The Patriots proved yesterday that their initial regular season beat-down of the Houston Texans was no fluke, outlasting a gritty effort by the Texans en-route to a 41-28 victory. With countless storylines swirling in the NFL at the moment, what Tom Brady is doing has been under-hyped – a direct result of Tom Brady’s consistent success. Yesterday Brady became the most winning playoff quarterback in NFL history, the day after his only true peer over the last decade, Peyton Manning, became tied for the most losing playoff quarterback of all-time. Brady will suit up next Sunday in his 7th AFC Championship game.

Next week’s AFC Championship should be a douzy – Ray Lewis, motivator extraordinaire, is retiring after this season (if you didn’t get the memo). You know that entire team, and much of the NFL, wants Lewis’ last game to be the Super Bowl. Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, both of whom have long found an ally in this site, finally performed when it counted most. If Flacco is able to complete a few bombs against the Patriots secondary, we’re in trouble. This should be a rematch of epic proportions.

If the Pats are able to get past the Ravens, we’ll either have to deal with Atlanta or the 49ers. Matt Ryan’s accuracy and weapons should allow him to pick the Patriots secondary apart – the 49ers have looked perhaps more impressive than any team, and are a pretty good mock-up of the blueprint that the Giants have shown to be the recipe for beating the Pats. In other words, it’s going to be a battle from here on out if Tom Brady is going to win his 4th ring.

There were three other storylines in yesterday’s game that also stood out to me, the first of which is Shane Vereen. This guy was the hero yesterday, scoring 3 touchdowns for the Pats. It’s so Belichick to rely on a player in your biggest game of the season who didn’t even play in 5 games this year and is a back-up running back. Vereen had only 8 receptions in his career going into yesterday’s game, where he caught 5 balls including two touchdowns. Kudos to Bill for identifying a mismatch, and kudos to Brady for recognizing and continuing to feed the hot hand.

Secondarily (pun intended), I wanted to give a shout out to Aqib Talib. This guy has come in and truly changed the Patriots on the defensive side of the ball – that’s a lot to say for any one player. This guy is the real deal.

Last but not least, we have to talk about Gronk. It seems ridiculous to me that Gronk played yesterday, seeing as he was so easily injured by landing on his arm a single time. I don’t know who cleared him to play, but shame on them. If we learned anything from last year’s Super Bowl it should have been that we can’t win without Gronk. We don’t need him out there as a decoy, we need him out there flying around and Gronk-spiking all over. That won’t happen now. In all honestly, if Gronk was 100% I’d be calling the Patriots my flat out favorites to win it all. Without Gronk, that’s simply not the case. It’s going to take some seriously elevated play from the Patriots’ defense if they are going win next week, let alone in a Super Bowl.

After watching the Atlanta Falcons dismantle the Giants, 34-0, I splashed some cold water on my face and gave myself a hard look in the mirror. “This can only mean that something bad will happen to the Patriots tonight,” I thought. “The football God’s would never shine on me this bright.”

As expected, the Patriots were then handed their fourth loss of the season. What a day in my NFL life – as I explained to a friend, I’ve recently come to realize that I don’t have anything resembling a second favorite NFL team. I like watching the Patriots, my favorite team, and the Giants, my least favorite team, infinitely more than any of the other games on TV. And as the dust settled after what was a crazy game for the Pats, realizations about the impact of both games began to creep in – the Giants are now only “in the hunt” for the playoffs, and the Patriots’ road to the Super Bowl will be played away from Foxboro.

While this certainly hurts the Patriots more than it helps it them, I definitely see a significant silver lining in the outcome of yesterday’s game. Everything that possibly could go wrong did for the Pats, who found themselves down 31-3 before they knew it. I was ready to pack it in at that point, but as my roommate pointed out, the Pats had a good test in front of them. They’ve shown the NFL that they can blowout the best teams when they are firing on all cylinders. But they haven’t had to show that they can fight back when they’re pinned with their backs on the mat.

The Patriots showed yesterday that they have that fight, which undoubtedly will be needed come playoff time. 28 unanswered points got them right back in the mix and answered that question pretty quickly. But in ultimately losing the game the Patriots also received a gut check. Sure, they can crush the #1 team in the NFL, but they can also surely be beaten.

