Monthly Archives: July 2011

July 29, 2011 · 5:35 AM

Outdoing…Themselves!

It was literally two days ago that I put this bug in your ear. Chad Ochocinco to the Patriots.

Now it’s a reality.

This was many years in the making. The were reports of how Bill Belichick had a great rapport with Ochocinco at the Pro Bowl and then there was this interaction prior to the 2009 preseason game against the Bengals.

So the Patriots trade a 2013 fifth rounder to the Redskins for former defensive player of the year Albert Haynesworth and follow it up by getting Ochocinco for two low rounders one in 2012 and one in 2013.

These are two of the greatest steals in recent Pats memory. I like the Ochocinco trade even better than the Moss trade. This isn’t revisionist history, I have loved Ochocinco since he was a fantasy stud for me in 2003. I think just based on the small interaction above and the rumors of how the two get along, this should be a very successful union.

In a day, the Patriots addressed the two issues that I was worried about. In a day!

They now have a pass rush (I’d still like a linebacker that could do the same) and their big play wideout. My hope is that in their stable of wide receivers (Tate, Edelman, Price, Branch) they have someone that can lineup opposite Ochocinco while Welker plays the slot. Oh and I haven’t forgotten the fantastic tight ends Gronkowski and Hernandez.

The offense is a juggernaut.

I guess the only question that stands right now is will Hernandez give up the 85 jersey to Ochocinco? You think they’ll be able to work something out and Hernandez will take 86…or he changes his name back to Johnson and takes whatever number the team issues.

I say, we cue the duckboats. I love the way this team is shaping up.

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July 28, 2011 · 6:25 AM

Making A Splash

While the rest of the league is busy trying to get their pass rush from Mathias Kiwanuka the Patriots decided to go out and make a move of their own.

Get this…they traded a fifth round pick (not a typo) to the Redskins for Albert Haynesworth.

So Haynesworth signed the biggest free agent contract in recent memory when he signed with Washington, had conditioning issues, and clashed with head coach Mike Shanahan. So the Redskins deal him for a fifth round pick and the Pats are the team standing there waiting for him.

They traded a second and seventh for Wes Welker, a fourth for Randy Moss, and now a fifth for Albert Haynesworth. This has to be one of the biggest steals in recent league history, right?

I’m trying not to focus on the negatives of the conditioning and clashing with his head coach. Personally I think that Washington, even with Shanahan in the fold, doesn’t run their franchise as well as the Patriots do. I don’t think their strength and conditioning staff is as good as the Pats. And no offense to Mike Shanahan but I don’t think that he runs as tight a ship as Belichick.

Now let’s look at where he’ll fit in the mix. The Pats have the best nose tackle in the league already with Wilfork. Plus they locked up Wilfork long term last season so he’s not going to move.

Look, the Pats drafted Seymour who was a nose tackle in college and moved him to end where he dominated. They also drafted Ty Warren and did the same exact thing. So I think it’s a safe assumption that the Pats will move him to the end and finally have that pass rush they lost when they traded Seymour to Oakland.

Personally I think that this move is such a low risk move that if it works it will look like the biggest steal in recent history. You figure that Haynesworth has gotten paid (Washington already paid most of the guaranteed money on his contract) so now he must want to win.

Even if it doesn’t work out, it’ll make my Madden team unstoppable this season. HA!

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July 27, 2011 · 6:31 AM

Better Than The Trading Deadline

The Patriots started their day by telling Tully Banta-Cain that he would be released on Thursday when the team is able to release players. He’s the only casualty to this point but I have a feeling we’ll hear some other names that are on their way out of Foxboro. Some may be brought back at lesser deals, others may be gone for good.

Logan Mankins who was a central figure in the lockout lawsuit against the league will report to camp on time and sign his $10.5 million franchise offer. Here’s hoping that as soon as he signs that, they tear it up and sign him to a long term deal. Mankins was at Myra Kraft’s funeral and I think that they’ve rebuilt the bridge and both sides want Mankins in New England for the long term.

Other teams in the league have announced that they’re cutting players as well. Some notable names out their include the Cowboys Roy Williams and Marion Barber, Matt Hasselbeck in Seattle, Derrick Mason, Willis McGahee, and tight end Todd Heap in Baltimore to name a few.

