular season win streak between the two teams end.

New England is 18-2 vs. the NFC at Gillette Stadium (since 2002).  The lone loss is vs. Green Bay in 2002.  They had won 18 in a row before this loss.

Since 2002 the Patriots are 8-2 vs. the NFC East in the regular season.  It’s the first loss vs. a NFC East opponent since they lost at Washington in 2003.

The Patriots lost a regular season game at Gillette Stadium for the first time since the 2008 season they had won 20 consecutive regular season home games.

Since 2002 when Gillette Stadium opened the Patriots are 70-15 at home.

Since 2003 New England is 26-3 following a loss and have lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2009.

Tom Brady is now 2-2  vs. the New York Giants, including the playoffs.

Brady’s 2 TD passes give him 281 in his career he is now 8th all-time.  Hall of Fame Colts QB Johnny Unitas is 7^th with 290.

New England is now EVEN in turnover differential.

This was the third time this season New England has had a four turnover game (Week 3 at Buffalo, Week 6 vs. Dallas and Week 9 vs. NY Giants) they are 1-2 in those games.

DE Ron Brace was activated from the PUP list on Saturday and took the roster spot vacated by S Ross Ventrone.

On Friday the Patriots released CB Josh Victorian from the practice squad and signed CB Malcolm Williams just like they did last Tuesday before reversing it last Friday.

New England LB Brandon Spikes hurt his knee in the 2^nd quarter and did not return.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 90 consecutive games including playoffs, 73 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Manning started his 111^th game in a row, tying him for the fourth longest streak in NFL history with Brady, whose streak ran from September 30, 2001 until the 2^nd Week of the 2008 season when Matt Cassel started in his place.

Pete Morelli was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 57 and it was clear.

Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.

Attendance: 68,756 at Gillette Stadium; Foxboro MA – Sell Out

Post Game Interviews

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

This Week in the AFC East

NY Jets beat Buffalo, 27-11

Miami routed Kansas City 31-3

AFC East Standings

Patriots                   5-3/2-1

Bills                        5-3/1-1

Jets                        5-3/2-1

Dolphins                  1-7/0-2

Next Game

The Patriots visit the New York Jets at Met Life Stadium on Sunday.  Kick off is at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

Photo credit: AP Photo

This Week

The New England Patriots host the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium on Sunday at 4:15 p.m.

The Patriots (5-2) are 3-0 at The Razor, 1-0 against the NFC East and 1-0 vs. the NFC.  The Giants (5-2) are 2-1 on the road, 2-0 vs. the AFC East and 2-0 against the AFC.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports has the Patriots at minus 9.  The over under is 51.

My Prediction is Patriots 35, Giants, 28 take the points (Giants) and take the over.  I am 4-2-1 against the spread and 5 of 7 on calling the over/under in 2011.

Tickets

The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 187^th 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.

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.

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

FOX is televising the game regionally and Joe Buck will do play by play while Troy Aikman will provide the game analysis and Pam Oliver will be the sideline reporter.  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 714.

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, former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color and new this year Scott Zolak will man the sidelines. It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Andy Gresh and Zolak 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.

If you are outside the broadcast are of the stations on the Patriots Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass, which allows you to listen to any game live.  You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.

All NFL Games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games under a special additional package.  They usually only carry the home team feed.

The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 94, XM Channel 227 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 879.

The Giants Radio network has Bob Papa calling play by play and former Giant Carl Banks provides the color via their flagship station WFAN.  Their call is available on Sirius Channel 86 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 881.

Sports USA Radio Network will also broadcast the game to its nationwide 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 lost to the Steelers on the road 25-17; while the Giants beat the Dolphins, 20-17 at home.

History

• The Patriots lead the all-time series 5-4 including playoffs.
• The Patriots are 2-2 as the home team in the series.
• The Patriots have won the last four regular season meetings between the teams.
• This is only the Giants 2^nd appearance in Foxboro since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002.
• In Week 17 of the 2007 season the Patriots beat the Giants 38-35 at Giants Stadium to complete the first 16-0 season in NFL history.
• The two teams last met in Super Bowl XLII with the Giants defeating the Patriots, 17-14.

Patriots Team Notes

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

2011 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 406-365-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in six appearances.  They last appeared in the playoffs in 2010 when they lost at home to the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 28-21.  They last appeared in a Super Bowl in 2007 losing to the New York Giants 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII.  They won the AFC Conference championship that season with playoff wins over Jacksonville and San Diego.

The Patriots are the defending two-time AFC East Champions; they have won the division 8 times since 2000.

The Patriots are dedicating the 2011 season to the memory of Myra Hiatt Kraft, the late wife of owner Robert Kraft. Every Patriots player and coach will honor Myra’s memory by wearing a patch with her initials on it in recognition of her lifelong contributions to the local and global community and her influence on the charitable mission of the entire Patriots organization. The patch will be worn on the left chest of every player throughout the season.

The Patriots have not lost a regular season meeting with the Giants since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994 (4-0).

New England is a NFL best 18-1 vs. the NFC at Gillette Stadium (since 2002).  The lone loss is vs. Green Bay in 2002.

Since 2002 the Patriots are 8-1 vs. the NFC East in the regular season.  The lone loss was at Washington in 2003.

