Patriots Received The Poorest Coverage On ESPN

[IcyPatriot]

Reading Sam Bam's Thread: http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?t=35430

I remembered I wanted to post concerning ESPN's coverage. There was a little coverage on us getting Jackson but otherwise, even with Maroney they simply reported the selection and moved on.

Perhaps I miised it...if I did correct me...but many picks in rounds 1 and 2 they showed a few highlights of the player. I don't recall seeing any highlights of any player we selected. Even lower round picks had some video on them...not 1 of ours. I thought maybe some stream on O'Callaghan because he is so huge...but nothing.

Kiper was a total JERK BUNG-HOLE concerning all our picks, especially Gostkowski, Thomas and Mills. Gee, I never knew Belichick made selections that would make ESPN and Kiper look bad.

There was 1 guy who tried several times to talk about us...I forgot his name...he had a tan suit coat on. They never let him finish and never followed up on anything he said.

Okay...is this what you saw also or am I simply picking on ESPN???

 

[VJCPatriot]

Yeah ESPN coverage of the PAts picks was terrible from what I hear. I listened to Sirius radio coverage instead.

ESPN is biased against the Pats and prefers to cover 'sexier' teams like the Colts.

It's kind of ironic since this was one of the 'sexiest' pats drafts in years. BB picked 4 offensive players in a row. His first defensive player taken was Mincey in the 6th??

 

[SaCaCh]

Well , if you also noticed, there was no Patriot people available for interveiw and no shots from Gillette. I wonder if we said we didn't want to partake in their coverage so the shunned us also. Maybe we were only on the NFL channel??

 

[pats1]

I have some video of the draft, so here is the word-by-word coverage of Maroney's pick:

[SportsCenter update concludes with "The Patriots are on the clock."]

[Live shot of Jackson]

Berman: "Alright Matt, thank you very much. He's [Jackson] waiting for his name to be called. Santonio Holmes is waiting as well. Will this be a chance for WR's to go in the draft as the Patriots are the team on the clock right now. They're a team a year removed...we can discussion them but the question is how much does Dillon have left and so therefore they have a chance to think about it."

Jackson, responding to Dillon question: "That's a huge question."

Tagliabue: "With the 21st choice in the 2006 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select Laurence Maroney, RB, Minnesota."

[Graphic of Maroney's info shows]

Berman: "So there goes your first RB other than Bush. I believe that's the first time BB took a running back, well, Tommy Vardell, that's a long time ago."

[Maroney highlight video starts playing]

Berman: "Laurence 'Boney' Maroney goes to the Patriots who still have Dillon and think he'll have a big career, well, Mel..."

[Maroney video continues to play]

Kiper: "Dillon with a lot of wear and tear. Has a lot of carries. Only averaged 3.5 a carry, second-lowest...Maroney, when you watched him play in Minnesota, I thought he'd be a great player for Indianapolis."

[Maroney-illuminated video plays]

Kiper: "That style, the 1-run behind like Denver...Eslinger at C, Mark Setterstrom at G were both 4-year starters...A one-cut runner with explosiveness, decent hands, blocking could improve...his line was impressive and would have looked great in a Colts uniform - some projections had him there - the Pats wanted S. Jackson a few years back...got Corey Dillon, now here's wearing down, now a young kid to bring into the mix."

Jackson: "Did you think he was the 2nd best runner in the draft?"

Kiper: "Well I thought DeAngelo Williams was #2, then Maroney, then White, then Calhoun...there was mixed opinion...Maroney had a better line to run behind than Williams at Memphis..."

Berman: "No one's saying Dillon has no fuel left in tank, it just won't happen forever - a workhorse who fell off for one year. But if Maroney has some carries and Dillon springs back, Brady had a good of a year than he's had."

[Graphic of Dillon's 2004 vs. 2005 stats shows]

Berman: "Last year, for 733 yards rushing, that's the kind of running that they had in 2001. This is a team that will line up and play who did lose Vinatieri but has the BB's and a prolific offense. They had the most picks (11) than anybody else, fellas."

Irvin: "This is a big back. Playing in New England weather. He can move the pile."

Mortensen: "They've invested picks in good run blockers in Kaczur and Mankns. This team almost got the SB last year. This is a good pick."

Berman: "Harrison's rehab is going along as hoped, not ahead, not behind, they hope to have him back for the beginning of the season. No one will rehab harder than Rodney Harrison."

[49ers segment begins.]

 

[pats1]

The reason the Pats didn't get a lot of coverage while they were on the clock was because ESPN played a little video of Hali's background and then interviewed Herman Edwards to a cascade of boos from the Jest-fan-filled balconies of the hall.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Did you notice even when they were talking about the PATS selection Laurence Maroney they manage to drop 2 or 3 comments about how he would have been perfect for the COLTS instead? Typical sycophantic ESPN BS. They only want to cover teams they perceive as sexy. Instead of discussing how well Maroney would fit into BB's offense, they talk about how he would have been PERFECT for the Colts offense. No respect man. It still continues.

 

[zippo59]

I wasn't suprised by the limited coverage, they usually spend most of the time on the teams picking the highest.

 

[Digger44]

I was listening to Fox Sports radio for the 1st pick and they were interviewing Reggie Bush. For every other pick, they prepared a cool bio, but they didn't play it for LoMo. They didn't even cut bush off. They just announced it a few minutes after you heard the Comish in the background. Anti-Patsies.

 

[R_T26]

F.B.N at the end of day one Kiper called the Pats his biggest winners of the day. For the Chad Jackson pick, they showed him on the phone talked about how he can replace givens etc.

Pats1, any chance you can get the maroney or jackson picks on the web, maybe on youtube.

 

[pats1]

F.B.N at the end of day one Kiper called the Pats his biggest winners of the day. For the Chad Jackson pick, they showed him on the phone talked about how he can replace givens etc.

Pats1, any chance you can get the maroney or jackson picks on the web, maybe on youtube.

I didn't have time to get my TV tuner up because of the trade for Jackson, but I'm running the Maroney pick through MovieMaker now.

 

[Gon_Trevil]

Did you notice even when they were talking about the PATS selection Laurence Maroney they manage to drop 2 or 3 comments about how he would have been perfect for the COLTS instead? Typical sycophantic ESPN BS. They only want to cover teams they perceive as sexy. Instead of discussing how well Maroney would fit into BB's offense, they talk about how he would have been PERFECT for the Colts offense. No respect man. It still continues.

Well, you're blaming all of ESPN for that, but the only one that mentioned the Colts was Mel Kiper. It seemed that Berman and the other guys did a good job of keeping things Patriot-related.

 

[GoWhalers]

I wasn't suprised by the limited coverage, they usually spend most of the time on the teams picking the highest.

A logical post -- what a miracle...

Seriously, after the top 10 picks (that's about 2 hours BTW), the wind goes out of the sails for the coverage. The Super Bowl champion Steelers, at the bottom of the 1st round, hardly got much attention either.