Sunday New England Patriots Links 9/4

A late start to this morning, but I had to grab a little extra sleep as we get set to kickoff our regular season coverage here tomorrow. You'll see a lot more with the regular season now upon us beginning on Monday, and it should be a fun year now that we're finally at the point where things will start for real on September 12th down in Miami.

I'll have more later on as far as what to expect, but in the meantime here are today's top stories.

Obviously there was quite a bit of news yesterday following the team's roster cutdowns, and the surprising release of Brandon Meriweather, among some other names. Those moves are obviously the big topics of discussion this morning.

Mike Reiss has his "Quick Hit Thoughts" for this morning, and points out that after Meriweather's release, the only thing the Patriots now have to show from the 2007 draft was Wes Welker, who they traded a 2nd & 7th round pick for that year.

Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe has an article on Meriweather, and writes that the team tried to move him, but there apparently wasn't much of a market because most teams felt the Patriots were just going to release him anyway.

Rich Garven of the Worcester Telegram has his take on Meriweather's release, and cites his on field freelancing and off field antics that ultimately saw Bill Belichick make the decision to let him go.

Mark Farinella of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle writes that this move proves that Belichick doesn't care who you are or where you were drafted, if he gets tired of your act - you're gone.

Glen Farley of the Taunton Gazette writes that the fact that Meriweather was playing in the final quarter of Thursday's exhibition game against New York is finally clear - he was at the bottom of the depth chart.

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald writes that Meriweather's time expired yesterday, and he leaves behind some pop culture legacy here in New England, including the phrase "VIP on Swole" - which is mentioned frequently on 98.5 The Sports Hub.

Rapoport also has his 'notebook' from yesterday, which leads off with the fact that Saturday also spelled the end of the line for Brandon Tate.

Greg Bedard has his "Football Notes" for Sunday, and writes that the roster may be set, but points out that after other cuts from other clubs always causes Belichick to treat his team like a work in progress and expects the situation to remain 'fluid' here. He also writes that if the team was trying to move Meriweather, they couldn't have been trying all that hard because 12 teams said they never even knew he was on the trading block. The whole article is great and contains other terrific tidbits - so check it out.

Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald also has her NFL Notebook for today, and writes that after seeing the success the New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, and New York Jets had by rushing Tom Brady and taking him out of his game, other teams will likely be working on blueprints of their own to make his life miserable this season. Her piece is also a good read, so check this one out as well.

There's plenty of roster analysis this morning, and here are some good breakdowns to check out:

Christopher Price of WEEI.com takes a look at the entire roster, and gives a solid position-by-position take on each one.

Our own Derek Havens also has a good take on yesterday's moves.

Mike Reiss has his position-by-position analysis here.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Patriots added Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters, with the team reaching an agreement with him to bring him to the team. Schefter writes that Waters worked out for the team yesterday, with the two sides reaching an agreement early this morning.

Frank Mortimer of The Attleboro Sun Chronicle has an article on the fact that casinos will be the topic of discussion this week in Foxboro, with the potential of one to be built on Route One to be discussed in the agenda for the board of selectmen's Sept. 6 meeting.

And finally, in an off-topic bit of news that I stumbled upon, for any fans out there who remember former Patriots guard Todd Rucci, he's been appointed executive director of the Pennsylvania Lottery, effective Tuesday. Rucci was drafted 51st overall in 1993 and played with the Patriots from 1993-99. He was named to the franchise's All-Decade Team for the 1990s.

That's it for now. We'll have a couple of updates later on so keep an eye out for those.