Patriots 2011 Regular Season

[Cman]

Sounds like Sanders may land on his feet with the Falcons.  That wouldn't be too surprising considering the Dimitroff connection there.

Interesting.  I had thought he might join Pioli instead as I remember reading that Pioli was very high on Sanders.

[Fafnir]

Sounds like Sanders may land on his feet with the Falcons.  That wouldn't be too surprising considering the Dimitroff connection there.

Interesting.  I had thought he might join Pioli instead as I remember reading that Pioli was very high on Sanders.

If he's on a shorter term deal he could have picked the Falcons for a chance to shine for a playoff team.

[Donoghus]

Sounds like Sanders may land on his feet with the Falcons.  That wouldn't be too surprising considering the Dimitroff connection there.

Interesting.  I had thought he might join Pioli instead as I remember reading that Pioli was very high on Sanders.

Reiss tweeted earlier that Dimitroff had done a lot of work on Sanders when he was coming out of Fresno State.

[Cman]

Sounds like Sanders may land on his feet with the Falcons.  That wouldn't be too surprising considering the Dimitroff connection there.

Interesting.  I had thought he might join Pioli instead as I remember reading that Pioli was very high on Sanders.

Reiss tweeted earlier that Dimitroff had done a lot of work on Sanders when he was coming out of Fresno State.

OK, that makes sense.  Maybe I'd confused Pioli with Dimitroff.  But I could have sworn that Reiss had something a year or so back saying that one of the picks that Pioli was most happy/proud about (while with the Pats) was the James Sanders pick.

[Eja117]

Sounds like Sanders may land on his feet with the Falcons.  That wouldn't be too surprising considering the Dimitroff connection there.

Yeah.  And I have to give the Pats credit for cutting him, and allowing him to go someplace he chose, rather than trading him (for a pretty worthless draft pick most likely).  Sanders has been a good soldier, and has done a great job stepping in and essentially playing above his head for the last few years. 

Classy move by the Pats. 

I think Bill would trade his own mother for a 5th rounder next year, so I don't think class was on his mind. But it's a beautiful lie we can all hold onto.

[Eja117]

Signed WR Tiquan Underwood and S Ross Ventrone. Released LS Matt Katula, TE Garrett Mills, S James Sanders, CB Jonathan Wilhite, DL Kade Weston, WR Tyree Barnes, WR Darnell Jenkins, DB Malcolm Williams, K Chris Koepplin, DE Clay Nurse and OL Mark Wetterer.

Eeeenteresting.  I find dropping Sanders to be borderline shocking.  The 7th rounder is gone. A 7th rounder from last year is gone. Butler has beaten out Wilhite. Did they just bring back Ventrone?

I wouldn't call the Sanders cut shocking.  Both he and Merriweather make a lot for a 3rd safety, so they were both fighting for that position.  Unfortunately for Sanders, coming into camp injured killed his chances of beating out Merriweather, combined with the fact that they save twice as much by cutting Sanders than Merriweather, and he was the one to go.

I also think the lack of depth at Safety is a bit overblown.  In addition to Merriweather and Chung, all of their CBs are more than capable of playing safety, and with such a strong front 7 compared to past years, Belichick may prefer to have more cover guys in the defensive backfield than run stoppers like Sanders. 

Particularly with McCourty and Bodden now on the outsides, it opens up more possibilities to use Arrington (a big hitter) and Dowling (another big guy) both in the Nickle, and filling in at safety, to add a little more range to the defensive backfield.

Now that I look at it maybe resigning Ventrone is aimed at softening the blow of losing Sanders

[cman88]

anyone else think the media is really over-reacting about ochocinco's poor play in the pre-season thus far?....i was listening to 98.5sports hub and one of the hosts was crying about how he thought the ocho signing looks like a bust and he thought ocho would come in and produce and it looks like hes done...

now, he hasnt looked that good in the pre-season at all but:

1. its the pre-season and he didn't play much.
2. hes been on the team for around 4weeks and still is trying to get down the offensive playbooks. By all indications hes working hard, staying for extra reps

personally, I think he'll be fine. if he still looks this bad week 2 or 3, il change my tune. but i at least have to see him in a regular season game...Also, i think its unrealistic to expect him to have the impact moss had. the offense the patriots run now is going to be alot different than the one they ran with moss...this offense is more about spreading the ball around and he'll be sharing touches with Branch, Welker, hernandez, gronkowski, woodhead....I think his main purpose is to take some of the pressure off of welker. Tate didnt cut it last year.