Many, including myself, believe that the Patriots ultimately hurt themselves in not losing a game the year they went 16-0. They needed that gut check to understand that they needed to bring their absolute best, week in and week out. I think they got the memo yesterday, and they saw first hand what Tom Brady is capable of if needed.

Sure, there will likely be no bye week for the Patriots, and they’ll have to deal with the beds at the Ramada. But for a team that’s playing so well, keeping their momentum rolling (despite the loss) isn’t such a bad thing. And knowing that you only lost to the best defense in the league by a single score when all hell broke loose has to give you some additional degree of confidence.

Last but not least, let’s give Colin Kaepernick his due – the guy was absolutely as electric as advertised, very much living up to the hype. Let’s just hope we get another crack at the Niners come February.

In a game far from devoid of storylines, the Patriots lost yet again on a play involving a last second field goal. The kick that won Baltimore the game, 31-30, was controversial in and of itself – I for one absolutely thought it was a miss as it happened in real-time. Because the kick flew above the uprights as opposed to through them, whether it was a make or a miss was not reviewable despite the fact that the game’s outcome was on the line. Regardless, it was damn close and dumped the Patriots to 1-2 – a losing record! This is uncharted territory for Mr. Brady and company.

In all honesty, I don’t have too many qualms about this loss – it was an exciting game with two teams absolutely going at it. It was certainly the chippiest game I’ve watched yet this season. Both Tom Brady and Joe Flacco had quarterback ratings over 100, with Torrey Smith, Wes Welker, and Brandon Llyod all having monster games. Despite the Ravens defensive prowess, I don’t really have any issues with the play of the Patriots offensive line in this game either – Brady was protected reasonably well, and neither team really excelled on the defensive end. Ray Rice is one tough little bastard to defend, and I certainly feel uneasy knowing that the Ravens pass rush isn’t half as good with Terrell Suggs on the sideline. This is a team I continue to want to avoid come playoff time.

Two storylines really stuck out in this contest – the death of Baltimore receiver Torrey Smith’s brother earlier in the day, and the officiating. I’ll start with Smith. To some extent, I stumbled across Smith during my fantasy football draft last season and watched with pleasant surprise as he tore it up for me last year. I then drafted him again this year. I knew he’d play in the game despite his brother’s death, and if I was the Ravens coach I would have done exactly what Jon Harbaugh did – target Smith relentlessly. You knew he was going to come up big, and despite the loss there’s a feel-good sentiment to knowing that Torrey Smith needed all those yards and that victory yesterday. You’ve got to feel happy that Smith got a small victory amidst the worst day of his life.

Secondarily, there was the issue of the officiating. Hold your horses; you’re not about to hear a bunch of whining out of a fan whose team lost. In fact, I haven’t written a single word about the replacement refs all season – I fall very strongly in the “that’s something you can’t control” camp – just go out there and play. And in this game, the reffing was atrocious – both ways. It was easily the most poorly officiated game I’ve ever watched. The TV announcers were literally laughing at the head official, a long-time stalwart in Division II college football. I’d imagine that the speed at the pro level is a bit different. When the announcers blatantly prove more than a handful of calls to be flat-out incorrect, there’s a big problem. When an entire stadium in standing and chanting BS so loudly that I have to turn the volume on my TV down, that’s just not good for business. And when the majority of first downs in the game were the result of penalties, well that’s just not fun.

The NFL is an absolute beast of a league – it makes unbelievable amounts of money, is incredibly well run, and it has undeniably surpassed baseball as America’s sport of choice. That said, this whole official-gate scenario has proven that the NFL thinks it’s untouchable – they think they can do no wrong. Frankly, I’ve tended to echo that sentiment. But yesterday’s game caused me to rethink my stance. Why? Simply because I have no faith in the outcome of the game. I’m not saying that Patriots should have won whatsoever. I’m saying if the game is officiated at a normal 2011 level, it might not even have been a close game. The Ravens might have won, the Patriots might have won – I don’t know. But officiating dramatically altered yesterday’s game, no doubt, and for me it’s eroding the credibility of what happens on the field. Football fans aren’t going anywhere soon, but with most fans’ faith in the fairness of the game waning, the NFL certainly has reason to be concerned.

