Main page | September 11, 2007 »

Locker room wrap

Hey all --

It was a fairly quiet locker room today, with Ellis Hobbs, Ty Warren, Heath Evans and Benjamin Watson garnering much of the attention.

Hobbs' record-setting kickoff return was still a hot topic, but the players were also asked about the story, first reported by scout.com and then by espn.com, that the Patriots have been accused of stealing the Jets' signals during Sunday's game.

Hobbs took offense to the notion that his team may have cheated.

"We put too many hours in as individuals, as a team, to go out and cheat. In no facet, shape or form did we cheat," he said.

The espn.com report says that a video camera and tape were confiscated by NFL security on Sunday from a Patriots' employee who was on the New England sideline. The unnamed employee allegedly was pointing his camera at the New York defensive coaches who were sending signals to their players on the field.

This story is developing, and we'll see what happens.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Pats-Jets on NFL Replay

Hey all --

The NFL Network will replay Sunday's Patriots-Jets game for "NFL Replay" on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. with exclusive material from NFL Films cameras.

The game will be condensed in a 90-minute format; at 10:30 p.m, Washington's overtime win over Miami will be aired.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Interesting find

Hey all --

I was on the 7:30 a.m. Continental flight from Newark to Boston this morning, and while flipping through the in-house magazine came across a full-page ad.

The headline on said ad? "Choose Life - Grow Young With HGH."

The rest of the ad, styled like a legitimate article, went on to describe why people should take human growth hormone -- "Like a picked flower cut from the source, we gradually wilt physically and mentally and become vulnerable to a host of degenerative diseases, that we simply weren't susceptible to in our early adult years."

"Only the lucky and rich" have previously been able to take HGH, the ad says, because it costs $20,000 a year. According to the ad, even beloved astronaut John Glenn takes HGH.

It goes on to tout something called GHR -- we're guessing it's growth hormone replacement, but we've scoured this dang thing and see nothing specified -- and says it is a "natural releaser, has no known side effects, unlike the synthetic version, and has no known drug interactions. Progressive doctors admit that this is the direction medicine is seeking to go, to get the body to heal itself instead of employing drugs. GHR is truly a revolutionary paradigm shift in medicine."

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with all of this. HGH has been pushed to the forefront (for me, anyway) since the Rodney Harrison situation came to light and when I saw this ad in the magazine, all I could do was chuckle. The NFL wants to banish HGH and the rest of the world wants to embrace it since it seems to be the one thing everyone's been looking for: the fountain of youth.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Monday with Bill

Hey all --

We have just wrapped up with Bill Belichick, who had his morning-after press conference in the wake of yesterday's 38-14 pasting of the Jets. In true Belichick style, the coach emphasized that his team still has a lot of work to do, and that yesterday was just a starting point.

Some other items from the chat:

* Ryan O'Callaghan's use as an eligible receiver was more because the Pats wanted another blocker than O'Callaghan potentially catching a ball. Asked if the big O-lineman has hands, Belichick deadpanned, "he has two. ... But they're not game-tested."

* Using Junior Seau as fullback on Heath Evans' one-yard score was Seau's idea. Belichick said the veteran approached him in spring and told him that if they ever needed a fullback, he could do it. The coach said Seau is good for the job because as a linebacker in a goal-line situation, his job is to find the hole and stop the ball carrier. As a fullback, his job is to find the hole -- and meet a linebacker.

* Challenging the call after Evans' first goal-line push was not called a touchdown was a case of having nothing to lose. It was just before the two-minute warning, Belichick didn't plan on using the timeouts he had left, and he and the coaches in the booth thought there was a good chance it was a score. Even after looking at the tape this morning, Belichick said, he still isn't sure that it wasn't a touchdown.

* Punter Chris Hanson held for Stephen Gostkowski's last two kicks, something Hanson has prior experience with. Belichick said the staff will "maybe talk about" having Hanson remain as holder, a job Matt Cassel has held since the end of last season. Cassel either lost his job after fumbling the ball on a first-half field goal try or got hurt on the same play.

The locker room won't open until around 3:30 p.m. and we'll have more after that.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Projo PatsTalk: Reviewing the opening day win

For the first time, we're offering projo PatsTalk, which today features Shalise Manza Young's look at the Pats opening day win.

Posted by Pam Cotter  at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments 0