[Cman]

Reiss had a run down on Patriots players from this year who were cut and currently playing on other teams:
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4702550/catching-up-with-former-patriots

Of note:

Brandon Meriweather (Bears) -- Safety plays in a reserve role and finishes with 2 tackles as Bears roll over the Falcons, 30-12.
 
James Sanders (Falcons) -- Safety doesn't start and doesn't show up on the stat sheet in Falcons' 30-12 loss to the Bears.
 
Lee Smith (Bills) -- Rookie tight end is inactive in 41-7 win over the Chiefs.

Brandon Tate (Bengals) -- Receiver is active and handles punt returns and kickoff returns in 27-17 win over Browns; finishes with 1 punt return for 15 yards and 3 fair catches, and has four kickoff returns for 92 yards, with a long of 35.

[Donoghus]

Reiss had a run down on Patriots players from this year who were cut and currently playing on other teams:
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4702550/catching-up-with-former-patriots

Of note:

Brandon Meriweather (Bears) -- Safety plays in a reserve role and finishes with 2 tackles as Bears roll over the Falcons, 30-12.
 
James Sanders (Falcons) -- Safety doesn't start and doesn't show up on the stat sheet in Falcons' 30-12 loss to the Bears.
 
Lee Smith (Bills) -- Rookie tight end is inactive in 41-7 win over the Chiefs.

Brandon Tate (Bengals) -- Receiver is active and handles punt returns and kickoff returns in 27-17 win over Browns; finishes with 1 punt return for 15 yards and 3 fair catches, and has four kickoff returns for 92 yards, with a long of 35.

Stuff like this is why Reiss is the best Pats writer out there, hands-down.

[Cman]

Reiss had a run down on Patriots players from this year who were cut and currently playing on other teams:
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4702550/catching-up-with-former-patriots

Of note:

Brandon Meriweather (Bears) -- Safety plays in a reserve role and finishes with 2 tackles as Bears roll over the Falcons, 30-12.
 
James Sanders (Falcons) -- Safety doesn't start and doesn't show up on the stat sheet in Falcons' 30-12 loss to the Bears.
 
Lee Smith (Bills) -- Rookie tight end is inactive in 41-7 win over the Chiefs.

Brandon Tate (Bengals) -- Receiver is active and handles punt returns and kickoff returns in 27-17 win over Browns; finishes with 1 punt return for 15 yards and 3 fair catches, and has four kickoff returns for 92 yards, with a long of 35.

Stuff like this is why Reiss is the best Pats writer out there, hands-down.

Completely agree.

[Cman]

Start drinking early. Get rowdy. There’s a lot of time to get lubed up and cheer for the home team

Way to go Tommy boy!

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4702910/bradys-message-to-fans-for-home-opener

[cman88]

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/rap_sheet/index.php/2011/09/19/fantasy-football-alert-dont-be-surprised-if-patriot-te-aaron-hernandez-is-out-vs-the-bills/

sounds like Hernandez may sit out the bills game next week...although supposedly his knee injury isnt serious(which is good to hear)

thats abit of a blow to our offense, but I think it means we will see alot of 3 WR sets, and Ocho is going to have to pick up some of the slack

[Cman]

http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/rap_sheet/index.php/2011/09/19/fantasy-football-alert-dont-be-surprised-if-patriot-te-aaron-hernandez-is-out-vs-the-bills/

sounds like Hernandez may sit out the bills game next week...although supposedly his knee injury isnt serious(which is good to hear)

thats abit of a blow to our offense, but I think it means we will see alot of 3 WR sets, and Ocho is going to have to pick up some of the slack

It would also be nice to get Price a bit of work as well.

I can't say I've been particularly impressed with Dan Gronkowski so far. I still wonder about the decision to not keep Yeatman or Smith.

[cman88]

he said that he's still trying to learn the playbook...I think dan's more of a traditional blocking tight end than his brother...

id like to see some more touches for Edelman too...I just want Hernandez back for the game against the Jets...I think we should be fine for a couple weeks without him with all the options brady has

[Cman]

id like to see some more touches for Edelman too...I just want Hernandez back for the game against the Jets...I think we should be fine for a couple weeks without him with all the options brady has

Agreed on all counts.
I'm excited about the next few games.