The Patriots have not lost a regular season game at Gillette Stadium since the 2008 season having won 20 consecutive regular season home games.

Since 2002 when Gillette Stadium opened the Patriots are 70-14 at home the best mark in the NFL.

Since 2003 New England is 26-2 following a loss and have lost back-to-back games only twice; once in 2006 and once in 2009.

Patriots and their opponents have each scored 59 points in the 4^th quarter.

The Patriots defense has allowed opponents to convert 46.1% of the time on 3^rd down (30th), while the offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 50.6% 4th best in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 15 times in 7 games.

The Patriots are 5th in the NFL in points per game with 28.9.  While they allow 22.9 points per game good for 17th in the NFL.

New England is now plus 2 in turnover differential, tied for 13th best in the NFL.  The offense has given up 8 INT and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 9 INT and 3 fumble recoveries.

Patriots Staff Notes

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

Bill Belichick is 2-3 vs. the Giants in his career.  He is 2-1 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes one Super Bowl (0-1).

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 167-96 in 16 NFL seasons.  He is 129-53 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 15-6 in the playoffs, 14-5 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 182-102.

Belichick’s 182 wins are good for 10^th all-time.  Bill Parcells is 9^th with 183 wins.

He was named NFL Coach of the Year for the 3^rd time in 2010.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Light
• LG: Mankins
• C: Connolly
• RG: Waters
• RT: Vollmer
• QB: Brady
• RB: Green-Ellis
• TE: R. Gronkowski
• TE: Hernandez
• TE: D. Gronkowski
• WR: Branch

Defense:

• DE: Anderson
• DT: Wilfork
• DT: Love
• DE: Carter
• OLB: Mayo
• ILB: Spikes
• OLB: Ninkovich
• LCB: McCourty
• RCB: Arrington
• S: Chung
• S: Ihedigbo

Patriots Players Notes

This Tom Brady’s 12^th NFL season he is 2-1 vs. the Giants including 0-1 in the playoffs.

Overall Brady is 116-33 as a starting QB and is 14-5 in the playoffs for an overall record of 130-38.  Brady is a 6 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.

In 2010 Brady won his second NFL MVP and he was the first unanimous winner in league history.

Brady has thrown 18 TD’s and 8 INT’s while being sacked 14 times in 7 games.

Brady has 279 TD passes in his career he is now 8th all-time.  Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas is 7^th with 290.

With a win on Sunday Brady and Belichick will break the record they share with Dan Marino and Don Shula as the winningest quarterback-coach combination in the Super Bowl era with 116 wins.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 89 consecutive games including playoffs, 72 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

CB Kyle Arrington has a team leading 4 INT’s in 2011, DT Vince Wilfork is 2^nd with 2.

CB Devin McCourty leads the team in tackles with 52, S Patrick Chung is 2^nd with 51.

DE Mark Anderson and DE Andre Carter lead the team with 4.5 sacks apiece.  Anderson also leads the team with 6 quarterback hits while Carter has 5.

Anderson, Wilfork, Carter and LB Jerod Mayo have each forced a fumble this season while LB Rob Ninkovich, DL Kyle Love and DE Gerard Warren each have recovered a fumble.

WR Matthew Slater leads the team with 7 special teams tackles, LB Tracy White is 2^nd with 6.

Carter had his second consecutive 2 sack games last week at Pittsburgh.

DE Ron Brace will more than likely be activated from the PUP list possibly as early as Friday.

DE Shaun Ellis suffered a rib injury Sunday against Pittsburgh and he may miss some time.

Players not practicing on Wednesday and Thursday due to injuries were: WR Wes Welker (neck – out Wednesday only) and LB Dane Fletcher (thumb).  A few others saw limited action in practice they were: Ellis (ribs); TE Aaron Hernandez (knee); S Josh Barrett (thumb); RB Kevin Faulk (knee); RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis (toe); LB Jerod Mayo (back) and T Sebastian Vollmer (back).

It appears that most of the limited players, as well as Welker, are just precautionary measures as they have all come back from injuries in the last few weeks.

It looks like Ellis may not play as of Thursday so there will be some juggling on the defensive line.  Brace, if activated from PUP as anticipated, will see some time and may possibly start, if not, Mark Anderson is a candidate for his first start of the year.

On Thursday the team released S Ross Ventrone, again.  According to the Patriots this is the 3^rd time he has been released just this season. Since April 2010 when he originally signed with the team he has been involved in 17 roster transactions and has been released 7 times.  It’s obvious that the staff likes what he brings to keep bringing him back.  Expect him to be back on the practice squad after he clears waivers.

WR Julian Edelman was arrested on Tuesday morning for indecent assault and battery; he pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.  He did practice during the week but there was no comment from the team either on the charges or how it will effect his playing time.  Last Sunday at Pittsburgh, Edelman was a healthy scratch.

There are only eight players on the Patriots roster that played in Super Bowl XLII vs. the Giants in February 2008.  They are: C Dan Koppen; WR Wes Welker; K Stephen Gostkowski; G Logan Mankins; DT Vince Wilfork; T Matt Light; QB Tom Brady and RB Kevin Faulk.

