Monday Patriots Headlines

TRAINING CAMP COUNTDOWN: 31 days until Patriots training camp

We'll kick this morning off with an article by Albert Breer that talks about the mandatory rookie symposium that New England's rookies are required to participate in which began last night out in Carlsbad, California and runs for three days. One of the players that the Patriots rookies will be listening to is former Pats linebacker Tedy Bruschi. Bruschi will reportedly join Tony Richardson, Marco Coleman and Lorenzo Neal in leading a seminar on Tuesdeay night entitled "What defines success".

"There are a lot of different levels of rookies there, from the first rounders to the seventh rounders," Bruschi said. "One message I want to pass on is, 'Success for a lot of you will mean just making the team.' Yeah, you've got your rookie symposium backpack and your t-shirt. But some of you still have a lot to do just to become a part of this league. The work's just starting."

Chris Price of WEEI.com also has more on the Rookies' baptism into the NFL, and also has some interesting notes from former players who explained the benefits of this event.

Jeff Howe of NESN.com takes a look at the wide receiver position, as the team has a talented group this year and he wonders when the dust settles - who will end up as New England's third receiver?

Paul Kenyon of the Providence Journal has an article this morning on the CVS Caremark Charity Classic that happened on Sunday at the Rhode Island Country Club. According to the article the event featured some big names, including baseball Hall of Famers Jim Rice and Mike Schmidt, Patriots greats Tedy Bruschi and Andre Tippett and entertainers John O'Hurley and Jeffrey Osborne, among others. The Journal also reported that tour pros Dudley Hart, Ryuji Imada, Amy Alcott and Tom Pernice took part, as did young pro Sam Saunders, who is Arnold Palmer's grandson.

WEEI has a blog entry on 10 costly regular-season injuries that changed Boston sports, with YouTube videos accompanying each one. So if you'd like to relive some terrible moments, be sure and check it out.

The Boston Herald has a mention on Bruschi, with an interview with the former Patriots linebacker who as mentioned a couple of days ago here "still feels the itch" to be on the field. The Herald has more on that original story, as now that he's one year removed Bruschi says that the move has been positive, and that it's brought both he and his wife closer.

"I didn't think I'd do so well with it, to tell you the truth," Bruschi told the newspaper about being away from the game. "Maybe the analyst thing has helped me because I still watch games with purpose and look at different ways that I can sort of communicate the things that I see to maybe some people that may not see the things that I see. But what's helped me is the strong relationship I've had with my wife at home. We've gone through a lot in my 13-year career that it was almost a relief when I finally decided to call it quits so we could move on with our lives."

We had featured an article by new contributor Mike Saver on PatsFans.com on the Patriots problems in the red zone, and Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com posted some statistics on the fact New England had the third highest number of trips inside the 20 than any other team, but only succeeded 52.3 percent of the time. You can see a full breakdown in his blog post here.

OTHER NFL HEADLINES:

We talked yesterday about the problems the Detroit Lions are having after cutting their minicamps short due to a brawl between their players. They say the problems start at the top...well the Lions have problems there as well.

USA Today reports that Lions president Tom Lewand was arrested with a DUI after a golf charity event Friday night. According to the report he could face disciplinary action from the league as a result of the arrest.

"I am deeply sorry for my actions and take full responsibility for them," Lewand said in a statement released Saturday night. "As a person in active recovery, I am committed to taking all necessary steps to ensure nothing like this ever happens again."

The Denver Post has a great article talking about the fact that head coach Josh McDaniels and John Elway recently played together in a golf tournament, and the two got to know eachother pretty well. Elway told the newspaper he's got plenty of confidence with their new head coach.

"I've gotten to know Josh, and I'd like to get to know him even better and assist him and the Broncos whatever way I can. Josh knows what he wants and how to get there."

ProFootball Talk has a mention on Broncos defensive back Champ Bailey, who reportedly told ESPN that he hopes to play a few more years by moving from cornerback to safety. For now he plans on making every effort to get paid, which the website claims will not include taking a hometown discount.

WPRI out of Rhode Island has an interesting article on the late Chris Henry who died last winter. The former Cincinnati Bengals receiver reportedly had "chronic brain injury", which according to the report says may have had an influence on his demeanor.

Julian Bailes and fellow researchers believe chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is caused by multiple head impacts, regardless of whether those blows result in a concussion diagnosis. A number of studies, including one commissioned by the NFL, have found that retired professional football players may have a higher rate than normal of Alzheimer's disease and other memory problems.

That's it for this morning. We'll have more later on so be sure and check the front page of PatsFans.com for updates.