Curran and Co. Roundup

[Box_O_Rocks]

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Tough deal for Deion Branch. The fourth-year wide receiver was 2 yards short of hitting 1,000 yards for the year when he caught a 6-yard pass from Matt Cassel on third-and-4 to extend a drive in the fourth quarter. The catch would have given him 1,004 on 79 catches, but an illegal shift penalty on wide receiver Tim Dwight nullified the catch. Branch didn't enter the game again after that play so he stayed at 998 yards on 78 catches.

http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/projo_20060102_drill02.8732f79.html

WHAT IT PLAYED LIKE: Pretty entertaining, actually, especially at the end. In addition to the historic drop-kick for an extra point by Doug Flutie, third-string quarterback Matt Cassel -- booed by the home crowd when the Pats fell behind 25-13 -- engineered two late touchdown drives and came within a two-point conversion of sending the game into overtime.

WTF! Nice to have people supporting the team, slime.


Cassel finally gets chance to air it out

http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/projo_20060102_02b11side.87330ee.html

Before Cassel's pass to Dwight, his last TD pass was at Chatsworth (Calif.) High, to a teammate he remembers only as Duper.

"Definitely high school," Cassel recalled. "They didn't even let me throw in college (at Southern California), they just let me kneel down and hand off.

"It felt great (to get the touchdown). I was excited, and looking back now, I was jacked and Timmy got to score and I went in and tried to celebrate and enjoy the moment a little bit. It was good."
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Self-deprecating -- asked if he was used to playing in the cold, Cassel quipped the he didn't play much in the warm weather, either, so he didn't see a difference -- and easygoing, Cassel has apparently learned quickly from Brady.

While Brady said in his postgame press conference that the rookie "is so far ahead of where I was my first year," he did rib Cassel in the locker room for not changing before addressing the media throng that awaited him when he emerged from the shower.
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"There were a few throws that I got to step into, and I made some throws, but I also missed some," Cassel said, grading his performance as a down-the-middle C. "It's one of those situations where you just want to keep getting better, and for me it's just a blessing getting the opportunity to get out there."

Patriots got quite a kick out of Flutie's rare feat

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In the fourth quarter, after New England backup QB Matt Cassel threw his first career touchdown pass, Flutie came onto the field, much to the delight of the Gillette Stadium crowd. But with the Dolphins leading, 25-19, it didn't make sense that the Pats would be going for a two-point conversion.

Of course, it was speculated that Bill Belichick could have been practicing some play in the hopes that it would be needed sometime during the upcoming playoffs.

Miami burned one of its timeouts trying to figure out what was going to happen.

But Flutie stayed on the field, backed up some yards, and when Lonie Paxton snapped the ball, the ageless wonder dropped the ball of the turf and kicked it off his instep, straight through the uprights.
He pumped his fist and was mobbed by his teammates. Even Belichick was sporting a wide grin.
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Though Flutie said he was confident there was an 80 percent chance he'd pull off a successful drop kick, Tom Brady said after the game that Flutie has been nervous about the prospect of converting it for several weeks.

"I think he probably likes drop-kicking more than quarterback," Brady joked. "He was so excited when it went in, and I think everybody was excited because we were all watching in practice. It was exciting for him and I mean, it just adds to his legend."

One of the best Canadian Football League players in the history of the league, Flutie said he used to do the kick for fun back in those days.

"(Current Indianapolis kicker) Mike Vanderjagt and I, the years up in Canada, it used to be part of our pregame ritual, and just messing around, we'd have a competition. We'd start at the 10-yard line, backing up to 40, 45 yards," he said.

Pats' final is really just for kicks

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Yesterday was for dropkicks and giggles. Saturday will be football life and death.

"It's time to turn the page," said Patriots special teams ace Larry Izzo after New England lost to the Dolphins, 28-26, on a day when its best players punched out early. "The second season is here. We've got a lot of guys who've played in a lot of big games around here, but we also have a lot of guys who haven't. The key is to get the new guys to understand every play in the playoffs matter and that they can decide seasons."