Projo Pats Blog

A TEAM TO TAKE SERIOUSLY: For most of this decade, the San Francisco 49ers have not been a very good team. How good they can be this year is still to be determined, but they do present a lot more problems in preparation than they have for a while. That's especially true for the Patriots, who will have to protect Matt Cassel from the blitz-happy 49ers' defense, which has become a much stronger unit (projo.com) with the acquisition of pass-rushing defensive end Justin Smith from the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Patriots will also have to figure out -- after a miserable performance against the Dolphins' Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams -- how to contain San Francisco running back Frank Gore, the NFL's leader in yards per scrimmage. (projo.com)

CONTROL THE BALL: The Herald's Rich Thompson writes that one of the best things Cassel could have happen is a big game from running back Laurence Maroney.

RUNNER GETS A REST: Gore did not participate in practice yesterday because of a "coach's decision." (projo PatsBlog)

LEADERSHIP SKILLS: Offensive co-captain Randy Moss is trying to help Cassel with his development, by doing things like watching film with the first-year starter. When asked what kind of confidence the offense had developed in Cassel, Moss said this: "Well, I think that first of all he has to believe in himself. I think it will trickle on down to the whole offense. We have seen Matt progress in these last couple of weeks quicker than we expected him to." (Boston Globe)

THE ODD COUPLE -- OR MAYBE NOT: The Herald's Inside Track reports that Alex Rodriguez was eager for Friday's Red Sox-Yankees game to be rained out (it wasn't) because he had plans to meet Tom Brady for dinner.

BIG MAN WANTS TO STAY: Nose tackle Vince Wilfork said yesterday that he wants to follow Troy Brown's lead and play his entire career with the Patriots. Wilfork still has two more years left on his contract with the Patriots. (Boston Herald)

DON'T WORRY ABOUT JEROD MAYO: The Patriots' rookie linebacker, sighted earlier this week wearing a cast on his wrist, is not on the team's injury report. (Rotoworld)

TUNED IN TO WHAT'S GOING ON: Linebacker Mike Vrabel has been Bill Belichick's number-one choice to wear the coach-to-player audio device. Vrabel is generally happy with how the device has been working. (boston.com)

I'D RATHER BE ANYWHERE THAN THERE: 49ers offensive tackle Barry Sims toils on the unit that has allowed more sacks than any other in the NFL. But while he and his linemates work out their problems, Sims is thankful that he is not on the east side of the bay, playing for the Raiders, as he did for nine years before jumping to San Francisco. "It's a circus," Sims said, when asked about the Raiders' sorry state. (San Francisco Chronicle)

I SECOND THAT: Rich Gannon, who quarterbacked the Raiders to a Super Bowl in the 2002 season, had some very negative things to say about the organization in an interview with Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, saying that Oakland was an "impossible place to work."

"Every day was a fight inside that building to do what we did," Gannon told Cole. "We had to overcome adversity in the building and then get on a plane to go try to beat Denver. When I played in Kansas City, all I had to do was walk in the door. I didn't have to worry about guys showing up late for practice or meetings, guys being out drinking until 3 a.m. or missing curfew the night before games. In Kansas City, that stuff didn't happen. In Oakland, it was an everyday occurrence."

TAKING THE HIGH ROAD: It's easy to do for Lane Kiffin, since no one really has any sympathy for his former employer. Kiffin gave an interview with Sirius Satellite Radio yesterday, and he once again declined to go into the specifics of Al Davis' charges against him, reiterating that he actually feels embarrassed for the old man. (profootballtalk.com)

SILENT AL: Not surprisingly (considering the source), Davis made his tampering charges against the Patriots and Randy Moss more than a year after the fact and without ever having filed a complaint with the league office. (projo PatsBlog)

PILING ON: Even our old friend Pete Carroll teed off on Davis yesterday, which is not particularly surprising since he used to be Kiffin's boss at USC. (Orange County Register)

NO WAY: Belichick's friend and Davis' former lieutenant, Mike Lombardi, strongly denied on the National Football Post that any tampering occurred with the Patriots and Moss: "I am not going to dignify Al Davis' comments by offering remarks on everything that he said. I will, however, say this: there was never any tampering between the Patriots and Randy Moss. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and I are friends going back to our Cleveland days and we talk football all the time -- like two people in the NFL who love football would normally do. Between everyone lying and everyone tampering there seemed to be a wide sweep to Davis' accusations yesterday."