The Patriots have four New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven, CT); S James Ihedigbo (Northampton, MA) and DE Ron Brace (Worcester, MA).  They have 8 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are: WR Deion Branch (Louisville); S James Ihedigbo (UMass); C Dan Koppen (Boston College – IR); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); NT Vince Wilfork (Miami), OL Donald Thomas (UConn); DE Mike Wright (Cincinnati – IR) and DE Ron Brace (Boston College).

The Patriots have 7 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.

Giants Team Notes

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

2011 Giants Schedule/Results

The Giants all-time record is 641-526-33 and they are 20-24 in the playoffs with their last playoff appearance coming in 2008.  That season the Giants lost to Philadelphia in the NFC Divisional round, 23-11. The Giants last appeared in a Super Bowl following the 2007 season and defeated the previously undefeated New England Patriots, 17-14 to win Super Bowl XLII. It is considered one the biggest upset in sports history.  The Giants have won three Super Bowls (XXI, XV, XLII) in four appearances and have also won 4 NFL Championships (1927, 1934, 1938, 1956) prior to the Super Bowl era.

New York is one of three NFL teams with at least 600 wins as a franchise.

The Giants have a new alternate throwback uniform for 2011.  It replaces the red alternate jersey they wore between 2004 and 2007.

The Giants have a huge New England following due to the fact that they were the closest pro football team to the region prior to the formation of the AFL in 1960 and the birth of the Patriots franchise.

The Giants can’t live in the shadow of 2007.

The Giants defense has allowed opponents to convert 34.7% of the time on 3^rd down (9th), while the offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 34.8% 20th best in the NFL.

The New York defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 26 times in 7 games that is the most in the NFL.

The Giants are 10th in the NFL in points per game with 24.9.  While they allow 24.3 points per game good for 21st in the NFL.

New York is now plus 5 in turnover differential, tied for 6th best in the NFL.  The offense has given up 5 INT and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 8 INT and 6 fumble recoveries.

Giants Staff Notes

Hear what New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Tom Coughlin is 138-109 in his 16th season as a head coach.  He is 70-49 in 8 seasons with the Giants and was 68-60 in 8 years with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is 8-7 in the playoffs with one Super Bowl victory for an overall record of 146-116.

Coughlin coached teams are 2-4 vs. New England including 1-1 in the post season.

Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride is from New Haven, CT and secondary coach Peter Giunta is a Salem, MA native.

Giants Players Notes

Eli Manning is 65-45 as a starting QB and is 4-3 in the playoffs for an overall record of 69-48.  Manning was the Number 1 overall pick by the San Diego Chargers in the 2004 NFL Draft out of Mississippi.  He was then traded to New York for QB Philip Rivers and additional draft picks.

Manning is 1-1 vs. the Patriots in his career including the Super Bowl.

Manning was the MVP of Super Bowl XLII.

Eli and his brother, Peyton of the Indianapolis Colts, are the only brother QB’s to lead their teams to Super Bowl wins.  They are also the only brothers to both win the Super Bowl MVP Award.

Manning’s father is the legendary New Orleans Saints QB, Archie Manning.

Reportedly spurned prior to warm ups at the Super Bowl, Manning deserves Tom Brady’s respect.

Manning will start his 111^th game in a row, tying the fourth longest streak in NFL history with Brady, who streak ran from September 30, 2001 until the 2^nd Week of the 2008 season when Matt Cassel started in place of the injured Brady.

CB Corey Webster has the task of covering New England WR Wes Welker on Sunday.

New York RB Ahmed Bradshaw has a broken bone in his foot but is expected to play Sunday.

The New York captains for 2011 are: Manning, DE Justin Tuck and LB Zak DeOssie.

The Giants have two New England natives on the roster they are: LB Zak DeOssie (North Andover MA) and LB Jonathan Goff (Peabody MA). They have nine players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are: WR Victor Cruz (UMass); OT Will Beatty (UConn); RB Henry Hynoski (Pitt); LB Mathias Kiwanuka (Boston College); DE Jason Pierre-Paul (USF); G Chris Snee (Boston College); LB Zak DeOssie (Brown) LB Jacquian Williams (USF) and LB Mark Herzlich (Boston College).

The Giants have 7 retired numbers: 1 – Ray Flaherty; 4 – Tuffy Leemans; 7 – Mel Hein; 11 – Phil Simms; 14 – Y.A. Tittle; 16 – Frank Gifford; 32 – Al Blozis; 40 – Joe Morrison; 42 – Charlie Conerly; 50 – Ken Strong and 56 – Lawrence Taylor.

Next Week

The Patriots visit the New York Jets next Sunday at the Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford NJ.  Kick off is at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

New England Patriots WR/KR Julian Edelman was arrested early Tuesday morning after being charged with indecent assault and battery.

Incident allegedly happened at a Halloween Party at the Back Bay bar, Storyville, an upscale jazz club near the Prudential Center.  The 25-year old, according to the police reports, is accused of “reaching up between the woman’s party costume and grabbing her vagina.”

The victim and a male witness were originally removed from the bar and the witness threatened to beat Edelman up.  He was also removed and denied the allegations to Boston Police.

He was later arrested and charged and Tuesday morning pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

Photo credit: Reuters Pictures

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I wrote that on Monday things always seem clearer from Sunday’s game?  I hate to tell you I think I lied.

