This Week
The New England Patriots entertain the St. Louis Rams at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA on Sunday at 1 p .m.
The Patriots are 2-1 at home, 1-0 against the NFC. The Rams are 1-2 on the road, 0-1 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Rams and the Patriots.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line/Prediction
As of Wednesday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots -7. The over/under is 43.5 .
My prediction is Patriots 28, Rams, 17. Give the points and take the over. I am 1-5 against the spread and 4 for 6 on calling the over/under in 2008.
Tickets
The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 155th consecutive sellout dating back to the 1994 season opener. The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game at the Razor make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from The Weather Channel.
Click for stadium directions, parking information, parking map, specific MBTA train times for this game and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. 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 for good measure here is one of my own.
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 by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
FOX is televising the game regionally, you can look for your local affiliate and check to see if you are getting the game. Chris Rose will call the play-by-play while J.C. Pearson will provide the analysis and Nischelle Turner will have the sideline reports.
The channel for Direct TV Feed of the game is 711.
For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.
Patriots All-Access airs tonight at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time. Make sure you check out the Patriots Football Network for information on when you can see Patriots All-Access in your market.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Channel 121, the Rams Radio Network has Steve Savard calling the game while former NFL head coach Jim Hanifan provides the game analysis and Malcom Briggs reports from the sideline. Their call is available on Channel 146.
This week’s game will be broadcast to a national audience by Sports USA Radio. Larry Kahn and Dan Fouts will call the game and Pat Sperduto will report from the sidelines.
Last Week
The Patriots routed the Broncos, 41-7 at the Razor to improve to 4-2. While the Rams blasted the Cowboys 34-14 at home to go to 2-4.
History
- This is the 11th meeting between the teams since the series started in 1974. The series is tied 5-5 including the post season with the Patriots winning the last two meetings which includes Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans.
- The Patriots won the last regular season meeting in St. Louis 40-22 in 2004.
- The teams first played on September 29, 1974 when New England beat the then Los Angeles Rams in LA 20-14.
- The series is 2-2 since the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995.
Connections
- Patriots rookie Matthew Slater is the son of former Ram OT Jackie Slater. The elder Slater is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- Rams FB Dan Kreider played his college football at the University of New Hampshire.
- Patriots RB Laurence Maroney (IR) is from St. Louis MO and attended Normandy HS where he was an all-area, all-metro and all-state performer. He was the St. Louis player of the year in 2002.
- Rams defensive coordinator Rick Venturi was on Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s Cleveland Browns staff from 1994-95.
- Rams RB Kenneth Darby and Patriots OT Wesley Britt were teammates at Alabama.
- Patriots rookies CB Terrence Wheatley and TE Tyson DeVree (PS) and Rams TE Joe Klopfeinstein were teammates at Colorado.
- Rams SS Todd Johnson and Patriots WR Jabar Gaffney were teammates at the University of Florida.
- Patriots DE Richard Seymour and TE Ben Watson were college teammates with Rams LB Will Witherspoon at Georgia.
- Patriots NT Vince Wilfork was college teammates with the Rams C Brett Romberg at the University of Miami.
- Patriots DL LeKevin Smith was college teammates with Rams K Josh Brown, T Adam Carriker and G Richie Incognito at Nebraska.
- Rams K Josh Brown went to Nebraska with Patriots OL Russ Hochstein.
- Rams OT Orlando Pace and Patriots LB Mike Vrabel were college teammates at Ohio State.
- Patriots rookie LB Jerod Mayo was college teammates with Rams CB Jonathan Wade at Tennessee.
- Rams KR Dante Hall and Patriots DL Ty Warren were teammates at Texas A&M University.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Rams. You can also see what St. Louis interim head coach Jim Haslett had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
Here is the injury list for the game.
Belichick is 2-1 in his career against Rams (1-0 with Cleveland; 1-1 with New England). He also is 1-0 against them in the post season having beat them in Super Bowl XXXVI.
Matt Cassel is now 3-2 in his five starts since replacing the injured Tom Brady. Cassel is currently the 16th rated QB in the NFL he is 110 of 166 for a 66.3 completion percentage for 1,095 yards. He has thrown 6 TD passes and been intercepted four times. He has been sacked 25 times and his rating is 86.8.
