This Week

The New England Patriots host the Denver Broncos at Gillette Stadium on Sunday at 4:25 p.m.

The Broncos		–	The Patriots
Overall	2-2		Overall	2-2
Road record	0-1		Home record	0-1
AFC East	0-0		AFC West	0-0
AFC	2-1		AFC	2-1

Gene Steratore 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 7 1/2.  The over under is 52.

My Prediction is Patriots 34, Broncos, 28.  Take the points (BRONCOS) and take the OVER.  I am 2-2 against the spread and 3 of 4 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 197th 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

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 713.

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 86, XM Channel 226 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Broncos Radio Network has Dave Logan calling play by play and former Bronco Ed McCaffrey doing the color via their flagship station KOA.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 85, and SiriusXM Internet Channel 809.

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

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 Denver Broncos @ New England Patriots week 5 preview, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Last Week

The Patriots came back to rout the Bills, 52-28 in Buffalo.  The Broncos beat the Raiders at Mile High, 37-6.

History

• The Broncos lead the all-time series 27-18 including playoffs.
• The Patriots are 9-9 as the home team in the series.
• New England and Denver have met three in the playoffs with Denver winning at home in 1986 and 2005 and the Patriots winning in Gillette in 2011.
• The Patriots and the Broncos are the last two teams to win back-to-back Super Bowls.
• In 1960 the teams faced each other in the inaugural game of each franchise.
• There has never been a shutout in the series.
• The two teams last met in AFC Divisional Playoff Game and the Patriots won 45-10.

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 416-367-9.  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 at 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 67-14 at home in the regular season since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 149-63.

Since 2003 New England is 32-6 in October games.

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

New England will have played Denver 12 times since 2000.  This is the Patriots 5th home game against Denver in those 12 games.

The Patriots beat Denver twice last season once in the regular season at Denver then in the AFC Divisional Game at Gillette Stadium.

New England has won 3 of the last 4 meetings including 1 playoff game.

The Patriots have had two straight games with two receivers reaching 100 yards. It is the fourth time in team history that the team has had back-to-back games with two receivers at 100 yards. The Patriots have never had three straight games with two 100-yard receivers.

The Patriots will be looking for their first back-to-back games with a 100-yard rusher since Laurence Maroney in 2007.

Last week in Buffalo the Patriots chalked up 580 yards in total offense, the fourth most in team history. It is the 14th time in team history that the Patriots have recorded at least 500 total yards on offense. It is the ninth time under Bill Belichick that the Patriots have accomplished the feat.

MOST TOTAL NET YARDS/GAME

• 622 at Miami, Sept. 12, 2011
• 619 vs. Tennessee, Oct. 18, 2009
• 597 vs. N.Y. Jets, Sept. 9, 1979
• 580 at Buffalo, Sept. 30, 2012.

The Patriots are 1st in the NFL in points per game with 33.5.  While they allow 23 points per game good for 18th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 7 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 8 times.

New England is PLUS 8 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 1 INT and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 6 INTs and 5 fumble recoveries.

The Patriots are 22 for 53 (41.5%) in 3rd down efficiency and 0 for 0 on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 21 for 51 (41.2%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 11 of 18 (61.1%) in the red zone while opponents are 4 for 8 (50%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 8 for 10 (80%) and opponents are 4 for 7 (57.1%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 195.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 214.
• 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 Broncos.

Bill Belichick is 5-10 vs. the Denver in his career.  He is 5-6 against them as the head coach in New England and that includes the playoffs (1-1).

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 177-99 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 141-55 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 194-106.

Belichick’s 194 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 was the assistant special teams/assistant to the defensive coordinator for the Broncos during the 1978 season.

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is the former head coach of the Denver Broncos from 2009-2010.  He was 11-17 in his time with the Broncos.

Special teams coach, Scott O’Brien, was the special teams’ coordinator for the Broncos in 2007 and 2008.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Solder
• LG: Thomas
• C: Wendell
• RG: Connolly
• RT: Vollmer
• TE: Gronkowski
• TE: Fells
• 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: Gregory

Patriots Players Notes

This is Tom Brady’s 13^th NFL season he is 3-6 vs. the Broncos including 1-1 in the playoffs.

Denver is the only team in which Brady has a losing record against.

Brady and Peyton Manning have gone head to head 12 times with Brady holding a 6-3 regular season advantage and 2-1 playoff record.  Brady has thrown 22 TD’s and 12 INTs in those previous meetings including postseason against Manning.

Overall Brady is 126-37 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 142-43.  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 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 (3,498) moved past Kerry Collins (3,487) into 10th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time completion list.

Brady (41,206) moved past Kerry Collins (40,922) into 11th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time passing list.

Brady has 307 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 126 career wins he is 5th all-time.  Manning is 4th with 143.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 36 consecutive games.

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

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 105 consecutive games including playoffs, 88 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker joined Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison as the only players in NFL history with four 100+ catch seasons.

Welker has two of the Top 4 seasons for most catches in a season with 123 in 2009 and 122 in 2011.

He has led the team in receptions for 5 consecutive seasons.

TE Rob Gronkowski has back-to-back 10+ TD reception seasons.  With another in 2012 he will be the first TE in NFL history to have done it three seasons in a row.

Gronkowski tallied his 30th NFL TD catch last Sunday.  It is the most TD catches by one player in the NFL since 2010.

K Stephen Gostkowski missed two field goals last Sunday at Buffalo.  It reminiscent of the 2003 game at Houston when Adam Viniateri had a miss and a block before hitting the game winner.

CB Devin McCourty had his 2nd career 2 INT game at Buffalo last week.

He leads the team along with rookie S Tavon Wilson in INTs with 2 each.

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

LB Jerod Mayo recorded his 3rd career INT last week.

Mayo leads the team in tackles through four weeks with 46 (33 solo).

Rookie DE Chandler Jones leads the team with 3 sacks; the other DE Rob Ninkovich is second with 2 sacks.

Jones and LB Brandon Spikes lead the team with 2 forced fumbles each.

Jones was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month for September.  He had 17 tackles, 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

DT Vince Wilfork has 2 recovered fumbles.

WR Matthew Slater has a team high 4 tackles on special teams, rookie S Nate Ebner is 2nd with 3 tackles.

Against Buffalo rookie LB Dont’a Hightower had his first NFL sack.

In 4 games RB Stevan Ridley already has 7 runs of 20 yards or more.

T Nate Solder attended the University of Colorado. He is from Buena Vista, CO.

TE Daniel Fells; LB Niko Koutouvides and WR Brandon Lloyd are former Broncos.

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:

• Released DT Terrell McClain
• Released OL Thomas Austin from practice squad
• Re-signed LB Bobby Carpenter
• Re-signed TE Alex Silvestro to the practice squad

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

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

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). They are the same 6 players that were selected last season as well.

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.

Broncos Team Notes

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

2012 Broncos Schedule/Results

Denver’s all-time record is 408-374-10 and they are 18-16 in the playoffs with their last playoff appearance coming in 2011.  That season the Broncos beat Pittsburgh 29-23 in OT in the AFC Wild Card round and then lost to New England 45-10 in the AFC Division game.

Denver has won two Super Bowls (XXXII, XXXIII) in six appearances.

The Broncos have won 11 AFC West titles.

Denver is the only current AFC West team to never relocate or change its nickname.

In the decade long history of the AFL, Denver was the only team to never play in a championship game.

The Broncos switched back to orange jerseys in 2012 as their primary home uniform and dropped the navy pants.  They will wear the navy jerseys as their alternate home uniform.

The Broncos are 2-2 in Gillette Stadium.  Their last win in Foxboro came in 2006.

Denver’s longest series win streak was 11 games from 1979 to 1998.

The Broncos have the second toughest strength of schedule (based on their opponents 2011 records) in 2012 behind only the New York Giants.

Seven of Denver’s opponents made the playoffs last season.

This season the Broncos defense has allowed opponents to convert 41.4% (24 of 58) of the time on 3^rd down, while the offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 46.3% (25 of 54).

The Denver defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 10 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 8 times.

The Broncos are 7th in the NFL in points per game with 28.5.  While they allowed 20.8 points per game good for 10th in the NFL.

Denver is MINUS 4 in turnover differential, tied for 25th best in the NFL. The offense has given up 3 INTs and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 2 INTs and 1 fumble recovery.

They have converted on 64.3% of their chances in the red zone this season, while opponents have converted on 53.9%.

Broncos Staff Notes

Read what Denver Broncos head coach John Fox had to say to the New England media about the match up.

John Fox is 83-81 in his 11th season as a head coach; he is 10-10 with Denver and 73-71 in 9 seasons with Carolina.  In the playoffs he is 6-4 overall (5-3 with Carolina; 1-1 with Denver) for an overall record of 89-85.

Fox is 1-4 vs. New England including 1 Super Bowl (0-1).  He is 0-2 with Denver and 1-2 with Carolina.

Fox is the 14th head coach in Denver history.

Former Broncos QB and Hall of Fame member John Elway is the team’s executive vice president of football operations assuming that position in January 2011.

Denver offensive line coach Dave Magazu attended Springfield College.

