I woke up yesterday and was greeted by the news that the Pats and free agent to be Wes Welker were on the verge of signing a multi-year deal. The report as I was driving into work was reiterated saying the two sides were very close.
Then they weren’t.
Reports started coming in that in fact Welker was not close to signing anything and would definitely be testing free agency. The Twittersphere was a buzz confirming that same from “sources”.
Here’s my take; he’d be stupid to sign anywhere else. He’s had crazy 100 catch years with the Pats because of the system. He’s a product of his environment. Not saying he’s not good, I’m just saying he wouldn’t post the kind of production on a different team.
So he missed out on “getting paid”. Oh well. If he signs a team friendly deal he has the chance to be a Hall of Famer. If he has another three 100 catch seasons, he’s in elite company and can be argued as the best slot receiver ever.
So Miami, Indy, and others may come calling; he’d be stupid to sign elsewhere. And if it’s team friendly enough, maybe I forget those drops in big games. But probably not.
Well, now it’s Championship weekend. Falcons and 49ers over in the NFC meanwhile Pats and Ravens in the AFC.
Let’s get to it.
San Francisco (-4) vs @Atlanta
Atlanta is such a fraud team. The kind of fraud team that would win this game if I pick against them. But really that’s a chance I’m willing to take. We saw the 49ers a few weeks back and just how good their offense is against a passing offense. Matt Ryan is no Tom Brady which means the game will be even tougher for the Falcons. I hope Atlanta makes me wrong but I’m taking the 49ers in the NFC Championship for the second year in a row.
@New England (-9) vs Baltimore
This line opened at 9.5. Really? On what planet are the Pats this year 9.5 points better than the Ravens? They played each other back in week three…
I prefer the end zone camera. This shows for sure that it was no good.
Stupid replacement refs.
I’m a true believer in not poking the bear. I don’t think that advertising Ray Lewis’s retirement party is a smart move. I don’t think pissing him off is a good idea. You could end up murdered and his white suit he was wearing that day could go missing.
I think the Pats can win this game. I think the Pats are the better team overall. It’s going to take a mistake free game for sure. They can’t allow a 97 yard Ray Rice TD on the opening play from scrimmage. They can’t allow the Baltimore receivers to get behind the safeties. And they certainly can’t let Joe Flacco beat them by chucking it up and getting some bullshit pass interference call (I’m looking at you Arrington).
I don’t think the Pats offense is going to have problems. Whatever the Ravens decide to take away, the Patriots will adjust. If they take away Welker look for a Brandon Lloyd, Aaron Hernandez party. If they decide to focus on shutting down the running game, watch Welker blow up.
But at the end of the day, the nine point spread is absurd. Like the 49 game, I hope I’m wrong but I’m taking the Ravens to cover, Pats to win.
49ers and Pats in the Super Bowl, sounds like I picked that before. Yup, last year same pick. Can’t believe I had Carolina there with the 49ers in my NFC Preview column or Carolina beating them. What was I thinking. Oh well, I picked the stupid Chiefs who had the worst record in the league winning west. You can’t win them all. Here’s hoping the Pats can this week and again in two weeks.
“…kind of nice to stick it in Bill’s face once in a while.”
Wes Welker Sunday night on CSNNE
And with that quote once again the Boston media is coming with their pitchforks after Wes Welker. Sure he clarified Monday that it was a joke and he and Bill have a great relationship. But the media’s already coming.
So what happened?
Welker signed his franchise tag almost immediately. He didn’t hold out. He wasn’t a malcontent. He showed up to camp on time.
Do you think his agent stopped taking Belichick’s calls? Did his agent thumb his nose at a three year $21 million offer that the team may have put on the table?
Did Welker or his agent think they’d go to the mat with the Pats and win? Did they think that multiyear deal was going to be there on the last day they could have worked out a deal and it wasn’t?
Really at the end of the day, Welker is here and playing under the franchise tag which is the way the NFL rules are set up. Yet the media has been goading him since week one and even training camp to bash Bill and the organization.
Wes finally bites in jest and they’re all over him. Pathetic.