I still just can not wrap my head around what I saw, I may complain to CBS because I think they showed me a team different from the New England Patriots.

The offensive line sucked, the running game was ehh, the passing game look hurried and out of synch, the defensive backs were just brutal and the special teams melted down.

The only redeeming value was believe it or not the defensive line that notched 5 sacks on Ben Roethlisberger and had several other hits or hurries.

Now the team as a whole needs to show they don’t really suck as bad as they played on Sunday and get it together in time for back-to-back games against the new York Giants (home) and New York Jets (road).

While I spend the week clearing my head of the remaining pieces of that disaster from Sunday here’s some news nuggets for you.  They’re way better than the McRib.

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

Belichick had his weekly Monday media meeting about the week ahead.

Third down woes continue to plague the Patriots.

Entering Week 8 teams coming off their bye week were 3-9.  This week they were 5-1 the lone loss belonged to New England.

Should the Bills be ranked higher than the Patriots in the Power Rankings?

The Patriots haven’t had a successful onside kick since 1994 and it happened against Bill Belichick’s Cleveland Browns.

Rex Ryan says the Steelers had the formula to beat the Patriots.

The Patriots red zone defense through Week 8 is ranked 16^th in the NFL.  In 29 opportunities by opponents they have 15 TD’s and 9 FG’s.

Rapid Reaction: Steelers 25, Patriots, 17

The final play in which Steelers S Troy Polamalu batted the ball was illegal.  Does it really matter?

LB Jerod Mayo (MCL) made his return against Pittsburgh; it was good to see him on the field even though he wasn’t at 100%.  Players who missed the last game against Pittsburgh with injuries were S Josh Barrett (hamstring/thumb) and LB Dane Fletcher (thumb).  QB Ryan Mallett was a healthy scratch for the 6th time in 7 weeks also healthy scratches were RB Shane Vereen, LB Jermaine Cunningham, G Donald Thomas and WR Julian Edelman.

A look at the Patriots defensive snaps with Mayo eased in.

RB Kevin Faulk was activated off the PUP list Saturday and he was in the starting lineup on Sunday against Pittsburgh.  Faulk made his presence felt when he made a monster hit on a blitz pick up during the Patriots last scoring drive.

DL Brandon Deaderick also was activated from the PUP list and saw some action on Sunday as well.

Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.

Patriots DE Shaun Ellis suffered a rib injury in the first quarter and did not return. It will be interesting to see what his practice status is like during the week.

The NFL announced the Week 10 flex schedule and the Patriots game in New York against the Jets is remaining as the Sunday Night game on NBC.

Patriots S James Ihedigbo says “What we put on tape wasn’t us”.

This road loss shows they can only go so far.

“Bruschi on Tap”: Tedy Bruschi dissects the Patriots loss to the Steelers

Former Patriots CB Leigh Bodden went unclaimed on waivers so he is now free to sign with any team.

Ben Roethlisberger won the battle of elite quarterbacks on Sunday.

New England’s positional groupings, once again multiple TE’s had the most reps.

Steelers passed the test with ease.

Patriots defense was in the Twilight Zone during the Steelers game.

Patriots offensive line was a self-destructive mess on Sunday.

Rob Gronkowski believes he had a touchdown in the 4^th quarter.

Patriots had season high five sacks on Sunday to increase their season total to 15.

New England plays the New York Giants on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.  Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on Friday.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

The New England Patriots went into Pittsburgh looking to extend their current string of dominance over the Steelers and laid a Halloween egg.  Ok so it’s the wrong holiday for eggs but you get the idea.

The offense was as lame as the defense in what was the poorest effort of the season that resulted in a 25-17 loss at Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon.

The absolutely strange part was that for as little as New England had the ball, and for as much as the defense tried to give the game away, the Patriots actually had a legit chance pull the game out in the end.  After a late Tom Brady TD pass to Aaron Hernandez cut the Steelers lead to six at 23-17 it looked like there might be some hope.

But a botched onside kick and shortly thereafter a strip sack of Brady that resulted in a safety with :08 remaining put the game on ice for Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh dominated the game in every facet right from the onset.  QB Ben Roethlisberger did a very good Brady imitation spreading the ball to several targets and using a short crisp passing game to move the ball at will and control the time of possession.

Pittsburgh had the ball for nearly 40-minutes of the 60-minute game during that clock domination they outgained the Patriots in total yards 427 to 213.  They had a 62.5% 3^rd down conversion rate (10 for 16) while New England was only at 30% (3 of 10) and Pittsburgh had 29 first downs compared to 19 for New England.

The Steelers were the better team on Sunday it was easy to see.  The attacked on defense, playing more man-to-man than usual and challenging New England receivers all the way down the field with lots of contact.

New England, for whatever reason, didn’t look like it wanted to fight back and because of that they got their clock cleaned and dropped their second game of the season.

The Patriots return to action next Sunday with a home game against the New York Giants at 4:15 p.m.

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

Patriots at Steelers Game Recap from Associated Press via patriots.com.

To continue reading the New England Patriots @ Pittsburgh Steelers recap, hit the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

The missed 42-yard FGA by Stephen Gostkowski, it kept the Steelers lead at 20-10.  Pittsburgh was able to add yet another field goal to increase their lead and for intents and purposes seal the win.