Broncos Director of Player Personnel Matt Russell was a scout for New England for four seasons (2001, ‘03-05), and earned three Super Bowl rings.

Denver Director of Pro Personnel Keith Kidd spent three years (2002-04) with the Patriots, and was a member of two championship teams.

Broncos Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Clady
• LG: Beadles
• C: Koppen
• RG: Kuper
• RT: Franklin
• TE: Dressen
• TE: Tamme
• WR: D. Thomas
• WR: Decker
• QB: Manning
• RB: McGahee

Defense:

• DE: Wolfe
• DT: Vickerson
• NT: Bannan
• DE: Dumervil
• LB:  Miller
• LB: Brooking
• LB: Woodyard
• LCB: Bailey
• RCB: Porter
• S: Adams
• S: Moore

Broncos Players Notes

This is Peyton Manning’s 15th NFL season and first with Denver after 14 seasons in Indianapolis in which he made 11 Pro Bowls, was an 8-time All-Pro, 4-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl XLI MVP and a member of the NFL’s All-2000’s Team of the Decade.

He has a career record of 143-69 in 15 seasons.  He was 141-67 with Indianapolis and is 2-2 with Denver.  He is 9-10 in the post season for an overall record of 152-79.

Manning was the first overall pick by Indianapolis in the 1998 NFL Draft out of the University of Tennessee.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 4th best quarterback in the NFL.

Prior to missing the 2011 season Manning was 7-12 against the Patriots, including playoffs (1-2).  He is 2-8 vs. the Patriots on the road.

In previous head to head games against Brady, Manning is 4-8 including playoffs with 24 TD’s and 19 INTs.

Manning has 407 career TD passes and 201 career INT’s.

He is the only 4 time NFL MVP.

Until he missed all of 2011 he had started every game in his career.

WR Eric Decker (24 rec.) and WR Demaryius Thomas (21 rec.) have combined for 45 receptions through four games to tie for the second-highest total among wide receiver duos in the NFL.

DE Elvis Dumervil (9 QBH) and LB Von Miller (7 QBH) have combined for the second-most quarterback hits (16) in the NFL among pass rushing tandems through four games.

Dumervil has the 8th most sacks in Denver franchise history with 55.  He has the single season team record with 17 sacks.

Since entering the NFL in 1999, Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey is tied for third in the NFL and ranks first among pure cornerbacks with 50 interceptions. He also leads the league with 194 pass breakups since 1999, averaging nearly one per game.

Bailey has been selected to the Pro-Bowl team 11 times.

LB Keith Brooking has played 180 consecutive games to tie for the second-longest streak among active NFL players.

K Matt Prater is the most accurate kicker in NFL history in the fourth quarter or overtime, having converted 31-of-32 attempts.

Former Patriots playing in Denver are C Dan Koppen, DT Ty Warren (IR) and CB Tony Carter.

Broncos FB Chris Gronkowski is the brother of Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski.

CB Tracy Porter and LB Wesley Woodyard lead the Broncos in INTs with 1 each.

Woodyard and S Rahim Moore lead the team in tackles with 25 apiece.

LB Von Miller leads Denver in sacks with 3.  DE Elvis Dumervil is second with 2.5

On Wednesday the following players were listed on the injury report.  LB Nate Irving (concussion) and G Chris Kuper (forearm) did not practice.  CB Chris Harris (ankle); CB Tracy Porter (shoulder) and WR Matt Willis (hamstring) had full participation.

On Thursday the following players were listed on the injury report. LB Nate Irving (concussion);G Chris Kuper (forearm); CB Chris Harris (ankle); CB Tracy Porter (shoulder) and WR Matt Willis (hamstring) had full participation.

Denver team captains for 2012 are QB Peyton Manning, G Chris Kuper, CB Champ Bailey, DE Elvis Dumervil and LB Wesley Woodyard (special teams).

There are 4 players on the Broncos roster from a Big East University or New England based college.  They are C Dan Koppen (Boston College); C/G C.J. Davis (Pittsburgh); DE Derek Wolfe (Cincinnati) and DE Elvis Dummervil (Louisville).

The Broncos retired numbers: 7 – John Elway; 18 – Frank Tripucka and 44 – Floyd Little.

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

Here’s the release from the New England Patriots announcing that Tom Brady has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the 21st time in his career:

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots announced today that Tom Brady has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week by the National Football league for his performance in the Patriots’ 52-28 victory over the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. It is the 21st time in his career that Brady has received the AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor to tie Denver’s Peyton Manning for the most Player of the Week awards earned by a player since the accolade was instituted in 1984. Brady earned three Player of the Week Awards in 2011.

Brady completed 22 of 36 passes for 340 yards against the Bills, including three touchdown passes. Brady also scored on a 4-yard touchdown run. After falling behind, 21-7, midway through the third quarter, Brady led the Patriots to six straight second half touchdowns and 45 total second half points, including a 31-point fourth quarter to earn the 52-28 victory. It was Brady’s third straight 300-yard game and the 48th of his career. Brady needs one more 300-yard game to tie Hall of Famer Warren Moon for seventh place all-time. Brady threw a touchdown pass in his 36th straight game to tie Brett Favre for the third longest streak all-time, behind Johnny Unitas (47) and Drew Brees (47).

The Patriots earned six Player of the Week honors in 2011. Brady was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week following the first two games of the season at Miami on Sept. 12, vs. San Diego on Sept. 18 and for his Week 16 performance vs. Miami on Dec. 24. Andre Carter was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week following the win at the Jets on Nov. 13,

Julian Edelman was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week following the win vs. Kansas City on Nov. 21, and Rob Gronkowski was named AFC Offensive Player of the week following the win at Washington on Dec. 11.

Brady also was honored as AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November and December/January last season.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

photo credit: getty images

Youngsters Coming Up Big

The New England Patriots staff must be absolutely thrilled with the impact the young players are having just four games into the season.

Lets start on the offensive side of the ball.  In the last two offseasons the Patriots have picked up RB Stevan Ridley and RB Brandon Bolden and we’re not even factoring in the other RB Shane Vereen.

After a bit of a skittish rookie season where he had trouble holding onto the ball, Ridley is on the verge of potential stardom.  After 4 weeks the second year back out of LSU has carried the rock 74 times for 339 yards (4.6 ypc) and 3 TD’s.  He has also caught the ball 5 times for 51 yards.

Bolden, the undrafted rookie free agent out of Ole Miss, had his breakout game on Sunday when he ran for 137 yards and a TD on 16 carries.  For the season he has 23 carries for 152 yards and 2 TD’s.  He also has 1 catch for 11 yards.

Other young guys on the offense that have made contributions are the record setting tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, as well as T Nate Solder and G Marcus Cannon on the offensive line.  Solder as a starter and Cannon as a sub.

On the defensive side of the ball 3rd year player CB Devin McCourty, who is a two-time team captain, has come back to his rookie season form and has been playing some very tight coverage.  After a bit of a down year in 2011, McCourty has stepped up with 23 tackles (18 solo), 2 INT’s and 6 passes defensed.  He has had tremendous back-to-back games defensively even if his penalty cost the Patriots in Baltimore.

LB Brandon Spikes, who came in 2010, is now a starter and is second on the team in tackles with 25 (14 solo), 2 QB hits, 2 forced fumbles and 1 pass defensed and is now developing into the player they thought he’d be.

Take those two and add solid rookies DE Chandler Jones, LB Dont’a Hightower and S Tavon Wilson and the defense is turning the corner and growing each week.  This defense has the potential to be absolutely devastating over the next few seasons.

Jones has 18 tackles (8 solo), 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles and 4 QB hits.  He is proving to be the pass rushing force off the edge that the team needed to help aid DE Rob Ninkovich.

Hightower, a member of Alabama’s National Championship team last season, is as solid as 2008 first rounder Jerod Mayo.  Hightower has 20 tackles (17 solo), 1 sack, 1 QB hit and 1 fumble recovery for a TD.  And you can see why Bill Belichick loves those SEC linebackers.

The most surprising to me of the rookies has been Wilson who has some really good ballhawking skills.  Everytime something is going on and a ball is in play Wilson seems to be in the area.  He has 9 tackles (7 solo), 2 INTs, 3 passes defensed, 1 fumble recovery and he has contributed on special teams as well with a pair of tackles.

The team needed to infuse some youth and in the last three seasons they have done just that and the youngsters are paying huge dividends.

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

Offensive Line Steps Up

With the absence of G Logan Mankins the offensive line, which has been a huge topic of discussion, needed to step up and protect QB Tom Brady.  And step up they did.  They only allowed Brady to be sacked once and hit 3 times on Sunday at the Ralph.  Compare this to the Week 3 game in Baltimore when he was sacked twice and hit 6 times and in Week 2 when he was sacked four times and hit 6 times by Arizona.

In addition to giving Brady time and keeping him upright the line was the key to the running game which gained 247 yards on the ground on 40 carries and had two 100 yard rushers for the first time since 1982.

It was good to see them come through when the team needed a huge effort from them.  The next two weeks should be challenges for them against two good defensive teams in Denver and Seattle.

