Projo Pats Blog

November 18, 2007 - November 24, 2007 Archives

Philadelphia has downgraded quarterback Donovan McNabb (ankle, thumb) and safety Quintin Mikell (knee) from doubtful to out for tomorrow night's game in Foxboro.

With McNabb on the bench, the Eagles will turn to A.J. Feely to start under center.

The Patriots released their Friday injury/participation report, and only one player was listed: Tom Brady.

Brady, as he has every week for more than four seasons, is listed as probable-right shoulder. He is listed as having limited participation in practice today.

Jarvis Green, who practiced this afternoon for the first time this week, has been removed from the report.

For the Eagles, quarterback Donovan McNabb (ankle, thumb) and safety Quintin Mikell (knee) are listed as doubtful and did not practice; tackle William Thomas (illness) did not practice and is questionable; receivers Jason Avant (groin) and Kevin Curtis (thigh), safety Brian Dawkins (thigh), guard Todd Herremans (knee), corner William James (foot), and linebacker Takeo Spikes (hamstring) all had full participation and are probable.

Curtis and Spikes are new additions to the report.

See Dave Lubeski's NFL preview, leading with the Pats and Eagles, here. (2:08 in duration)

Hey all --

The Patriots are practicing inside Gillette Stadium today, where it is quite chilly and very windy, and provides the opportunity for the kicking team especially to prepare for possible similar conditions on Sunday night.

There is perfect attendance on the field, meaning defensive lineman Jarvis Green returned after missing the last two days with an ankle injury. It is the first time since Oct. 4 that all of the players on the 53-man roster were present at practice.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Patriots held practice this morning, and have a shortened participation report:

Did Not Participate
DL Jarvis Green - ankle

Limited Participation
QB Tom Brady - right shoulder

**Adalius Thomas (did not participate, team decision), Stephen Neal (limited participation, shoulder) and Eugene Wilson (limited participation, ankle) were on yesterday's list.

UPDATE
For the Eagles:

Did Not Practice
QB Donovan McNabb - ankle, thumb
S Quintin Mikell - knee

Limited Participation
T William Thomas - illness

Full Participation
WR Jason Avant - groin
FS Brian Dawkins - thigh
LS Jon Dorenbos - abdomen
G Todd Herremans - knee
CB William James - foot
DT Mike Patterson - ankle
RB Brian Westbrook - knee

** Thomas was upgraded, as he did not practice Wednesday; also, linebacker Omar Gaither (back) is removed from the list.

For the Patriots:

Did Not Participate
DL Jarvis Green - ankle
LB Adalius Thomas - team decision

Limited Participation
QB Tom Brady - right shoulder
G Stephen Neal - shoulder
S Eugene Wilson - ankle

**Despite returning to practice for the first time in a month, Eric Alexander (knee) is not on the list; also note that Kevin Faulk (concussion) and Laurence Maroney (foot) are not on the list.

For the Eagles:

Did Not Participate
QB Donovan McNabb - ankle, thumb
S Quintin Mikell - knee
T William Thomas - illness

Full Participation
WR Jason Avant - groin
FS Brian Dawkins - thigh
LS Jon Dorenbos - abdomen
LB Omar Gaither - back
G Todd Herremans - knee
CB William James - foot
DT Mike Patterson - ankle
RB Brian Westbrook - knee

Randy Moss has been named AFC Offensive Player of the week for the second consecutive game.

Moss had 10 catches for 128 yards and four first-half touchdowns in New England's 56-10 win in Buffalo on Sunday. His four TDs were a single-game franchise record and pushed his season total to 16, which is a single-season franchise record.

Moss was also honored after the Pats' win in Indianapolis two weeks ago.

It is his sixth such honor in his 10-year career and the seventh time this season that a New England player has been named player of the week on offense, defense or special teams.

We’re on to the Eagles today. We’ve had a couple of days after the late night Sunday to get on Philadelphia and, as usual, they seem to be playing their best football this time of year, November and December, like they always do. Andy [Reid] I think does a terrific job. I have an awful lot of respect for him and the job that he does down there, and the entire organization. They’ve been a consistent winner for a number of years and we’ve kind of played them on a regular basis there in preseason for awhile and haven’t seen them for a little bit, but they have a lot of familiar faces, a lot of great players, some of the best players in the league that have been around for awhile and know how to win. Certainly [there is] a veteran core there and then they’ve supplemented that with both some young players and some guys that have come on to the team recently, like [Takeo] Spikes and [Kevin] Curtis, guys like that that they’ve added on to the roster that have continued to make them strong. They definitely can run the ball; they can stop the run. Defensively they’re excellent in the red area and on the goal line, as they usually are. They’re usually right up there at the top of the league defensively and they are in a number of categories. The red area, of course, is outstanding. I think Jimmy Johnson does an outstanding job. I’ve known him for a long time and I have tremendous respect for what he does on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve got some very experienced players and they also have a very good scheme. They’re a hard team to get ready for. We’re going to need all of the preparation time we can get to handle what they do offensively. Of course, Andy runs the west coast system. They’ve been running it for a long time. There’s a lot of consistency there. They certainly know what to do and how to handle different defensive schemes. They handle them well. They can run it and they can stop the run. It’s a veteran, proven team and I think that they know how to win at this time of year. They’ve been doing it for a long time. That’s what we’re looking forward to this week. We have a lot of work to do and we’ll need to be on top of things on Sunday night.

