Well here we are on yet another Sunday awaiting the start of a Patriots game at 8:15 p.m.tonight and would have thought that after Tom Brady played less than a quarter of football in the season the team would be 5-2 and tied for first with Buffalo going into Indianapolis to face the the dreaded Colts, who themselves have had a ton of injuries, and at 3-4 look nothing like the Colts we are accustomed to.
But yet that’s exactly where the team is after they beat St. Louis at home last week 23-16 as Matt Cassel led his first fourth quarter comeback of his career.
So while we as fans are starting to feel all warm and fuzzy inside about this season I need to remind me that tonight Peyton Manning is on the other side of the ball. Granted it seems like baby brother Eli has been the better Manning this season, but this guy is deadly. Don’t ever, ever forget that.
Another thing not to forget is to check out the official Sox & Dawgs Patriots-Colts Week 9 Preview. It has everything you need for tonights game, rosters, the latest news, injury reports and even some cool food and drink information.
It’s far from all sunshine and roses going into Indy tonight as the Patriots have already listed five players as out and once again among them are running backs LaMont Jordan and Sammy Morris. Jordan had limited practice during the week and was listed as 50/50 on Friday but on Saturday was downgraded. Also listed as out for tonight’s game are LB Shawn Crable, S Matthew Slater and CB Lewis Sanders.
It looks like the Colts (or to make Pete Sheppard fans comfy…”Cults”) will have S Bob Sanders and RB Joseph Addai back in the lineup for the game against New England but have lost CB Marlin Jackson for the season.
Seems that the Rams aren’t the only crybabies in the NFL after playing the Patriots. A Broncos player spoke his mind on Vince Wilfork. Funny they never talk about all the crack back blocks their offensive line practices.
In case you missed it NT Vince Wilfork escaped suspension but got a $35,000 fine for his actions in the Denver game and rookie RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis also got a $5,000 fine for a late hit in the St. Louis game. The league also gave the team some good news and awarded rookie LB Jerod Mayo and K Stephen Gostkowski with monthly awards.
Patriots defensive coordinator Dean Pees maet with the media for some Q&A this week.
Sox & Dawgs commenter Ashleigh is a big Wes Welker fan. I can’t say as I blame her and I guess either Wes likes cranberries or they like him.
A few minutes with…Patriots CB Mike Richardson.
Eric McHugh of the Patriot-Ledger in Quincy MA hates the Steelers throwback uniforms. I wholeheartedly agree.
Mike Florio of Yahoo! Sports has the top ten things flying under the NFL radar this year and among them at Number 10 is this little goodie:
The rivalry between the New England Patriots and New York Jets played out on a different stage during the offseason, with the Jets holding the sixth overall pick in the draft and the Pats at No. 7 (because of a 2007 trade with the 49ers).
Both were in the market for linebackers. Speculation persisted that the Pats might try to leapfrog the Jets to nab Vernon Gholston, who was at one point regarded as a possible top-three pick.
In the end, Gholston was on the board at No. 6, and the Jets took him. The Pats then slid back to No. 10, selecting linebacker Jerod Mayo.
So far, Mayo has clearly been the superior player.
Gholston has no starts, six tackles, and zero sacks. Mayo, in contrast, has started every game. While he also has no sacks (he’s playing middle linebacker), Mayo has 48 tackles. And he was just named the league’s defensive rookie of the month for November.
Though Gholston might develop into the best outside linebacker to prowl a New York football field since Lawrence Taylor, Mayo is for now the clearly better player.
This is an old video in this link from NE Patriots Draft but it’s still enough to get you in the mood for the game tonight.
