Chris Harper released

Too bad Vince Wilfork isnt around.

He had good hands.

raduray said:

Mental toughness is keeping your eye on the ball when you know you're going to be hit.

What else did Troy do for us? What else did Harper do for us? If you had a month's salary on the line, would you want Harper fielding a punt?

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He called for a FC I think. He had no risk of getting hit. That is concentration. We will move on from this debate.

In 1993 and 1994 Troy Brown was a fringe roster guy who Tuna had cut in camp. Troy wasn't Troy until 1997ish.

Triumph said:

If I am Scott Chandler I am staying after practice to work on my hands.

Targeted 11 times and caught 5.

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To be fair, at least four of those were heaves up the sideline by Brady that he overthrew by 10+ yards.

Deus Irae said:

You're either kidding, doing a lame ass troll job, or ignorant of what's involved in returning punts.

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Your ad hominem attack demonstrates an inability or unwillingness to address my arguments. I can accept a differing opinion, but not the sort of lazy crap crap I've seen you post. The sad thing is that I know you're capable of better as I've seen some excellent posts from you.

robertweathers said:

He called for a FC I think. He had no risk of getting hit. That is concentration. We will move on from this debate.

In 1993 and 1994 Troy Brown was a fringe roster guy who Tuna had cut in camp. Troy wasn't Troy until 1997ish.

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I might be wrong on this, but I do not believe he called for a FC (he should have). If you watch the replay you can clearly see his head move before the ball arrives as he shifts his gaze from the ball to the gunner. If he did that after calling for a FC, that's even more or a mental error.

The_Riddler said:

I blame the coaches for putting the poor kid in that situation to begin with.

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I think each time a person presents this argument, it should be taken on a case-by-case basis. Like it was unfair to have Hobbs singled on Burress in the SB . . . it was unfair to have Arrington on Mathews in the SB . . . I could even somewhat argue that it was unfair to have Chung on Thomas last night (though that call was BOGUS). But I don't think it was necessarily unfair to have Harper back there. Fielding a punt is really a judgement call and I don't think it requires so much practice or experience necessarily. It really requires that you judge the rush and concentrate if you choose to try to field it. I play PR when I played, and I just never found it particularly difficult.

With that said, I am not throwing out too much of an argument because it was still a rookie who was just recently on the PS playing in a really big game. I've seen the same thing happen to experienced players and better players, however. So I really can't fault him or the coaching staff for believing he could do something that, compared to a lot of other responsibilities, is not that difficult. It just requires concentration mostly. If you're in the NFL and you were even good enough to hang out on someone's practice squad, which is an accomplishment when you really think about how many guys try out to be in the league, I don't think it was that unreasonable to think he could do it.

Wow, tell us how you really feel Bill LOL

The kid made a tremendous error, but I don't think he single handedly lost the game. We had a ton of opportunities to put them away and couldn't.

Thought that with our receiving situation, he'd be deep in the doghouse, but not cut. Guess he goes back to the Practice Squad and Fauria is promoted?

A couple of twitter messages I thought were funny.

Mark Daniels @MarkDanielsPJ
Patriots released Chris Harper today. That's cold.


Jared Carrabis @Jared_Carrabis
I wish the Red Sox could do **** like this. Oh, Rick Porcello gave up 8 runs in 4 innings? Cut

If patriots didn't cut Chris Harper ,

Gronkowski123 said:

later harper...you gave the donkey's life!!
just awful situational football.

wonder what the fanboys who made the official harper hype thread feel about this

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They will wait until the next 5'9" receiver gets picked up by the patriots And they will hype him up like he is the next Welker/Edelman while being highly critical of A signing of a wide receiver over 6'2" tall, claiming he doesn't fit our "system" because of his height.

Chandler says he is ready for a heavier load. Not with his stone hands. At least Cleveland didn't whiff on the first pass thrown to him.

raduray said:

I might be wrong on this, but I do not believe he called for a FC (he should have). If you watch the replay you can clearly see his head move before the ball arrives as he shifts his gaze from the ball to the gunner. If he did that after calling for a FC, that's even more or a mental error.

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There is no question that it was a mental error. He goofed. He looked up/around when he should have stiffened his neck and kept his eyes on the ball.

My point is that even mentally tough people fumble, throw interceptions and drop passes. Attributing every single mistake to a lack of mental toughness is an unfair label.

I'm not defending Harper but i'm not going to say he lacked mental toughness on that play. What I will say is that he made a mental error in a critical juncture during the game.

zipster9 said:

He had 3 choices: catch the ball, fair-catch the ball, let-the-ball-go.

He did neither of the 3 choices.

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Why put an inexperienced kid in that Big Game, inclement weather situation to make that decision? I am sure BB is kicking himself in the ass right now over that coaching blunder. Team is up 14 points and getting the ball which would have put this one away and this one Fumble changed everything.

My bet is that he goes right back to the practice squad.

One statement says it all "Do Your Job".

Given the cut, I suspect they told him before the play to fair catch if anyone was close. If he had such specific instruction, he was asking to be cut.

robertweathers said:

Lack of mental toughness? How so? Concentration for sure but mental toughness?

Troy Brown had 4 fumbles during his time as a KR and PR in 1993 and 1994.

Mistakes happen.

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Edelman as well, if I recall. Tough job. Saw Brady throw behind Gronk last night, DMac miss a tackle, Butler and Ryan give up long passes when it mattered most, Harmon take a bad angle to give up the game in OT. Lotsa guys did not do their jobs.

Mack Herron said:

Edelman as well, if I recall. Tough job. Saw Brady throw behind Gronk last night, DMac miss a tackle, Butler and Ryan give up long passes when it mattered most, Harmon take a bad angle to give up the game in OT. Lotsa guys did not do their jobs.

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After 4 quarters in Denver, fatigue starts to affect decision making. Denver has the greatest home field advantage by far.

hopefully this is a practice squad type of move. He was not put in a position to succeed. Shouldve been instructed to fair catch or chung or someone else shouldve been back there. Coaching shares blame on this.

SVN said:

hopefully this is a practice squad type of move. He was not put in a position to succeed. Shouldve been instructed to fair catch or chung or someone else shouldve been back there. Coaching shares blame on this.

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How do you know he wasn't coached to fair catch that?

The_Riddler said:

I blame the coaches for putting the poor kid in that situation to begin with.

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I agree though he is still professionally obligated to catch that ball (and fair catch in that situation). Despite mega injuries, a tough opponent in a very tough place to play, and one of the most slanted officiating I have seen, the Patriots probably win that game if Harper doesn't fumble.

Surprising BB would pit him out there. Normally an established sure handed guy is top of the list for that spot. To put in a complete newby on this huge stage? Riskier than BB normally is with this type of football action (maybe he felt he had very few options).

I also agree with another poster who said that this is probably in part due to not listening. I'm guessing he was told to fair catch or let it go. Of course it could also simply be about DA being activated and the roster spot is needed. If Harper soon ends up on the PS then I think that will answer the question.