What’s the greatest change in the Eagles from the last time you played them, in the Super Bowl?
I don’t think the scheme has changed a lot. They have a very extensive scheme. I don’t mean to say that it’s just very simplistic -- That’s not the case at all. It’s very extensive, but it’s still the same comprehensive scheme that they’ve had and a lot of the key players are there - [Donovan] McNabb, [Brian] Westbrook, L.J. Smith, [Juqua] Thomas, [Jon] Runyan and defensively [Brian] Dawkins and [Lito] Sheppard and Sheldon Brown, guys like that. [David] Akers. There’s a lot of players that are constants. They’ve got some new players that are in there one way or another, whether they be draft choices or whether it be, again, guys they’ve brought in like Curtis and Spikes and players like that. I think it’s a combination of the old and the new. The scheme’s kind of what we’ve seen before, but there are some new players and we’ll have to be ready for them, so I guess that will be the biggest change. The two coordinators, in essence Andy and Jimmy, that has been pretty consistent.

I know they have the normal offensive scheme that they would normally use, but how different would it be with a [A.J.] Feeley running it verses a McNabb running it, because you don’t know that this week?
As always, we’ll be ready for both of them. Feeley beat us down there in Miami a couple years ago, so we have a lot of respect for him and a lot of respect for McNabb. They’re both outstanding quarterbacks. They both can run the system and Feeley got in there and ran it last week in Miami after McNabb went out. He played it very well. I think that they can keep it rolling no matter who’s in there. Again, it’s such a well-oiled system and they’ve had a lot of continuity. They have a very experienced offensive line, a very good offensive line, certainly one of the best offensive lines in the league, so they can pretty much keep it rolling probably with just about anybody in there. Just like they did last year when they plugged in [Jeff] Garcia. It seems it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. They seem to be able to move the ball pretty effectively, and I think that’s a credit to not only the quarterback and the coaching but the entire offensive unit.

Trent Cole is not nearly a household name but he’s done a good job of getting to the quarterback. What’s distinctive about him?
Well, he does more than just get to the quarterback. He plays end very well. They’re a very active front up there. He’s got good quickness. [He’s] a little bit undersized compared to some ends, but he’s quick, he’s active, he’s very instinctive. Guys that overset him or don’t get out there quite on top of him like they need to, if there’s just a little bit of a mistake there by the tackle or by the tight end, whoever is standing there to block him, he has the quickness and explosiveness to get on the edge and make you pay for it. He has a lot of negative plays in the running game. He’s a disruptive pass-rusher. Thomas, [Jevon] Kearse on the other side, whoever it is, both of them - I think Kearse played very well early in the year. I know he hasn’t been playing as much lately, but he’s been productive for them this year. [Darren] Howard in passing situations coming inside, [Brodrick] Bunkley is an outstanding player. He has a lot of power. They play a lot of guys on the defensive front and they’re pretty good.

Why is Brian Westbrook such a difference-maker in their offense?
He does everything well. He’s just an outstanding player. He’s got great quickness, he’s a hard guy to tackle out in space, he’s very good on screen passes and out of the backfield. He’s obviously got good hands. He’s a good inside runner, he has good vision, good balance and good speed. Just like in the Washington game, he took a screen pass, got a key block from [Shawn] Andrews and went whatever it was, 50-some yards and that’s the difference in the game, so it doesn’t take much from him. He’s had great production in the return game for them, even though they haven’t used him as much on that this year, but in the past. So he’s very good in space, he’s got good vision and good power in the inside running game. He’s leading the league in production from the line of scrimmage. He does it in a lot of different ways. That’s what makes him hard to defend - he’s pretty good at everything.

Do you see similarities between Brian Dawkins and Rodney Harrison?
I mean, they’re both good players. Dawkins is a real good player. He’s been very productive for the Eagles. [He’s a] kid who was drafted there and played his whole career there. [He’s had] interceptions, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, good blitzer, good in the deep part of the field, good at man-to-man coverage, good in zone coverage, good down closer to the line when he does play down there, even though [Sean] Cosidine and [Quintin] Mikell and now even [J.R.] Reed, he’s been mainly the free safety, but there’s plenty of times when he plays down close to the line of scrimmage. I think he can do it all and he’s been very productive for them. Again, they [have] a very complex defensive scheme. They do a lot of - they have a lot of different schemes and I’m sure he’s a big part of getting that coordinated, getting everybody on the same page and executing. He’s an outstanding player. [Their] corners are good, too.

For years McNabb was more or less the face of that offence. Is Westbrook now the face of that offense?
No, they have a lot of good players. They have Curtis, they have Brown, L.J. Smith, who must be averaging 50 receptions a year for the last three or four years, they have a couple of big receivers - [Jason] Avant, [Hank] Basskett, those guys are big guys. Greg Lewis - he’s killed us before. They have a good receiving corps, they have good tight ends [and] they have good backs. [Correll] Buckhalter has come in there and given them a lot of production in the running back position when Westbrook was out. He’s a hard-nosed, tough guy that has a lot of positive plays, returns kicks for them, so I think they’re a well-balanced offense and it starts on the offensive line. You look at Thomas and Runyan and those guys - it seems like they’ve been there forever. And Andrews, he’s the best guard we’ve played against all year. I mean, this guy is really good. You talk about go-to guys [for] running backs and receivers and all of that - Andrews is a go-to guy. [When] you need yards, you run behind Andrews. You’ll get them. I mean, this guy is really a good player. They’re a well-balanced offense. They’re no one-man band. And they have a good scheme and they know what they’re doing. Andy is a good coach. He knows how to spread the ball around, he knows how to attack defenses. They move the ball.

Can you make a comparison between a player you’ve coached in the past and Heath Evans, in terms of the way one week he can be a lead blocker and the next week it might be running the ball, and he’s also fast enough to be out on coverages?
[Tommy] Vardell was similar to that in Cleveland before he got hurt. He probably had a couple of 100 yard games and was good on special teams, caught the ball well, was a good runner. And then he got hurt so it was never quite the same after that, but…Heath’s a versatile guy for us. He can play on third down, he can play on early downs, he can play on fourth down.