News and Notes

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. Ravens (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Baltimore (ESPN Boston)

Spikes becomes a difference maker (ESPN Boston)

Bill Belichick can’t say enough about the offensive line (ESPN Boston)

Brady a calming influence (Boston Herald)

Patriots stick to the ground game (Boston Herald)

McCourty picks it up (Boston Herald)

Spikes, defense drops the hammer (Boston Herald)

Best and Worst of Patriots at Bills (Boston Herald)

The morning after (Boston Globe)

Five takeaways from Patriots-Bills (Boston Globe)

Running game answers the challenge (Boston Globe)

The Patriots became just the second team in NFL history to have a game with a 300-yard passer (Brady), two 100-yard rushers (Bolden/Ridley) and two 100-yard receivers (Welker/Gronkowski).  The other team was the Green Bay Packers in 2008.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft received the George Halas award at halftime.

New England went over 50 points for 9th time in team history.

The Patriots 45-second half points are the most in the second half since Cincinnati scored 42 in 1972.

New England’s 24-point win is the largest in NFL history by a team trailing by 14 or more points in the second half.

The Patriots lead the series 63-41-1

The 63 wins are the most the Patriots have over any opponent.

New England is 54-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001.

Since 2000 the Patriots have an NFL best 65-34 road record.

Bill Belichick passed Chuck Knox, who coached the Rams, Bills and Seahawks for 8th on the all-time wins list with 194.

Belichick coached teams are 22-4 vs. Buffalo. Belichick was 0-1 against the Bills as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Tom Brady is 19-2 vs. the Bills in his career.

Brady (3,498) moved past Kerry Collins (3,487) into 10th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time completion list.

Brady (41,206) moved past Kerry Collins (40,922) into 11th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time passing list.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 105 consecutive games including playoffs, 88 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

DE Rob Ninkovich and LB Brandon Spikes led the team in tackles on Sunday they each had 7.

CB Devin McCourty had 2 INTs against Buffalo they were his first two picks of the season. LB Jerod Mayo and rookie S Tavon Wilson also each had 1 INT.

Both teams each fumbles the ball three times and lost it twice.  It was the Patriots first two fumbles lost on the season.

The Patriots sacked Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 3 times, while allowing Brady to be sacked once.

New England’s defense had four tackles for loss for 11 yards.

The Patriots offense churned out 33 first downs (19 rushing, 13 passing and 1 by penalty) while the defense allowed 19 first downs by the Bills (4 rushing and 15 passing).

New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 8. The defense has recovered 5 fumble and has 6 INT.  The offense has given away 2 fumbles and has 1 INT.

The Patriots were 5 for 6 in the red zone.  They had 5 TDs and 1 FG. Buffalo was 0 for 1 (0%) in the red zone with 1 fumble.

New England was 4 for 11 (36%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts. The Bills were 8 for 15 (53%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

With the return of the officials there were only 4 accepted penalties in the game, 1 on New England and 3 on Buffalo.  Against Baltimore the teams combined for 24 accepted penalties.

Next Week

The Patriots host the Denver Broncos next Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 4:25 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

The New England Patriots played their favorite whipping boy of the Bill Belichick era the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park NY.  The problem was in the first half Buffalo looked anything like whipping boys.

The Bills were able to stymie the Patriots offense for a little over 30 minutes on Sunday.  After a quick start and a Stevan Ridley 6-yard run for a touchdown on New England’s opening drive, Buffalo put the clamps on.

The Bills were able to force a pair of fumbles out of two guys who don’t cough up the ball, WR Wes Welker and TE Rob Gronkowski, and started to find the holes in the Patriots defense and jumped out to a 14-7 halftime lead.

It didn’t help matters any for New England that K Stephen Gostkowski missed not one but two very makeable field goals in the process, as well as a pair of turnovers that yielded no points.

After Buffalo added a touchdown in the first possession of the second half to increase their lead to 21-7 something clicked on the Patriots sideline.

In their next 7 possessions they flat out shredded the Buffalo defense scoring 6 TD’s and adding a Gostkowski FG.

In the onslaught they got TD’s on a 17-yard pass to RB Danny Woodhead, a four yard run by QB Tom Brady and a 28-yard TD pass to Gronkowski.  They added another Ridley run from 2 yards out, a 7 yard run from rookie RB Brandon Bolden and they capped all this off with a diving 25 yard TD catch by WR Brandon Lloyd and a 30 yard field goal by Gostkowski.

After leading by two scores all Buffalo could muster over the final quarter and a half was a Brad Smith 35 yard TD catch well after the game had already been decided.

It was nice to see the team turn around and pull off a win after two very close loses in winnable games the previous two weeks.

Next Sunday they will be at Gillette Stadium facing old friend Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

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

Patriots at Bills Game Recap.

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

Turning Point(s) of the Game

After Buffalo scored an early 3rd quarter TD to increase their lead to 21-7, New England scored 45 points on their next 7 possessions to comeback (6 TDs and 1 FG) and runaway with a win.

Offensive Players of the Game

Patriots running backs Brandon Bolden and Stevan Ridley.  Bolden had 137 yards and 1 TD on 16 carries and 1 catch for 11 yards, while Ridley had 22 carried for 106 yards and 2 TDs.

Defensive Player of the Game

Patriots CB Devin McCourty had 5 tackles (all solo), 2 INTs, 2 passes defensed and 1 tackle for loss.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Solder

LG Thomas

C Wendell

RG Connolly

RT Vollmer

TE Gronkowski

TE Fells

TE Hoomanawanui

WR Lloyd

QB Brady

RB Ridley

On Defense:

DE Ninkovich

DT Wilfork

DT Love

DE Jones

LB Mayo

LB Spikes

LB Hightower

CB McCourty

CB Arrington

S Gregory

S Chung

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle)

2. DT Justin Francis (ankle)

3. DE Brandon Deaderick (ankle)

4. CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring)

5. G Logan Mankins (hip)

6. WR Julian Edelman (hand)

7. OL Matt Tennant

Bills

1. QB Tarvaris Jackson

2. S Delano Howell

3. DE Kyle Moore

4. LB Kirk Morrison

5. T Sam Young

6. C Colin Brown

7. WR Ruvell Martin (ankle)

The spread (Patriots PLUS 4 1/2) WAS covered.  The over/under (51) WAS COVERED.  I GAVE the points (PATRIOTS) and took the OVER.  I am now 2-2 vs. the spread and 3 of 4 calling the under/over.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft received the George Halas award at halftime.

New England went over 50 points for 9th time in team history.

The Patriots lead the series 63-41-1

The 63 wins are the most the Patriots have over any opponent.

The Patriots are 29-22-1 all time in Buffalo, 22-16 at Ralph Wilson/Rich Stadium.

New England is 54-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001.

Since 2000 the Patriots have an NFL best 65-34 road record.

Since 2003, New England is 28-4 following a loss.

Bill Belichick’s 194 wins are good for a tie for 8th all-time.  He is now 194-106 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick coached teams are 22-4 vs. Buffalo. Belichick was 0-1 against the Bills as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Tom Brady is 18-2 vs. the Bills in his career.

Brady (3,498) moved past Kerry Collins (3,487) into 10th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time completion list.

Brady (41,206) moved past Kerry Collins (40,922) into 11th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time passing list.

Brady has 307 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 126 career wins he is 5th all-time.  Peyton Manning is 4th with 141.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 36 consecutive games.

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

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 105 consecutive games including playoffs, 88 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

The Patriots sacked Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick 4 times, while allowing Brady to be sacked once.

New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 8. The defense has recovered 5 fumble and has 6 INT.  The offense has given away 2 fumbles and has 1 INT.

The Patriots were 5 for 6 in the red zone.  They had 5 TDs and 1 FG.

New England was 4 for 11 (36%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

Buffalo is 21-49 vs. the AFC East since 2001.

The Bills are 22-30-1 as the home team in the series.

Chan Gailey is 30-40 as an NFL head coach including playoffs.

Gailey is 1-5 vs. the Patriots in his career, 1-4 with Buffalo and 0-1 with Dallas.

Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is 1-5 vs. New England and 20-36-1 in his NFL career with Buffalo, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

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

Buffalo was 0 for 1 (0%) in the red zone with 1 fumble.

Buffalo is now MINUS 3 in turnover differential.  The offense has given up 7 INTs and 4 fumbles, while the defense has 4 INTs and 4 fumble recoveries.

John Parry was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 58 and it was mostly cloudy.

Attendance – 70,684 at Ralph Wilson Stadium Orchard Park NY

Post Game Interviews

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

This Week in the AFC East

San Francisco crushed the NY Jets, 34-0.

Arizona beat the Dolphins in overtime 24-21.

AFC East Standings

Jets                        2-2/2-0

Patriots                   2-2/1-0

Bills                        2-2/0-2

Dolphins                  1-3/0-1

Next Week

The Patriots host the Denver Broncos next Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credit: getty images, ap photo

This Week

The New England Patriots visit their AFC East rival Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park NY on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Patriots		=—-	The Bills
Overall	1-2		Overall	2-1
Road record	1-1		Home record	1-0
AFC East	0-0		AFC East	0-1
AFC	1-1		AFC	2-1

John Parry will be the referee for the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from Bovada.net via Yahoo Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 4 1/2.  The over under is 51.

