idle thoughts

So this is what the OTHER 31 cities who have NFL teams feel like. For the first time since 2000 the Pats will not have a winning season. For the first time since 2000 the Pats will not be in playoff contention on the last game of the season. This is new territory for all of us in this...

Hey, I've been on this board for 20 odd years now, and I have NEVER seen a week where the 2nd order of business each week was to talk about the NEXT week's opponent. (the 1st order of business, of course, is to pick apart the game just played like a thanksgiving turkey ;) ) So unless I've...

Disclaimer: Normally I watch the game closely, but today I had a chance to play poker, So with a chance to get out of the house, play in a reasonably safe environment (masks worn, temperatures taken, only 8 of us, including the dealer, in a large well ventilated room), AND the chance to make...

This is a bad team who should be tanking instead of winning these close ugly games. We will all be regretting a win like this when we are picking around #20 next April. We should sit Cam, who clearly can't pass anymore after his worst passing game of his career. His footwork sucks. His...

1. The reason for even starting this thread was a thought that occurred to me the other day. When the season started the Pats ran a lot of RPO's which featured Cam doing what Cam does best. This continued through the 2nd game even though we saw the potential of what Cam's arm could do, even...

This was a great win against a very good team. THAT is what you all should take from this game. Why did we win? Well it's simple. They Pats followed the same formula that basically defined the 20 year run before we "sucked". We ran the ball effectively. We had turn overs and didn't turn...

Rather than go through the normal prodigious detailed review of today's game, time constraints and the fact that I'd rather sleep than bore you with my musings, I thought I'd just offer some disjointed thoughts about this terribly disappointing game. 1. The offense sucked over all. It...

Like the great majority of you guys, I had little hope for this game as soon as I heard Cam wouldn't be playing. In fact let's list the obstacles this team had to over come. a. They lost their starting QB and the key factor in their offense just a day before the game was originally going to be...

Disclaimer: I wrote most of this on Saturday, and thought I wouldn't post it until the evening. Then I went out, heard the news about Cam and said to myself. "what a waste of time" and forgot all about it. Then while at work today I hear the game is on, the Pats are out on the field. So...

I wasn't sure what we'd get to see from the Raiders. They have a lot of speed and top draft picks on both their offense AND defense, and of course who could tell what we'd get from from an offense that lacked David Andrews and James White. In fact one of the things I looked forward to the...

In the run up to this game I opined that this will be a fun game to watch and we shouldn't read too much into the result regardless of how it went. In every season what happens in September rarely indicates what is going to happen in December. No doubt being 1-0 is a much better result that...

This has been a real strange preseason for the NFL. VERY strange. No preseason games to gauge your team's strengths and weaknesses. Very little hitting during practices. No idea how the draftee's and other new players are going to fit in. Hard to judge the talent and depth levels in a LOT...

I read today that Javeon Clowney is still unsigned with the season just only a week or so away. All the talk is that he'd rather sit out the season than play for $15MM or less. So here's the thing. The Pats have 3 needs on defense. First and foremost is a force off the edge on the DL...

I LOVE the 1pm starts. It means I'm done with this early....and that's important as you age. ;) 1. I'll start with what I don't like about this game. a. It is very impressive that Brady threw multiple completions to SEVEN different receivers. That is called spreading the ball around...

I thought I'd start a thread to highlight a short video by Matt Chatham at NESN who extolled what he's seen of LT Isaiah Wynn. He marveled at his quick feet, and extolled his pad level and power against the hard rush. I have since read several others who pretty much were saying the same...

Common wisdom....and most of media keeps telling us what a big loss not having Gronk back this year is going to be. I mean they are literally coming at us with "dire times", and "end of days" scenarios. There talk that his retirement will have the impact of the "once in 500 years flood". In...

As we wait for Sunday and listened to all the news and notes going down, there were some observations that I'd like to share BEFORE the game for a change. ;) 1. I am pretty much astounded by who are getting these HC'ing jobs this off season. I can't help but wonder why everyone is trying to...

Lots of interesting things happening around the league today. Unfortunately, nothing really interesting about the game today. The Jets would be undermanned with a full roster. They didn't even seem to have that today. So while the run game was adequate (13o odd yards) and the passing game...

Well that one was interesting. Maybe not as interesting as a lot of other games this week, but in a parochial sense there is a lot to talk about annual Buffalo beat down in Foxboro. Same old beat down, but with a lot of different moving parts. 1. General Offensive Observations - Kind of...

First about last week. I was 13 years old when the Pats played their inaugural season in 1960. I was already in love with football (as well as basketball, baseball, and hockey). Like all of you non-millennials, I lived through the few ups and MANY downs that marked the first 40 years of the...