Is that unique or is it less unique than it would have been in the past because, as you’ve talked about, that traditional fullback isn’t really that prevalent in the league anymore?
When I came into the league in the 70’s and then even into the 80’s, the fullback and halfback, the carries were kind of evenly balanced. You had Franco Harris and Rocky Blier. You had fullbacks that carried the ball - [Larry] Csonka and [Jim] Kiick - all of those combinations - [Jim] Taylor and [Paul] Horning. I mean, that was a little before that, but I’m just saying that there was a time when - Before the I-formation you had some type of flat-backs, either away from the tight end, to the tight end or split backs. And the carries were kind of equally split between those two positions. And the halfbacks blocked for the fullbacks and the fullbacks blocked for the halfbacks. That’s kind of what Heath is. Heath can block, Heath can carry the ball. He would be a natural fullback for the offenses of the 60’s and 70’s. When teams went to the I-formation then you really, in essence, you put a guard in the backfield and you gave the ball to one guy. In I-formation there’s two backs back there, but it really isn’t a one-back set because the tailbacks get 90 percent of the carries, if not more. And then you get teams that decided, you know, like when Joe Gibbs and went to Washington, [Don] Coryell system and all of that, they said, well, look, why put another basically lineman back there who’s a big - you know, like [Jim] Braxton, Maurice Carthon and guys like that who were just kind of pure fullbacks - why put a fullback back there that’s basically a guard in the backfield? Let’s get another tight end or let’s get a more - what they called at H-back. Let’s get a guy who’s got a little more play-making ability. So then those teams became true one-back teams and they didn’t make any bones about it. We’re not going to put a guard back there in the backfield, we’re just going to go to a one-back set. So that’s kind of how the game has evolved. Of course, you watch college football and some teams don’t have any backs in the backfield - teams like Florida and all they have is a quarterback back there. Now you’re back to almost like a single-wing running game, where your quarterback, that’s your runner. It’s just kind of how the game has evolved, but Heath is a lot like the fullbacks from back in, like I said, the 70’s and early 80’s when I came into the league, and prior to that going back into the 60’s.

You mentioned Florida. There’s obviously more college teams going to that spread with just a quarterback in the backfield. Do you think that type of game will ever make it’s way to the NFL or is that strictly a college thing?
I don’t know. There’s times in the NFL where you see just a quarterback in the backfield. There are situations like that. But I mean, you watch the PAC-10 and a lot of times you can watch a whole game and not see two backs in the backfield. It’s empty or it’s the quarterback back there with one other back and three, four, five extended receivers. I mean, I don’t follow college football that closely, but I watch it in the spring when you watch certain teams play and you’re watching players. You watch the PAC-10, you watch…whatever it is out there. The Big West or whatever that conference is. Those teams are in - I don’t know if it’s five receivers, but they have four or five guys spread out over the field the entire game. That’s their goal line offense, too.

Could you see - Oregon has [Dennis] Dixon and Florida has [Tim] Tibow, where the quarterback runs the ball, too - Could you see that in the NFL?
I don’t know. We’ve seen it in Vince Young. The guy had - I don’t know how many yards he had rushing last year but it was quite a few. But I mean, I think when you look at teams like Florida and Oregon, teams like that that do that, their running game really then becomes, it’s like the single-wing. When you run the single-wing, you have an extra blocker. You don’t have a quarterback handing the ball off like you have in a T-formation, so you have a guy carrying it and there’s no wasted guy, which is really what the quarterback is. He hands it off and that’s it, whereas in the single-wing and those kinds of offenses, you pick up an extra guy that they either have to cover or you pick up an extra blocker in the play because you’re not having a quarterback hand the ball off. Really, that’s the essence of the single-wing offense. Everybody is a blocker and you have one ball-carrier. You don’t lose the T-formation quarterback.

What’s your schedule tomorrow for the holiday?
We’ll go a little bit earlier, finish a little bit earlier.

Will you have time to enjoy it?
Yeah, we’ll be done a little bit earlier. We’ll try to take what we do on a normal Thursday and just push it ahead a little bit and then what we don’t get we’ll add on to Friday.

It’s been awhile since you’ve had a Thanksgiving off, hasn’t it?
In the past a lot of times we’ve practiced on Tuesday and Wednesday and then given the players off on Thursday. We probably would have done that this week, but then when the game got moved to Sunday night we didn’t get back here until like 4:00 in the morning Sunday night. We just didn’t feel like we had enough time to prepare, as a staff, for the players to come in on Tuesday. Plus, it was kind of pushing it with them, too. We’ve done it both ways, but that’s what we’re on this week. We’re fine with that. I don’t think I’m going to go hungry, though, if that’s what you’re [worried about]. I don’t look like I’m undernourished, do I?

Will you have some of the coaches or anyone with you?
Well, yeah, I think everybody has kind of family time [and] does their own thing at Thanksgiving. We’ll all be a part of that.

Kelley Washington’s snaps on offense have been really limited. How has he done adjusting to becoming more of a special teams specialist?
Kelley’s always played in the kicking game. I thought he did a good job with that for Cincinnati. He’s done a good job of that for us, and he’s done a good job offensively when he’s been called on to play. I think he unfortunately missed a little bit of time early in the season in training camp and that let some other guys probably get a little bit ahead of him there and they’ve done a good job, but I have a lot of confidence in Kelley. I think he can do whatever - Whatever we’ve asked him to do, he can do it. We have other players that have been productive at that position, too - tight ends and slot receivers and perimeter receivers, but I don’t think there’s anything that he’s been asked to do from a receiver standpoint that he hasn’t shown he can do a good job of, whether it’s play outside, play inside, block, run after catch. We saw him do a lot of those things in preseason. He hasn’t had as many opportunities to do that in a regular season as… He hasn’t had very many opportunities, but I have every confidence that he could do it when he gets the opportunity to, and maybe it will come soon.

