For a third round pick!!  This trade doesn’t make a lot of sense.  The Patriots would have a gotten a compensatory pick next year for losing him (although no higher than a late 5th rounder).  A 3rd rounder doesn’t really seem worth it.  Perhaps he was complaining and not being a team player behind closed doors.  Or the Patriots think they’re actually better without him.  They are certainly better when Brady spreads the ball around to the open guy rather than trying to force it to Moss like in the 2nd half of the Jets game. But I’m sure more receivers get open with Moss in there.

One thing you can say is that the Patriots are not afraid to trade star players or popular players.  They put a value on a guy, and if they’ll receive enough in compensation, they’ll trade him away.

I feel a strange confidence about this game.  It’s really a must win game, as it would put the Patriots behind the Jets and Dolphins in total record, division record, and head-to-head.  In addition, its a road game which the Pats know they have to start showing up for.  I think Belichick and the team are really going to be focused and hungry this week and we’ll see some of the defensive players clean up some of their technical mistakes.  Or at least I hope so.  I’m predicting Patriots 30, Dolphins 27.

Well the Patriots offense looked impressive. But against the worst offense in the league, our defense was unable to do anything.  The Bills only punted one time.  But the Patriots did get two clutch interceptions late in the game to hold the league.

There were two players who really impressed me in this game: Ben-Jarvus Green-Ellis really ran well (16 carries for 98 yards and 1 TD) and the offense looked a lot better with him in there compared to Taylor or Morris.  Patrick Chung was impressive as he has been all year, racing up to make solid tackles, and with that key INT in the endzone.  The whole offense really worked well, with both tight ends making big plays, and Brandon Tate even making a great catch before halftime.

The defense, however, has some holes. The defensive line is anchored by big Vince Wilfork and has looked pretty good. But they still have holes at both outside linebacker spots, both in terms of pass rush and setting the edge in run defense.  Their three safety rotation has looked good, and Devin McCourty looks good at CB, but they really really miss Leigh Bodden on the other side.  Darius Butler looked bad last week, and they replaced him with Kyle Arrington this week and still didn’t look too good.  So they really need to see some improvement out of those two, and at outside linebacker, Tully Banta-Cain, Jermaine Cunningham, Rob Ninkovich and even Shawn Crable need to step up.

Well I got the Bengals score right   The Patriots offense and its new weapons looked good, with the running game working and both rookie tight ends showing up.  And Brandon Tate even had a few catches to add on to his 97 yard kickoff return.  The new look defense looked really FAST.  I like the rotation at safety and linebacker (Chung was always on at safety with Meriweather and Sanders rotating, Mayo was at ILB with Spikes and Guyton rotating).  Chung looked great out there, he was really flying around the field.  There’s a chance this defense could really make some plays.

Outside of this game, I thought the Houston upset of the Colts was surprising. Arian Foster put up some ridiculous numbers. And Michael Vick looked like his old self coming in after Kevin Kolb’s injury in Philly. He’s clearly been working hard, you could see how pissed he was at himself after making a terrible decision in the redzone. But he brought them back from 20 down to have a tying chance.

I’m going to attempt to make predictions about the winners of each division. We’ll see how this goes.

• AFC East: I’m still not sold on Mark Sanchez in New York, I think he’s more likely to regress than progress. And I’m optimistic about the Pats young players coming along. So I’m going Patriots, Jets, Dolphins, Bills.
• AFC North: This should be a really competitive division. The Bengals swept it last year, but the Ravens have also added some new weapons. The Steelers start without Ben Roethlisburger, but should be ok without him. Is Jake Delhomme going to turn it over constantly for the Browns? I’m going Ravens, Bengals, Steelers, Browns.
• AFC South: Will Indy finally have a struggle this season? Or will they be the first super bowl loser in 10? years to make it to the playoffs?  Can Houston finally put together a whole season or a whole game?  How will the Titans look with Vince Young?  I’m going to say Titans, Colts, Texans, Jaguars.
• AFC West: This division could go to anybody. The Chargers got worse, everyone else got better. Ryan Matthews should be exciting though. I’m going to say Broncos, Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs but I think it will be really close.
• NFC East: Another tough division. How will Kevin Kolb do in Philly? Donovan McNabb in Washington? Can they G-men recover from their miserable season last year?  I think it will be Eagles, Cowboys, Redskins, Giants.
• NFC North: Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense look insane. Is Brett Favre too old for this game? Can the Bears offense work well with Mike Martz?  How improved are the Lions?  I’m picking the Packers, Lions, Vikings, and Bears.
• NFC South: No one has repeated in this division in ages. The Falcons and Panthers could both compete with the Saints here. However I’m going to say Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Bucs.
• NFC West: No one here looks particularly good. The Seahawks under Pete Carroll? Alex Smith quarterbacking the 49ers? Derek Anderson quarterbacking the Cards? The Rams with Sam Bradford?  I’m going to say it will be the Seahawks, Cardinals, 49ers, and Rams.

Playoffs?! Don’t talk about playoffs! Are you kidding me?

Yes, that’s right, playoffs. So we’ve got the division winners, who are the wildcards? In the AFC, it will be the Jets and Colts.  In the NFC, the Lions and Cowboys. Yes, the Lions!  The Super Bowl?  Probably the Packers over somebody.