Offensive Player(s) of the Game

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was 36 of 50 for 365 passing yards 2 TD’s and 1 INT.

Defensive Player(s) of the Game

Steelers LB LaMarr Woodley had 2 tackles, both for loss, 3 quarterback hits and 2 sacks for 21 lost yards before leaving the game in the 4^th quarter with an injury.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT – Light
LG – Mankins
C – Connolly
RG – Waters
RT – Solder
TE – R. Gronkowski
TE – Hernandez
WR – Welker
WR – Branch
QB – Brady
RB – Faulk

On Defense:

DE – Ellis
DT – Wilfork
DT – Love
DE -Carter
OLB – Ninkovich
ILB – Guyton
OLB – Spikes
CB – McCourty
CB – Arrington
S – Chung
S – Ihedigbo

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. LB Dane Fletcher (thumb)

2. S Josh Barrett (hamstring/thumb)

3. LB Jermaine Cunningham

4. G Donald Thomas

5. RB Shane Vereen

6. WR Julian Edelman

7. QB Ryan Mallett

Steelers

1. LB James Harrison (eye)

2. T Chris Hoke (neck)

3. G Doug Legursky (toe)

4. LB Jason Worilds (quad)

5. WR Hines Ward (ankle)

6. LB James Farrior (calf)

7. QB Dennis Dixon

The spread (Patriots minus 2 1/2) was not covered.  The teams did not cover the over/under (52).  I am now 4-2-1 vs. the spread and 5 of 7 calling the under/over.

Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.

The Patriots are 8-11 as the road team in the series but are 4-2 at Heinz Field.

New England has won 7 of the last 11 meetings between the teams.

Since 2003 New England is 31-7 in October, they are 14-6 on the road.

Since 2000 the Patriots share the best road record in the NFL at 59-33 with the Indianapolis Colts.

The Steelers lead the overall series vs. the Patriots 15-11

Tom Brady is now 6-2 vs. Pittsburgh he is 51-24 on the road in his career in the regular season.

His 4 game win streak vs. Pittsburgh snapped on Sunday.

Brady’s 2 TD passes give him 279 in his career he is now 8th all-time.

New England is now plus 2 in turnover differential.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 89 consecutive games including playoffs, 72 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

On Tuesday the Patriots released CB Josh Victorian from the practice squad and re-signed 2011 draft pick CB Malcolm Williams from TCU to the practice squad.  The 7^th round pick originally signed a four-year contract before training camp.

On Friday they released Williams and re-signed Victorian to the practice squad.

Also on Friday the team released CB Leigh Bodden, he had been with the team since 2009.

On Saturday afternoon the team activated RB Kevin Faulk and DE Brandon Deaderick from the PUP list and placed CB Ras-I Dowling on the season ending IR.

Patriots DE Shaun Ellis suffered a rib injury in the first quarter and did not return.

Patriots had a team high five sacks of Roethlisberger today to increase their season total to 15.

The safety Pittsburgh got at the end of the game isn’t recorded as a turnover even though Brady fumbled.  It goes as a fumble but not a fumble lost.

Pittsburgh is 60-22-1 at home including playoffs since 2002. 4 of those have come at the hands of New England.

Mike Carey was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 40 and it was cloudy.

Attendance: 64,424 at Heinz Field; Pittsburgh PA – Sell Out

Post Game Interviews

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

This Week in the AFC East

Buffalo shut out Washington at the Rogers Center in Toronto, 23-0

NY Giants came back to beat Miami, 20-17

NY Jets were on their bye week

AFC East Standings

Patriots                   5-2/2-1

Bills                        5-2/1-0

Jets                        4-3/1-1

Dolphins                  0-7/0-2

Next Game

The Patriots host the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA on Sunday.  Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on FOX.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

Photo credit:  Getty Images

The New England Patriots announced on Friday morning that they have released veteran CB Leigh Bodden.

Bodden, who played his college ball at Duquesne, was originally signed by the Cleveland Browns in 2003 as an undrafted free agent where he spent five seasons originally making the team as a special teams player.  In 2008 he was traded to the Detroit Lions and was a member of the team that finished the season 0-16.

After being released by Detroit in February 2009 he signed a one year contract with the Patriots.  In ’09 he played in 15 games starting 14 of them.  In the offseason after exploring free agency he returned to New England when he signed a 4-year, $22 million deal with $10 million guaranteed.  The bulk of the contract was front loaded with Bodden earning 14 million over the first two seasons.

He never saw the field in the 2010 regular season being place on the IR in August 2010 with a shoulder injury.

Bodden returned this season and played in 5 games making 16 tackles and defended 4 passes.

CB Josh Victorian who was released earlier in the week looks like the candidate to take the roster sport left open by Bodden’s release.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

Photo credit: Getty Images

This Week

The New England Patriots visit the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Stadium on Sunday at 4:15 p.m.

The Patriots (5-1) are 2-1 on the road, 0-0 against the AFC North and 4-1 in the AFC conference.  The Steelers (5-2) are 3-0 at the Ketchup Bottle, 0-0 vs. the AFC East and 3-2 against the AFC conference.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports have the Patriots at minus 2 1/2.  The over under is 52.

