Some Dreams Come True

Working for an insurance company, I rarely hear, “This was always my dream, to be a middle manager for a major insurance company.” On the other hand, that’s the kind of dream you can shrug off when you wind up a line cook at Olive Garden. When your childhood dream was to play football in the NFL, it can’t be easy seeing your name on the waiver wire.

Can you cook?

Lightly Toasted Schadenfreude for Sunday Brunch

I almost feel sorry for the Jets and their fans. Almost.

Signs and Misdemeanors

Meaningless game? Check. No season-ending injuries? Check. Losing 40-3 and not caring? Check.

Reality

It kinda blows sometimes. 

Of Brains And ACLs

Miami Dolphins TE Dustin Keller suffered the dreaded season-ending injury in a meaningless preseason game. His knee was blown to pieces by a low hit delivered by Houston Texans DB D.J. Swearinger. Swearinger took to social media, saying he bore no ill intent toward Keller but he was afraid of being fined for going high so he went low. This has generated a blognado (I’d say a Category 2, maybe 3 tops) of posts and comments and shown up on various video outlets. I watched the ESPN MNF crew (I think it was Tirico, Boomer, Ditka, Keyshawn, Cris Carter and Tom Jackson) debate the high/low hit conundrum before the Pittsburgh-Washington preseason tilt. They actually debated the relative impact of a blown ACL vs. a concussion. Sort of a variation on the old face or gut question. I suppose I should be unsurprised they all chose concussions. Have they forgotten Junior Seau so soon? They also seemed as unfamiliar with human anatomy as Swearinger. We still have torsos, don’t we?

Roster Rumblings

Roster projections are fun for armchair GM’s like me. Something of a fool’s errand if you’re trying to accurately predict what Bill Belichick is going to do. Sounds so like me. The only errands worth running are the fool's errands

Perfect Tommy

It’s become one of the locker room clichés of the Belichick era in New England. Regardless of the question asked, a Patriots’ player is likely to answer, “I’m just trying to get better…” Watching New England's second preseason game, I couldn’t help but wonder; has Tom Brady actually gotten better? I don’t mean better than 2001. I mean better than 2007; better than his unanimous MVP season of 2010. I’m not saying he’ll throw 51+ TD passes and no more than 3 INT in 2013 (though that would be crazy delicious). How about another cliché? There’s more to playing the position than numbers.

The Ballad of Tom Brady's Knee

I drove to work listening to Gerry Callahan on WEEI hating on Tim Tebow. I drove home listening to the multi-personality disorder that is New England sports fandom as the callers came not to praise Tom Brady but to bury him.

Ridin' Dirty

So, I initially blew off the reports of bullying and dirty play directed at the Patriots by Eagles’ CB Cary Williams. Haters gonna hate, crybabies gonna cry. It just read like the usual bullshit rationalization that losers always make. Then I realized I hoped it was true.

Rush to Judgment

It was just a preseason game which equals meaningless. Or does it?

The Welker Referendum

Do we ever grow up? Life is like sixty years of high school. In the SI article on the Broncos being the Greatest Team Ever because Peyton Manning is the Bestest Quarterback Since God Created the Heavens and Earth, Wes Welker let his inner child out to pout. Bill Belichick was mean to Wes Welker. Apparently, he’s mean to just about everyone but I guess in Welker’s case it was personal or something. Anyway, the local media has gone berserker. It picks the Lawyer Malloy scab, the Ty Law scab, the Willie McGinest scab, the Asante Samuel scab, the Richard Seymour scab; it reminds the Pigskin Pundits and Bobbleheads that Belichick is mean to them, too.

I'm Not Over It

I know I said I was over the whole Brady vs. Manning thing but clearly I’m not.

I Heard Once That Defense Has Something To Do With Winning Something

You hear people refer to it as “multi” these days but what they’re really talking about is balance. Offense and defense. Passing and running. Stopping the pass and stopping the run. The Patriots have been a team that needed to outscore its opponents since 2007. Scoring 34 points a game will make that seem like an okay strategy until that one junk punch Sunday when you score 17.

It’s so, so easy to forget those 34 points was an average, not a guarantee.