My Prediction is Patriots 34, Bills, 21.  Give the points (Patriots) and take the over.  I am 1-2 against the spread and 2 of 3 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The Bills 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 shuffling off to Buffalo for the game make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Orchard Park NY.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking and stadium information, parking map and a Ralph Wilson 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 Greg Gumbel will do play by play while Dan Dierdorf 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 708.

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 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 91 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Bills Radio Network has John Murphy calling the game while former Bills DB Mark Kelso provide the game analysis via their flagship station, WGR-AM.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 117, XM Channel 233 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 803.

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 to the Ravens in Baltimore as time expired 31-30.  The Bills beat the Browns on the road 24-14.

History

• This is the 105th meeting between the Patriots and the Bills since they started to face each other as AFL foes in 1960.
• The Patriots lead the series 62-41-1
• The 62 wins are the most the Patriots have over any opponent.
• Last season in Week 3 Buffalo snapped a 15 game losing streak to New England with a 34-31 home win.
• The Patriots won the last meeting between the teams in 2011 beating the Bills, 49-21 at Gillette Stadium.

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 415-367-9.  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.

Despite a 1-2 record New England is outscoring its opponents, 82-64 through 3 games.

The Patriots are 29-22-1 all time in Buffalo, 22-16 at Ralph Wilson/Rich Stadium.  The other games were played at old War Memorial Stadium.

New England is 53-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001.

New England’s largest margin of victory in the series is 46 points set in 2007.

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

The Patriots streak of 145 games at .500 or better ended last Sunday in Baltimore.  It is an NFL record for most consecutive games above .500.  Before this week the last time the Patriots were under .500 was after Week 1 in 2003 when they suffered a 31-0 loss to Buffalo.

Since 2003, New England is 27-4 following a loss.

Since 2000 the Patriots have an NFL best 64-34 road record.

The Patriots are 10th in the NFL in points per game with 27.3.  While they allow 21.3 points per game good for 10th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 3 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 7 times.

New England is PLUS 4 in turnover differential tied for 3rd best in the NFL. The offense has given up 1 INT and 0 fumble, while the defense has 2 INT and 3 fumble recoveries.

The Patriots are 18 for 42 (42.9%) in 3rd down efficiency and 0 for 0 on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 13 for 36 (36.1%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 6 of 12 (50%) in the red zone while opponents are 4 for 7 (57.1%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 6 for 8 (75%) and opponents are 4 for 6 (66.6%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 194.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 213.
• 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 Bills.

Bill Belichick coached teams are 21-4 vs. Buffalo. Belichick was 0-1 against the Bills as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 176-99 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 140-55 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 193-106.

Belichick’s 193 wins are good for a tie for 8th all-time with Chuck Knox, who coached the Rams, Bills and Seahawks.

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 was fined $50,000 by the NFL for “impermissible physical contact with an official” for his actions after the Patriots 31-30 loss in Baltimore on Sunday night.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Solder
• LG: Mankins
• C: Wendell
• RG: Connolly
• RT: Vollmer
• TE: Gronkowski
• TE: Hoomanawanui
• WR: Lloyd
• WR: Welker
• QB: Brady
• RB: Ridley

Defense:

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

Patriots Players Notes

This Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 18-2 vs. the Bills in his career.

Overall Brady is 125-36 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 141-42.  Brady is a 7 time Pro Bowl QB; 3 time All-Pro selection; 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 303 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 125 career wins he is 5th all-time.  Peyton Manning is 4th with 141.

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 (3,476) needs 12 completions to move past Kerry Collins (3,487) into 10th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time completion list.

Brady moved past Joe Montana (40,551) into 12th place all-time on the NFL’s passing list.  He now has 40,866.

Brady (40,866) needs 57 passing yards to move past Kerry Collins (40,922) into 11th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time passing list.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 35 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 82-15 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 104 consecutive games including playoffs, 87 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker (6,356) needs 11 receiving yards to move past Troy Brown (6,366) into second place on the New England all-time receiving list.

Welker joined Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison as the only players in NFL history with four 100+ catch seasons.

Welker has two of the Top 4 seasons for most catches in a season with 123 in 2009 and 122 in 2011.

He has led the team in receptions for 5 consecutive seasons.

TE Rob Gronkowski has back-to-back 10+ TD reception seasons.  With another in 2012 he will be the first TE in NFL history to have done it three seasons in a row.

Gronkowski grew up in Williamsville, N.Y., 14 miles outside of Buffalo.

DE Trevor Scott played football at the University of Buffalo from 2003-07 and grew up in Potsdam, N.Y.

Patriots LB Jerod Mayo leads the team with 35 tackles (29 solo).

Mayo can extend his streak to four straight games with 10 or more tackles, which would tie his career high.

Rookie S Tavon Wilson and S Steve Gregory lead the team in INT’s with 1 each.

New England has recovered 3 fumbles one by Wilson one by DT Vince Wilfork and one for LB Dont’a Hightower.

Rookie DE Chandler Jones leads the team with two forced fumbles.

DE Rob Ninkovich leads the team in sacks with one each with LB Jermaine Cunningham and Jones.

LB Brandon Spikes and Jones lead the team with 2 QB hits apiece.

5 players each have two special teams tackles.  They are Matthew Slater, Nate Ebner, Brandon Bolden, Kyle Arrington and Wilson.

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:

• Released DT Marcus Forston
• Signed DT Terrell McClain
• Released TE Kellen Winslow Jr.

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  DE Brandon Deaderick (ankle); WR Julian Edelman (hand); DR Justin Francis (ankle); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle) and G Logan Mankins did not practice.  QB Tom Brady (right shoulder); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring); CB Sterling Moore (knee); RB Shane Vereen (foot) and T Sebastian Vollmer (back) were limited in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. WR Julian Edelman (hand); DR Justin Francis (ankle); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle) and G Logan Mankins did not practice. DE Brandon Deaderick (ankle); DT Kyle Love (knee); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring); CB Sterling Moore (knee); RB Shane Vereen (foot) and T Sebastian Vollmer (back) were limited 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). They are the same 6 players that were selected last season as well.

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 13 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); DT Terrell McClain (South Florida); 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.

Bills Team Notes

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

2012 Bills Schedule/Results

Buffalo’s all-time record is 366-417-8 they are 14-15 in the post season with their last post season appearance coming in 1999 when they lost to Tennessee in the AFC Wild Card game, best known as the “Music City Miracle”.

They last played for a conference championship in 1993 when they beat Kansas City in the AFC Title game, 30-13. They then went on to lose to Dallas in Super Bowl XXVIII. They have never won a Super Bowl title in four appearances.

The Bills franchise started in 1960 in the AFL and they won two AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965.

Buffalo is 21-48 vs. the AFC East since 2001.

The Bills have lost the season series to the Patriots 9 times in the last 12 seasons.

The Bills are 22-29-1 as the home team in the series.

The largest margin of victory for the Bills in the series is 35 points set in 1970.

The Bills are tied for 6th in scoring offense with 29.0 points per game.  While they allow 26.3 points per game, good for a tie for 23rd in the NFL.

Buffalo is now PLUS 1 in turnover differential, tied for 12th best in the NFL.  The offense has given up 3 INTs and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 4 INTs and 2 fumble recoveries.

Bills Staff Notes

Hear what Buffalo Bills head coach Chan Gailey had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Buffalo head coach Chan Gailey in his 3rd season with the team is 12-23 since taking over.  He was previously the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for two seasons and had an 18-14 record and is 0-2 in the playoffs. His overall NFL record is 30-39 including playoffs.

Gailey is 1-4 vs. the Patriots in his career, 1-3 with Buffalo and 0-1 with Dallas.

Assistant Defensive Backs Coach Adrian White played DB for the Patriots in 1993.

Wide Receivers Coach Bob Bicknell is a native of Holliston MA and played tight end at Boston College.  He later coached at Boston University.  His father is Jack Bicknell the former head coach at Boston College.

Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Eric Ciano graduated from Springfield College in 1997 and played football for the Pride.

Assistant Offensive Line Coach Andrew Dees served as the Recruiting Coordinator  and Running Backs Coach at the University of Massachusetts in 2011.

Bills Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Glenn
• LG: Levitre
• C: Wood
• RG: Urbik
• RT: Pears
• TE: Chandler
• WR: Jones
• WR: Steve Johnson
• QB: Fitzpatrick
• RB: Jackson
• RB: McIntyre

Defense:

• DE: M. Williams
• DT: Spencer Johnson
• DT: K. Williams
• DE: Anderson
• LB: Scott
• LB: Sheppard
• LB: Moats
• LCB: A. Williams
• RCB: Gilmore
• S: Wilson
• S: Byrd

Bills Players Notes

Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is 1-4 vs. New England and 20-35-1 in his NFL career with Buffalo, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

He was a 7^th round choice of St. Louis in the 2005 NFL Draft out of Harvard.

Fitzpatrick was the 24th best of the 30 starting quarterbacks rated by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski.

Buffalo has two former Patriots on their roster DE Mark Anderson and TE Lee Smith.

