Rob Gronkowski: no ill will toward him for leaving, no good will either

Rob Gronkowski is one of the greatest football players any of us will ever see: a game-changing pass catcher and an even better run blocker. His presence helped the Patriots revive the physically imposing style of offense they won with in the early 2000s.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to play here anymore. And that's fine. I get it. It can't be much fun to play under Belichick. You don't get the big money, you have to watch what you say and do in public, it's probably a more demanding job than many of us have ever had to deal with in our professions, and NFL players can't just decide to change jobs after giving 2 weeks notice like we can.

So go have fun, Gronk. No bad feelings.

But no good feelings either. At least not any good feelings concerning the present or future, just some nostalgia and gratitude for what you did in the past.

I'm not going to root for him. Nor am I going to blame the brain trust in Foxborough for not changing their culture and philosophy for a single player, as great as he may be, in order to keep him here. It is what it is. I'll live with the potentially alienating culture that won 6 Super Bowls, 18 division titles, and 30 playoff games. It seems to be working.

I rooted for Gronk when he was a Patriot, when there was a two-way street of what he committed to the team and what we committed to him. Gronk and his family lived like kings up here, and while he was in Patriots' blue, red, and silver that was fine. But the two way street of athlete/fan support isn't a 1,100 mile interstate highway. The street has moved down to Florida and to the NFC. So the social contract between king and subject is no longer in effect when the king moves his castle to a different land, and starts fighting under a different banner.

Especially when up here he preferred not fighting at all over fighting for the Patriots. Don't forget that. He chose to leave football over playing here. I have no qualms with that, but I'm not going to fawn over an ex-Patriot who preferred being a retired ex-Patriot over being a Patriot.

Now as for Brady, I will root for him somewhat as a Buccaneer. Because unlike Gronk Brady seemed to help push the Patriot Way among his fellow players. Gronk only seemed to tolerate it. Brady and Belichick built this kingdom on and off the field.  That's special.

Furthermore, and this is just my opinion, Gronk's "charms" are wasted on me. I find his act a little lame, and more than a little boring. We get it, you're a big goofball that smiles and dances a lot, you stick your tongue out, and the number 69 is hilarious. It's not a bad act, but not nearly unique or funny enough to merit a long-distance fan relationship.

So ultimately, no ill will for leaving. But no good will for anything on the football field since you retired. It's kind of like the first 9 years of The Simpsons compared to everything after: I enjoy the memories, but am apathetic toward your present and future.

Patriots trade Logan Mankins to piss everyone off

Maybe Bill Belichick and the Patriots decided to make this move because all the excitement and optimism from the fans and media about the 2014 season was making the Pats players too cocky. It's a diabolical plan to fight overconfidence. Trade an All-Pro offensive lineman to Tampa Bay for a tight-end that was falling down the Buccaneers' depth chart. And make that a tight-end from Rutgers, so sports radio pundits have something simple they can repeatedly be sarcastic about. Change the noise surrounding the team from Super Bowl predictions, to spoiled fans whining and moaning.

This is an ingenious scheme to make the fans and media worry about the offensive line, which will in turn cause the players to remain humble and hungry.

Or it's an example of how improving at one position costs you at others.

Tim Wright caught 54 passes for 571 yards and 5 TDs last year. And that was with Mike Glennon throwing passes to him. He's listed as a tight-end, but he's a WR/TE hybrid. He's 6' 4" but only 220 pounds and isn't much of a blocker. He played receiver in college.

The Patriots have better pass catchers today than they had yesterday. They also have more cap space (Wright's cap hit is just under $500,000, and they save about $4 million by trading Mankins) to sign a replacement guard or improve at other positions.

Patriots fans and critics have been pining for better receivers. Did they think such improvement would be without a price?

The Patriots have a worse offensive line today than they had yesterday. And the offensive line is an area of concern. That's the price to pay.

The Pats have given Brady a weapon, but taken away a shield. We'll see if they go out and sign another offensive lineman as other teams trim their rosters. We'll see if the linemen the Patriots already have on their roster can be adequate at their position and fill in for Mankins.

Whether you like this deal, love it, hate it, or are not sure about it, you have to admit that it's bold. You trade an All-Pro offensive lineman for a second year tight-end. You improve at one position, get worse at another.

Photo Credit: Tom Croke/Icon SMI

Happy New Year, Patriots Fans!

For all intents and purposes, this is New Year's Day in the NFL. Actually, it's New Year's Eve until 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. And much like the real New Year's, people are full of high expectations and hope. This is especially true of New England Patriots fans. There are rumors that Darrelle Revis will be cut by Tampa Bay, making him a free agent. There's speculation about freeing up cap space by cutting Danny Amendola and/or Vince Wilfork. Steve Smith is being mentioned in trade rumors. There are a number of wide receivers who will soon be free agents. So many happy possibilities! We can forget about 2013 and move on to next year. Fresh starts! New beginnings! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind...

