Projo Pats Blog

A LESSON IN STRENGTH: Bill Belichick spoke to children at the fancy new movie theater at Patriot Place before a showing of "The Express," the soon-to-be-released movie about Ernie Davis, the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy. (Boston.com) Davis was diagnosed with leukemia as a young man, cutting short his promising career, a story that Belichick used to put his own team's struggles into perspective: "Every year there is always something that happens that is a little bit of a setback, but the great teams, the great players, the great people in life overcome those things. "They find a way to work through it. ... "We've had an injury on our team, to [Tom] Brady, that is something our team has to deal with. But we have a lot of other good players on our team, and we have a good team. That's something we're going to have to overcome."

LONG-DISTANCE PASS: Tom Brady will go to Los Angeles to have knee surgery by Dr. Neal S. ElAttrache of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic. The date of the surgery has not been revealed. (boston.com)

IN THE BACKFIELD: The Patriots offense could really use Laurence Maroney to be something that he has never really been in his career -- a durable workhorse out of the backfield. Meanwhile, LaMont Jordan says he isn't complaining about his role coming in off the bench, but his goal is to be a starting running back again.

MAYO FEELING DISCOMFORT: An unnamed league source told Boston.com's Christopher Gasper that linebacker Jerod Mayo was wearing a cast during practice on Monday because his left wrist "hurt a little" last week. The source said that this should not be a serious problem for Mayo.

THE OTHER ROOKIE LINEBACKER: Shawn Crable hasn't been on the active roster yet for any games, but Belichick said yesterday that Crable was improving in practice and could work his way into the mix: "I think there is definitely a chance. I think Shawn has improved all the way through camp and in the regular season in the opportunities that he's had. If we were able to take more players to the game, I am sure Shawn would go to the game and I am sure he would play." (projo PatsBlog) Also during his conference call with the media, Belichick deflected questions about Matt O'Connell's development, declining to entertain the idea that O'Connell could soon be replacing Matt Cassel.

STAYING OUT WEST: The Patriots will remain in California after Sunday's game against the 49ers, to avoid an extra cross-country trip when they play the Chargers in Week 6. (Boston Herald) The Pats will hope for better results than the Arizona Cardinals got. After losing in Washington in Week 3, the Cardinals elected to stay on the East Coast to prepare for their meeting with the Jets in Week 4. The result was an embarrassing 56-35 loss.

BURIED ON THE DEPTH CHART: Former Patriots pass rusher Tully Banta-Cain has yet to see any action for the 49ers this season. He is third on the San Francisco depth chart at outside linebacker, behind Manny Lawson and Parys Haralson. (boston.com)

GIANT STEPS: The idle Giants moved to the number-one spot in the ESPN power rankings, while the Tennessee Titans took over the second spot and the Dallas Cowboys fell to third. The Patriots also didn't play, but they dropped from 11th to 13th.

AN UGLY, UGLY DIVORCE: We've had two coaches fired in the last two days, and the way the Raiders went about dumping Lane Kiffin couldn't have been more different than the way the Rams handled Scott Linehan's firing on Monday. Rams management took care to praise Linehan as a person in announcing the end of his tenure as coach. But Al Davis -- that well-known symbol of honesty and integrity -- said that Kiffin was a "flat-out liar" who undermined the team with his media dealings. (San Francisco Chronicle) Davis plans on not paying the $3.5 million that is remaining on Kiffin's contract. Offensive line coach Tom Cable, who presumably had some sort of gun put to his head, will take over the head coaching job on an interim basis.

NOT A PROMISING TRACK RECORD: In his one previous stint as a head coach -- at the University of Idaho -- Cable was 11-35 from 2000 to 2003. (San Francisco Chronicle)

YOUR POINT OF VIEW IS NOT ACCEPTABLE: Here's what Davis said to a reporter who put forth that the players liked Kiffin personally: "I think you're wrong." (profootballtalk.com)

SAME OLD STORY: Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto says the sorry Kiffin episode is the latest example of a 20-year-old trend -- Davis hasn't found a coach he likes since Tom Flores left. The move neither makes the Raiders better nor worse, Ratto says, but is simply "another turn on the Hamster Wheel from Hell" that is the Raiders under Davis.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE PATRIOTS: After the news conference, Davis continued to drop bombs, including the allegation that the Patriots tampered with Randy Moss before trading for him in 2007. (San Jose Mercury News)

THE RESPONSE: Kiffin declined to do a point-by-point rebuttal of Davis' allegations against him, but he said that Davis himself was lying, and adding that he was a little embarrassed for Davis. In describing the situation, he uttered that famous Belichick-ism: "It is what it is." (ESPN)

POPULAR MOVE: The Rams' new coach, Jim Haslett, reinstated Marc Bulger as starting quarterback, reversing Linehan's move to Trent Green, which some Rams players had criticized. (Belleville News Democrat) Haslett also lost the "interim" from his job title. (St. Louis Post Dispatch)

A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL: That's what some Cowboys players say the media is doing in describing Terrell Owens' comments that he did not get the ball enough in Sunday's game against the Redskins. Their point of view -- stated, at least -- is that Owens is a great player, and great players always want the ball more. Tom Osborn of the San Antonio Express-News agrees. In a radio appearance, Owens denied that he had any problem with the offense and disputed reports that he discussed his role within the offense with quarterback Tony Romo. (Fort Worth Star Telegram)

FATHER SAYS BOLDIN IS OK: Anquan Boldin's father said his son received only minor injuries from the hit that got Jets safety Eric Smith suspended this week. (Palm Beach Post)

THE BENGALS BEING THE BENGALS: Cincinnati signed Cedric Benson to bolster its backfield, despite the two alcohol-related arrests that caused the Bears to release Benson in the offseason. (projo.com)

STEELERS BACKFIELD WOES: Willie Parker is out for Week 5, Rashard Mendenhall is out for the season, and Pittsburgh is bringing back Najeh Davenport. (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

GETTING OFF THE PRACTICE SQUAD JUST GOT HARDER: Because Cowboys wide receiver Mike Jefferson has been suspended for four weeks for taking a banned supplement.

STILL SORE: A rib injury makes Willis McGahee questionable for Baltimore's coming meeting with the undefeated Titans. (Baltimore Sun)

A NEW FACE ON THE CELEBRITY CIRCUIT: Reporters were on hand in a Tennessee courthouse to see a proceeding involving troubled country star Mindy McCready -- yes, the McCready who said this year that she had an affair with Roger Clemens -- when Titans defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth showed up to face a speeding charge. Next thing he knew, Haynesworth -- who has never been mistaken for Tom Brady -- found himself being blogged on TMZ.com

A BIG DAY FOR TITANS LINEMEN: The case against Haynesworth was postponed. Coincidentally, also in Tennessee, a DUI case involving Haynesworth's linemate, Jevon Kearse, was put off until January. (ESPN)

AND FINALLY: During Monday's Steelers-Ravens pregame show, Emmett Smith was caught on camera singing along to a nasty lyric by Young Jeezy:

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