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Patriots Blog

Preparing for Cincy and some notes

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August 10, 2005 1:17 pm
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FOXBORO -- Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had this to say about Friday's opponent in the preseason opener, the Cincinnati Bengals.

"They have about as good a wide receiver group as there is in the league. These guys are otustanding. And they have two quarterbacks that make all the throws. Nobody moved the ball on us any better than they did."

Cincy's wide receivers -- Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmanzadeh, Kelley Washington and Peter Warrick -- often take the field together in four-wide sets meaning the Pats will be stretched in their secondary.

Meanwhile, quarterback Carson Palmer (a sleeper Pro Bowl choice for me in the AFC) and Jon Kitna can both fling it.

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Belichick warned that we shouldn't get too excited over who plays when and next to whom on Friday.

"I would always caution you not to read too much into (playing time and groupings) one way or another. That's not really where we're at right now."

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Belichick was effusive in his praise for veteran corner Chad Scott.

Asked how Scott's been so far in camp, Belichick said, "Great. He's shown what a professional he is. He's been a pleasure to coach, he works hards, he's tough. He really understands things and has the ability to play multiple positions. Pittsburgh's defense is different from ours and there are things we're asking him to do he hasn't done before. He's been open minded and receptive to new ideas. I have a lot of respect for Chad Scott and the way he's handled himself since he entered this stadium. If you look up "true professional" Chad would be one of the pictures you'd see based on the experience I had around him in the last five or six months."

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A story in today's Boston Herald centered on a woman who was indignant because it was recommended to her she breastfeed in a restroom.

The front-page account said, "Dorchester mother Patty Daidone-Hardy said she was told by Gillette Stadium officials on Monday that she could nurse her 3-month-old son in a restroom or other area away from the stands."

"Breast milk is my son's only source of nutrition," Daidone-Hardy told the Herald. "I felt like I was committing a crime because I had to nurse my son."

Patriots spokesman Stacey James said yesterday he fielded Daidone-Hardy's initial call and that she asked "if there was a place for a woman to breastfeed."

James, assuming from the the woman's question that she was seeking a more remote place to nurse her child than the stands, gave her other possible spots including family restrooms. He said that he never told her nursing in the stands was not an option.

The story created a minor hubbub and folks called sports radio stations to shout down Neanderthals who'd be so repressed as to not be able to handle a nursing mother at a football game.

Talk to you later,

T

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