The Patriots Preseason Television Network is televising three of the Patriots four preseason games through out New England and Hawaii. The lone game not covered by the Patriots Preseason Television Network will be carried nationally by ESPN on Monday August 20^th against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The games on the Patriots Preseason Television Network are:

• Aug 9  – New Orleans – 7:30 p.m.
• Aug 24 – @ Tampa Bay – 7:30 p.m.
• Aug 29 – @ NY Giants – 7:30 p.m.

Longtime national play by play announcer Don Criqui and former NFL Pro Bowl offensive lineman Randy Cross will call the games for along the network.

Stations in the Patriots Preseason TV Network include:

• WBZ-TV Channel 4 in Boston MA
• WNAC-TV Channel 64 in Providence RI
• WMUR-TV Channel 9 in Manchester NH
• WMTW-TV Channel 8 in Portland ME
• WCTX-TV Channel 9 in Hartford/New Haven CT
• WWLP-TV Channel 22 in Springfield MA
• WVII-TV Channel 7 or WFVX-TV Channel 22 in Bangor ME
• WVNY-TV Channel 22 in Burlington VT
• KFVE-TV Channel 5 in Honolulu HI

Check your local listings for your station.

There is no DirecTV channel designation for preseason games.  DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket is not allowed to carry preseason games per the NFL Broadcast Rules. Preseason television rights belong to the teams and not to the league, hence no DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket until Week 1 of the regular season.

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No it’s not a comedy team but the New England Patriots have signed defensive back Derrick Martin and running back Kareen Huggins to contracts.

Martin, a safety from Denver, CO, played his college ball at the University of Wyoming and was a sixth round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2006 NFL Draft.  He was traded to Green Bay in 2009 and earned a Super Bowl Ring in 2010 with the Packers despite being on the injured reserve list since October.  In 2011 he played with the New York Giants and was on his second consecutive Super Bowl championship team.

Huggins is a full back from Irvington, NJ who played his college football with Patriots CB Kyle Arrington at Hofstra.  He signed with Tampa Bay in 2009 as an undrafted free agent and after two seasons with the Buccaneers. he did not play last season.

UPDATE 8/5: Huggins was released by the Patriots on Sunday morning.

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New England Patriots offensive lineman Robert Gallery has decided to retire during training camp.  According to reports, he was not able to play the way he expected to and retired due to the overall wear and tear on his body.

Gallery, who played tackle and guard, was the first round pick (2nd overall) of the Oakland Raiders in the 2004 NFL Draft out of Iowa.  After 7 seasons in Oakland, he left as a free agent in 2011 for a 3-year deal in Seattle but he was released just days before signing with New England this offseason.

It was hoped that Gallery would provide the team with some additional offensive line help especially while G Logan Mankins is recovering from offseason ACL surgery.

Now it’s expected that former UConn standout Donald Thomas, Ryan Wendell and possibly Nick McDonald will see more time at the guard position.

The team also announced that FB Tony Fiametta, a free agent pick up from the Dallas Cowboys has been placed on the exempt/left squad list and has the left the team for unspecified reason.

Fiammetta, a 6 foot 4, 242 pound fullback went to college at Syracuse and is a former fourth round draft pick of the Carolina Panthers.

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On Tuesday, just a day before players are scheduled for their first training camp exercises, the New England Patriots have signed veteran TE Visanthe Shiancoe (vi-sahn-TAY SHANK-oh).

Shiancoe, 32, a 3rd round pick of the New York Giants in the 2003 NFL Draft out of Morgan State was an unrestricted free agent.  In addition to the Giants where he played from 2003-2006, he has spent the last five years playing for the Minnesota Vikings where at one time he was a favorite target of former quarterback Brett Favre.

Shiancoe, who was born in England but grew up in Maryland, is expected supply additional depth against injury and is an exceptional blocker and solid pass catcher.  He also gives them several options in the no huddle with three tight ends on the field it create huge mismatches for Tom Brady to exploit.

His contract is for one season and is worth $1.2 million with $400,000 guaranteed.

