Patriots Defensive Back Season Over

ESPN.com is reporting that Patriots defensive back Chad Scott will miss the entire 2007 season with an injured knee.  In true Bill Bellichick fashion, the Big Hoodie was telling the media only hours before the announcement that Scott’s season ending injury was “day to day.”  It appears he’s getting a head start on screwing with the media, perhaps in an effort to shake off all the rust from the offseason.

This creates a new wrinkle in the Asante Samuel holdout.  Samuel has yet to sign his one-year contract with the Patriots, threatening to hold out all the way until week 10.  The Patriots have long held a stance of team over the individual, and their recent history would certainly suggest that they will not start allowing any one player to jerk them around now.  However, if their defense begins to show signs of cracking, they may start getting a bit more creative with their dealmaking in an effort to get Samuel back on the field.  Time will tell.

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Brady Excited for Upcoming Season

According to the Boston Herald, Tom Brady is quite excited about his new receiving corps in New England this year.  After starting last year with none of his favorite targets on the roster, Brady was forced to spread the ball to many receivers last year.  This year, Brady has two new marquee wide receivers as legitimate deep threats in the open field, a luxury he has rarely enjoyed in his time with the Patriots.

Brady has voice his pleasure with his new set-up during training camp, talking about how excited he is to have so many new options and so much talent to work with for the first time ever in his career.  These receivers are a big part of the reason everyone considers New England the unanimous front-runners on the road to the Super Bowl.  The chemistry developed in camp will go a long way toward team success in their 2007 campaign.  Brady is well aware of this, and is already doing everything in his power to form bonds with his new receivers, whether that includes hanging out with them outside of practice, or talking them up to the media.  It certainly looks at though Tom Brady is ready to have fun with his new receivers this year on the field.

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Samuel Likely to Miss Camp

The Boston Herald is reporting that even with Asante Samuel coming back to the bargaining table, it still appears that Samuel will miss at least part of Patriots training camp.  Samuel, given the franchise player tag in the offseason, was unable to reach a long term deal with the Pats, and has yet to sign his one year deal that would pay him more than 7 million dollars in 2007.  Samuel has threatened to sit out until week 10, though many feel he will be playing for the Pats before that.

Asante, dude.  Everyone knows you have to do what’s best for you, but man, take the seven mil, play your butt off,  win another Super Bowl, and if they franchise you again, then at that point, you can sit out with no fear of bad publicity.  Factually speaking, you’ve got a ton of money on the table.  But if you do decide to sit out, nobody’s going to blame you either.  It’s a tough call, and it’s Asante’s call.  But Pats fans everywhere hope he plays.

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Samuel Changes Tune

According to the Boston Globe, Asante Samuel is working to reach a deal with the New England Patriots that will put him in camp on time.  Though no deal has yet been reached, Samuel seems to have softened his stance on his holdout in the wake of fellow holdout Lance Briggs finally signing his franchise player one year deal.  Samuel remains the last player given the “franchise” tag in the offseason who is as yet unsigned.  If and when he does accept the one year deal, it will be reportedly worth more than seven million dollars.

Asante’s agent, Alonzo Shavers, claims that Briggs reaching his one year deal has no affect on his client.  However, with the details of Briggs’ deal being released, and one of his contract clauses stating that he will not be designated a franchise player next year, one has to wonder if perhaps Samuels isn’t now pushing for a similar deal.  No matter what the details, it now appears likely that Samuels - who had once threatened to hold out on the Patriots until week 10 of the 2007 season - will now be  playing the entire season for New England.

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Patriots Fantasy Guide

ESPN.com has published their fantasy football guide to the Patriots.  The guide has a few interesting things to say about last season.  But it mostly focuses on what to expect next season.  The article is long, in depth, and has a ton of information for all you fantasy football geeks out there.  Plus, if you’re a Patriots fan, the article is very honest about how your team shapes up this year.

As far as fantasy football is concerned, the Patriots are making noise at QB and wide receiver.  Tom Brady is always a great pick, and their reloaded receiving corps will not only serve to pad his stats, but to allure fantasy drafters who know the power of a receiver putting up huge numbers.  Past that, the Patriots don’t have much to get excited about, in terms of fantasy football.  Luckily for the Patriots and their fans, they play real football, not fantasy football.