The Bills released P Brian Moorman this week.  Moorman, who was a team captain and had been the Buffalo punter since 2001, has been replaced by Shawn Powell.

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list. WR Martin Ruvell (ankle); CB Leodis McKelvin (groin) and RB CJ Spiller (shoulder) did not practice.  RB Fred Jackson (knee) was limited in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. WR Martin Ruvell (ankle) did not practice.  RB Fred Jackson (knee); CB Leodis McKelvin (groin) and RB CJ Spiller (shoulder) were limited in practice.

Buffalo’s captains for 2012 are QB Ryan Fitzpatrick; RB Fred Jackson; DT Kyle Williams; S George Wilson and RB Corey McIntyre (Special Teams).

There are 3 players on the Bills roster from Big East Universities and New England based colleges.  They are TE Dorin Dickerson (Pittsburgh); QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard) and C Eric Wood (Louisville).

The Bills have one retired number: 12 – Jim Kelley.

Next Week

The Patriots host the Denver Broncos next Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Welcome Back Officials

Early Thursday morning the NFL and the NFLRA reached an agreement on a new 8-year agreement.  The new pact is expected to be ratified on Friday by the union.

Commissioner Roger Goodell in the meantime has lifted the lockout of the officials and that paves the way for them to be on the field this evening in Baltimore for the Browns-Ravens game and then for the full slate of games on Sunday and the Monday night finale.

The officials did get a nice pay raise, as a senior official will now top out at $205,000 during the new contract.

John Parry will be the referee for the Patriots game Sunday against the Bills in Buffalo.  His last game was also a Patriots game…Super Bowl XLVI.

Belichick Fined

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was fined $50,000 by the NFL for “impermissible physical contact with an official” for his actions following New England’s 31-30 loss on Sunday night to Baltimore.

Belichick said he accepts his fine and he never meant any disrespect to the officials.

First Round of Hall Nominees

The NFL has announced the first round of nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2013 and among the nominees is Patriots owner Robert Kraft who is nominated as a contributor.

Inductees for the Class of 2013 will be announced Super Bowl Week.

Roster Moves

The Patriots on Thursday announced that recently signed TE Kellen Winslow Jr. had asked for and was granted his release.  Winslow was seen in the locker room before practice and the announcement and was asked for an interview but declined.

He wasn’t in Foxboro very long as he played in only 1 game and had one catch for 12 yards.  Upon his arrival he did sign an injury waiver due to his knee injuries.  He had mentioned last week that he is in constant pain but that he’s been able to fight through it and play.  It is generally speculated that he decided he just couldn’t put up with the pain any more and will walk away from the game.

Earlier this week the team released DT Marcus Forston and signed DT Terrell McClain.

Forston, an rookie undrafted free agent out of the University of Miami, was projected as a top pick amongst the defensive linemen available in the draft, but he saw his stock dive over the last two seasons and went undrafted.

He didn’t appear in any of the Patriots three games.

McClain, a former 3rd round pick of the Carolina Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft, played his college football at the University of South Florida.

Carolina released him prior to the start of the season and he was a free agent when he signed with the Patriots.

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Defense Going through Growing Pains

The last two weeks I have crowed about how good the defense looked in games against Tennessee and Arizona.  This week they were 2011 bad against Baltimore.  In one of the games in which they couldn’t afford to revert back to the ghost of poor defensive efforts past they did just that.

In the previous two weeks the defense gave up a combined total of 539 yards on Sunday night in Baltimore they gave up 503 yards (382 passing yards and 121 rushing yards) to the Ravens.

Going into the AFC title game rematch the defense had held opponents to 9 for 28 (32.1%) on 3rd down conversions.  In Baltimore Sunday night the Ravens were 4 for 8 on 3rd down and are now 13 for 32 on the season (41%).

They had a difficult time stopping Ray Rice (20 carries 101 yards; 5 catches for 48 yards) but then again the entire league does but it doesn’t mean they couldn’t have contained him better.  A staple of the New England/Bill Belichick defense has been the outside defender gaining the edge and holding it and not allowing a back to turn the corner.  To put it mildly Rice turned so many corners he looked like the elderly driver who left his blinker on all game.

Through the air Joe Flacco was 28 of 39 for 382 yards, 3 TD passes and 1 INT and he wasn’t sacked.  He was barely touched as the Patriots had just one quarterback hit.   The Ravens offensive line did a superior job in containing the Patriots front seven both in run and pass blocking.

On the whole the Baltimore offense averaged 7.7 yards per play on Sunday night.

I see a lot of people putting the blame on CB Devin McCourty.  Granted he had the awful pass interference penalty on 3rd and 9 but he was pretty solid the rest of the night.  He could have had 2 INTs, made 7 tackles and he broke up a total of 4 passes but people want to remember the one awful thing because it led to the game winning points.

The unit as a whole was bad after the first quarter.  They forget how to tackle and how to cover; it looked like a keystone cops routine.  The defense needs to make a correction and they need to do it soon and show us this was just a blip on the screen and some growing pains for a young defensive unit.

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Belichick’s Post Game Meltdown

Both Bill Belichick and John Harbaugh were furious with the officiating throughout the game and they and the players had every right to be that way.  The replacement officials are making a mockery of game with incorrect calls, flags that get lobbied to be picked up, missed calls, phantom penalty calls and taking way too much time to figure out the fuck is going on.

Like you, I’m sure, I have seen the Justin Tucker game winning field goal at least 12 times in 15 hours and I still don’t know whether it’s good or not.

My question on the field goal attempt is this.  If according to the NFL rules the uprights extend to the heavens then if the ball goes over the upright theoretically it would have hit the up right so why is the attempt considered a made field goal?

In addition to better defining the rule regarding the upward reach of the goalposts, I also feel that those plays need to be reviewed.  They need to come up with a better camera position that shows whether the ball went inside or outside the upright.

This could be accomplished with a lipstick camera mounted on the outside and near the top of each upright facing up.  You could then look at a replay and see where the ball went.  It’s pretty obvious that watching the NFL each and every week there are several field goal attempts each season that can be a cause of controversy.

Belichick said in his Monday post mortem that he wanted to know why it (the field goal attempt) was or wasn’t going to be reviewed.  He never got an answer and that’s why he was chasing the official at game’s end.

“I did try to get the officials attention as he was coming off the field.  I have never meant any disrespect or in any way tried to abuse or be disrespectful to the officials.”

It is unclear at this time if the NFL is going to take some sort of disciplinary action against Belichick for what appears to be him reaching for the official, not a push as many have said it was.

The league could see things his way and feel he is genuine and let it go but I highly doubt that will happen.  Just this last week the NFL made calls to all the owners, general managers and head coaches about abusing the replacement officials and staying off the field.

The actions that caused the phone call in fact resulted in a $30,000 fine on Denver head coach John Fox and a $25,000 fine on Denver defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio for their treatment of the officials last Monday Night in Atlanta.

It was because of this phone call that Harbaugh got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on him for coming onto the field to call a time out.  The official got a little flag happy and blew Harbaugh up.  Luckily for the Ravens the extra 15-yards didn’t hurt them.

Belichick though is a different story he actually touched an official, whether it was abusive or not, that’s frowned upon.  I expect Belichick to get a fine probably between $50,000 and $100,000.  I also expect Harbaugh will get fined too but a much lesser amount probably in the vicinity of $25,000 or $30,000.

The whopper stat of the night, the officials called 30 penalties (24 accepted for 218 yards) between the two teams which is about 35% higher than normal and 13 (8 for New England) of those penalties led directly to first downs.

News and Notes

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick conducted his day after media briefing.

QB Tom Brady will have his weekly chat on WEEI on Tuesday morning.

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

Defensive snaps played vs. Baltimore (ESPN Boston)

Shalise Manza Young reported that T Sebastian Vollmer played every offensive snap that is huge in his return from his back injury. (Boston Globe)

It was an interesting night in the stands in Baltimore a fan wearing a Suggs jersey and another wearing a Brady jersey got into a fist fight in front of the press box.  Then you had the guy who ran onto the field wearing black shorts and a cape.

Best and Worst of Patriots vs. Ravens (Boston Herald)

All is well with Welker (Boston Herald)

Five Takeaways from Patriots-Ravens (Boston Globe)

LB Brandon Spikes criticizes officials on Twitter (Boston Globe)

Since 2008 the Ravens are 17-4 after a loss, including 14 consecutive wins after a loss.

Since 2008 Baltimore is 6-2 vs. the AFC East with both losses being to New England.

Baltimore is 12-12 all-time on Sunday Night Football, they are 9-5 at home.

John Harbaugh is in his 5th season with the team, he is 46-21 since taking over and is 5-4 in the playoffs for an overall record of 51-25.

He is 2-3 vs. New England in his career.

Harbaugh turned 50 on Sunday.

QB Tom Brady has 304 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady moved past Joe Montana (40,551) into 12th place all-time on the NFL’s passing list.  He now has 40,866 passing yards.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 35 consecutive games.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 104 consecutive games, 87 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Rookie RB Brandon Bolden had his first NFL TD with a 2-yard run in the first quarter,

The 13 first quarter points are the most given up by the Ravens at home since John Harbaugh took over.