The 2010 Patriots Season opener is finally here!  Tomorrow against the Bengals!  The Patriots have lots of questions. Last year on offense, they were extremely predictable, simply throwing to Moss or Welker all the time. This year they have 2nd years WR Brandon Tate and Julian Edelman, along with rookie TEs Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.  Will these new weapons open up the offense more?  Can the Patriots actually run the ball? Can Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris stay healthy? What I’m looking for in this game is to see if they commit to running the ball and if the extra offensive weapons show up.

On defense, there are even more questions. The Patriots will be starting a rookie corner, a rookie middle linebacker, a 2nd year corner, a 2nd year safety, a new free agent on the defensive line, and either a career-long special teamer or a rookie at outside linebacker.  Who will play outside linebacker opposite Tully Banta-Cain? Ninkovich? Murrell? Cunningham? Can rookie Cunningham contribute?  Can the Patriots get any pass rush? Can they stop the run? Will the young defensive backs hold up?  Do they have to keep a vanilla defense or with all these young and new players, can they put their usual disguises and trickery in there?  Lots of questions here as well.

I’d like to see the Patriots win. But more importantly, I’d like to see some balance on offense, with the new weapons involved, and I’d like to see something from the defense to give confidence that the front seven can stop the run and rush the passer, and the young DBs can cover and perhaps create some turnovers. I feel like this is a year where it may take a while for all the new defensive components to gel together but they may be able to get hot in the later part of year.

My prediction: Pats 28, Bengals 24.

The upcoming season is full of questions for the Patriots.  They had one of the oldest teams in the league last year, and they’re trying to infuse some younger players into the team.  They drafted 12 players last year and 12 this year.  On offense, they’re depending on some young players to take up the 3rd receiver spot.  They have 2nd year player Brandon Tate, rookie Taylor price, and new free agent signee Torry Holt.  The tight end position is all new as well, with veteran Alge Crumpler and two rookies: Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.  Last year they were very predictable with their offense, almost always targeting Welker and Moss.  This year, some of these new players have to perform to give Brady more options.

On defense, there are even more young players about to step into big roles.  In the defensive backfield, 2nd year player Darius Butler and rookie Devin McCourty will likely battle it out for right cornerback.  2nd year safety Patrick Chung may see time at safety alongside Brandon Meriweather, or we may see James Sanders or Brandon McGowan.  At linebacker, the only lock is Jerod Mayo on the inside.  The other inside linebacker could be 3rd year player Gary Guyton, 2nd year player Tyrone McKenzie, or promising rookie Brandon Spikes from Florida.  At outside linebacker, we’ll likely see Tully Banta-Cain on one side.  On the other side, it could be perenially injured Shawn Crable, rookie Jermaine Cunningham, or Derrick Burgess.  On the D-Line, Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork are back, but the right end spot is completely open, perhaps for a 2nd year player like Ron Brace, or maybe veteran Mike Wright.  The defense really needs to find more pass rush from some where.  I would say there are 5 players we know will start on D (Warren, Wilfork, Mayo, Meriweather, and Bodden), and 6 spots that are open.  Who plays in those spots and how they perform will have a HUGE effect on the defense and determine the outcome of the Patriots season.

I don’t understand what all the issue is with having the Super Bowl in New York.  Weather is part of the game!  If the Super Bowl were to be played in snow, freezing temperatures, ice, etc, I think it would only make it more exciting. And football is meant to be played in any weather, not just secluded to domes and warm weather.  I’ve heard people say the ‘fans’ won’t want to sit in this weather at the Super Bowl. But the fans will, the problem is that the Super Bowl crowd is mostly made up of corporate sponsors who won’t want to sit in the weather. But maybe this will mean there will be fewer corporate sponsors at the game and more true fans can go!  I hope Super Bowl XXXVIII is a success and that more cold weather stadiums are able to host it in the future.

This is blasphemy as a Patriots fan, but I find myself rooting for the Jets this year.  There are a bunch of reasons: 1) there’s no more Mangini, 2) they have an amazing defense, 3) they have a great running game, and 4) Rex Ryan is hilarious. Plus I’d much rather root for them than Peyton Manning.  J-E-T-S?

After a dominating win by the Ravens, the Patriots season is over. They really did not seem to have it this year. Brady never seemed quite right, whether it was from his injury last year, his injuries this year, or just wanting to be back on vacation with his supermodel wife. And the defense was lacking in leaders. No one had that us against them mentality, that bravado that Rodney Harrison would bring.  Thus, Dan Shaughnessy says the dynasty is over. I wouldn’t go quite that far. Although if they get back to their winning ways perhaps it will be a new dynasty.  Makes you wish they had just made a few more plays in the 2006 AFC Championship collapse against the Colts or the 2007 Super Bowl against the Giants. Make 2-3 more plays and we would have had 5 super bowls and a 19-0 season…

So, what do they need to do for next year?  Hopefully Belichick and the staff do a solid internal review to figure out where they went wrong this year. In 2006 they had poor receivers and they went out and got Moss, Welker, and Stallworth.  I’d expect to see some big names this year as well. Offensively, they need way better play calling. They need a new offensive coordinator. They also need to get a 3rd WR as Sam Aiken really doesn’t cut it.  I’d expect to see them both sign a few guys and draft some for this role.  On defense, the biggest thing they need is some leadership. Then they also need some pass rush and some run stoppers. If there aren’t any new labor talks, next year is going to be an uncapped year, with some different free agency rules, so it could be really interesting.