The Patriots are holding their first practice of the week on a wet and very chiily practice field.

As the entry title indicates, Eugene Wilson and Eric Alexander returned to practice today, while Adalius Thomas and Jarvis Green were not spotted.

Kevin Faulk and Laurence Maroney are also on field for the full-pads practice.

Pierre Woods, Bam Childress, Tim Mixon and Santonio Thomas were each in black jerseys as practice player of the week.

Hey all --

Injuries to both Kevin Faulk and Laurence Maroney in Sunday's game with Buffalo seemingly left the Patriots precariously thin at running back, but today Maroney said that he's not injured and expects to be available this Sunday against the Eagles.

As for Faulk, who suffered a first-half concussion, he said he'd like to play Sunday but if he doesn't, "you can't be mad about it because it's your health."

Tom Brady did not hold his customary Wednesday press conference.

In his chat, Bill Belichick spoke of the respect he has for Philadelphia coach Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, and noted that while their scheme is pretty much what it has been since that pair has been with the Eagles, it is a varied system with experienced players.

Belichick praised the Eagles' offensive line (he said right guard Shawn Andrews is the best offensive lineman the Pats have seen this season) and their red-zone defense, which is ranked third in the league.

Practice is being held outdoors today, and we'll give an update on who is and isn't there.

shalise

The Patriots today re-signed tight end Jason Rader to their practice squad; to make room for Rader on the eight-man unit, the team released quarterback David Greene.

New England has only two tights ends on its 53-man roster, Benjamin Watson and Kyle Brady.

---The Patriots today re-signed tight end Jason Rader. To make room for him on the roster, New England released quarterback David Greene from the practice squad.

New England only had two tight ends on its roster -- Benjamin Watson and Kyle Brady. Rader adds depth to the position.

From the press release:

Rader, 26, was previously signed to the Patriots practice squad on Sept. 3, 2007. He was placed on the practice squad reserve/injured list on Sept. 25 and was released from the practice squad reserve/injured list on Sept. 30.

The 6-foot-4-inch, 260-pound tight end has played in five career NFL games -- all with the Miami Dolphins in 2006. Rader was originally signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent out of Marshall in 2004. He was waived by Atlanta prior to the 2004 regular season and was signed by the Dolphins on June 13, 2005.

Rader spent eight weeks of the 2005 season on Miami’s practice squad. Last season, Rader split time between Miami’s active roster and practice squad and appeared in five games. He played for the Rhein Fire of the NFL Europe League in the spring of 2005.

With their 56-10 blowout victory over the Bill Sunday night, the debate over the Patriots running up the score has been renewed.

Cornerback Randall Gay said on ESPN Radio’s “GameNight” program that the Patriots are just doing their job and the Patriots shouldn’t be criticized for it.

"Basically, you have to ignore those people because this is a job. We're out there, and what are we supposed to do? Like we scored on defense, when Ellis [Hobbs] caught the fumble, should he have taken a knee because we were up by so much? We're out there to do our job, just like they're out there to do their job. It kind of makes me mad when you hear somebody from the other team's defense going 'they shouldn't have done thatl; that's disrespect.' Do we think it's disrespect when they went and picked up their checks for letting a team score 50 points on them? That should be disrespect, that you went to your owner and said 'All right, pay me for that game I just played.' You can't look at it like that. You have to go out there and do your best. If somebody is blowing you out, you have to play harder. You have to stop them."

Patriots defensive lineman Jarvis Green said on NFL live that he disagreed with Gay’s assessment that the Bills should be embarrassed for picking up their paycheck.

“No, I don’t agree,” Green said when asked if he agreed with Gay’s statement. “The Bills have more football to play. They’re 5-5. They can go out there and turn their season around also to finish up 11-5. What he said was his opinion. They’re competitors. They have been playing us well. We can go back to the year that they beat us 31-0 so it just wasn’t their day, Sunday.”

The Patriots have beaten Buffalo nine times in a row and 14 times in their last 15 tries.

Hey all --

Earlier today, NBC had a conference call with members of its Sunday Night Football crew in advance of this week's New England-Philadelphia game, and as you'd expect, analysts John Madden and Tiki Barber had plenty of things to say about the Patriots.

Following are some quotes from that call on the Pats' dominance:

TIKI ON THE PATS DOMINANCE: "The New England Patriots are showing to be the greatest team that we've seen in a long time. Whether you are rooting for or against them having an undefeated season all the way to the Super Bowl, it is certainly entertaining and exciting to think about them going 19-0 and doing it in the dominating fashion they have been doing it."

MADDEN ON THE PATS DOMINANCE: "I think that New England, especially offensively, is as close to perfect as you can be. I think that they're obviously the best team in the NFL and I think the gap is pretty big."

MADDEN ON WHO IS THE NFL'S SECOND BEST TEAM: "For a long time everyone agreed that it was the Indianapolis Colts. Because of injuries and that they have now, it's probably not. You would probably have to go to Dallas and Green Bay."

MADDEN ON IF BELICHICK SHOULD REST GUYS ONCE PATS CLINCH: "That's going to be the dilemma. Do you go for a championship or do you go for a record? At some point he's going to have to make that decision. Knowing Bill Belichick, I know that championships are going to be more important than records. It's just very, very difficult to see, if you get to that point, where you have everything clinched and in essence it's a meaningless game, to have Tom Brady and Randy Moss and that group out there the whole game."