WHAT ABOUT BOB? Colts president Bill Polian is targeting the Nov. 2 matchup with the Patriots as the comeback date for injured safety Bob Sanders. (colts.com)

UM, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THE OTHER TEAM: Chad Johnson, or Chad Ocho Cinco, or whatever the no-longer-really relevant wide receiver is called -- doesn't play for the Cowboys, in fact he is playing against them this weekend along with his 0-4 Cincinnati Bengals. But during a conference call with the Dallas media, Chad basically went into a reverie about why he wished he were wearing a star on his helmet, before asking the writers to pass his regards along to Jerry Jones: (Dallas Morning News)

"Let me tell you, I don't mean to be funny ... I'm not tried to be rude or piss anybody off, but if I was in Dallas, they would have to change all of our damn games to pay-per-view because you need to pay to see that [beep]. I'm serious. I'm so serious. They would have to put all the games on pay-per-view. Because you can't just watch a show like that for free; 81 and 85? Come on, now. Please." Apparently word of his own awful-ness this season hasn't yet filtered down to Chad.

WHO WILL GET HIM THE BALL? Chad won't be running routes for Tony Romo this weekend, and he might not be running them for Carson Palmer, either. Palmer remains questionable for the Cowboys game with an elbow injury. (Cincinnati Enquirer) If Palmer can't go, it will be Harvard man Ryan Fitzpatrick getting a second start at quarterback. ESPN's John Clayton reports that Palmer risks further damaging his elbow if he continues to practice.

SOMETHING THEY'RE NOT USED TO: In Green Bay, that would be starting a backup quarterback. Brett Favre, of course, never missed a start, but Aaron Rodgers might have to this weekend against the Falcons. Rodgers promises to do anything necessary to play Sunday despite his sprained right shoulder, but if he can't do it, it will be NFL debut time for Matt Flynn. (USA Today)

RETURNING, TO WHAT? Vince Young is back at practice with the Tennessee Titans, but he won't be taking the starting job back from Kerry Collins, and he might not even be taking the number-two spot away from Chris Simms. (projo.com)

HE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING: Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin has clear recollection of the hit by safety Eric Smith that sent him to the hospital on Sunday. (East Valley Tribune) Boldin, who has a fractured sinus membrane, attended practice yesterday but did not participate; yet he still has not been ruled out for Sunday's game against the Bills.

THE FORBIDDEN WORD: Profootballtalk.com's Mike Florio notes that teams seem to be eager to avoid using the word "concussion" when describing the injuries to players like Boldin.

BACK AT FULL STRENGTH: The Chargers have taken LaDainian Tomlinson off their injury report. (Rotoworld)

MORE PREP FOR QUINN: Brady Quinn says his practice reps doubled in the week leading up to the Browns' game against Cincinnati, but Derek Anderson remains the starting quarterback in Cleveland for now. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

LOOK OUT FOR THE SEAHAWKS: Seattle's depleted wide receiving corps could be getting a lot stronger, as both Deion Branch and Bobby Engram looked ready to return to action during practice yesterday. (Tacoma News Tribune) The News Tribune's Eric Williams reported that Branch, who has yet to play this year, "looked explosive and nimble, tight roping the sideline after making a nice catch on an out route, and showing an extra gear as he caught up to a deep ball from quarterback Matt Hasselbeck."

HENRY IN TROUBLE AGAIN: Former Broncos running back Travis Henry is accused of being the enforcer in a cocaine trafficking ring, who the authorities say threatened to kill two people if they didn't repay stolen drug money. (Rocky Mountain News) Henry faces federal drug charges in the case. Henry, who faced a one-year drug suspension from the league before he was cut by Denver in the offseason, has also been accused of failing to make child-support payments for the nine kids he has had with nine different women.

 Tags  Football Today

---