Friday New England Patriots Links 11/5
An interesting story this morning to kick things off. The decision to waive Randy Moss makes a little more sense this morning - and it appears that there was a little more to the story than just Moss' post game rant. According to an article this morning in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, following Sunday's loss to New England owner Zygi Wilf was in the locker room, and Moss apparently told Wilf that in no uncertain terms that Brad Childress wasn't a good coach and should be fired. According to the article Childress went ahead and made the deicision to waive him, and the Vikings Wilf was never consulted.
Jeff Howe of NESN.com looks at Sunday's match-up against the Cleveland Browns, with Tom Brady looking to improve to 5-0 all-time against Eric Mangini's club. Howe has plenty of historical stats between the two teams, with this entry being a pretty good preview for the weekend.
Monique Walker reports that rookie Devin McCourty missed out on being named "Rookie of the Month" for the month of October, losing out to Detroit Lions tackle Ndamukong.
Linebacker Jerod Mayo joined WEEI's Dennis & Callahan this morning, and WEEI.com has the audio.
Jerry Spar has more on his interview, with a couple of quotes - including the fact that the team hasn't talked much about Mangini, and has no intention of being comfortable with being 6-1.
“We haven’t really talked about Eric Mangini at all, to be honest with you,” Mayo said. “It’s just about how they beat the Saints, how they’re a good team, how they have a great running attack. We need to go out and win this game.”
Added Mayo: “The theme of the week is: Six games won’t get you anywhere. That’s our attitude, and we’re fighting to keep winning.”
Jennifer Toland of the Worcester Telegram has an article on former Patriot Ben Watson, who is enjoying life as a member of the Cleveland Browns.
Rich Garven of the Telegram writes that although he's back with the team, don't expect Logan Mankins to start Sunday out in Cleveland.
Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe takes a look at the Browns offense, with Josh Cribbs being a guy that isn't just a threat returning kicks, but he's been used in the Browns' "flash package" - which is their version of the "wildcat" offense. Belichick said that the team will need to do their best to be ready for it, because the Browns have had success with it.
“They run it a handful of times in each game,’’ Belichick said. “Those kinds of offenses — the empty formations, the unbalanced lines, the wildcats, things like that — teams that have them, sometimes you can get a little bit of it, sometimes you can get a lot of it. That just varies from game to game.
“You’ve got to be ready for it, and how much they give you usually is a function of how successful it’s going.’’
Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle also looks at Cleveland's offense, and notes that Watson is their leading receiver - with 30 catches for 336 yards and two touchdowns so far this season.
Young also spent some time with Zoltan Mesko, who she says is almost "level-headed to a fault" and has an interesting personality.
Stephanie Storm of the Akron Beacon Journal writes that Mangini said that Brady started out just "average", before becoming the player he is today.
Christopher Price of WEEI.com writes that although this season has been chaotic and filled with plenty of drama, that hasn't stopped New England from keeping their focus. Price put together a great timeline and chronicles all of the notable events that have taken place this offseason.
Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald writes that getting the team focused on the Browns hasn't been all that difficult, since the Patriots saw the film of when they beat the World Champion New Orleans Saints and the players know that they're a dangerous team.
Karen Guregian of the Herald has an article on runningback Danny Woodhead, who despite being "a shade under 5'8" doesn't think about his height - he just focuses on being a good football player.
“This is all I’ve ever known, being this height,” the diminutive back said earlier this week. “It’s just playing football for me. It’s not something I really think about. I don’t think I’m much different. Do I feel I can play the game? Yeah. But it’s the ultimate team game, that’s what it is. I’m fortunate to have great people around me.”
You can tell that Woodhead has made it in this town - he's caught the attention of the Herald's Lauren Beckham Falcone who's calling him a "hunk" and says he's just "the sports crush this town was so desperately looking for ."
Steve Buckley of the Herald has a good article on the Patriots a charity event for Matt Light, with plenty of high-profile players getting involved to try and help make it as successful as possible.
And finally Ian Rapoport of the Herald spoke to strength and conditioning coach Mike Woicik yesterday in a rare interview, and offered up some insight into some of the changes they made in the strength and conditioning program to try and be more successful in the late part of football games this year.
That's it for this morning. Hope everyone has a good day and we'll have more later on.