WR Julian Edelman’s 2nd quarter TD was the second receiving TD of his career.  Both have occurred on Sunday Night Football.  The first was at Indianapolis in 2009.  That was the 4th and 2 game.

New England has two players who are sons of Hall of Famers, Kellen Winslow and Matthew Slater.

Linebacker Jerod Mayo led the team in tackles on Sunday he had 11 in all (9 solo).  CB Kyle Arrington had 7 tackles (7 solo) and CB Devin McCourty also had 7 tackles (6 solo).

New England had one INT of Flacco it was by S Steven Gregory it was his first as a Patriot after coming over from San Diego.  He returned it 36 yards and put the Patriots in a goal to go situation.

The Patriots had 1 tackle for loss in Sunday’s game; it was when S Patrick Chung stuffed RB Bernard Pierce on a 4th quarter 4th and 1 play. It went for a one-yard loss.

McCourty defensed 4 passes in Sunday’s game while Gregory had 1.

The Patriots had 6 special teams’ tackles, rookie S Tavon Wilson and rookie RB Brandon Bolden each had 2 tackles.

The Patriots did not sack Baltimore QB Joe Flacco, while allowing Brady to be sacked 2 times.

New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 4. The defense has recovered 3 fumble and has 2 INTs.  The offense has given away 0 fumbles and has 1 INT.

The Patriots were 3 for 5 (60%) in the red zone.  They had 3 TD and 2 FG. Baltimore was 2 for 3 (67%) in the red zone scoring 2 TD’s and 1 FG’s.

New England was 7 for 15 (47%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts. The Ravens were 4 for 8 (50%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 1 (0%) on 4th down attempts.

Next Game

The Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills next Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park NY.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

The New England Patriots came into the Inner Harbor to face the Baltimore Ravens in a Sunday night matchup on national television.  It was a swing game for both teams as they each stood at 1-1 and with a win they would sit a top their respective division.  Plus it would give one team a head to head advantage that could be important come playoff time in the AFC.

With the Ravens looking for revenge on the Patriots for taking away the AFC Championship last season they were able to prevail at M&T Bank Stadium, 31-30.

The Patriots dominated the first quarter coming away with a 13-0 lead on a pair of Stephen Gostkowski field goals and a 2-yard touchdown run by rookie RB Brandon Bolden.  It was Bolden’s first NFL TD.

The first quarter the Patriots had everything clicking on both sides of the ball the offense looked good as Brady had nice completions to WR Brandon Lloyd, WR Julian Edelman and a nice downfield pass to WR Wes Welker.

Defensively they were crisp as well making all their tackles and limiting the yardage.

Then in the second quarter the officials lost control of the game and in an effort to regain it they started calling some ticky tack penalties like the pass interference call on LB Jerod Mayo that gave Baltimore a first down and eventually led to a Ravens touchdown after a reviewed call was botched allowing Baltimore to sustain their drive.

The Ravens got two TD’s on their last two possessions of the half one was a nice throw by QB Joe Flacco to WR Torrey Smith and the second was just a pitiful display of tackling allowing TE Dennis Pitta a chance to gallop down the sideline for their second TD.

But you can’t leave time and time outs on the scoreboard for Tom Brady, he is a master and he will carve you up like Sunday dinner.  He lead an 81-yard drive that culminated with a TD pass to Edelman with just 2 seconds remaining in the half that gave New England a 20-14 halftime lead.

Baltimore answered that score when they opened the second half with the ball and on their own 80-yard drive that was capped with RB Ray Rice going untouched into the end zone and a 21-20 Ravens lead.

For some reason Baltimore didn’t seem to have an answer for Brady and New England’s up tempo offense as Patriots once again countered the Baltimore TD with one of their own when RB Danny Woodhead scampered into the end zone for a 27-21 lead.

Gostkowski added a chip shot of a field goal to start the fourth quarter and put the Patriots up 30-21.

The Ravens got the ball back and after driving downfield and a near INT by New England CB Devin McCourty was dropped, they got the ball inside the Patriots 35.  They decided to go for it on 4th and 1 and Patriots S Patrick Chung was able to stuff RB Bernard Pierce and give New England the Ball back with 10 minutes to play.  It was a huge play for the young defense that is learning to stand up to challenges it faces.

The replacement officials got involved again.  This time with a phantom defensive holding call on McCourty that instead of being 3rd and 14 deep in Baltimore territory it’s now 1st and 10 and it directly pumped up the Ravens drive.  That drive was then was extended further when they missed an obvious hold by Ravens T Michael Oher on Patriots DE Rob Ninkovich that allowed Rice to ramble up field on a big gain that put them inside the ten yard line.  Of course it led to another TD pass from Flacco to Smith to cut the New England lead to 30-28 with 4:01 to play.

Brady was intercepted by S Ladarius Webb with 2:23 and finally the replacement refs called a ticky tack foul on Baltimore that changed the momentum the Patriots way by giving them the ball back and a first down.

That was followed up by the officials flagging Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh for unsportsmanlike conduct, a huge 15-yard penalty for coming onto the field.  Harbaugh was clearly trying to call time out and the officials botched it big time.

After Baltimore’s defense held and New England was forced to punt Flacco drove the Ravens down field very efficiently and with the help of Patriots CB Kyle Arrington who fell over his own feet with easy INT in front of him and a McCourty picking the wrong time to make the officials look good with a pass interference penalty the Ravens were up for a win.

With 2 seconds left rookie Ravens K Justin Tucker kicked the game winning field goal that went above the right upright and was ruled good giving the Ravens a wild win.

According to the replay rules because the ball went over the uprights it is not a reviewable play either by challenge or by automatic review.

While the Patriots lost the game and are now 1-2 heading into Buffalo next week it’s not the end of the World and sky isn’t falling.  It’s still early, the division competition appears to be beatable and this team has one of the easiest schedule in the league.

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

Patriots at Ravens Game Recap.

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Turning Point(s) of the Game

Patriots CB Kyle Arrington trips and falls and is unable to make a surefire last minute INT to seal a Patriots win.

Offensive Player(s) of the Game

Ravens WR Torrey Smith had 6 catches for 127 yards and 2 TDs on the day his younger brother died in a motorcycle accident.

Defensive Player(s) of the Game

Ravens DE Haloti Ngata had 9 tackles (7 solo), 0.5 sack, 2 QB hits and 1 tackle for loss.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Solder

LG Mankins

C Wendell

RG Connolly

RT Vollmer

TE Gronkowski

WR Fells

WR Lloyd

QB Brady

RB Ridley

RB Hoomanawanui

On Defense:

DE Ninkovich

DT Wilfork

DT Love

DE C. Jones

LB Mayo

LB Spikes

LB Hightower

CB McCourty

CB Arrington

S Gregory

S Chung

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle)

2. DT Justin Francis (ankle)

3. DE Brandon Deaderick (ankle)

4. CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring)

5. DE Jake Bequette

6. RB Shane Vereen (foot)

7. G/C Nick McDonald (shoulder)

Ravens

1. WR LaQuan Williams

2. CB Asa Jackson

3. T Jah Reid (calf)

4. TE Billy Bajema

5. TE DeAngelo Tyson

6. DT Bryan Hall

7. LB Sergio Kindle

The spread (Patriots PLUS 3) WAS NOT covered.  The over/under (49) WAS COVERED.  I GAVE the points (RAVENS) and took the OVER.  I am now 1-2 vs. the spread and 2 of 3 calling the under/over.

You had to feel for Torrey Smith the Ravens wide receiver whose younger brother died early Sunday morning in a motor vehicle accident.

The Patriots had gone 145 games without having a losing record.  The last time the Patriots had a losing record was after Week 1 in 2003.  That was a nine-year run.

The Patriots lead the series 7-2.

New England is 2-1 vs. Ravens on the road.

The Patriots are 15-4 all-time against the AFC North in the regular season and 2-1 in the playoffs.

The Patriots are 18-15 all-time on Sunday Night Football, 6-6 in games on NBC.  The loss snapped a 3 game SNF win streak.

Since 2003, New England is 27-4 following a loss.

Bill Belichick’s 193 wins are good for a tie for 8th all-time with Chuck Knox, who coached the Rams, Bills and Seahawks.

Belichick vs. Baltimore is 6-2 including playoffs.

Tom Brady is 5-2 vs. Baltimore in his career including playoffs.

Brady has 304 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 125 career wins he is 5th all-time.  Peyton Manning is 4th with 141.

Brady moved past Joe Montana (40,551) into 12th place all-time on the NFL’s passing list.  He now has 40,866

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 34 consecutive games.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 104 consecutive games including playoffs, 87 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

S Steve Gregory had a 1st quarter INT it was his first as a Patriot.

Rookie RB Brandon Bolden had his first NFL TD with a 2-yard run in the first quarter,

The 13 first quarter points are the most given up by the Ravens at home since John Harbaugh took over.

WR Julian Edelman’s 2nd quarter TD was the second receiving TD of his career.  Both have occurred on Sunday Night Football.  The first was at Indianapolis in 2009.  That was the 4th and 2 game.

Edelman suffered a hand injury on his TD catch.

