Pats Make More Coaching Changes

Shane Waldron, Jon Robinson and Monti Ossenfort: come on down! These three names are the next batch to be involved in the shift of changes occurring internally in the New England Patriots’ coaching roster for the 2009 season. The Patriots announced yesterday that Shane Waldron will be the team’s new tight ends coach, Jon Robinson will take over as the director of college scouting and Monti Ossenfort will become a national scout for the Pats.

Waldron is no new face to the Patriots, as he has been working his way up the ranks of the team for the last five seasons. He was an offensive coaching assistant for the team last year, and he previously was a football operations intern for three seasons and a football operations assistant from ’02-’04. Robinson is another Patriots veteran, as the new director of college scouting is going on his eighth year with New England. Robinson coached college-level football at Nicholls (La.) State and Southeast Missouri State before joining the Patriots in 2002 as an area scout, stepping up to regional scout in 2006. Ossenfort will enjoy his promotion next year as he enters his fifth year with the Patriots, working alongside Bob Quinn as a national scout for New England. Ossenfort has also worked with the Houston Texans as a pro and college scouting assistant.

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 13, 2009 - Post a comment

Could Cassel Be a Jet?

The Brett Favre saga may finally have ended, as the 18 year NFL veteran and longtime Green Bay Packer has once again announced his retirement from football, this time perhaps for good. A torn tendon in his shoulder hampered a good part of Favre’s season this year, signaling the future Hall-of-Famer to turn in his No. 4 jersey once again.

With the announcement of Brett Favre’s retirement, rumors are flying around the Jets circle on who will take over as starting quarterback for next year. Backups Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff are both available but largely average, leaving one question still looming: could the Patriots do the impossible and trade Matt Cassel to their mortal enemy? When it comes to the stats of Favre and Cassel from the 2008 season, the two quarterbacks had fairly similar success last year, leaving it up to personal discretion whether or not Cassel could wear that green and white jersey. Comparative stats between Favre and Cassel are as follows:

Favre:
•39 years old
• 18 years experience
• $13 million salary
• 3,472 yards
• 81% RAT
• 22 interceptions
• 22 touchdowns
• 30 sacks

Cassel:
• 26 years old
• 4 years experience
• $14.65 million salary
• 3,693 yards
• 89.4% RAT
• 11 interceptions
• 21 touchdowns
• 47 sacks

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 12, 2009 - Post a comment

Are the Broncos Becoming the New Patriots?

From the looks of things in Denver, it appears so. It all started when former New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left the Pats for a head coaching job for the Denver Broncos last month, and now it seems as if McDaniels is pulling as many staff members out of New England as he can. Rounding out his staff picks for the season, McDaniels recently selected former Patriot linebacker Roman Phifer to join the Broncos as a new assistant linebackers coach for the 2009 NFL season.

Phifer geared up in Patriot red, white and blue from 2001-2004, helping the team win three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX) in his four seasons in Foxboro. As a linebacker, Phifer was second on the team in tackles only to Tedy Bruschi. Phifer’s upcoming role with the Broncos will be his first pro coaching job, as the linebacker retired from the league in 2005. Aside from playing with the Patriots, Phifer also spent eight seasons with the Los Angeles Rams (1991-1998), two years with the New York Jets (1999-2000) and one with the New York Giants (2005) before retiring.

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 11, 2009 - Post a comment

Cassel Accepts Franchise Tag

Not that we thought he would turn down a $14 million pay raise, but it is official: Matt Cassel has accepted a franchise tender from the New England Patriots. The quarterback and his representative sent a signed formal letter to the league over the weekend accepting the non-exclusive franchise tag and one-year price of $14.65 million, making Cassel one of the top-paid players in the game. What this franchise tag means for Matt Cassel is a guaranteed salary no matter where he ends up next season, but what it means for the Patriots is even more pivotal.

Should Cassel stay with the Pats for next season in the case that Tom Brady isn’t fully recovered from his injury in time to start, the Patriots will have spent a whopping $29.27 million of the team’s entire $123 million salary on the two quarterbacks, leaving little room to pave the way for new players with the draft and trades. This almost certainly means that New England is looking to trade one of these prized quarterbacks, and fingers are pointing to 26-year-old Cassel to be the one to go. The only thing holding Cassel back with his franchise tender? The fact that he can’t shop himself around anymore, as deals involving his trade will have to be done strictly through the Patriots.

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 10, 2009 - Post a comment

Gostkowski Makes Mark on Hawaii Despite AFC Loss in Pro Bowl

New England Patriots veteran Stephen Gostkowski kicked his way through another Pro Bowl game yesterday in Hawaii, hitting his three extra-point attempts but still coming out short with the rest of the AFC in a 30-21 NFC victory in the 2009 Pro Bowl. Gostkowski played alongside Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne, Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, Denver’s Brandon Marshall, Tennessee’s Albert Haynesworth and Cortland Finegan and more but failed to come up with the post-season win.

While the Pro Bowl is mostly for bragging rights after the Super Bowl, some of last week’s events were more memorable than others. New England’s Stephen Gostkowski was one of four Pro Bowl players who spent some extra time on the football field last week in Hawaii, becoming “Coach Gostkowski” for a day as he spent time coaching a punt, pass and kick competition amongst a group of 30 kids from Special Olympics Hawaii. Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning, New York’s Eli Manning and Carolina’s Jordan Gross were the other players involved in the Special Olympics competition with Gostkowski, and all four players took home more than a Pro Bowl game experience from Hawaii.