MADDEN ON PATS PLACE IN HISTORY: "It's the best offense that I've ever seen. Tom Brady is playing the position of quarterback, right now, better than anyone I've ever seen play it. So where are they as the best team, I think offensively, they are right there. The best offensive team that won was the San Francisco 49ers. In my mind, this team, the way they're playing right now, is probably better. I would say that this is the best offensive team that I've ever seen. Again, I'm putting the whole thing together with the offensive line, the receivers, the quarterback, everything. When you go to team, you have to put in defense. Their defense isn't the Pittsburgh Steelers defense; it's not the '85 Bears defense. Historically, when you put everything together, I'm not sure that they're the best team ever. I am sure, in my mind and just my observation, they are the best offensive team that I've ever seen."

MADDEN ON IF THE PATRIOTS ARE HATED AS MUCH AS RAIDERS: "When we played on the road and you knew you were going to get booed, I used to tell my people, 'I don't know if they're going to cheer you or they're going to boo you when you run out onto that field, but I'll tell you this, if they boo you, they respect you and they're afraid of you. If they cheer you, they don't respect you and they're not afraid of you.' I knew they were going to get booed. So when the boos would come I would say, 'Told you, they are scared to death of you.' So you would take that thing and just turn it and make a positive thing out of it, because we led the league in boos. I don't know that they [the Patriots] are hated like that. You can go back to the 'Spygate' thing but when you think of the players, I would think that this team is probably half loved and half hated. I think there's a lot of respect. When you see what Tom Brady is doing, what Randy Moss is doing, Wes Welker, the offensive line, Teddy Brushci, Junior Seau on defense, Richard Seymour, I don't know that people are really against those guys. I had some guys where fans really booed. I mean, they booed the guys. This is the kind of thing where, if they are against them, they're against the organization rather than the players."

Here it is at last, this week's edition of projo PatsTalk with Shalise Manza Young. This week, we premiere our new look: PatsTalk in audio and pictures.

It was a busy day in sports, and there's lots of action on today's sports cover. Shalise Manza Young describes how Bill Belichick continues to drive his Patriots to greatness; Sean McAdam examines the Red Sox' deal with Mike Lowell; and Mike Szostak reports on the firing of URI football coach Tim Stowers.

Download a copy of the page in PDF format

Back after an absence is the projo Play of the Week. Click the play button below to see Bob Breidenbach's photos of Ellis Hobbs' crazy touchdown run in the fourth quarter, which followed a big hit by fellow defensive back James Sanders. The play didn't do much to determine the outcome, but it ensured that the Patriots matched their franchise record for points in a single game.

Click here to see other Plays of the Week.

It was a stampede. That about sums up the Patriots' devastating win over Buffalo last night, and that story is the highlight of today's sports cover. We also discuss PC's loss to Miami and URI's win over UAB.

Download a copy of the page in PDF format

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- With a New England Patriots victory clearly in hand late in the game Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills, the unbeaten Monster of the AFC East continued to do what it has done all season -- score.

Late in the game the Patriots decided to go for it on a fourth-and-two situation and scored to go up 42-7.

That's when the rude comments started from the Bills fans, calling Brady and his teammates not the nicest of names.

“We hear everything,” Brady responded with a big smile. “It’s not the worst word I’ve ever heard, and I’ve said plain worse than that. Coach says he puts us out there to score every time we touch it, so that’s what we’re trying to do and I think that’s the job description for every offense in the NFL. You score because you’re not out there to punt. . . If our fans ever called us that, then I would be pissed."

Safe to say that will never happen.

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - The first thing Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did after yesterday’s dominating win over the Buffalo Bills was kiss Myra Kraft.

The young stud planted a huge one on the cheek of his boss’s wife before heading into New England’s locker room where the song “Another One Bits the Dust” was blaring.

The feeling of affection is surely reciprocal because Brady is becoming the best quarterback in franchise history, and he took another step toward immortality last night. He completed 31 of 39 passes for 373 yards, including five touchdowns. With his six-yard TD pass to Randy Moss with 6:33 remaining in the second quarter, Brady surpassed former Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan with 183 career touchdown passes to become the franchise leader in that category.

It took Grogan 16 seasons to reach that plateau. It has taken Brady only seven.

Even though Brady is not one to talk about individual accomplishments, he did say it was an honor to be put in the same category with someone with Grogan.

“We have a great history of players for the Patriots,” said Brady. “Every time we take the field (at Gillette Stadium) we see the banners of the history of our team and the players who led the way for us. Hopefully we make those guys proud. I follow in the footsteps of a great quarterback myself in Drew Bledsoe, who taught me how to play quarterback in the NFL. . . Every time I’m around (Grogan) I think he’s a great person. He’s a great representative of the Patriots organization.”

Brady wasn’t alone last night in the history-making class.

First-year teammate and wide receiver Randy Moss caught 10 passes for 128 yards, including four touchdowns. When he grabbed his first TD of the night – a 43-yard reception to give New England a 14-0 lead with 8:04 remaining in the first quarter – he set the new Patriots’ single-season record with his 13th touchdown reception to surpass former receiver Stanley Morgan, who caught 12 in 1979.

Moss wasn’t done.

He finished with three more touchdown catchers to set another franchise mark, the single-game touchdown record of four. It was the first four TD game in team history. Moss is also the first Patriots player to grab at least three TD passes since Ben Coates accomplished that feat on Nov. 26, 1995.

And, it’s only November.

“I’ve never been a fan of records,” said Moss. “I learned at a young age that records are made to be broken, and I’ve never lived for my name in the record books. We have a goal, and that goal is to still be playing in January.”