New England has two players who sons of Hall of Famers, Kellen Winslow and Matthew Slater.

The Patriots did not sack Baltimore QB Joe Flacco, while allowing Brady to be sacked 2 times.

New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 4. The defense has recovered 3 fumble and has 2 INT.  The offense has given away 0 fumbles and has 1 INT.

The Patriots were 3 for 5 in the red zone.  They had 3 TD and 2 FG.

New England was 7 for 15 (47%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

The teams combined for 13 first downs on penalties.

Baltimore has won 12 consecutive home games.

Overall at M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore is 82-31 since 1998.

Since 2008 the Ravens are 17-4 after a loss, including 14 consecutive wins after a loss.

Since 2008 Baltimore is 6-2 vs. the AFC East with both losses being to New England.

Baltimore is 12-12 all-time on Sunday Night Football, they are 9-5 at home.

Harbaugh is in his 5th season with the team, he is 46-21 since taking over and is 5-4 in the playoffs for an overall record of 51-25.

He is 1-3 vs. New England in his career.

Harbaugh turned 50 on Sunday.

Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco is 46-21 in his career in the regular season and 5-4 in the playoffs for an overall record of 51-25 in 5 seasons.

He is 2-3 vs. New England in his career including playoffs.

The Ravens were 4 for 8 (50%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 1 (0%) on 4th down attempts.

Baltimore was 2 for 3 (67%) in the red zone scoring 2 TD’s and 1 FG’s.

Baltimore is PLUS 4 in turnover differential 4th best in the NFL. The offense has given up 1 INT and 1 fumble, while the defense has 3 INT and 3 fumble recoveries.

The Ravens have to turn around and play the Browns on Thursday night on a short week.

Bruce Hermansen (replacement) was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 67 and it was clear.

Attendance – 71,269 at M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore MD

Post Game Interviews

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

This Week in the AFC East

Buffalo beat Cleveland, 24-14

NY Jets edged Miami in OT 23-20

AFC East Standings

Jets                        2-1/2-0

Bills                        2-1/0-1

Patriots                   1-2/0-0

Dolphins                  1-2/0-1

Next Game

The Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills next Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park NY.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credit: getty images

This Week

The New England Patriots visit the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday at 8:20 p.m.

The Patriots		=—-	The Ravens
Overall	1-1		Overall	1-1
Road record	1-0		Home record	1-0
AFC North	0-0		AFC East	0-0
AFC	1-0		AFC	1-0

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from Bovada.net on Yahoo Sports has the Patriots at PLUS 3.  The OVER/UNDER is 49.

My Prediction is Ravens 28, Patriots, 24.  Give the points (RAVENS) and take the over.  I am 1-1 against the spread and 1 of 2 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The Ravens 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 Baltimore make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Baltimore MD.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking information and map and an M&T Bank 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

NBC in televising the game nationally and Al Michaels will do play by play while Cris Collinsworth will provide the game analysis and Michele Tafoya will cover the sidelines.  You can look here for your local affiliate.

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 5 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 92; XM Channel 225 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Ravens Radio Network has Gerry Sandusky calling the game while Stan White and Qadry Ismail provide the game analysis via their flagship station of WIYY-FM and WBAL.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 93; XM Channel 226 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 802.

Dial Global Radio Sports will be broadcasting the game to their national affiliates.  Kevin Kugler and James Lofton will call the game.

The national feed is available on Sirius Channel 94, XM Channel 227 and Sirius XM Internet Channel 800.

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 @ Baltimore Ravens week 3 preview, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Last Week

The Patriots lost their home opener to Arizona, 20-18.  The Ravens lost to Philadelphia on the road, 24-23.

History

• This is the 9th meeting between the Patriots and the Ravens since Baltimore became a franchise in 1996 when the Cleveland Browns relocated.  The team was unable to keep the Browns past records, nicknames and colors and was considered an expansion franchise.
• The teams have faced each other in the post season twice with each team winning once.
• The Patriots lead the series 7-1 with the lone loss coming in the 2009 AFC Wild Card Game, 33-14 in Foxboro.
• The Patriots won the last meeting between the teams the 2011 AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium, 23-20.

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 415-366-9.  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 have gone 145 games without having a losing record.  The last time the Patriots had a losing record was after Week 1 in 2003.  That’s NINE YEARS.

New England is 2-0 vs. Ravens on the road.

The Patriots are 15-4 all-time against the AFC North in the regular season and 2-1 in the playoffs.

The Patriots are 18-14 all-time on Sunday Night Football, 6-5 in games on NBC.  They have won their last 3 SNF games.

Since 2003, New England is 27-3 following a loss.

Since 2000 the Patriots have an NFL best 64-33 road record.

The Patriots are 12th in the NFL in points per game with 26.  While they allow 16.5 points per game good for 4th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 3 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 5 times.

New England is PLUS 3 in turnover differential tied for 5th best in the NFL. The offense has given up 1 INT and 0 fumble, while the defense has 1 INT and 3 fumble recoveries.

The Patriots are 11 for 27 (40.7%) in 3rd down efficiency and 0 for 0 on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 9 for 28 (32.1%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 3 of 7 (42.8%) in the red zone while opponents are 2 for 4 (50%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 3 for 4 (75%) and opponents are 2 for 3 (66.6%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 194.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 213.
• Have the best wining percentage including playoffs, .668.
• 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 Ravens.

Bill Belichick coached teams are 6-1 vs. Baltimore (including playoffs) all with New England.

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 176-98 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 140-54 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 193-105.

Belichick’s 193 wins are good for a tie for 8th all-time with Chuck Knox, who coached the Rams, Bills and Seahawks.

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.

Special Teams Coach Scott O’Brien worked for the Baltimore Ravens as the Special Teams Assistant.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Solder
• LG: Mankins
• C: Wendell
• RG: Thomas
• RT: Vollmer
• TE: Gronkowski
• WR: Lloyd
• WR: Welker
• WR: Branch
• QB: Brady
• RB: Ridley

Defense:

• DE: Ninkovich
• DT: Wilfork
• DT: Love
• DE: C. Jones
• LB: Mayo
• LB: Spikes
• LB: Hightower
• LCB: McCourty
• RCB: Arrington
• S: Chung
• S: Gregory

Patriots Players Notes

This is Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 5-1 vs. Baltimore in his career including playoffs.

Overall Brady is 125-36 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 141-42.  Brady is a 7 time Pro Bowl QB; 3 time All-Pro selection; 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 303 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 125 career wins he is 5th all-time.  Peyton Manning is 4th with 141.

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 (40,531) needs 21 passing yards to move past Joe Montana (40,551) into 12th place all-time on the NFL’s passing list.

Brady (3,448) needs 40 completions to move past Kerry Collins (3,487) into 10th place all-time on the NFL’s all-time completion list.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 33 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 82-15 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 103 consecutive games including playoffs, 86 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker is now the team’s all-time leader in receptions with 562.

Welker (6,214) needs 153 receiving yards to move past Troy Brown (6,366) into second place on the New England all-time receiving list.

Welker joined Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison as the only players in NFL history with four 100+ catch seasons.

Welker has two of the Top 4 seasons for most catches in a season with 123 in 2009 and 122 in 2011.

He has led the team in receptions for 5 consecutive seasons.

TE Rob Gronkowski has back-to-back 10+ TD reception seasons.  With another in 2012 he will be the first TE in NFL history to have done it three seasons in a row.

Patriots LB Jerod Mayo leads the team with 22 tackles (14 solo).

New England recovered two more fumbles on Sunday one by rookie safety Tavon Wilson and one by DT Vince Wilfork.  They are tied for the team lead with LB Dont’a Hightower with one each.

Rookies are making an impact on defense, DE Chandler Jones leads the team with two forced fumbles and Wilson leads the team in INT’s with 1.

DE Rob Ninkovich had a sack on Sunday and he leads the team in sacks with one each with LB Jermaine Cunningham and Jones.

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 free agent TE Kellen Winslow Jr.
• Signed free agent WR Deion Branch
• Released WR Greg Salas
• Released LB Mike Rivera
• Released RB Lex Hilliard
• Signed free agent LB Niko Koutouvides
• Signed WR Greg Salas to practice squad
• Released WR Kerry Taylor from practice squad

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle) did not practice.  G Dan Connolly (concussion); CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring); TE Daniel Fells (shin); DT Justin Francis (ankle); WR Brandon Lloyd (thigh); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); RB Shane Vereen (foot) and T Sebastian Vollmer (back) were limited in practice.  S Patrick Chung (shoulder) had full participation.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle) and DT Justin Francis (ankle) did not practice.  G Dan Connolly (concussion); DE Brandon Deaderick (ankle); CB Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring); TE Daniel Fells (shin); WR Brandon Lloyd (thigh); C/G Nick McDonald (shoulder); CB Sterling Moore (knee); RB Shane Vereen (foot) and T Sebastian Vollmer (back) were limited in practice.  S Patrick Chung (shoulder) had full participation.

CB Kyle Arrington is a native of Accokeek MD and attended Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine MD

TE Visanthe Shiancoe is a native of Laurel MD and attended Morgan State University in Baltimore.

