We start as we do each week with head coach Bill Belichick’s visit on WEEI in Boston with the Big Show. The coach talked about the win over Pittsburgh, touched on Anthony Smith and even mentioned the Jets who are this week’s opponent.
Belichick says that if the media doesn’t want to talk about the Jets game and wants to rehash the “camera incident”, the “handshake incident” and his relationship with Jets head coach Eric Mangini there will be some short press conferences this week. You know some media tool is gonna ask. I’d put my money on the tool being either FOX 25’s Butch Sterns or the Boston Herald’s Mike Felger.
Speaking of Anthony Smith, you remember Anthony he’s the guy who guaranteed a Steelers win. Everyone in the media was aghast, especially Mike Dickhead of ESPN, that Tom Brady after the first touchdown to Moss started jawing with Smith. Well what the media didn’t know until today was that not only did Smith guarantee a win but he decided to taunt Brady during pre-game warm ups. I think the young man was taught a lesson. You can hear Brady talk about it in the beginning of his interview with Dennis and Callahan on Monday morning on WEEI.
Oh I’m not done with Smith yet. The Providence Journal’s Jim Donaldson had a little fun with him and mock’s him with some other guarantees.
The game on December 23rd against the Dolphins at Gillette Stadium has been moved from 1 p.m. to a 4:15 p.m. start at the request of CBS.
Some of the sports books installed the Patriots as high as 27 point favorites after the games on Sunday. On Monday most of the lines have dropped down into the 24 to 25 point range. Yahoo! Sports, the line I’ve used all year for the game previews, on Monday afternoon had the Pats at -24 with an Under/Over of 50.5.
If you’re a Massachusetts resident you have the opportunity to bid on an auction for the New England Patriots Number 56 license plate in honor of 5-time pro bowler Andre Tippett. The money from the auction will benefit the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation plus the winning bidder will get to have a meet and greet with Tippett himself. This is the first license plate showcasing the jersey number of a Patriots Hall of Fame member. Bids are only accepted until December 17th.
Someone paid for a plane to fly a banner over Gillette Stadium on Sunday prior to the game. The banner said:
Bonds – 756*, Belichick – 3 Super Bowl wins*
It’s probably a good thing Brady didn’t see it he might have tried to knock it from the sky with one of his passes.
Defensive lineman Vince Wilfork played a good game Sunday he had 6 tackles and a sack and I picked him as my Defensive Player of the Game. Wilfork talked about the sack of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger after the game:
“I knew the block that was given [because] they were giving it to me all game. I basically gambled on that play. He [Ben Roethlisberger] made a check at the line and I heard the same check earlier in the game and it was [a] pass so I knew right then and there what I was going to do. [Alan] Faneca came down and it was a double team but it was a pass play and I spun out of it and I was back there before he could even fake the ball. I think I kind of surprised him because once he turned around he tried to curl up. I stole a play. Preparation, I still do preparation on the field, during game time. Like I said that was something I picked up early in the game and I carried it over. I heard it again and I knew exactly what they were doing, so a win for me”.
The Boston Globe’s Mike Reiss breaks down the Patriots pick up of the Steelers blitz in his Reiss’ Pieces blog.
And finally this is just too good to pass up. ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski has an article on Brady’s season so far. Wojciechowski writes:
To bring some clarity and perspective to Brady’s season, think of it this way: He has more touchdown passes than the rest of the AFC East (31), more than the combined totals of Brett Favre and Drew Brees (44), and the exact combined totals of Peyton and Eli Manning. He also has just five interceptions in 476 pass attempts. Dallas’ Tony Romo threw that many picks in a single game this season.
If Brady isn’t the unanimous MVP of the league it should be considered a crime.Â