Every week the Patriots’ offense continues to impress, and yesterday was as a dominating performance as they scored a season-high 56 points. In fact, the scored seven times on their first seven possessions.

So, Moss was asked if he has ever been a part of an offense this dominating, and he quickly pooh-poohed the question for good reason.

“The ’98 Vikings still hold the record for most points in the season,” he answered from first-hand experience.

That record of 556 points by Minnesota in 1998 may not last too much longer as the Patriots have scored 411 in the first 10 games of this season.

Earlier Sunday afternoon, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens caught eight passes for 173 yards, including four touchdowns in the Cowboys’ 28-23 victory over Washington. Moss said he saw the performance, but that didn’t give him any more motivation than he already had heading into his game Sunday night.

“Yeah, I saw it,” he said. “But I don’t get into that. I have a job to do and that’s for me to block and catch balls. To go out there and try to duplicate another receiver, that’s not my game and I’m not going to do that.”

It was a record-setting day for the New England Patriots, one that ended with a kiss. The next time Brady kisses something immediately after a game, it could be another Vince Lombardi Trophy. Then, of course, he’ll pass it over to Moss.

With the San Francisco 49ers losing again and the Jets pulling off their upset of Pittsburgh, two things worked in New England's favor:

* They are now firmly in control for home-field advantage in the playoffs; Indianapolis is 8-2 but New England beat the Colts head-to-head, and Pittsburgh falls to 7-3 with a Dec. 10 date in Foxboro looming. Jacksonville is also 7-3.

* If the season ended today, by virtue of San Francisco's 2-8 record and other factors, the Patriots have the number two pick in next year's draft. Remember that New England traded its second first-round pick in this year's draft (28th overall) to the Niners for their fourth-rounder this year (which was then flipped for Randy Moss) and their first-rounder in '08.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Ellis Hobbs can light up a room with his smile, but after last night's win -- despite a nifty pluck-and-run that led to a 35-yard fumble-return touchdown -- Hobbs wasn't much in the mood to smile.

As he dressed and talked, the cornerback was frantically looking for his diamond earrings, which are of a substantial size. When asked if he really had lost the earrings, Hobbs replied, "I'm dead serious."

Hobbs was the last player out of the locker room as he looked for the diamonds; it's believed he did not find them.

But he's not the first Boston athlete to lose a pricey earpiece -- Manny Ramirez lost a $10,000 diamond stud sliding into third base playing a rehab game with Pawtucket. Of all places, the game was in Buffalo.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – During New England’s win in Indianapolis, Adalius Thomas became a football version of “Where’s Waldo?,” as the high-priced free agent linebacker wasn’t spotted too often on the RCA Dome turf.

Was he injured? In the dog house? A rare bust for Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli?

The answers: who knows, who knows, and probably not.

Last night, as New England played a high number of snaps in a 4-3 defense rather than its base 3-4, Thomas got to see a lot of time at outside linebacker, and got to fill out the stat sheet as a result: three tackles for 2 ½ sacks, four quarterback hits and one pass defensed.

"I was just really working," Thomas said of his ability to pressure J.P. Losman. "Anytime you can get a sack early in the game it sets the tone, especially on a long third down, it
gives you some momentum and it gives you a chance to get your offense back
on the field."

After Buffalo picked up 16 yards on its first play of the game, Thomas broke through the line completely unabated and dropped Losman for a nine-yard loss. One play later, on second-and-19, Losman dropped back again, and though he got off the pass, he probably would have preferred another up-close meeting with Thomas: his pass attempt was picked off by Randall Gay, setting up the Pats’ first touchdown.

“He’s a pretty versatile guy,” Bill Belichick said of Thomas. “He’s played inside and outside (linebacker). He does a great job for us. He’s able to do a lot of different things, which helps give our defense some flexibility.”

In all, the Patriots’ defense had four sacks on Losman, with one from Mike Vrabel and Tedy Bruschi getting a half-sack as well.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – For Tom Brady, making history has become a near-weekly event this season, and he went into last night’s AFC East matchup with the Bills with a chance to make even more.

With five touchdowns against the Bills, Brady now has 185 in his career, passing New England Hall of Famer Steve Grogan for the franchise career record.

In 16 seasons, Grogan threw 182 touchdowns. Brady is playing his eighth season and seventh as a starter.

Brady also extended his NFL record for consecutive games with three or more passing touchdowns to 10 games; against the Colts, he broke the record of eight games that he was sharing with Indy’s Peyton Manning.

More Brady numbers:
* He is on pace to throw a league-record 61 touchdowns against just six interceptions;
* He is now 32-2 on artificial turf;
* 45-16 on the road;
* 21-2 when the game-time temperature is 40 degrees or below;
* 20-3 when throwing for more than 300 yards;
* 71-3 when leading at halftime and 75-2 when leading after three quarters;
* 47-1 when is passer rating is 100 or better.
*****
One other team record went down last night, as Randy Moss scored four touchdowns, breaking the tie he had with Stanley Morgan after the Colts’ game for the single-season record for receiving touchdowns.

Moss now has 16, passing the record of 12 Morgan set in 1979. With six games to go, he is one away from tying his personal best of 17 scores, which he did in his rookie year, 1998, and in his final season with the Vikings, 2003.

The 30-year old also has a chance to break the single-season league record of 22 TDs, set by Jerry Rice in 1987. Moss is now on pace for 26 touchdowns.

Moss also topped 1,000 receiving yards for the season last night, making him the first Pats’ receiver to do so since Troy Brown in 2001 (1,199 yards on a franchise-record 101 grabs). Moss finished the night with 10 catches for 128 yards, giving him 66 catches for 1,052 yards (15.9 yards per catch).