Cassel’s performance on Monday night earned him the AFC Offensive player of the Week.
The Patriots are +5 in turnover differential for the season. The have 12 take aways (3 fumbles recovered and 7 interceptions) and 7 giveaways (3 fumbles lost and 4 interceptions).
Based on points per game, the Patriots offense is ranked 19th in the league, while the defense is 9th.
Since 2003 the Patriots are 21-4 in October. Including playoff games, since September 10, 2006 they are 36-8.
The Patriots overall franchise record is 370-351-9. They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXIII, XXXIX) in 6 appearances.
The Patriots are 5-1 in their last 6 regular season games against NFC West teams in the Bill Belichick era (since 2000). The only loss was to St. Louis 24-17 in 2001 at Foxboro Stadium in Week 10.
NFL Pro Bowl balloting begins this week and runs from Oct. 13 through Dec. 9. Fans may vote for their favorite NFL players to represent the AFC and NFC in the 2009 Pro Bowl in Honolulu on Sunday, Feb. 8. Fans may vote online at nfl.com/probowl or on Web-enabled mobile phones by going to NFL.com.
Former Patriots RB Corey Dillon turns 34 today. Dillon played three seasons in New England after 7 in Cincinnati and was a member of the 2004 Super Bowl Championship team.
Former Patriots LB/DE Bob Golic celebrates his 51st birthday on Sunday. He was drafted by New England in 1979 in the second round and played 3 seasons in Foxboro before going on to play in his native Cleveland and with Oakland in a 14 year career.
Former Patriots TE Marcellus Rivers is 30 years old on Sunday. He spent 2007 with New England between the practice squad and 53-man roster.
2008 Patriots schedule/results
News from this weeks opponent:
St. Louis interim head coach Jim Haslett replaced Scott Linehan on September 29th and is 2-0 since taking over. He had been the Rams defensive coordinator since 2006 until he was named head coach after Week 4.
Haslett is 0-2 in his career against New England, both defeats have come in Foxboro while he was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints.
Haslett is 47-51 as a NFL head coach. He led the New Orleans Saints for six seasons (2000-05) and was 45-51. He is 1-1 in the playoffs.
Rams QB Marc Bulger 0-1 against the Patriots.
St. Louis RB Steven Jackson was the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Dallas in Week 8. He had 160 yards on 25 carries and scored 3 TD’s. He also caught two passes for 16 yards.
This is St. Louis’ first visit to Gillette Stadium. They are the 28th different opponent to play there and New England is 23-4 against first time opponents at the Razor. It leaves only Arizona, Atlanta and Carolina as the three teams yet to play at Gillette.
The Rams are +3 in turnover differential. They have 9 take aways (5 fumble recoveries and 4 interceptions)and 6 give aways (3 fumbles lost and 3 interceptions).
Based on points per game, the Rams offense is ranked 29th, while their defense is 30th.
St. Louis’s all-time record is 503-458-20 they are 19-24 in the post season with their last post season appearance coming in 2004 when they beat Seattle in the Wild Card game and lost to Atlanta in the NFC Division game . They last played for a conference championship in 2001 when they beat Philadelphia and then lost to New England in the Super Bowl. They have won one Super Bowl title in three appearances having beaten Tennessee 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV.
The Rams have played in the NFL since 1937 when they were the Cleveland Rams. They moved to Los Angeles for the 1946 season and were there until 1995 when the team was relocated to St. Louis.
In the 2008 NFL Draft St. Louis had one first round pick and chose DE Chris Long (Virginia – 2nd overall), the son of Hall of Famer Howie Long. In all the Rams made 8 picks in the 7 rounds.
The Rams have more players on their roster from Florida State, Nebraska and West Virginia (3) than any other schools. They have 15 players on the 53-man roster with two years or less of NFL experience.
In 2007 the Rams had WR Torry Holt as their lone Pro Bowl representative. They had no First Team All-Pro’s.
Next Week
The New England Patriots visit the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night at the brand new Lucas Oil Stadium. Kick off is at 8:15 p.m.