My Prediction is Patriots 30, Steelers, 28.  Take the points (Steelers) and take the over.  I am 3-2-1 against the spread and 5 of 6 on calling the over/under in 2011.

Tickets

The Steelers are reporting the game as a sell out.

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 Pittsburgh make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from weather.com for Pittsburgh PA.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions and parking, stadium information, parking map and a Heinz 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 to most of the nation 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, former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color and new this year Scott Zolak will man the sidelines. It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Andy Gresh and Zolak 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.

If you are outside the broadcast are of the stations on the Patriots Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass, which allows you to listen to any game live.  You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.

All NFL Games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games under a special additional package.  They usually only carry the home team feed.

The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 91 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 870.

The Steelers Radio Network has Bill Hillgrove calling the game while former Steelers player Tunch Ilkin provides the game analysis with Craig Wolfley doing the sideline reporting on their flagship station WDVE-FM. Their call is available on Sirius Channel 86, XM Channel 230 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 872.

Westwood One will also broadcast the game to a national audience amongst its affiliates with Kevin Kugler and Mark Malone calling the game.  Their game call can be heard on Sirius Channel 88 and XM Channel 88.

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 @ Pittsburgh Steelers preview, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Last Week

The Patriots did not play they were on their bye week; while the Steelers beat the Cardinals, 32-20 on the road.

History

• This is the 26th meeting between the Patriots and the Steelers since the merger in 1970.
• The Steelers lead the all-time series 14-11, which includes a 1-4 record vs. the Patriots in the post season.
• The Patriots are 3-1 at Heinz Field and that includes a crushing 41-27 defeat of the Steelers in the 2004 AFC Championship game.
• The two franchises have appeared in 14 Super Bowls winning a combined nine championships.
• These two teams combined to win 5 of the 10 Super Bowl titles between 2000-09.
• The Patriots won the last meeting in 2010 in Week 10 when they routed the Steelers, 39-26 at Heinz Field.

Patriots Team Notes

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

2011 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 406-364-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in six appearances.  They last appeared in the playoffs in 2010 when they lost at home to the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 28-21.  They last appeared in a Super Bowl in 2007 losing to the New York Giants 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII.  They won the AFC Conference championship that season with playoff wins over Jacksonville and San Diego.

The Patriots are the defending two-time AFC East Champions; they have won the division 8 times since 2000.

The Patriots are dedicating the 2011 season to the memory of Myra Hiatt Kraft, the late wife of owner Robert Kraft. Every Patriots player and coach will honor Myra’s memory by wearing a patch with her initials on it in recognition of her lifelong contributions to the local and global community and her influence on the charitable mission of the entire Patriots organization. The patch will be worn on the left chest of every player throughout the season.

The Patriots are 8-10 as the road team in the series but are 4-1 at Heinz Field.

New England has won 7 of the last 10 meetings between the teams.

Since 2003 New England is 32-5 in October, they are 14-5 on the road.

New England saw their streak of consecutive games scoring 30 or more points end in Week 6 at 13 games, one shy of the NFL record of 14 set by St. Louis in 1999-2000.

Since 2000 the Patriots share the best road record in the NFL at 59-32 with the Indianapolis Colts.

New England twice has had a season high of four turnovers in a game (at Buffalo, Week 3 and vs. Dallas, Week 6).

The Patriots are 5-1 or better for the 8^th time in team history.

The Patriots defense has allowed opponents to convert 42.5% of the time on 3^rd down (22^nd), while the offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 53.6% 3^rd best in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 10 times in 6 games.

The Patriots are 4th in the NFL in points per game with 30.8.  While they allow 22.5 points per game good for 16th in the NFL.

Opponents are outscoring the Patriots 54-52 in the 4^th quarter.

New England is now plus 1 in turnover differential, tied for 13th best in the NFL.  The offense has given up 8 INT and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 8 INT and 3 fumble recoveries.

Patriots Staff Notes

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

Bill Belichick coached teams are 10-9 vs. Pittsburgh overall. He is 6-2 with New England and 2-6 with Cleveland in the regular season while his teams are 2-1 vs. the Steelers in post season play with his lone loss coming as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 167-95 in 16 NFL seasons.  He is 129-52 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 15-6 in the playoffs, 14-5 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 182-101.

Belichick’s 182 wins are good for 10^th all-time.  Bill Parcells is 9^th with 183 wins.

He was named NFL Coach of the Year for the 3^rd time in 2010.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Light
• LG: Mankins
• C: Connolly
• RG: Waters
• RT: Solder
• QB: Brady
• RB: Green-Ellis
• TE: R. Gronkowski
• TE: Hernandez
• TE: D. Gronkowski
• WR: Branch

Defense:

• DE: Ellis
• DT: Wilfork
• DT: Love
• DE: Carter
• OLB: Guyton
• ILB: Spikes
• OLB: Ninkovich
• LCB: McCourty
• RCB: Arrington
• S: Chung
• S: Ihedigbo

Patriots Players Notes

This Tom Brady’s 12^th NFL season he is 6-1 vs. Steelers with 2 of those wins coming in the playoffs.

Brady has a 4 game win streak vs. Pittsburgh.  He was injured when the Steelers won 33-10 in 2008.