All in all, the Patriots put up 31 points despite struggling in the red zone – they simply needed to do a better job containing Ray Rice and Joe Flacco. While no one saw a 1-2 record coming, I’m certainly not concerned – this team will run off a bunch of wins sooner rather than later and will be where they need to be come playoff time. But I do wish that I was more comfortable with the game’s outcome being the correct one.

Stephen Gostkowski shanked a 42-yard field goal that would have beaten the Arizona Cardinals – frankly it wasn’t even close – and just like that the Patriots were handed their first loss of the season. Gostkowski, who had already made field goals of 34, 46, 51, and 53 yards in the game, will undoubtedly go down as the scapegoat for this loss – but he shouldn’t. While it’s undeniable that Gostkowski missed at a pivotal moment, it was a plethora of uncharacteristic mistakes and solid play by the Cardinals that led to the loss.

 First off, the late fumble that gave the Patriots life (and Gostkowski a chance at winning it) was an absolute gift. Second of all, the Patriots produced 142 yards more offense than the Cardinals did, yet lost. The last time they out-gained an opponent by such a margin in a loss was 1989. Third of all, Rob Gronkowski was called for a holding penalty that offset what would have been the game winning touchdown. Finally, the Cardinals got the breaks they needed – an interception and a blocked punt. Collectively, these mishaps should result in a loss, as they did.

This game also gave Pats fans a reason to be weary – the Cardinals are just the most recent team to verify the blueprint for beating the Pats – attacking the quarterback relentlessly. Tom Brady was sacked 4 times and hit 6 times, generally keeping him off-balance and out of the end zone. But if anyone had any doubts about his ability to lead a down-field charge late in the game, Brady was able to surgically pick the Arizona defense apart to force the issue and make a game of it. Brady needs to continue to improve his ability to make something happen when under duress, and the front office should be looking at all options for offensive line reinforcements.

While the loss was certainly tough to swallow, the injury to tight end Aaron Hernandez adds to the sting. Hernandez is on the field on a vast majority of offensive plays, and his versatility will certainly be missed. On a brighter note, kudos to Wes Welker for breaking Troy Brown’s all-time Patriots receptions record – the man, like Brown, has been nothing but a pleasure to watch year in and year out. And despite the loss there’s no need to panic – this might just be the spark the Patriots need to really get rolling.

For every time a twenty-something girl dives on the Facebook to share a photo of the most recent fried meal they had or their most recent engagement, there’s a twenty-something guy out there posting the latest cliche Facebook update about how pumped they are that football is back! IS IT REALLY? I didn’t notice. Most people like ice cream!

My apologies – I’m a bit feisty at the moment. Please just proceed to insert your favorite cliche “Football is back!” quote here. Moving on…

The Patriots. I got to watch them last night in their first pre-season game. They actually drafted players that seemed like logical choices this year, and goddamnnnnn does that make me happy. I maintain, unabashedly, that the Patriots should be considered the favorite to win the Super Bowl this year. If Tom Brady doesn’t go down, I for one expect them to win it all. Put that on record.

Last night, I think every Patriots fan saw exactly what they wanted to see. First round pick Chandler Jones in particular was a beast putting pressure on the opposing quarterback. At 6’5 and 266 pounds, this guy has literally no upper body – he’s all arms and legs, which he used last night to get to the quarterback with what looked like relative ease. Comparisons to Jason Pierre Paul have already started flooding in, but A) That’s a heck of a comparison and B) Let’s wait till the guy has some real success first, shall we? Regardless it appears as though Jones will make the entire Patriots defense, and mainly the secondary, significantly better by actually putting some pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Better yet, Dont’a Hightower (6’4, 270 pounds) is probably the scariest man I’ve ever seen and Jake Bequette (6’5, 274 pounds) looked like an absolute stud as well. I’d look for all three of these guys to be immediate contributors, and the Patriots just got a hell of a lot bigger and scarier on the defensive end.

So how does the rest of the team look?

Short of a full season preview, the Patriots strengths will again be on the offensive side of the ball. They have the best quarterback in the league, the best tight ends in the league, and an incredibly deep receiving core. While I’ve always been a cheerleader for Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallet, actually watching them play last night was somewhat maddening. Everybody in New England has been spoiled for over a decade now, and trying to come to terms with having to watch a quarterback aside from Tom Brady someday is going to be even worse than I expected. Aside from Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and maybe Drew Brees, watching other quarterbacks is simply something of a reminder that playing the position isn’t nearly as easy as those guys make it look.