It is the eighth 1,000-yard season in Moss’ 10-year career.
*****
New England established a new franchise record for total touchdowns in a single season last night, pushing its total to 54 with the eight-TD performance against the Bills.

The previous record was 52, set in 1961 and 1980. The NFL record for most touchdowns by a team is 70, set by the 1984 Miami Dolphins. The Patriots are currently on pace to shatter that record, with 86.
*****
Laurence Maroney's first quarter touchdown was his first of the season, but he is the 19th different player to get into the end zone for New England this season; the league record is 21, set by the 2000 Denver Broncos and 1987 Los Angeles Rams.
*****
The Patriots have now won nine straight games against Buffalo, the team’s third-longest regular-season win streak against an opponent.

Their longest win streak against the same opponent is 11 games, also over the Bills, from Jan. 2, 1983-Dec. 20, 1987. New England beat San Diego in 10 straight meetings from 1973-2001.
*****
Before last night, Buffalo’s record on Sunday Night Football was a league-best 5-0; Green Bay and Philadelphia are both 5-1 under the Sunday night lights.
*****
New England is now 33-9 against the AFC East since 2001, the best intra-divisional record in the NFL over that time – the Steelers are second, at 32-12.

The next best record in the AFC East belongs to the Jets, who are 20-22 in division play over the last six-plus years.
*****
Last night’s game inactives for the Patriots: Matt Gutierrez, third quarterback; safeties Eugene Wilson and Mel Mitchell; linebacker Eric Alexander; offensive linemen Stephen Neal and Wesley Britt; and defensive linemen LeKevin Smith and Kareem Brown.

For the Bills: Gibran Hamdan, third quarterback; running back Marshawn Lynch; tight ends Tim Massaquoi and Ryan Neufeld; linebacker Leon Joe; offensive lineman Christian Gaddis; and defensive linemen Copeland Bryan and Jason Jefferson.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Somewhere, Pete Rozelle must be spinning in his grave.

The longtime late NFL commissioner worked throughout his career to make sure that there would always be parity in the league, that at the start of each season and on any given Sunday, every team would have a chance to win.

And this year, the New England Patriots are making a mockery of Rozelle’s life’s work.

Making everything look easy from the opening snap, the Patriots returned to their dominating ways against the Buffalo Bills, tying the team record for points in a 56-10 embarrassment of their AFC East foe.

While New England’s supremacy this season has taken on an almost absurd quality, Tedy Bruschi said believing that they can be beaten is what drives the Pats.

“I can only tell you how I look at it as a player, and the reason we prepare so hard, I prepare so hard, each week is because of the knowledge that we can get beat each week,” he said.

With an average margin of victory of 24.4 points, the Patriots can make it look easy. But the finished product, Ellis Hobbs noted, is the result of long hours.

“The thing about it is, it’s not that easy,” said Hobbs, who flashed some great hands during a 35-yard fumble return touchdown in the fourth quarter. “You’re just seeing the finished product of hard work. We work hard all through the week.”

In its last game two weeks ago, New England needed 60 minutes to edge Indianapolis, but last night it took all of five plays to announce their intentions against Buffalo: to score often, and to score at will.

The Bills were without rookie running back Marshawn Lynch due to an ankle injury, and lacking their leading rusher, Buffalo became one-dimensional, putting the game almost squarely on the (shaky) right arm of quarterback J.P. Losman.

Losman found Lee Evans for a 16-yard gain on the first snap of the game, but then was dropped for a nine-yard loss by Adalius Thomas. On second-and-19, Losman dropped back, looked downfield for Josh Reed – and found Randall Gay instead.

Gay returned his third interception of the season 21 yards, and New England had 15 more tacked on after that when Bills’ offensive lineman Langston Walker shoved Gay after he had gotten out of bounds.

Starting at the Buffalo 13, Tom Brady hit Jabar Gaffney for a seven-yard gain. Then Laurence Maroney got the ball – an infrequent occurrence for him when the Pats are in a goal-line situation this year – and the middle of the line parted. Maroney ran untouched into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season.

The game was less than three minutes old and already, it seemed, the outcome had been decided.

Parity, as it has on so many Sundays (and one Monday) thus far this season when New England is playing, had taken the day off.

The plucky Bills, who have overcome a devastating Opening Day injury to one of its players and season-ending injuries to 11 others and came into the night on a four-game winning streak and an unblemished record at home on Sunday nights, would have no chance on this night.

No chance to win, and no chance to slow down Randy Moss.

The receiver, in his first season with the Patriots and 10th in the NFL, put up numbers in the first half that many wideouts long for in a game – eight catches, 112 yards and four touchdowns.

Yes, a single-game franchise-record four. In one half. He now has a single-season team record 16 scores in 10 games.

But Moss, who acknowledged after the game that he knew about Dallas’ Terrell Owens also recording four TDs on Sunday – though Owens needed four quarters, not just two – wasn’t all that impressed by his performance.

“I’ve never been a big fan of records. I learned at a young age that records are meant to be broken. I’ve never lived on records or getting my name in the record book,” he said.

Moss, like Brady, also knew where to give a lot of the credit for the passing game’s success.

“The whole offense executed, starting with the offensive line; they gave Tommy time to throw,” said Moss. “The offensive line did their job and it trickled down to everyone else.”

The first of Moss’ touchdowns, like so many of the throws and catches between Brady and Moss this season, was gorgeous, a 43-yard arching bomb on third-and-12. Moss had defensive back George Wilson all turned around, and when the ball came, Wilson was a good three yards from Moss – and facing the wrong way – more than enough space for Moss to work with.