Overall Brady is 116-33 as a starting QB and is 14-5 in the playoffs for an overall record of 130-38.  Brady is a 6 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.

In 2010 Brady won his second NFL MVP and he was the first unanimous winner in league history.

Brady is 51-23 on the road in his career in the regular season.

Brady has thrown 16 TD’s and 8 INT’s while being sacked 11 times in 6 games.

Brady has 277 TD passes in his career he is now 8th all-time.  Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas is 7^th with 290.

With a win on Sunday Brady and Belichick will break the record they share with Dan Marino and Don Shula as the winningest quarterback-coach combination in the Super Bowl era with 116 wins.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 88 consecutive games including playoffs, 71 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

CB Kyle Arrington has a team leading 4 INT’s in 2011, DT Vince Wilfork is 2^nd with 2.

CB Devin McCourty leads the team in tackles with 41, S Patrick Chung is 2^nd with 38.

DE Mark Anderson leads the team in sacks with 3.5; DE Andre Carter has 2.5 sacks.  Anderson also leads the team with 5 quarterback hits while Carter and LB Dane Fletcher each have 4.

Anderson, Wilfork and LB Jerod Mayo have each forced a fumble this season while LB Rob Ninkovich, DL Kyle Love and DE Gerard Warren each have recovered a fumble.

CB Antwaun Molden and LB Tracy White are tied for the team lead with 5 special teams tackles.

Earlier in the week the Patriots released CB Josh Victorian from the practice squad and re-signed 2011 draft pick CB Malcolm Williams from TCU to the practice squad.  The 7^th round pick originally signed a four-year contract before training camp.

The only players who had no participation in Thursday practice were rookie CB Ras-I Dowling (hip) and LB Dane Fletcher (thumb). Several others were limited in practice.  We probably won’t know until just before game time if LB Jerod Mayo will play after being out for 3 weeks.

The Patriots have four New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); S James Ihedigbo (Northampton MA) and DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA).  They have 8 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are: WR Deion Branch (Louisville); S James Ihedigbo (UMass); C Dan Koppen (Boston College – IR); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); NT Vince Wilfork (Miami), OL Donald Thomas (UConn); DE Mike Wright (Cincinnati – IR) and DE Ron Brace (Boston College).

The Patriots have 7 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

Pro Bowl voting is open feel free to cast your votes for deserving players.

Steelers Team Notes

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

2011 Steelers Schedule/Results

Pittsburgh’s all-time record is 546-501-20 and they are 33-20 in the post season. Their last post season appearance was in 2010 when they beat the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Division game and the New York Jets in the AFC Championship game and lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV.  They have won 6 Super Bowl titles (IX, X, XIII, XIV, XL, XLIII) in 8 appearances.

Since 2002 Pittsburgh has won 5 AFC North Division titles.

Pittsburgh is 59-22-1 at home including playoffs since 2002.

It will be interesting to see what the playing surface at Heinz Field looks like on Sunday after hosting the Pitt/UConn Big East game on Wednesday night.

The Steelers defense has allowed opponents to convert 38.3% of the time on 3^rd down (15^th), while the offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 48.9%, 4^th best in the NFL.

The Pittsburgh defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 17 times in 7 games.

The Steelers are 19th in the NFL in points per game with 21.6.  While they allow 17.4 points per game good for 3rd in the NFL.

Pittsburgh is now minus 9 in turnover differential, ranked 32nd they are last in the NFL.  The offense has given up 6 INT and 6 fumbles, while the defense has 2 INT and 1 fumble recoveries.

Pittsburgh has won 3 straight games since losing to Houston in Week 4.

The Steelers mascot is “Steely McBeam”.  I’m not kidding.

The Steelers have called 6 different stadiums “home” over the years.  They are Forbes Field, Shibe Park, Comiskey Park, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium and Heinz Field.

The Rooney family has owned the team since its inception in 1933.

The Steelers are the fifth oldest franchise in the NFL.

In 1938 future Supreme Court Justice Byron “Whizzer” White played for Pittsburgh.

The “Terrible Towel” was founded by Steelers radio play by play man Myron Cope in 1975.  Much imitated it is the true original.

Pittsburgh has sold out every home game since the 1972 season a streak of 331 games.

The Steelers do not have an official fight song but many versions of “Here we go Steelers” and “The Steelers Polka” have been recorded.

Pittsburgh has the third most inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

AccuScore is predicting a Steelers victory on Sunday.

Steelers Staff Notes

Read what Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Overall in his NFL career Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin is 48-23 in 6 seasons with the Steelers and he is 5-2 in the playoffs.  When you combine the regular season and postseason records, Tomlin is 53-25.

Tomlin coached teams are 1-2 vs. New England.

He is the third Steelers head coach since 1969 being succeeded by only Bill Cowher (1993-2006) and Chuck Noll (1969-92).

Steelers Players Notes

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is 2-4 vs. the Patriots including 0-1 in the post season.

Roethlisberger is 74-31 in 8 NFL seasons.  He is 10-3 in the playoffs and overall he is 84-34.  He was the 11^th overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by Steelers out of Miami (OH).

Roethlisberger has thrown 12 TD passes with 6 INT’s.  He has been sacked 20 times in 7 games.

