MORSE: Tropical All Star Game; Mark's Morsels

I am going to follow up my last article by highlighting the NFL News section of PatsFans.com again. This area is loaded with info for the other teams in the league. The articles are from their own beat writers and gives insight into the teams. The next few items are taken from the NFL News section.

Big news on the Head Coaching front as Urban Myers has taken the Jacksonville job, Arthur Smith was hired in Atlanta and SF D coordinator Robert Saleh by the Jets. The interesting thing with Saleh is that he is backing QB Sam Darnold. This could have a major impact on the Patriots draft as NYJ is likely to trade their pick now to a team that wants a QB.

GM positions have been filled by Detroit by raiding the Rams scouting department to nab Brad Holmes. Carolina has hired Scott Fittener from Seattle. Fittener has been with Seattle for 19 years, steadily moving up the ladder to VP of Football Operations.

Appears that Jerod Mayo had an interview with Philadelphia for their Head Coach position. That would be another blow to the Patriots if he was to leave. This bears watching over the next few weeks.

There was a nice story under the Eagles section of NFL News about former Pat Ed Kayhat. In 1966, Kayhat signed with the AFL Boston Patriots to finish his career. I don’t believe the story is still up.

College All-Star Games Kickoff

The Tropical Bowl will be held this weekend. The game is Sunday January 17^th at 11 AM. It will be broadcast by Flofootball.TV

How to Watch:

STREAMING: Watch the 2021 Tropical Bowl on FloFootball. SIGN UP HERE.

On Your TV: Now Available on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast & Apple TV.

Cast: Cast to your smart TV including Vizio, Samsung and LG TVs.

On The Go: Download the FloSports app on iOS or Android.

Flofootball had a nice article about one of the participants, Tre Harbison, RB Charlotte. He transferred from Virginia to Northern Illinois and sat out a year because of the transfer. He had consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons. As grad student he transferred again to Charlotte (near his home). He wanted to go somewhere that passed the ball so he could get pass blocking and receiving experience. He felt that was the way the NFL was going with RB. While at Charlotte he also played special teams. Sounds like he has Bill Belichick written all over him. He is the same size as Sony Michel but runs 4.59 40.

Here are some other players to watch according to Flofootball

WR Keyion Dixon E. Kentucky/UConn

CB Isaiah Kaufusi BYU

DL Jeremiah Littles Arkansas St.

RB Greg McRae UCF

QB Zach Thomas Appalachian St.

DE Tomon Fox North Carolina

WR Myron Mitchell UAB

DE Maxamillian Roberts BC/UMaine

RB Greg Taylor Tulsa

Mark’s Morsels

LB Michael Pinckney was signed to a futures contract by the Patriots after his league mandated suspension for violating the drug policy was concluded. Pinckney is a 6’ 1” 220 lbs out of the University of Miami and spent most of the season on the Practice Squad. The Patriots must think a lot of him, re-signing him, even after the drug policy transgression.

The fallout of the Pittsburgh Steelers being eliminated by the Cleveland Brown has hit hard. There are a few videos online of Steelers fans going berserk and throwing things through their TV’s. One fella was chanting you were 11-0 and now you are losing to Baker Mayfield.

The fallout was felt by three coaches; Offensive Coordinator Randy Fichtner, Offensive Line coach Shaun Sarrett and Defensive Backs coach Tom Bradley did not have their contracts renewed (essentially fired).

Former Patriots and Colts WR Anthony Gonzalez is the US House Representative from Ohio’s 16^th District. He wrote a scathing letter condemning the attack on the Capitol and voted to impeach the President. What many don’t remember was that Brian Hoyer and Gonzalez were reunited as teammates with the Patriots. They played at Cleveland’s St. Ignatius HS where Hoyer was a Sr and Gonzalez the star receiver as a Jr. I have a friend that replaced Hoyer as the QB at St Ignatius and spent many hours with them both at the Gonzalez home.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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