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Brady to be named AFC offensive player of month

The Season of Brady continues, as he'll be named AFC offensive player of the month for October tomorrow...he was also named AFC POM for September.

In five October games (counting the Monday night football game in Cincinnati, which technically was in week four, but the league didn't count it in his September POM stats), Brady was 128-for-179 (71.5 percent) for 1,544 yards, 20 touchdowns and one interception.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 7:39 PM to Tom Brady | Permalink | Comments 0

Vrabel named AFC Defensive Player of the Week

Mike Vrabel won his first-ever AFC player of the week award today, garnering the honor after his 13-tackle, three strip-sack performance against the Redskins on Sunday. His three forced fumbles were all recovered by Patriots' teammates, leading to 17 New England points.

The Colts' Joseph Addai was named AFC offensive player of the week and San Diego punter Mike Scifres the special teams' player of the week.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 5:14 PM to Mike Vrabel | Permalink | Comments 0

NFL coaches on running it up

These quotes come courtesy of Sirius' NFL Radio:

John Fox, Carolina Panthers: “Typically in this league when you have the game in hand you do call off the dogs a little bit but not to the point where you could lose the game. You never can relax too much.”

Jack Del Rio, Jacksonville Jaguars: “You play to win. If you can score, score. Your job, as a defense, as an opponent, is to slow them down. Offensively you want to score. Obviously, late in the fourth quarter you’re going to make sure your starters don’t get hurt and things like that going forward but you still keep playing football.”

Herm Edwards, Kansas City Chiefs: “I just think that obviously [the Patriots] are going at a pace right now, they’re just playing. They’re having fun playing football. You’re caught in a bad situation there when you have a lead like that. All coaches have been in that situation. Sometimes you’ve been the guy that had the lead and sometimes you’ve been the guy on the other side of it. And that’s what’s great about athletics. People always look into things, trying to figure out is there something that he’s trying to do or say. The coach that is winning, does he run the ball on fourth down or does he pass the ball on fourth down? I don’t know what to tell you. It’s just one of those deals. There’s a lot being made out of things and at the end I think the thing you’ve got to realize is this. You’ve got a team that is playing very very good, setting all kinds of record. When I watch those guys play, they’re having fun. They’re just having fun playing football.”

Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings: “You’re talking about the Washington Redskins and one of the highest paid coaches in the National Football League and a staff full of head coaches and they’re coaching, too. Games can get left-handed like that, unfortunately, and New England has a way of making you be left-handed.”

Lane Kiffin, Oakland Raiders: “Coach Gibbs, I believe, said he had no issues with it. It’s so hard to win and so hard to score I don’t think that there really is running up the score. You’re just playing your players and trying to get better. In this league your backups do have so few opportunities to play that, from my perspective, if we were ever in that situation we would definitely run plays and put in some of our younger guys that otherwise don’t play.”

Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers: “We’re responsible for keeping their score down. They aren’t. That’s just being competitive. That’s what this game is about. That’s what any game is about. I have no comment or opposition to them ringing up as many points as they’re capable of.”

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments 2

Wednesday participation report

New England has published its first participation/injury report of the week:

Did Not Participate
LB Eric Alexander - knee
S Mel Mitchell - groin
RB Sammy Morris - chest
CB Asante Samuel - team decision
S Eugene Wilson - ankle

Limited Participation
TE Kyle Brady - team decision
QB Tom Brady - right shoulder
WR Randy Moss - team decision
LB Adalius Thomas - ankle
LB Mike Vrabel - shoulder
TE Benjamin Watson - ankle

Indianapolis has not yet submitted its report.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Doggie mistake

Hey all --

In Sunday's "Up Close" with Bam Childress, we wrote that he bred bull mastiffs, and it turns out there was a little misunderstanding there.

Childress breeds American bullies, which he said are a cross-breed of pit bulls and American Staffordshire terriers.

Apologies for the mix-up.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments 1

Doesn't He Read The New England Papers?

Bob Kravitz, a columnist for the Indianapolis Star, this week wrote that the Patriots are "the least lovable champs since Sonny Liston," and called them the "New-Age Oakland Raiders." Which is understandable, given the way the Pats have been piling up points against overmatched and overwhelmed opponents, the VideoGate scandal, the acquisition of the controversial Randy Moss, and coach Bill Belichick's unfriendly demeanor.
But what is baffling is that Kravitz referred to the New England media as "a group notorious for its pompon waving."
I have to wonder what response he'd get if he asked players, coaches, and team officials from four the region's four pro sports franchises if they thought the writers covering them were "cheerleaders."