As for the weaknesses of the Patriots, the secondary immediately jumps out again. I’d say with some more experienced players in the secondary, I’m generally less concerned about the secondary than I was last year – but it will still be maddening watching the better quarterbacks in the league convert on third and long. I look at it like with the newfound ability to apply pressure to opposing QBs, the secondary will instantly be that much better – they’ll at least be able to cause more turnovers than they did last season. Definitely a plus.

The bigger question mark for me this year is the Patriots offensive line. They were missing some key pieces last night but one of the supposedly more reliable players, Nate Solder, looked flat-out terrible. If injuries hit the O-line, the Pats don’t have a ton of depth. Tom could find himself in big trouble, especially on his blind side, and obviously this only adds to the possibility of him going down with a serious injury. This is what makes me wake up with a start, hyperventilating at night.

Perhaps one of the most interesting question marks for the Patriots is at the running back position. At this point Stevan Ridley is option 1A, Shane Vereen is 1B, and Danny Woodhead continues to play the same role he has all along. I think it’ll be a running back by committee situation throughout the year, and while I don’t think the running game will be a strength, I do think it will be sufficient. All the Patriots running backs need to do is not fumble the ball and find someone who can punch the ball across the goal line in the red zone.

I’d look for the Pats to go 13-3, and I want a rematch with the Giants in the Super Bowl. Let’s see what Eli can manage if we actually manage to put some pressure on him.

Jimmy Cunningham, howiGit New York Writer, Manhattan, NY

Tom Brady came out yesterday and said he wants to “play for a long time”… the obvious question then is how much of that time will be spent with the Patriots? Brady’s contract runs through 2014, and working off of Brady’s quote I would assume that would mean he wants a new contract after that. What will the Patriots do though? The Pats have shown that they will choose what is best for the team over loyalty. Richard Seymour, Mike Vrable, Deon Branch, and Randy Moss are a few big names that were shown the door or not asked back by the Patriots, in their seemingly never-ending quest to get younger. Will the Patriots go against their own pattern for the best player in their history? Or will the Pats fans feel like the Colts fans this year watching their hero in a 49er’s jersey after two years?

When I did my write-up on the Patriots draft last week, I had this to say about the Patriots fifth draft pick:

Nate Ebner, SS, Ohio State, Pick #197, 6’1 205 pounds
Another of Belichick’s bizarre picks, who’s very similar in size to Tavon Wilson. Again, not sure of Belchick’s angle on this one.

Well, the angle has become pretty damn clear. This kid basically didn’t play football at Ohio State – true he was their best special teams player, but he was first and foremost the best player on the rugby team.

The video above is pretty astounding – at this point it’s made its way around the web, but I figured I’d post it for those of you who haven’t caught it yet. I first saw this video last week, and I keep coming back to it. Not only is Ebner’s speed and ability to cut pretty astounding, but the ferocity of his tackles for a guy that’s only 6’1 205 is incredible. I have no doubt that this man orders his In-N-Out burgers with an extra side of animal sauce.

Better yet, I imagine that this kid wasn’t even on the radar of most teams, and for those that he was I’m sure more than a couple of scouts had the “he’s a rugby player, not a football player” conversation. All I know if I like what I see in this video, and I have no doubt that this kid is tough as nails.

A diamond in the rough? We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m sure excited to see what he can do.

Here we have Tom Brady and the best receiver in the NFL over the past 5 seasons, Wes Welker. Yes, you are envious of their awesomeness.

When I think about the Patriots and the NFL draft, a line from Alanis Morisette’s song “Ironic”  immediately comes to mind, “It’s like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.” I then typically cringe, begin to sweat a bit, then whimper myself to sleep. Sure, the Patriots are among the best teams when it comes to drafting, but Bill Belichick’s history of trading down picks and selecting players at our best positions is absolutely maddening. Maybe Belichick is softening in his old age, I’m not sure, but it sure as hell seems as though he threw me a life-preserver this year.