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 9, 2009 - Post a comment

Cassel Gets Franchise Tag

The New England Patriots played it safe yesterday and slapped the franchise tag on Matt Cassel, guaranteeing the quarterback $14.65 million going into his next season in the NFL (as he is guaranteed the average salary of the top five quarterbacks in the league.) This was a smart move for the Patriots, with Tom Brady’s iffy status looming in the background of draft day decisions. Franchising Cassel will buy the Pats some time before draft day to see how things will work out with Brady, and should the star quarterback be back in action Cassel could be traded rather than paying him the hefty price he has just been guaranteed.

Matt Cassel is still technically a free agent, but the Patriots can now allow a trade with another team in exchange for two first-round draft picks, which could significantly help New England this year as the team is definitely aging. Cassel’s season picked up after Tom Brady was injured in the very first game of the 2008 NFL season, and the former USC backup finished the season with 327 completions in 516 attempts (63.4%), 3,693 total yards and 21 touchdowns with 11 interceptions.
Cassel is the fourth New England Patriot to be franchised, joining the ranks of kicker Adam Vinatieri (2002, 2005), safety Tebucky Jones (2003) and cornerback Asante Samuel (2007).

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 6, 2009 - Post a comment

Morris Pays Dues to Overseas Troops

New England Patriots running back Sammy Morris was selected earlier this month as the Pats’ choice for the 2008 Ed Block Courage Award for his selfless acts and team leadership, and this standout football player has been proving that he more than deserves the prestigious award. Morris will attend the 30th annual Ed Block Courage Award banquet in Baltimore on March 10, but for now the incredible running back is busy with other endeavors.

Sammy Morris, whose brother Brien is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, is currently spending some time with U.S. troops overseas as part of a 10-day tour, visiting troops in Iraq and Kuwait this week along with a handful of other NFL players and cheerleaders. In a diary update sent from his BlackBerry earlier this week, Morris blogged about meet and greets with U.S. soldiers in Kuwait, saying, “Although I’m quite sure they enjoy meeting, greeting and taking pictures with the cheerleaders more than Willie Roaf, Josh Wilson and myself, I still get a kick out of it when the troops ask to take pictures with me holding their guns! I’m always like, ‘Man, I was hoping you would ask! Can I shoot a couple rounds too?!’… negative.” Keep tuned in to hear more about Morris’ overseas escapades.

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 5, 2009 - Post a comment

Patriots Fill Holes, Starting with O’Brien

The New England Patriots have lost four assistants since ending their season before the playoffs this year, and now it’s time to start filling those holes for next season. In one of the first moves since Josh McDaniels, Brad Seely, Dom Capers and Scott Pioli each left the team earlier this month, New England has announced the addition of an assistant to the team as well as some crucial moves within the staff. Scott O’Brien was officially hired as the Patriots’ special teams coach this week, while other assistants Bill O’Brien and Josh Boyer also took part in the shakeup. Bill O’Brien moved from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach for next season, and Boyer went from defensive coaching assistant to defensive backs coach.

These moves are helping the Patriots rebuild and restructure after so many members of the team’s staff left at the end of the regular season, and more changes are sure to come to Foxboro. Bill Belichick is still searching for an offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and tight ends coach to join the New England Patriots for the 2009 season, so stay tuned to see who the famed coach will select!

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 4, 2009 - Post a comment

Cassel to Kansas City?

Even though the New England Patriots were watching the Super Bowl from the stands this year, the team still generated a considerable amount of media attention this month surrounding the big game. Aside from Rodney Harrison’s offhanded comments and Bill Belichick’s analysis contributions during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast, another Patriot has been the talk to the town as of late: Matt Cassel. The former USC backup quarterback and Tom Brady replacement will soon either get his chance to shine or start making the big bucks on the all-too familiar New England bench, and now that the ‘08/’09 season is over, speculation is abuzz like never before.

The latest development on where Matt Cassel could go should he be franchised and then traded has fingers pointing to Kansas City, where former Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli is now calling the shots. The Pioli factor could weigh heavily on Cassel’s fate, and the chances of Cassel becoming a hot commodity are even better considering the new crop of quarterbacks about to enter the 2009 NFL Draft. QBs like Matthew Stafford (Georgia) and Mark Sanchez (USC) are top dogs for the draft, but are they good enough to stack up with the NFL’s other starting quarterbacks? Perhaps, but Cassel is the better bet.

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 3, 2009 - Post a comment

Harrison’s Super Bowl Role

New England Patriots superstar Rodney Harrison may have been out most of the regular season with a frustrating injury, but that didn’t stop the standout safety from joining the ultimate Super Bowl party yesterday – on television, that is. Harrison joined the NBC pregame show as a guest analyst before Super Bowl XLIII as the Pittsburgh Steelers faced off against the Arizona Cardinals, and he was more than anxious to throw in his opinion about the two teams vying for this year’s Super Bowl title.

In a stinging comment made to bring up hurt feelings still lingering from last year’s 17-14 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, Harrison made his prediction on how yesterday’s game would play out between the Cardinals and the Steelers, saying, “Unlike last year’s Super Bowl, this year’s Super Bowl will be won by the best team and that’s the Pittsburgh Steelers.” This biting statement packed a real punch for football fans across the nation watching the NBC pregame of the Super Bowl coverage, but Harrison is not backing down from his statement.

Harrison ended this season with the New England Patriots as a free agent and has not yet made a statement regarding his return for a 16th NFL season or retirement.

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Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on February 2, 2009 - Post a comment


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