However, just like the real New Year, people enter with ludicrously high hopes, then are often disappointed by harsh reality. This is also how Patriots fans enter into each and every off-season. They fantasize about Larry Fitzgerald, and having both Aqib Talib and Darrelle Revis on the field at the same time. They imagine trading for Steve Smith and moving up in the draft to select Sammy Watkins. Why not even add Jimmy Graham too?

You would think after years of following the Patriots, fans would learn to limit expectations and try to be as grounded as possible. Instead, with each passing off-season of disappointment their dreams seem to only increase in grandeur and decrease in plausibility.

Darrelle Revis is the latest object of Pats fans' fantasies. When word got out that the Buccaneers were shopping him, Pats fans immediately wanted to trade for him. Now that it seems like Tampa Bay might let him go, and Pats fans immediately want to sign him.

And so do I. He's a great player. If cap space weren't a consideration and the Patriots didn't need help elsewhere, it would be a no-brainer.

It's funny how the people who demanded Aqib Talib be re-signed are the same people now demanding that Revis be acquired.

It's also funny that the most passionate pleas for signing Revis are coming from the same people who were screaming the loudest about the Patriots needs at wide receiver.

I'm sure these sudden, dramatic, and sometimes conflicting shifts in demands are because these people are thinking rationally and not because they're reacting emotionally.

Unlike these people, who seem to know what to do, I don't think I could figure out a 53-man roster, along with all the salary cap numbers, and all the bonuses, and the guaranteed money, and the roster bonuses, and the workout bonuses, and juggle the cap in 2014 while thinking about the cap in 2015, and keep some money for draft day selections I haven't even picked yet. But these people who a few months ago demanded Aqib Talib be re-signed, then demanded a big tall wide receiver, and are now demanding Darrelle Revis, these people seem to know how to juggle all those variables. I'm impressed.

The complexities of an NFL roster are too much for a person like me to figure out. Especially since I only just watch football. The people demanding Revis, I'll just take their word for it. They've got it figured out. After all, they make it seem so simple. And they reach their conclusions so quickly. That's evidence of their clear and concise thought.

End sarcasm.

I'm not arguing against signing Darrelle Revis. He's a great player and he would help this team tremendously. I am arguing against overly simplistic and emotionally based arguments. I'm arguing against Patriots fans who should know better than to hope for a Daniel Snyder style off-season of buying names.

As I'm writing this, there are stories that the Patriots are close to re-signing Aqib Talib. I'm fine with that. I also think the Patriots need to add a #2 cornerback with experience, so when/if the #1 guy (whether it's Talib or someone else) gets hurt, or they face a team with multiple weapons at receiver, the Pats don't get burned.

There's an argument out there that Talib is injury prone, so he shouldn't be re-signed, therefore Revis should be acquired. That's valid. It makes sense. At the same time, such vulnerability suggests another argument: don't put your eggs in one basket. Don't over-invest in one player. When you invest too much in one player or at one position, at the expense of depth and at the expense of strength at other positions, you create an over-reliance on one player, and weaknesses at other positions. And if your one keystone player goes down, then you're weak EVERYWHERE.

The Patriots, when they've depended on one lone cornerback as the key to their defense, have been exposed when that single player gets taken out of the game or doesn't play well.

I'll take Talib plus a solid #2 CB and/or a better pass rush over Darrell Revis. That might not be what the Patriots do, it might not be the right thing to do, but at least my arguments are based on rationality and reason, not just emotion and over-simplification.

When you base too much on emotion, and ignore logic, even when you're right it's by accident.

Happy New Year, Patriots fans. I hope the Pats have a productive off-season and address more than just one of their needs. I also hope fans don't get too pie-in-the-sky hopeful about all the big names out there. Teams win Super Bowls, not names.

Patriots Continue to Survive

In retrospect, the Patriots had every edge coming into this game. They had extra time off. They're familiar with the Buccaneers after practicing with them and playing them in preseason. Josh Freeman is a negative player at quarterback and probably won't be QB for much longer. Even the weather cooperated by kickoff and gave the Pats a nice day, with no rain-assisted random turnovers or slips.

The offense still looks like a pickup game that's been thrown together at the last minute. The lack of healthy ball-catching talent (BCT) on this team has tested Josh McDaniels, and so far he's barely passing. He was an apparent genius in 2007 when he had Brady throwing to Moss, Welker, Stallworth, and Kevin Faulk. Anyone could have coordinated that Madden offense to break records. 2013 has been much more challenging.

If this were a college course, I'd recommend McDaniels take it pass/fail, because his grade will just hurt his GPA. It's not, and the offense will need to do more than barely pass for this team to succeed. It is still only September. Super Bowls aren't won in September, just regular season games. And all this team wanted to do was survive the early season until injured players like Gronkowski returned.

The defense continues to look sharp. You can tell how much faith Belichick had in the defense (at least when they're playing against the Buccaneers offense) when the Patriots offense went for it on 4th and 2 in the 2nd quarter. Even if the Pats didn't get it, Belichick trusted his defense to hold the Buccs.