If I’m Wes I cancel the rest of my CSN appearances this year and just play football. The media’s against him and I don’t get why.
When I saw on Friday’s injury report that Gronk was questionable and that Mankins was doubtful, I was not optimistic. When I saw Sunday that Mankins was out, I was downright pessimistic.
Think about it. You have an offensive line that’s struggled to keep Brady upright the first three weeks playing against Mario Williams, Mark Anderson, and the rest of what has been advertised as a great Buffalo pass rush. Now you’re losing your Pro Bowl guard, I thought the Pats were sitting ducks and could have been 1-3.
But as I’ve said many times, that’s why they play the games.
This was one of the most impressive offensive performances by the Pats I can remember since that Tennessee game back in the blizzard. But let’s not forget it mostly came in the second half. If Vince Wilfork didn’t have that fumble recovery as time was running out in the first half, again, we may be talking about a completely different game.
You figure after Gostkowski went wide right and then wide left that this was going to be a long afternoon and possibly that the team would be 1-3. But for the first time I can remember in quite a long time the Pats were able to make halftime adjustments. They haven’t in what feels like years. Instead of just coming out and slinging it and trying to force their opponents to make changes, they adapted their offense. An offense we hadn’t seen since the Corey Dillon days.
That’s right, Corey Dillon. That’s all I could think as the Pats were running it down Buffalo’s throat. The final stats of course are beyond impressive with two 100 yard rushers. Rookie Brandon Bolden ran for 137 on 16 carries. That’s 8.6 yards a carry to go along with his two scores. That’s all he did in the preseason and you thought, how can this kid not make the team. Now I’m saying how can he not supplant Vereen as the #2 back behind Ridley. Ridley did well in his own right rushing for 106 yards and a 4.8 yards per carry average.
Of course there was Tom Brady’s rushing touchdown too. That made four rushing touchdowns by the Pats and everyone going Green-Ellis who?
This is what the Patriots have lacked since their Super Bowl winning ways. A rushing attack that could kill clock. Remember if they were up three with two minutes and the ball? They’d win, pretty much every time. Hand the ball to Dillon three times and the game was over. Clock Killin’ Corey Dillon.
What I hope is that the second half offense is where the Pats’ offense is headed instead of the flat, first half offense we saw after the opening drive. A real two headed monster at running back that can kill clock late in games. If that’s the case the rest of the league better be on alert. Because Brady still managed to net his 300+ yards passing, Gronk and Welker still got their 100+ yards receiving, the running piece has been that missing ingredient.
I start today thanking the Giants (didn’t show up), Eagles (didn’t cover), Chiefs (got blown out), Bills (also blown out), Cam Newton (letting his team get beat by the Bucs), and Peyton Manning (looking like a younger, less surgeried version of himself) for handing me my losses in the Pick Em. So if you’re scoring at home, which you probably aren’t, that’s 10-6 to start the season. I’m pretty sure I can make money in Vegas going 10-6.
Onto the news at hand.
You know we are spoiled as football fans when the media is making a non-story a story after a solid drubbing of the Titans on Sunday. Of course I’m referring to Wes Welker. He had three catches on five targets for 14 yards in Sunday’s win.
So of course everyone is over analyzing the shit out of this one stat line and basically writing him out of New England. He dropped one we saw bounce off his face and I don’t remember the other miss.
But isn’t our offense built around the tight ends? Just saying. If they’re open, Brady is going to find them, or Lloyd on the deep routes. A few times those deeper passes were there (Lloyd’s miss comes to mind). Why would the team dump off underneath when they have a chance for the home run?
Bottom line on the whole thing; it was one game. Calm down.
You know for a fact that Wes could go out next week and catch a dozen balls for 100+ yards. Until it’s week 12 and he’s sitting there with a dozen catches, don’t write this guy off. The team is paying him a ton and he’s Brady’s binky. That also means if he’s on your fantasy team, don’t dump him to the waiver wire.
It’s all a fabrication of a very bored media.
And if you’re in the mood for a good laugh, check out this column. You have to have a sense of humor to laugh at your own team. I chuckled a few times.