With the draft approaching, I had several meaningful conversations with Pats fans as of late – it’s been long enough, we’ve had our time to cope, and speaking about the Patriots is slowly moving away from being a taboo subject. The new sentiment I’m hearing, and one I subscribe to very much so, is that Tom Brady just needs to win one more Super Bowl. It’s not about the best ever argument or anything like that anymore – it’s simply the fact that Brady has become a much better quarterback than he was in his younger years and he deserves to win a championship in this part of his career. A fourth Super Bowl for Brady, and we can all die happy.

It’s been maddening that the Patriots have seemingly forgotten that they were a defense first team when Brady & Co were ringing off championships. Brady never had a single offensive Pro Bowl player in any championship season, but he had a roster filled with defensive stalwarts. Heck, the Patriots didn’t even know what they had in Brady in those years. Since they’ve come to realize Brady’s greatness, it’s as though they’ve thrown any importance attached to the defense out the window – and in doing so they’ve put up several of the best offensive season’s in the history of football, while winning a total of 0 championships. Earth to Bill, draft some defensive players for heaven’s sake.

Simply put, I’m ecstatic with this year’s draft class. The Patriots selected defensive players with their first six picks – frankly I don’t care if these guys were the linebackers on the Little Giants or defensive ends in the XFL, I’m just happy as could be that their needs were addressed. It seems as though the Patriots got a few definite studs, and they took their usual Belichick sleep picks as well that left everyone utterly confused. I love it – our defense in a couple of days changed from old, small, and slow to big, fast, and young. Here’s what we landed.

Chandler Jones, DE, Syracuse, Pick #21, 6’5 266 pounds
The Patriots obviously love this guy – he should contribute immediately at the position where we need to most help.

Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama, Pick #25, 6’2 265 pounds
Hightower has been touted as the Patriot that will have the most immediate impact. At their respective press conferences, Chandler Jones seemed giddy and talked about how excited he was to be a Patriot. Hightower instead talked about how he was ready to crush people, basically saying, “Every player on the other team is going to want to know where I am on the field… and I’ll get to them regardless, and when I do, it’s going to hurt.” We’ve got a savage in the making here – and Belichick is already comparing his football IQ to that of Jerrod Mayo.

Tavon Wilson, CB/FS, Illinois, Pick #48, 6’0 205 pounds
One of Belichick’s WTF picks, nobody expected this guy to get picked this high – or at all. It seems like a good “system” pick – who knows. He’ll either be great, or he’ll be working at Kohl’s by the end of camp.

Jake Bequette, DE, Arkansas, Pick #90, 6’5 274 pounds
Almost everybody in New England’s favorite pick – we got this guy late, and his production in college was absurd. He’s crazy fast for his size, and he beat out the majority of wide receivers and running backs in both the 3-cone and short shuttle drills at the combine. He’s also a team leader, an absolutely no problems off the field type of guy. Awesome.

Nate Ebner, SS, Ohio State, Pick #197, 6’1 205 pounds
Another of Belichick’s bizarre picks, who’s very similar in size to Tavon Wilson. Again, not sure of Belchick’s angle on this one.

Alfanzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska, Pick #224, 5’10 204 pounds
The other surprisingly awesome pick taken in the later rounds, this guy was projected as a late first or second round pick but fell dramatically because he was arrested last week. Almost everybody cites this guy’s talent, as he shut down many of the best receivers in college football this year – most of whom were selected much higher than he was. This is a personality flaw pick, but if anyone can control him it’s Belichick.

Jeremy Ebert, WR, Northwestern, Pick #235, 5’11 200 pounds
Wide receiver is not a position in need by any stretch of the imagination for the Pats, but this was a great pick as well. With his size and a 4.4 forty under his belt, he’s both bigger and faster than Wes Welker. He’ll compete primarily with Julian Edelman and Anthony Gonzalez, which is a nice problem to have at the back-up slot receiver position.

I have big expectations for these guys, and I think that Jones, Hightower, and Bequette in particular have a chance to transform this team defensively. So here it is, my prediction that you can trace back to May 1, 2012 at next year’s Super Bowl; if Tom Brady is healthy throughout the playoffs next season, the Patriots will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy.

With Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefiled retiring before this Red Sox season (after 15 and 17 years in Boston, respectively), the number of current Boston athletes that were on their respective teams in the 1990′s was cut in half. Who are the two remaining Boston athletes that played for their team in the 90′s and continue to do so today?

Comment with your answer.