“I saw the flight of the ball and I thought I had a shot at it,” Wilson explained. “But as I went back and jumped, the ball went over my hand and Moss was there in the end zone. It was a tough way to start out on defense.”

Buffalo did breathe life into aging Ralph Wilson Stadium on its next drive, as Losman connected with Roscoe Parrish for a 47-yard touchdown to cut the score to 14-7. Ellis Hobbs fell in coverage and was not able to make a play on the ball.

It was one of the few missteps by a Patriots player all night.

As if his first half weren’t impressive enough, Moss was on the field with the defense on the final play of the half, when Losman dropped back for a Hail Mary.

Not surprisingly, he got his hands on that ball as well, knocking it down to the turf.

Other players got involved in the second half, as Benjamin Watson made a nice catch in the right corner of the end zone, and Kyle Eckel dove over the goal line for his second score of the season.

And Hobbs, who has said he lives for the bright lights of prime time games, made a prime time play in the fourth. Losman completed a short pass to Dwayne Wright, and James Sanders jarred the ball loose knocking Wright out of bounds.

The ball popped up in the air, and Hobbs came down with it, racing 35 yards to the end zone and the Patriots’ eighth touchdown of the night.

Rozelle wanted parity, and he has it – everywhere but in New England.

We can't claim this as our own, but it's crazy nonetheless:

The New England Patriots have scored 54 touchdowns this season.

The other three teams in the AFC East have a combined 53.

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. _ Bill Belichick’s name will never show up on the final score sheet.

But after the New England Patriots completely dismantled the Buffalo Bills 56-10 Sunday night at Ralph Wilson Stadium, every Patriots player gave their coach more props than usual.

With New England’s victory, the team is 10-0 in 2007 and things could only get better with the way the Patriots are playing, and with the way Belichick is coaching. In fact, during his eight-year tenure in New England, his ability to get the most out of his players has been quite obvious.

This season, however, it’s clear more than ever.

After the Patriots defeated the defending Super Bowl champion Colts, New England enjoyed a bye last weekend with Belichick giving his players five days off to do whatever they wanted. But, when they returned to Gillette Stadium last Monday, they were put through one of the toughest weeks they’ve had this season in order to prepare for last night’s game.

According to Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, the coach gave the team a huge slice of humble pie.

The unbeaten record didn’t mean much. The complete dominance its shows every week didn’t mean much. Belichick wanted to make sure the Patriots weren’t getting too far ahead of themselves. After all, it’s only November.

“I’ve always known coach Belichick to be a hell of a coach,” said Moss. “I consider him the greatest coach ever, but I really didn’t expect the week of preparation he put us through. I’ve never been through that, so for us to come out and win this game the way we did is actually something to really smile about."

Moss said it was a hard week mentally and emotionally, something he’s never experience in his career.

“He really put us through it,” added Moss. “Coming off the bye week, and me not knowing what to expect, he tore our heads off Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It was just a big week, an emotional week.”

Moss, and the rest of the players in the cramped quarters of the visitor’s locker room at Ralph Wilson Stadium, said the coach placed a lot of emphasis on making sure the team was prepared.

“He didn’t want us to be satisfied by being 9-0 and coming off a bye week,” added Moss. “He put it to us this week. I have to commend him on that because not many head coaches will bit down hard, and put their team through the work he put us through this week. It surely paid off.”

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who always points out that the coach’s preparation is what allows New England to be so successful every Sunday, definitely made it a point after Sunday’s game to press it even further.

“He sets the tone for us,” said Brady. “He’s a great leader for us and he has high expectations, and when we don’t play up to those expectations in practice or the game, he let’s us know.”

Brady felt the team responded well to Belichick’s demeanor leading up to Sunday’s victory. He treated the team like it was 0-9 and not 9-0. For the players to respond so positively to Belichick’s philosophy the way they did is pretty amazing given this day and age of professional sports.

With such a big win on Sunday, the players are expecting much of the same this week.

“He doesn’t change his tone too often,” said Brady. “That’s just the way he coaches. There’s never anything that’s good enough, and after a well you get sick of it [saying] ‘enough coach.’ We take beating after beating after beating, but a lot of it helps us prepare and a lot of it puts us in the right frame of mind to go out there and play well each Sunday. It’s been 10 weeks and we have 10 victories, which is great.”

With the Bills now in the rear-view mirror, the Patriots have turned their focus to the Eagles.

“I hope we play up to his expectations,” said Brady.

Seriously, though. The team is 10-0 and is on pace to complete a historic season. What else is there to nitpick?

Belichick will find something.

“I missed a blitz pickup tonight from a look that I never expected them to blitz on,” said Patriots’ Heath Evans. “We are coached so diligently week in and week out, and we know so much coming into these games. Sometimes we relax because you’re not expecting [something] because of the way we are coached.”

Evans said there are always things you can improve on in order to play perfectly.

Belichick wouldn’t expect anything less.

“You know we’re going to be coached hard,” Evans said. “We’re going to practice hard, and that’s all I can guarantee you.”

BUFFALO -- The Patriots were almost completely unstoppable Sunday night as they destroyed the Bills, 56-10, and ran their record to 10-0.

Tom Brady threw five touchdown passes — four to Randy Moss — as New England ran up more than 500 yards of total offense and put together six scoring drives of 63 or more yards.

A complete report will be filed by Shalise Manza Young and Joe McDonald to this blog within the next 90-120 minutes.

The Patriots have scored eight touchdowns tonight against the Bills and now have a new franchise single-season mark of 53. New England scored 52 in 1961 and in 1980.

Laurence Maroney has a foot injury. His return is probable.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
Randy Moss celebrates one of his four first-half touchdowns, jumping into the arms of tackle Nick Kaczur.