Then there’s the trade talk about Kevin Kolb leaving Philly and going to Arizona, Donavan McNabb being shipped from Washington to the Vikings, and Carson Palmer not being sent anywhere and instead opting to retire.
But it’s another player in Cincinnati that is on my radar and hopefully the Patriots radar…that would be Chad Ochocinco. Rumors persist that he wants out of Cincinnati and if he’s not released may be traded. He’s made it very clear that we would love to be a Patriot and play for Bill Belichick.

The bottom line with the Pats, I think, is that they have two big holes they need to fill. One is wide receiver as they don’t have that deep threat big receiver (making Ochocinco a nice fit). But the other need I think is even greater and that’s pass rush. Are the Patriots happy with Cunningham on the edge? What about Ninkovich? I think they should really look at the free agent market. Maybe Kiwanuka?

We’ll have to wait until Friday for official signings. Here’s hoping the Pats make a couple decent moves to make sure they’ll get out of the first round of the playoffs. It’s better than the MLB trading deadline for sure.

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July 26, 2011 · 6:34 AM

Are You Ready?

We’ve covered it before but I am a huge Chris Farley fan. Shortly before his death he hosted SNL for the last time. He did a pretty funny bit where he played Hank Williams Jr or “Bocephus”. I tried to embed it for you but that didn’t really work. So Click Here.

I bring this up of course because Hank Williams Jr. begs the question, “Are you ready for some football?”.

The answer is yes!

Yesterday it was announced that the NFL players had agreed to the deal that the owners signed off on last Thursday. Player rep Jeff Saturday praised Patriots owner Robert Kraft pointing out the fact that if he hadn’t been involved, this deal would never have been done.

So the big “hang up” of Logan Mankins and Vincent Jackson wasn’t that big a hang up after all? Both are under the team’s franchise tag. It will be interesting to see how much good will Kraft really bought with the players as the Logan Mankins situation plays out. Personally – and I’ve said it before – I would get Mankins signed to a long term deal now that this labor dispute has been resolved.

The Pats are about $7.5 million under the cap right now. It will be interesting to see what type of moves they make in the next week or so. They still need a pass rush. Will they try and lure a big name free agent into town or will they go with what they have? With Tully Banta-Cain being one of their only pass rushers and injured, the team certainly needs to address this area ASAP.

Similar to how we see veterans released in early June, everything is going to be compressed into the next week or so leading up to August 4th when the teams can sign free agents.

Camp opens on Thursday. If I didn’t just take a beach day this past Friday I’d head down to Foxboro for the start of camp.

Bottom line is I’m ready for some football.

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July 25, 2011 · 6:39 AM

Maybe?

So I took a day off Friday when it was 106 degrees out and spent the day at the beach with the wife; hope you didn’t miss me too much.

Well, in my last post I had mentioned that the Mariners were fighting for last place in the AL West and wouldn’t deal Felix Hernandez. I think that I possibly could be wrong. I’m not saying that the Sox are going to be the team that acquires him, but think that on the heals of a 15 game losing streak, they may be rebuilding for the future.

But not just rebuilding for the future, but strip down their entire franchise and start over. Think Cleveland the last couple of years. They dealt pretty much every guy on their team. Cleveland gave up Victor Martinez (to the Sox), they dealt Sabathia in 2008, and they are contenders in the AL Central now because they blew it all up.

Cleveland should serve as the model for Seattle right now. Cleveland took a huge risk in dealing Sabathia to the Brewers (who absolutely abused him down the stretch) but they accumulated talent. Same when the dealt Martinez to the Sox. They got back Masterson who’s pitching pretty well for them this year.

You figure to get Seattle to pull the trigger on a Hernandez deal would take a huge deal. But would it?

I’m not saying you wouldn’t have to give up a couple top prospects in your system but would it take three? Four? The Sox landed Adrian Gonzalez for only three prospects and he plays every day.

I think that we could see Hernandez moved in the next week or so and the Mariners trying to get four top prospects back and eventually settling with three. That’s why I don’t think the Sox are players in this one. Even with the question marks surrounding Clay Buchholz’s injury, I don’t think the Sox have enough in their farm system to really make a deal work. I certainly wouldn’t want to see Jose Iglesias traded to get Hernandez.

We’ll have to wait and see.

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