It’s the start of a new work week, and here’s a quick rundown of today’s top stories.
Belichick Pays Respects to Berman – Following a car accident that took the life of Chris Berman’s wife, Katherine, back on May 9th, Bill Belichick was among other big names from around the league who were on hand to pay their respects during a ceremony held for her last Wednesday.
According to the Hartford Courant, Belichick joined Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, as well as many of his former coworkers at ESPN.
Various people spoke at the memorial ceremony, which began around 1pm and lasted for about an hour, with Berman being the final speaker as he talked about their life journey together.
Berman, who has had various sit downs with Belichick over the years, has clearly earned the love and respect of so many during his career at ESPN and the sudden tragedy sparked an outpouring of support, which was obvious as nearly 500 people attended the ceremony for Berman’s late wife.
Meanwhile, the accident also took the life of 87-year old Edward Bertulis of Waterbury, who was killed when Berman struck his vehicle from behind with such force that it was overturned, leaving him trapped and calling for help following the accident. Bertulis initially survived but later died at the hospital.
While Berman’s loss stole the headlines, Bertulis’ story is a difficult and sad one as well as his death came while he was on his way back from visiting his deceased wife at the Mount Olivet Cemetary, which according to his daughter was something he had done every day since she passed away following their 64 years together.
From all of us at PatsFans.com, our thoughts go out to both families.
 James White isn’t the only one with tough incentives in his new deal. |
White Not the Only One With Difficult Incentives – Last week we mentioned the difficult incentives that James White has in his new deal but it sounds like he’s not alone, with one big-name veteran seeing similar struggles appearing in his deal.
According to the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, much like White, former Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has milestones that may be well out of reach in his new deal with the New Orleans Saints. Volin points out that in order to max out his incentives, Peterson will need to lead the NFL in rushing touchdowns and will also have to rush for at least 1500 yards. He’s only ever rushed for more than 12 touchdowns in a season once during his career, which was back in his third year back in 2009.
As for the rushing total, he’s only ever rushed for over 1500 yards twice, rushing for 1760 yards back in 2008 and then his astounding 2097 yard total in 2012. In his last full year in the NFL in 2015, he rushed for 1485 yards, with 11 touchdowns.
The difference between the two players is that White is in the prime of his career while Peterson is a player who has to prove he can still play. But further complicating things for Peterson is the fact he’ll have to be productive in an offense that already has fellow running back Mark Ingram in their backfield, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season.
“I figured we were going to draft somebody or get somebody in free agency, still might, I figured that was going to happen, so it’s not surprising to me,” Ingram told NOLA.com via FoxSports.com. “I don’t care who comes in, where I’m at, who I’m playing with. I’m always going to compete, I’m always going to do the best I can do and that’s just me, that’s how I’m built.”
It just goes to show that it’s not just young players who find themselves in tough contract situations, although White’s deal still remains one of the more puzzling ones we’ve seen given New England’s current personnel. However, following LeGarrette Blount’s signing with Philadelphia, it ensured that there will at least be one fewer players to compete with for playing time this season.
Belichick Spends Saturday At the Preakness – Bill Belichick took a little time off on Saturday as he and his longtime girlfriend, Linda Holliday, were in Baltimore for The Preakness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUVUJkAFjSb/
Belichick traded his normal hoodie attire to get all dressed up as the two took in the annual race, which saw Cloud Computing pull off the win in a close finish.
It will likely be the last break Belichick gets for the next month as the Patriots will begin OTAs this week.
Shanahan Still Has One Play He Regrets During Loss to Patriots – Kyle Shanahan has the unenviable position of lamenting his former team’s Super Bowl loss to New England, who obviously overcame the largest deficit in Super Bowl history to beat the Falcons back in February during Shanahan’s final game with the team.
The now coach of the 49ers said recently that he has one play that he wishes he could have back, which he felt was the turning point in the game.
“The second-and-10 that we got sacked on,” Shanahan told Rich Eisen during The Rich Eisen Show last week via CSNNE.com. “I wish I had dialed up something differently. And then the next play, we called an option to [Mohamed] Sanu, we got right back in field goal range, but we had a holding call on the play and it knocked us out some more, and an incompletion on the next one.”
That was a difficult sequence for Atlanta, who missed an opportunity to potentially put the Patriots away on that drive and it ultimately left the door open for Tom Brady and company to complete their incredible comeback.
Given that fans in New England can remember a couple of plays here or there during each of the Patriots last two Super Bowl losses that might have been the difference, it’s certainly a relief to be on the other end of things. Belichick might be the first to admit he’s not perfect, but he and his staff made the right moves when it mattered in each of their last two championship runs and like Pete Carroll, Shanahan learned a tough lesson that will unfortunately likely stay with him for a long, long time moving forward.
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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.