Pittsburgh has battled a lot of injuries in recent weeks.  Among the players who have suffered injuries are LB James Harrison (fractured eye socket), NT Casey Hampton (shoulder), NT Chris Hoke (neck), S Troy Polamalu (concussion), QB Ben Roethlisberger (knee), WR Hines Ward (sprained knee) and DE Aaron Smith (foot/neck).

Smith has been placed on the season ending IR for the 3^rd consecutive season.

Roethlisberger says there’s no problem with his ailing knee and he’s good to go while Ward did not practice Wednesday or Thursday.

RB Rashard Mendenhall had a season high 146 rushing yards against Tennessee in Week 6.  It was his 4^th highest career total and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

The Steelers have 2 players who played for a Big East Conference member.  They are: CB William Gay (Louisville) and S Ryan Mundy (WVU).

Pittsburgh’s captains for 2011 are: Roethlisberger, Ward, LB James Farrior and WR Arnaz Battle.

The Steelers have 1 officially retired number: 70 – Ernie Stautner.  Unofficially the following numbers have not been reissued they are: 12 – Terry Bradshaw; 32 – Franco Harris; 36 – Jerome Bettis; 52 – Mike Webster; 58 – Jack Lambert; 59 – Jack Ham; 63 – Dermontti Dawson and 75 – Joe Greene.

Next Week

The Patriots host the New York Giants next Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on FOX.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

With the New England Patriots in their bye week on Sunday the news and notes do not seem to be as readily available but we will attempt to dig some things up for you.

Bill Belichick spent part of his bye week at Rutgers on Friday night watching his son Steven who is a long snapper play for Scarlet Knights.  He even wore a suit and tie.  The coach was also seen having lunch with his girlfriend in Nantucket on Saturday.

Belichick had his weekly Monday media meeting via conference call about the week ahead.

While the coach was tending to family members TE Rob Gronkowski was hanging out with a reputed porn star.  As long she isn’t a spy planted by Mike Tomlin, more power to him.

While Rob was “Gronking” a porn star, his brother Dan was doing something different.  This week’s “Football Journey” on ESPN Boston highlighted Patriots TE Dan Gronkowski.

Former Patriot CB Ty Law was named the Gridiron Club of Boston’s Man of the Year this week.  It’s a very nice honor for Law.

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

Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald writes that OL Marcus Cannon, a cancer survivor, may start practicing this week but probably will not play in any games.

The Boston Globe has a story on Patriots DE Andre Carter.

The Patriots owner, Robert Kraft speaks his mind to the Globe.

ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg puts the Patriots 2008 draft in focus.

Patriots LT Matt Light will be honored at the Hockomock Area YMCA Legends Ball on November 15^th.

The Patriots reportedly will look to make a decision on RB Kevin Faulk by the end of the week.  By November 6^th they either have to activate him or put him on the IR, those are the only two solutions.  The same decisions will have to be made on DL Brandon Deaderick and DE Ron Brace with in the next two weeks.  If any of the three are activated a corresponding player release will need to be made to keep the roster at 53.

Mike Reiss and the five things he has learned about the Patriots and his Top 5 questions about the team.

Brady and Belichick may break the tie with Miami’s Dan Marino and Don Shula as the winningest quarterback-head coach combination in the Super Bowl era with a win on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Brady passed former teammate Vinny Testaverde for 8^th all time on the TD pass list with his 277^th against Dallas.  Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas is 7^th with 290.

LB Jerod Mayo (MCL) is looking at a possible return against Pittsburgh, the week of practice will tell a lot.  In addition to Mayo, players who missed the last game against Dallas with injuries were S Sergio Brown (chest), CB Ras-I Dowling (hamstring), WR Julian Edelman (ankle), S Josh Barrett (hamstring/thumb) and T Sebastian Vollmer (back). QB Ryan Mallett was a healthy scratch for the 5^th time in 6 weeks.

AFC East Standings

Patriots                   5-1/2-1

Bills                        4-2/1-0

Jets                        4-3/1-1

Dolphins                  0-6/0-2

New England plays the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.  Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on Friday.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

On Monday we put out a post that the New England Patriots had activated RB Kevin Faulk and DE Ron Brace off of the PUP list and had signed CB Phillip Adams to the final slot on the practice squad.

Well Adams was actually signed to the 53-man roster on Monday and on Tuesday they added S Ross Ventrone to the 53-man roster to fill the two open roster spots, one of which occurred when Ventrone was released last week.

That still left one spot open on the practice squad and that was filled when the club signed CB Sterling Moore who was released last week with Ventrone.

In addition to Faulk and Brace, also coming off the PUP list was DL Brandon Deaderick, who was the Patriots 7^th round pick out of Alabama in the 2010 NFL Draft.  As a rookie he played in 10 games and started 4 in 2010, notching 10 tackles and 2 sacks.

He wasn’t without issues though, as he was suspended for an undisclosed reason during the Patriots playoff bye week.  His suspension was lifted after the end of the teams season.

With Faulk, Brace and Deaderick now off of the PUP list the team gets a three week roster exemption for each player.  The exemption allows the players returning from the PUP a chance to practice and get up to speed but not play in games.  If the team is going to have them play they need to have a one for one change to the 53-man roster as currently the team is maxed out on their regular roster spots.