Month: November 2015

It didn’t come easy, but on Sunday the New England Patriots moved to 9-0 on the year following a narrow 27-26 victory over the New York Giants in MetLife Stadium. This was undoubtedly Tom Brady’s worst performance this season, and yet he still finished the game with 334 yards, 2 touchdowns and a win, which perfectly summarizes how remarkable this 2015 season has been for TB12. Lets take a look at what took place:

The Good:

Twice the Patriots defense stood tall when they needed to most. After a Brady fumble, Eli Manning had his offense with a 1st & 10 from the New England 20 in position where a field goal makes it a two possession game in the 4th quarter, but Rob Ninkovich kept the game close throwing down Manning for a HUGE sack, thrusting Big Blue out of field goal range. At the blink of an eye, a mere 3 minutes after the Giants took over at the New England 20, Patriot’s TE Rob Gronkowski strolled in for a 73 yard touchdown, the longest of his career, giving the Pats a 24-23 lead. With the Giants knocking on the door of scoring yet again in the final minutes, the Patriots, led by a remarkable play by CB Malcolm Butler, kept the Giants out of the endzone, giving Tom Brady one final chance to win this football game, and per-usual, he didn’t disappoint.

Standing on your own 2o yard line, on the road, trailing by 2, no timeouts facing a 4th & 10 with all but 1:28 to go, Tom Brady at the helm. Can you draw it up any better? 7 plays later and Stephen Gostkowski is lining up to try a 54 yard field goal with the game on the line, and as you can imagine, he drilled it. Brady and the Pats were flat all day, struggled to move the ball, struggled to slow down Eli and crew, but when the game mattered, they made the plays that they had to make, and thats what it takes to be undefeated this late in the season. You find a way to win.

While many know Malcolm Butler as the Superbowl hero for the New England Patriots, as they should, those who have watched him play this season know that he is much more than a one-hit-wonder. Butler has proven to be a legitimate number one corner this season, showing us that he can match up on anyone. Check the box score and see that Odell Beckham had 104 yards and a TD, but anyone who watched that game knows that does not accurately summarize their matchup on Sunday. The reality is Butler locked Beckham up after the first drive of the game, holding him to just 2 catches for 5 yards on 9 targets, making Odell essentially a non-factor at the end of this game. Keep an eye on this kid, if you as me he’s not far along from being looked at as an elite corner in this league.

The Bad: 

As we have seen in the past, something about the New York Giants brings out the worst in Tom Brady, and we saw that again on Sunday. Its unclear exactly what it is, but I suppose even superman has his kryptonite. Its not as if Brady continues to face names like once did in these Giants teams like Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck or Osi Umenyiora, yet we still saw him look flustered against the leagues 31st ranked defense. Maybe its Tom Coughlin, who learned a thing or two about Bill Belichick when he coached with him under Bill Parcells for all those years, maybe its a mental thing, who knows. All I know is something about this team makes the leagues very best quarter back look average, and they were able to do that again this weekend.

Beloved Patriots star and leading receiver Julian Edelman broke his foot early in this game, leaving an element of concern going forward for this offense. The timetable for the injury is said to be around 6-8 weeks, hopefully allowing Edelman to return for the playoffs, but seeing Cowboys Dez Bryant return from this injury in just 6 weeks, theres no reason to believe Edelman, who is as resilient a player as there is in this league, should have much trouble getting back this season. In the meantime, the biggest name who has to step up is Danny Amendola, who did just that hauling in 10 catches in Julians absence on Sunday. The bottom line however is that one single player cannot replicate what Edelman was able to do. Other receivers have to step up in addition to Amendola, whether it be Aaron Dobson, Brandon LaFell, Keyshawn Martin, Scott Chandler, or whoever. The receiving core as a unit needs to step up while Edelman heals, and I suppose throwing the ball #87’s way a little bit more isn’t a bad strategy either.