The team also announced that it signed defensive lineman Tim Bulman, a native of Milton MA.

Bulman, 29, has played 7 seasons in the NFL with Arizona (2005) and Houston (2006-11) he was an undrafted free agent out of Boston College in 2005.

In order to make room on the roster, the Patriots released RB Joseph Addai, who they signed as a free agent in May after 6 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts.

Addai was a first round pick by Indianapolis in the 2006 NFL Draft out of LSU.

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He is Mr. Patriot.  He has been a part of the franchise for 45 of its 52 years and now as we approach the 2012 NFL season Gino Cappelletti has decided it’s time to walk away and retire at age 78.

Cappelletti, a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame, is the 2^nd leading scorer in Patriots franchise history and one of only 20 players to play in all 10 seasons of the AFL.  He was also named the 1964 AFL MVP.

After his playing days were over he joined the Patriots broadcast booth were he provided the color commentary for 32 NFL seasons (1972-78; 1988-present), 28 of them with long time broadcast partner Gil Santos.

Although nothing has been made official it is expected that former Patriots QB Scott Zolak will move from the sidelines to the booth to replace Cappelletti.  Zolak joined the broadcast team last season in an effort to help ease the pace of the game on Cappelletti, who had a tough time keeping up with the pace of the game the last several seasons.

It is expected at this time that Santos will return to call the Patriots play-by-play for his 22nd consecutive season and his 36th year overall (1966-79; 1991-present).

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The New England Patriots announced that they have signed their first round draft pick Dont’a Hightower, a linebacker out of Alabama.  Hightower is the final draft pick to sign his contract.

It is reported to be a four-year contract worth $7.7 million of which $6.3 million is guaranteed.

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When the rookies reported to Gillette Stadium earlier this week they were subjected to their team physical and five of the 1st year players failed according to the team.

Failing the physical on Thursday were WR Jeremy Ebert, WR Matt Roark, DE Justin Francis, OL Jeremiah Warren and OL Markus Zusevics.

Ebert was placed on the Active/PUP list as he is still suffering from a leg injury suffered during minicamp.

The others were placed on the Active/Non-Football injury list.  Players can be removed from those lists at anytime prior to the start of the season.

On Friday the team decided to release Roark, who was a long shot to begin with.  There is no word if the failed physical resulted in the release or if the player asked to be released.

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The New England Patriots announced that the single game tickets will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday July 17.

The team, which has 19 consecutive seasons of sold out games, is able to sell only a limited amount of single game tickets.  You can get yours through the Ticketmaster website or by calling 800-745-300 (wheel chair seat requests should call 508-384-9191).  No tickets will be sold at the Gillette Box Office.  Only Visa credit card and debit cards will be accepted for the purchase and fans are limited to four tickets per game.

You can view a seating chart of Gillette Stadium on the team website then click on “seating map” (pdf).

The Patriots road games with the exceptions of the St. Louis game in London and the New York Jets game on Thanksgiving are listed on the Ticketmaster website as well.  Those tickets dates are set by the home team and may not be available at this time.

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The New England Patriots have announced the dates that their annual training camp will be open to the public.  Each year the team has several days in which the fans can come to the practice field outside of Gillette Stadium and watch the players run through their drills. 

In addition, the last several years the team has also had the Patriots experience for kids.

This year the team will open camp to the public on the following days:

• Thursday July 26 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Friday July 27 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Saturday July 28 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Sunday July 29 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

As always dates and times can and will change and you are advised to always check the team website at patriots.com prior to making a trip to Foxboro.

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The New England Patriots made a couple roster moves the last few days.  They released recently signed TE Bo Scaife earlier in the week.

Scaife just came to the Patriots two weeks ago after he had spent the last six seasons with the Tennessee Titans after the club drafted him in the sixth round of the 2005 draft out of Texas.

The team also re-signed S James Ihedigbo who played on 67% of the team’s defensive snaps in 2011.  Ihedigbo was born in Africa but grew up a Patriots fan in Northampton, MA and went on to attend UMass.  Prior to coming to the Patriots he had played with the New York Jets.

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