Fourth down decided this game. Tampa Bay went for it on 4th down 4 times and failed each time. The Pats converted a 4th and 2 then scored to go up 7-3, then the defense stopped Tampa on 4th down, then the Pats scored on their next possession, then an Aqib Talib interception set up a field goal and it was 17-3 Pats. If the Pats don't convert their 4th down and the Buccs convert theirs, then the halftime score might have been 10-0 or 10-3 Buccaneers. The Patriots offense couldn't put any drives together in the second half, so that 2nd quarter stretch of scoring won the game for them.

The rushing offense wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. It was certainly better than it was against the Jets. And that made a difference in the 4th. On one drive LaGarrette Blount rushed 8 times (6 in a row) for 56 yards. The drive drained 4:41 of clock and sealed the game. Somewhere Corey Dillon was smiling.

Brandon Bolden also had a big game with 100 total yards, most of which came in a 46 yard reception.

Brady spread the ball around like he used to (was forced to) back before 2007. Six different Pats caught receptions, 8 were targeted. Michael Hoomanawanui caught 2 passes, bringing the catch total for Patriots tight-ends up to 3 for 35 yards. To put that in perspective, Patriots RBs have caught 14 passes for 119 yards this season. Brady doesn't even look at tight-ends anymore. Only 7 targets between Hooman and Zach Sudfeld in 3 games.

Before the season started we just wanted the Pats to survive the first few weeks without Gronkowski. They've done that so far. Four of their next 6 games are against tougher opponents, but they also play the Jets and Steelers. The team is doing what they need to do at this time of year, in this situation. And they could quite conceivably go into the bye week with a 7-2 or 6-3 record. I'll take that given the circumstances.

Next week it's Sunday Night Football in Atlanta.

Photo Credit:
Brad Penner - USA Today

Tom Brady Fell, and All of New England Shook

In case you just returned from a trip to a cave on the dark side of moon, Tom Brady left practice yesterday with an apparent injury to his left knee. This occurred in a joint-team drill with the Buccaneers when Pats lineman Nate Solder was pushed into Brady by Adrian Clayborn, and Brady fell to the ground clutching his knee. After taking a few more snaps, Brady left the field, under his own power, but still gingerly, with training staff in tow.

Panic spread across New England. A video of the injury emerged on social media. And a helicopter landed next to the Patriots practice fields, leading some to conclude/presume/assume/imagine/pull out of their ass, that Brady was being med-flighted to some hospital for treatment and/or examination.

Jonathan Kraft stated that the helicopter had nothing to do with Brady's injury. Brady did undergo an MRI, which was negative. I believe the Brigham and Women's Health Center in Patriot Place does have MRI machines, so if I had to guess, I'd say Brady went there. Not that it matters. The frenzied speculation over the helicopter is just one example of the hysteria that gripped New England yesterday afternoon.

A source has told some media outlets that Brady is "day-to-day." A source has told media outlets that Brady will practice Thursday. This post is to be published on Thursday morning, so at the time that I'm writing this, all we can do is wait. Will he practice? Will he not? How much will he participate in practice?

I'm sure the team will be cautious with Brady. As they'd be cautious with any starter in the pre-season. Devin McCourty and Alfonzo Dennard didn't play in the Eagles game because of caution due to injury. If those two miss a practice, it doesn't mean they're out for the season. Obviously Brady is a more important player to the team's success, but if McCourty and Dennard miss a practice or a game, our fears of the severity of the injury aren't as catastrophic as if Brady misses one.

Tom Brady is alive. He walked off the field on his own power. Some say he jogged. I don't know, I didn't see it. It's time to calm down and be patient, folks. Let doctors do what doctors do. Let tests do what tests do. Let time do what time does.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Will DiTullio

Patriots Trade for Aqib Talib

It's rare that NFL teams make much noise at the trade deadline, so even a whisper can seem deafening. Aqib Talib is a solid cornerback, who will become the top CB on the depth chart once he's able to play. He's currently serving a suspension for taking adderall without a prescription. He can return on the 18th.

Talib's status as the Patriots' #1 CB is more of a statement about the current stable of defensive backs as opposed to Talib's prowess at the position. Although when he stays out of trouble, Talib is a decent coverage corner. And the Patriots haven't had one of those for a few years.

It will be nice to have a smart CB for once. Someone who doesn't find themselves out of position. Someone who knows to turn their head when the ball is coming, in order to avoid PI penalties.

The Patriots gave up a 4th round pick for Talib, and received a 7th round selection.

Talib might not get the defense, as simple as it is. One never knows. And he could be charged with aggravated assault again. But to me this is low risk, medium-to-high reward. He can be a solid coverage corner, and Alfonzo Dennard is looking good. Devin McCourty can be shifted to safety.

He's a serious player in a defensive backfield full of jokes.

And if you're feeling depressed, just yell out "AQIB TALIB!" and you'll feel better. Trust me.