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Former Coach Loses Court Case

According to a report on ESPN.com former Patriots offensive coordinator and current Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weiss has lost his malpractice suit.  The jury took very little time to deliberate the case, and found in favor of the defendants, the two doctors in charger of Weiss’s operation.  The case was a retrial, after the first case ended in a mistrial.  The charges stemmed from a botched “stomach stapling” operation Weiss underwent.  After the surgery, he bled internally for 30 hours and nearly died.  Weiss claims to still have problems stemming from the surgery and was pursuing the malpractice case because of said problems.

Weiss, while obviously unhappy with the verdict, will now be able to focus all his energies on coaching the Irish this year.  Weiss has been embroiled in this particular lawsuit for some time, and while he surely would have liked to have seen a different outcome, at the end of the day, at least now it’s finally over.

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Patriots Top Clayton’s List

John Clayton has published his list of AFC story lines to watch for in 2007, and the New England Patriots wide receivers are Clayton’s top story.  It’s easy to see why.  Tom Brady has put up amazing numbers in the past during his tenure as a Patriot, he has never had a high profile group of receivers during that time.  He has certainly never had the talent down the field that he will have this year.  These receivers are a big part of the reason the Patriots are so high on everyone’s list of Super Bowl favorites.

I believe that New England may almost certainly live and die by the Randy Moss trade in this offseason.  Granted, Tom Brady is amazing and Bill Bellichick has proven time and again that he can outcoach almost anyone in the NFL, but I believe that a healthy Randy Moss playing up to his full potential really puts the Patriots on a completely different level than anyone else in the NFL right now.  Without him, I believe the Patriots could be taken down by a few notable teams in the AFC.  But if he’s playing well, I’m just not sure anyone is going to have an answer for Brady to Moss.

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Pats Sign Another Veteran Linebacker

ESPN.com’s Len Pasquarelli is reporting that the New England Patriots have signed veteran linebacker Chad Brown to a one year contract.  Brown has 14 years of NFL experience under his belt, one of which he spent with the Pats.  Though he has had injury problems in the past few years, to say the least, that doesn’t trouble the Patriots too much, as they view Brown as more of any insurance policy.  Brown is expected to play the role of backup linebacker, as he is a versatile player with tons of experience who could step in and fill a need if one of their other linebackers was felled by an injury.

This is a pretty sweet deal for Brown, whose body seems to be breaking down under the strain of a long NFL career.  He gets a chance to make a few more bucks (details of the contract have not been disclosed), continue playing the game he loves, and there’s always the very definite possibility that the Pats are going to make another Super Bowl run, in which case he could find himself nabbing a Super Bowl ring this year.  Not a bad deal for Mr. Brown.

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Patriots Training Camp Preview

ESPN.com has posted their AFC East training camp insider previews, and they’ve made their New England Patriots training camp preview available for free.  Inside the extensive article espn gives you plenty of stuff to look for during camp, as well as a few questions to focus on heading into the preseason games (which are just around the corner).  Give the whole thing a read if you’re a Pats fan.  It’s really quite well-written and packed with information.

The Patriots don’t have many glaring holes, which is one of the main reasons they’re nearly everyone’s preseason favorite to win the Super Bowl.  The strength of the Pats as a team can be seen in the very first question ESPN asks about the team - “Can the Patriots’ new corps of wide receivers get them back to the Super Bowl?”  Notice that it’s not “will the new receivers work out for the Pats?” or “How will these new receivers perform?” but will they get them to the Super Bowl.  That in and of itself is amazing.  It makes you think that anything less than a Super Bowl would be a disappointment to this team.  That’s gotta be a scary thought for anyone who has to face the Pats this year.

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New England Rated Highly Again

Espn.com has released its daily top 10 list and today it’s linebackers.  For those who are unfamiliar, this system takes into account the opinions of a few men over at ESPN.com’s “insider” division, who when rank each team 1-32 at all the positions.  The top 10 picks are then made available to the general public for free in an effort to entice readers to get an ESPN.com Insider account (which you should get, by the way, because it’s awesome, especially if you play fantasy leagues in any sport).  The New England Patriots ranked number four on the list.

Once again, the Patriots rank in the top five in a key category.  These breakdowns are making it easy to see why the Pats are considered the early preseason favorite to win it all in 2007.  Their veteran group of linebackers - some detractors might simply call them “old” - will benefit very much from the addition of Adelius Thomas to the mix.  As ESPN points out, this is not a young group of guys.  It is, however, a very battle-tested group of men who have won a few Super Bowls, and they are not to be underestimated this season.

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