DE Chandler Jones is the younger brother of Ravens DE Arthur Jones.  Their other brother, Jon “Bones” Jones is a Champion UFC fighter.

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). They are the same 6 players that were selected last season as well.

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 12 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 Jeremiah Warren (South Florida – Practice Squad) and NT Vince Wilfork (Miami).

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.

Ravens Team Notes

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

2012 Ravens Schedule/Results

Baltimore’s all-time record is 141-116-1 they are 10-7 in the post season with their last post season appearance coming in 2011 when they beat Houston in the AFC Division Game and then lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

The Ravens have won one Super Bowl in their only appearance beating the New York Giants (XXXV).

The Ravens along with the Patriots are two of three teams to make the playoffs in five of the last six seasons.  The third team is Indianapolis.

Since 20002 Baltimore has the 2nd best home record in the NFL they are 62-19.

Since 2002 the Ravens have allowed the fewest points per game at home with 15.6

Since 2002 Baltimore has the second largest home point differential in the NFL with 727.

The Ravens have to bounce back to play the Cleveland Browns at home on Thursday night after playing on Sunday night.

Baltimore has won 11 consecutive home games.

Overall at M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore is 82-31 since 1998.

Since 2008 the Ravens are 16-4 after a loss, including 13 consecutive wins after a loss.

Since 2008 Baltimore is 5-2 vs. the AFC East with both losses being to New England.

Since 2000 the Ravens have the most shutouts in the NFL with 9.

Baltimore is 11-12 all-time on Sunday Night Football, they are 8-5 at home.

Since the 2002 realignment, the Ravens are 8-1 at home against the AFC East.  Their lone loss is to the Patriots.

The Ravens are tied for 2nd in the NFL in points per game with 33.5.  While they allow 18.5 points per game good for 6th in the NFL.

The Baltimore defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 6 times this season, while their quarterbacks have been sacked 5 times.

Baltimore is PLUS 4 in turnover differential 4th best in the NFL. The offense has given up 1 INT and 1 fumble, while the defense has 3 INT and 3 fumble recoveries.

The Ravens are 7 for 23 (30.4%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 11 for 30 (36.7%) in 3rd down efficiency and 3 for 4 (75%) on 4th down attempts.

Baltimore is 4 of 5 (80%) in the red zone while opponents are 3 for 8 (37.5%) in the red zone in 2012.

Ravens Staff Notes

Read what Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Harbaugh is in his 5th season with the team, he is 45-21 since taking over and is 5-4 in the playoffs for an overall record of 50-25.

He is 1-3 vs. New England in his career, with his lone victory coming in the playoffs.

Harbaugh’s brother Jim is in his second season as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

The brothers each ended up one win away from facing each other in the Super Bowl last year.

He has won one AFC North Division title as the head coach of the Ravens and his teams have made the playoffs all four years he has been in Baltimore.

He is the only NFL head coach to have won a playoff game in each of his first four seasons.

Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Jerry Rosburg was the secondary coach at Boston College.

Defensive Line Coach Clarence Brooks went to high school in New Bedford, MA. before playing guard at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He was also a coach at UMass.

Offensive Quality Control Coach Jason Brooks, son of Clarence Brooks, was born in Amherst, MA. Brooks, like his father, served as a coach at UMass.

Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach John Dunn was born in Great Barrington MA

Assistant Offensive Line Coach Craig VerSteeg served as the Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers Coach at Harvard University.

Ravens Linebackers Coach Dean Pees served as the Linebackers coach and Defensive Coordinator for New England.

Baltimore Assistant Offensive Line Coach Todd Washington coached the offensive line for the Hartford Colonials (UFL) in 2010.

Ravens Defensive Quality Control Coach Matt Weiss is a native of Cheshire CT and attended the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven CT.

Baltimore Assistant General Manager Eric DeCosta is a native of Taunton MA and graduated from Colby College in Waterville ME.

Ravens Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Oher
• LG: Harewood
• C: Birk
• RG: Yanda
• RT: Osamele
• TE: Pitta
• WR: Smith
• WR: Bolden
• WR: J. Jones
• QB: Flacco
• RB: Rice

Defense:

• DT: Ngata
• NT: Kemoeatu
• DE: McPhee
• DE: McClellan
• LB: McClain
• LB: Lewis
• LB: Kruger
• LCB: Webb
• RCB: Williams
• S: Pollard
• S: Reed

Ravens Players Notes

Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco is 45-21 in his career in the regular season and 5-4 in the playoffs for an overall record of 50-25 in 5 seasons.

Flacco was a 1st round draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft out of the University of Delaware.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 9th best quarterback in the NFL.

He is 1-3 vs. New England in his career including playoffs.

Flacco has the third current longest consecutive starts by a QB with 66.

Baltimore has no permanent team captains; the staff appoints them on a weekly basis.

Future Hall of Fame LB Ray Lewis is in his 17th season.  In his career he has 2,605 tackles, 31 INT’s and 20 recovered fumbles.

He is the only 40-sack/30 INT player in NFL history and along with another future Hall of Famer former Patriots S Rodney Harrison they are the only 30/30 players in the NFL history.

Future Hall of Fame S Ed Reed has 59 career INT’s and has returned 7 of them for TD’s.

He is the only NFL player to have scored return TD’s off of an INT, punt return, blocked punt and fumble recovery.

Overall Reed has 14 career TD’s.

He is the NFL’s all-time leader in INT return yards with 1,506.

Since 1966 Reed has the most 2+ INT games in NFL history with 12.

Reed has the two longest INT returns for TD’s in NFL history 107 yards and 106 yards.

2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Terrell Suggs is on the PUP list with an achilles injury.

Suggs is the Ravens all-time franchise sack leader with 82.5.

Since 2008, RB Ray Rice has the most receptions by a running back (259) and receiving yards by a running back (2,313) in the NFL.

Baltimore S James Ihedigbo, an Amherst MA native, played for the Patriots in 2011.

Baltimore LB Ricky Brown (Injured Reserve) was in training camp with the Patriots in 2011.

Baltimore WR and Return Specialist David Reed (Injured Reserve) is a native of New London CT and played for New Britain High School until he transferred to New London High School for his senior season.

Ravens LB Ray Lewis leads the team with 19 tackles (16 solo).

Lewis, CB Ladarius Webb and LB Albert McClellan lead Baltimore in recovered fumbles with one each.

Lewis and Webb lead the Ravens with one forced fumble apiece.

Reed leads the team in INT’s with 2.

DT Haloti Ngata leads Baltimore in sacks with 2.

Baltimore has no permanent captains, they are announced on a weekly basis.

On Wednesday the following players were on the injury list.  LB Jameel McClain (knee); DE Pernell McPhee (knee); S Bernard Pollard (chest); T Jah Reid (calf) and CB Ladarius Webb (knee) did not practice.  LB Paul Kruger (back) and T Michael Oher (ankle) were limited in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. T Jah Reid (calf) did not practice.  LB Jameel McClain (knee); DE Pernell McPhee (knee); S Bernard Pollard (chest) and CB Ladarius Webb (knee) were limited in practice.  LB Paul Kruger (back) and T Michael Oher (ankle) had full participation in practice.

There are 9 players on the Baltimore roster from Big East Universities and New England based colleges.  They are C Matt Birk (Harvard); LB Ricky Brown (Boston College – IR); CB Corey Graham (New Hampshire); S James Ihedigbo (UMass); DT Arthur Jones (Syracuse); LB Jameel McClain (Syracuse); RB Bernard Pierce (Temple); RB Ray Rice (Rutgers) and TE Kris Wilson (Pittsburgh)

The Ravens have no retired numbers.

Next Game

The Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills next Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park NY.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

I should have known it could be one of those days when earlier it was announced that the New England Patriots had signed free agent TE Kellen Winslow.

Bill Belichick wasn’t done with Winslow as he brought back WR Deion Branch for a third go around with the team and released WR Greg Salas, LB Mike Rivera and RB Lex Hilliard leaving 1 more roster spot open.

Hilliard, a 6th round pick in 2008 by the Miami Dolphins out of the University of Montana, played with Miami for four seasons before going to Minnesota this offseason.  He was released by the Vikings in final cuts and chose the Patriots over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  He saw limited action in the Patriots first two games.

Salas, a former fourth round pick of St. Louis in 2011 out of the University of Hawaii, played in six games last season for the Rams under current Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.  New England traded a late round pick to St. Louis for him just before the season started.  He dressed Week 1 and did not play and was a scratch last week against Arizona.

New England originally signed Rivera to the practice squad in November of 2011.  The Kansas grad who has been on the practice squad of five teams since 2009 finally got to see some limited NFL playing time in the first two weeks of the season.

Branch, who was a member of two championship teams, came back to New England in 2010 after the Seattle Seahawks traded him.  He had left four years earlier in a contract dispute with the Patriots and was dealt to Seattle only to spend most of his time in the Pacific Northwest in the trainer’s room.  In his first stint in Foxboro Branch won a Super Bowl MVP award in 2004 when they beat Philadelphia.

According to Branch he was hopeful after his release that he could return to Foxboro.  Many were surprised when they released him only to go to St. Louis and trade for Salas.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credit: getty images