Here’s a look at this morning’s top stories:
Brady says he’s still shaking off the rust – It’s hard to imagine there’s any rust on a player who came out and threw for over 400 yards in his first outing of 2016 and then followed it up by nearly doing it again a week later. However, Brady says that he’s still trying to get into football shape, which takes more than two weeks to get there.
The veteran said you can’t replicate the length or intensity of a game in practice, so it’s all about going out there each week and trying to continue pushing himself.
“I’m still trying to just get back into the kind of football shape that I need to be in,” said Brady. “Being here for two weeks has been great and the practices and so forth have been really good for me. I just need to have another good week.”
“There’s no way to really replicate the kind of intensity and duration of what a practice is, and then certainly what a game is, when you’re not doing those things. It’s been good to be able to do those things for the last couple of weeks, but there’s a long way to go and this will be another important week for that.”
 Rob Gronkowski has been on a tear the last tow weeks. |
Gronk Comes Off the Injury Report – It appears Rob Gronkowski’s hamstring may finally no longer be bothering him.
According to the team’s injury report, the veteran’s name was removed from this week’s edition, ending quite a run after the injury continued to nag him for much of the early part of the season.
But the last two weeks, he’s certainly looked more like himself after amassing 100-yard+ performances for two straight games, including catching his first touchdown of the year on Sunday in their win over the Bengals.
So far, Gronk’s already jumped up the leaderboard into third place on the team in receiving yards with 282, which has come on just 13 receptions. That’s just 80-yards fewer than Martellus Bennett, who took 26 receptions to get there.
He also currently leads the team in average yards per catch, coming in at an impressive 21.7.
Brady Doesn’t Care About Tablets – Following Bill Belichick’s decision to move on after his frustration with the technology situation regarding the tablets and overall communication boiled over this week, Brady was asked about his preference for the tablets versus the standard photographs.
Brady admitted that to him, it’s not that important given that he’s coming off the field having just faced those coverages. However, he does find them useful when it comes to verifying fronts and seeing some of the things defenders might be doing.
I’ve never been too much of picture/tablet – I kind of know what I see,” explained Brady. “I see out there and as soon as I come off the field, Josh [McDaniels] will say, ‘What was it?’ and I’ll say, ‘Oh, they did this and this guy dropped. I’ll peek at them from time to time with Josh. It’s great for the coaches because they have a different angle.”
“It’s hard to see when you’re seeing from the sideline. When you’re out there playing, a lot of times I can come over and tell Josh, ‘This is what happened and here’s why we did that.’ Maybe to verify some fronts and stuff like that to make sure of where guys are shaded and identification, because in our system, we always set the scheme of blocking on every play, so we just want to make sure we get it set the right way so that everyone can really be deployed the right way. That’s where the pictures probably help me.”
Lesson Learned – Cyrus Jones was a healthy scratch last Sunday following his ejection the week before out in Cleveland when he got into an altercation with Browns receiver Andrew Hawkins.
Referee Bill Vinovich said he threw a punch “and connected” with the receiver, which is what lead to the ejection.
One week later, he found himself as a spectator following a coaching decision that kept him out of the line-up on Sunday against the Bengals.
One thing that Jones was thankful for was the fact he wasn’t fined over the incident, but now he’s just ready to get back to business.
“Obviously I’m happy I didn’t get fined,” he told ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “I don’t want to give away my money. But I’m looking forward.”
Edelman Fined For Facemask, No Suspension for Burfict – The NFL seems to have its eye on Julian Edelman so far this season.
The veteran receiver’s been fined twice so far in 2016, getting hit for a face mask the league felt he committed against Dre Kirkpatrick that they disagreed with, which Mike Reiss of ESPN reported will cost him $9,115.
That’s just above the total he was hit with after his collision back in Week one with a Cardinals player that initially cost him nearly $24,000, but on appeal was later reduced to $9,000.
Meanwhile, there’s obviously no justice from the league after the Bengals’ Vontaze Burfict was hit with a $75,000 fine for stomping on LeGarrette Blount, but got away unscathed after diving into the back of Martellus Bennett’s knees. There are some things that just leave you shaking your head, and for a league that’s so intent on protecting its image and players, it just makes it even more ridiculous that they’d let a player – who has a history of this – get off the hook so easily.
Whatever. “It is what it is.”
Slater takes on Hurricane Matthew – Special teams captain Matthew Slater spoke to the media on Wednesday and lead off with a cause he’s supporting, which is hoping to help the people down in North Carolina and Haiti who just went through hurricane Matthew and athe idea is to help people who have been severely affected.
The event, which is called “Matthew vs Matthew” will take place next Tuesday, October 25th, from 6pm to 9pm at Splitsville at Patriots Place.
Slater credits his wife for the idea, but it’s something that’s also obviously very important to him.
“It’s called Matthew vs. Matthew and the idea behind this is, we have family in the Carolinas and living up here in the Boston area, we’ve met a lot of people that have ties to Haiti,” explained Slater. “Hurricane Matthew has obviously had a devastating effect on a lot of people so we wanted to do something that would provide some relief efforts for the people affected by this.”
“The event is at Splitsville, right up here at Patriot Place, next Tuesday; a lot of the guys [will be there.] We’ll have some great auction items and it’ll be a great time, but most importantly, every penny we raise will go directly to an organization called ‘Samaritan’s Purse.’ That’s already on the ground in the Carolinas and in Haiti. They do tremendous work. It’s an organization I’ve had a long-standing relationship with. I can’t take the credit for this. This is my wife’s idea, but it’s something I wanted to let you guys know [about] and get the word out there.”
For more information, you can visit MatthewvsMatthew.org to find out more.
Support Us: Help Us Compete Against The Corporate Media Giants
We need your help. If you enjoy our content, please help us beat Google's Corporate algorithm by adding us as a preferred source on Google News.
Click the button below and check the box next to "PatsFans.com"
Add as a preferred source on Google News
Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