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments 2

Practice peek: No Asante, no Troy

Hey all --

We are just in from the week's first practice, held in full pads. Team owner Robert Kraft was taking in the session, yet another sign of how big Sunday's game is.

As for who was there and who wasn't, Benjamin Watson made his return after missing two weeks with an ankle injury. However, Sammy Morris (chest), Eugene Wilson (ankle), Mel Mitchell (groin), and Eric Alexander (knee) remain on the list of absentees.

Joining them on that list is corner Asante Samuel, who was not spotted during media access.

And Troy Brown was not out there either, which is meaningful because this is the last week that the Patriots have the option of opening the window for Brown. As he is on the PUP list, teams can choose at any time between weeks six and nine to start practicing and open a 21-day window for them, by the end of which time they must either activate them to the 53-man roster or put them on season-ending injured reserve.

After Sunday's win over Washington, Bill Belichick said it had been his team's best week of practice to that point, and it showed in the high number of practice player of the week jerseys -- we counted 10, with rookies Brandon Meriweather and Kareem Brown, Larry Izzo, Ray Ventrone, Pierre Woods, Antwain Spann, Le Kevin Smith, Rashad Baker and Tim Mixon all sporting the black jerseys. Interesting that none of the award winners were from the offensive side of the ball.

We'll be back with more shortly.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Pats-Colts is latest ever matchup of unbeatens

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- This weekend's game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts marks the first time two undefeated teams have played this late in a National Football League season, the league confirmed.

Two teams with records of 7-0 or better never have played in the league's 88 seasons, the NFL said in a news release.

The 8-0 Patriots are favored to beat the 7-0 Colts in Indianapolis on Nov. 4 by six points, according to Las Vegas sports books. The Patriots have won three Super Bowl titles since 2001. They are scoring a league-leading 41.4 points a game and have outscored opponents by an average of 25 1/2 points.

The Colts won last season's Super Bowl and have won 11 straight games dating back to last season. Indianapolis has beaten New England in three straight games.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Colts look like "live 'dogs"

Let's see...
The undefeated (7-0) Colts are the reigning Super Bowl champions. They've won 12 games in a row, including playoffs, going back to last season. They've won 12 straight regular-season games at home, and 25 of the last 27. They've beaten the Patriots three times in a row, including a 38-34 victory in last year's AFC championship game in Indianapolis, after they were trailing, 21-3, late in the second quarter. They've also beaten the Pats the last two times they played in Foxboro -- 27-20 last November, and 40-21 in Nov. of '05.
And yet they're 5-point underdogs for Sunday's showdown in the RCA Dome?
"The point spreads are really public opinion," Colts coach Tony Dungy told the Indianapolis Star earlier this week. "They (the oddsmakers) are trying to get an even number of bets on both sides, so they have to respond to public opinion, not to any reality. A lot of people obviously think New England's going to win."
This Patriots team is, without question, much better than the one that lost twice to the Colts last year. They have been all-but unstoppable offensively, as QB Tom Brady already has thrown more TD passes (30) in half a season than he had in any previous season. His previous high was 28, in 2002, and the Super Bowl championship season of '04.
But, as many points as the Pats have been scoring, Peyton Manning and the Colts can get the ball into the end zone, too, and they look awfully tempting playing at home, having been slighted by the betting public, even though they're the defending NFL champs.

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Projo PatsTalk with Shalise Manza Young: Bulletin board material from Dungy

Click here to listen to today's edition of projo PatsTalk with Shalise Manza Young. The topics: Good versus evil?extra motivation on both sides; does Peyton Manning have Bill Belichick's number now? the x-factor for the Patriots; improvements to the Colts' defense; Shalise's prediction; and why the Colts don't want to lose this one.

Here are some excerpts from Shalise's comments:

Motivational factors: "The other thing to remember is the bulletin board material. Who uses bulletin board material better than Bill Belichick? And when the spygate punishment was handed down, Tony Dungy went on the record and said that it was a sad day for the NFL. Bill Belichick is going to bring that out this week. Tony Dungy compared Bill Belichick to Barry Bonds, of all people."

The Colts' three-game winning streak against New England: "One thing to remember is that ... there was an x-factor in those games. Rodney Harrison did not play in any of those last three games. He started the regular-season game here in New England last season, but that was the one where he broke his shoulder blade on the first drive of the game, I think it was. ... Rodney Harrison is a ferocious, fierce competitor. There's a lot to be said, I think, for the fact that he did not play in those games."

Shalise's prediction: "41-27 Patriots. I just think that there's so many things that the Patriots are going to look at. Nobody feeds off disrespect or old losses like they do, and I just think the offense that Brady has this year -- and the defense showed last week that they had something to prove, and I just think that they're going to keep going with that this week."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments 0