Wednesday Patriots Headlines: September 15th
The big story from yesterday was the fact that the Patriots sent runningback Laurence Maroney to Denver along with a sixth round draft pick, and in exchange got a fourth round pick in next year's draft.
According to the Denver Post, Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels made the move after Sunday's 24-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars where McDaniels feels that they "left a lot of yards on the field", and didn't perform like he had hoped they would. The plan appears to be within a week or two for the Broncos to have a tailback rotation of Knowshon Moreno and Maroney.
The move ends a frustrating five year tenure in New England for Maroney, with most hoping that a change of scenery may do him good.
Speaking of trades, Hector Longo of the Eagle Tribune feels that after Sunday's performance by the offensive line, the best move for the Patriots will be to move Logan Mankins in a trade. I'm probably among the minority who feel they'll eventually get something done, especially in light of the details of both he and owner Robert Kraft's conversation that came out this week. For Mankins to say he'd like "to end up in the Patriots Hall of Fame" leads me to believe he's not ready to call it quits on working something out.
In other news Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss spoke out again yesterday, this time an an interview with ESPN and admitted during the interview that his comments Sunday may have been ill-advised because of the timing of them.
“I wanted to get it off my chest instead of waiting until Week 12, Week 13 on down the road to where it really could become a distraction to our team, what we’re trying to accomplish,’’ he said. “It was something I just wanted to do. Maybe it was bad timing but I cleared my mind to feel good about myself.’’
Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Times feels that Moss would have been better served "to keep his mouth shut" and feels that making himself the story heading into the Jets game wasn't his best move.
Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald also files a piece on Moss, who told the newspaper that he wants to retire a Patriot, and was just trying to get people to "see where he was coming from".
In separate piece by the Herald, Moss talks about how cornerback Darrelle Revis shut him down last year, and that he plans on things being different this time around.
“My focal point of training this offseason, and I said it, I want to stay off Revis Island,” said Moss, who had four receptions for 24 yards and no touchdowns against Revis and the Jets in their Week 2 meeting last season.“It’s a bad thing knowing I’m a receiver, not wanting to get on his island. Because they made it very hard to get off of that island (last year). I’m going to take pride in that, trying to go into this weekend, and play a good game.”
Moss also responded to Revis' comments where the defensive back reportedly called him a "slouch".
Meanwhile some details became available yesterday on Tom Brady's contract, with Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com reporting that Brady received a $16-million signing bonus as part of the contract he signed last week. His base salary in 2010 also reportedly increased to $7.5 million.
Former Patriot Steve Grogan offers up one final look at Sunday's game against the Bengals in this week's "Grogan's Grade", and has some comments on New England's defense. Grogan notes that this unit was much more aggressive than in past years, which he feels is a good sign.
The Boston Globe has an article this morning on safety Patrick Chung, who had a good game against Cincinnati and surprisingly saw more time on the field that Brandon Meriweather did.
For anyone interested, the media held a conference call with defensive assistant Corwin Brown, with the Patriot Ledger providing a full transcript of the interview.
The Jets offense was less than impressive in their opening night loss the Baltimore Ravens. Jake Safane of NESN feels that they're going to need to be much more aggressive if they hope to come out on top this week.
After seeing the pressure they were able to bring against the Baltimore Ravens Monday night, Ian Rapoport writes that New England's offensive line is going to have a tough battle against the Jets defense this week.
And finally Juliet Pennington of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle offers up more details into the gentleman that died after suffering an apparent heart attack at Gillette Stadium prior to Sunday's game, with the piece saying he was a "good father", as he was there with his 6-year old son. The Boston Herald reports that the team will file an investigation into the eyewitness accounts that reportedly included a heated discussion with a security guard.
That's it for this morning. Hope everyone has a good day and we'll have more later on.