​On Friday evening the Boston Red Sox Acquired four time all-star closer Craig Kimbrel from the San Diego Padres. In return the Sox sent four prospects including center fielder Manuel Margot. While they paid a high price for Kimbrel, I believe its is a good move for the team. Kimbrel is one of, if not the, best closer in the game right now and this move shows that the Red Sox are all in on winning this year. This gives the sox a pretty strong 8th 9th set up of Koji Uheara and Kimbrel. Another reason to like this deal is that Kimbrel is under team control until 2017 with a team option in 2018, while the other top closer available on the trade market, Aroldis Chapman, is only under contract for this year. This likely means that the Red Sox will go out and get a front line starter in free agency and my guess is that they will go all out on either David Price or Zach Greinke and I would be extremely happy with either one. Regardless of who Dave Dombrowski decides to go after as free agent, this move signals to the rest of the AL east that Boston is planning to contend, and are willing to pull out all the stops to do it.
​While Kimbrel is truly a top closer in the game the team did give up a lot to get him. Margot and SS Javier Guerra are the two main pieces going to the Padres, both of whom ranked in the top 10 of Red Sox prospects according to soxprospects.com with Margot coming in at number 4 and Guerra coming in at number 6. The other two pieces going to San Diego are 18-year-old pitcher Logan Allen, the teams 13th best prospect and second baseman Carlos Asuaje, both who are far away from being Major League ready. This is an extremely steep price but not one that should have a major impact on the Red Sox in the future. In Addition to Allen and Asuaje being far off Margot and Guerra are blocked from being able to contribute on a Major league level for the foreseeable future by rising stars in Mookie Betts (CF) and Xander Bogaerts (SS). The team was also able to hold on to its true top prospects in Yoan Moncada, Rafael Devers, Anderson Espinoza, and Andrew Benintendi. Trading unknown talents that didn’t have a spot on Major League club for an established all-star closer is a move I will endorse 100% of the time.
​Next up for the Sox is to go out and get a front line starter to bolster the starting rotation. Hey David Price your Fenway frank is on me.

It was a sorrowful moment when new fan-favorite running back Dion Lewis went down holding onto his left knee late in the third quarter in Sunday’s matchup against the Washington Redskins. As soon as the words, “non-contact knee injury” were muttered, everyone knew bad news was looming. I imagine many New Englanders, like myself,  all sat around on monday anxiously awaiting Lewis’ MRI. Our fears quickly became a reality, knowing that we had seen the last of “Little Dirty” in the 2015 season. The immediate reaction when this news broke was utter heartbreak, knowing how big of a role Lewis had played in the Pat’s 8-0 start. After countless minutes sitting around in misery, I began to look at the big picture, and understood that this loss would not make or break anything for the 2015 Patriots.

Lewis’ 36 receptions and 622 total yards out of the backfield is not something to overlook. He showed an impeccable ability to make men miss in the open field and worked wonders moving the chain, but the reality of it is, the Patriots can practically afford to lose any man not wearing the number 12. Of course some injuries can hurt more than others, but in my opinion losing Dion Lewis is not something that should slow them down all too much. I came to the realization that I was so shaken up over this news more so based on how much I liked to watch this guy play as opposed to me actually fearing that it significantly hurt this team. Im not downplaying or disregarding what he has done this season, but I looked at him more as a cherry on top of what already was a loaded offense. Plus, put this in perspective for a moment, had you told any Patriot’s fan before the season that Dion Lewis would tear his ACL in week 8 of the season, nobody would really care at all.  He was a gift this season, an unexpected one too. Watching him carry the football in space was truly remarkable, and I cannot express how much I am going to miss watching him play on sunday.  He is a great talent, and will hopefully return to where he left off soon, but Brady and the rest of this offense will continue to terrorize opponents for the remainder of this year even without number 33. I expect that someone will step up in his place, maybe it’s Brandon Bolden, maybe it’s James White, but Brady has never failed to make a 3rd down back reliable catching the ball. When Kevin Faulk began to age many questioned who would fill that roll, then we met a man named Danny Woodhead. When he left for San Diego, we were introduced to Shane Vereen, and went Vereen signed with the Giants this offseason, many questioned who would, or even could fill his roll, and just 8 games later we find ourselves asking this question yet again, who will replace Dion Lewis? My answer: whoever Belichick and McDaniels decide to put alongside Brady is going to do just fine.