1.Patriots
* OPENING THOUGHTS
* Other than the hand injury, I’m going to say that most of Gronk’s injuries occur running after the catch. Turn him into a Red Zone specialist where he is just catching the ball
* I’ve said this before – being a wide receiver in the Brady offense is dangerous - Injuries to Edelman, Hogan, Dorsett, Amendola, Gronk and Hawkins would rather go to Columbia than get hurt
* Is Ryan Allen off to a bad start? Gostkowski another missed extra point
* Patriots have lost back to back coin tosses
* How great is Belichick – just watch the Patriots kicking team run onto the field and line up for the end of the half kick – amazing thing everyone was involved – offensive players were spinning their index finger around while they ran off/ McDaniel was waving a towel over his head – amazing.
* BRADY
* Treasure every game with him representing you as your quarterback
* He won two arguments with officials and Romo was reading his mind – first time was the pick/rub at the line of scrimmage that got overturned / second was the too many men on the field (see #9 below for more Romo thoughts)
* Brady will “love” watching film when Hogan points to where he should have thrown the ball in the end zone
* OFFENSE
* Running back touches – Gillislee 18 / White 10 / Burkhead 5 / Lewis 5 / Devlin 1
* Nice game plan by McDaniel – more creativity and diversity
* Austin Carr is on the Saints but got no play on Sunday – Patriots should offer them a 7th round draft pick – he knows the system
* DEFENSE
* Former Razorbacks - Wise and Flowers are going to make a nice pair
* McCourty is an amazing tackler
* Chung chasing in coverage
* Gilmore looked confused again on a ball down the right sideline
* Jonathan Jones just seems to make plays
* Ninkovich traveled to New Orleans?
* No Hightower – he is fragile
* KRAFT SIGHING / BILL’S GARB
* Mr. Kraft with 27 seconds left in the second quarter – he didn’t look good, put some weight on and needs a hair cut
* Bill going with the blue windbreaker with short sleeves
* OTHER
* Be prepared to hear this on sports radio some morning – “the Patriots have called for an impromptu press conference – word out of Patriots camp is Rob Gronkowski is retiring.”
* Gronk’s fluorescent underwear waste strap must have distracted the defenders
* It’s painful when a cameraman keeps the camera on a cheerleader for too long – once she goes through the pom poms, the “Go team” and throwing a kiss there isn’t a lot of material left in her routine.
* I have a funny feeling there will be some extra sprints this week after Dwayne Allen jogged off the field and got the team flagged for too many men
* Saints receiver Michael Thomas couldn’t stand on his own after hitting his head and then was cleared to come back in the game
* Gronk will be joining Bobby Orr, Cam Neely and Larry Bird for careers that ended too soon
2. Red Sox
* Tampa used 19 pitchers in the three game series
* Pedroia played in two games and went 0-12 losing 10 points off his average!
* Red Sox have played 15 games this summer over 4 hours – insane
* Red Sox analyst hit a new low Saturday with Saltlimacchia talking about ghosts that he has seen and telling the viewing not to be scared of them
* Averages since All Star game – Bogaerts .217 / Young .187 / Hanley .206 / Leon 194 (153 point lower than Vazquez)
* If Devers played a whole season – his errors would be pro-rated to a Butch Hobson level 44
* Betts and Benitendi have a high number of 10 combined errors in the outfield
* Here is a bad stat – from the ten Red Sox third basemen this summer they have more than double the errors than home runs 30 to 14 – ugh
* Sale needs 13 k for 300 – has two starts left
3. AROUND THE NFL
* I think the AFC Title comes down to the Steelers backup quarterback
* Jacoby Brissette decent numbers – 20 for 37 / 216 yds
* From the I miss Tom Brady column - No carries for Blount in Philly
4. AROUND COLLEGE FOOTBALL
* Michigan has 280 plays in its playbook / Ole Miss has 28
* Freaky watching a game played at Cal Berkley – there is an earthquake fault that runs through the football field – so there is a spot behind the end zone they can’t use turf because the shifting plates constantly rips it
* Gary Pettis of California Angels son Dante of Washington ran back his 8th punt return for a TD Saturday tying Wes Welker’s record
* Best games of the Day – USC 27 – Texas 24 / Memphis 48 – UCLA 45
* Why is a back up kicker wearing Tim Tebow’s number at Florida – can’t believe it wasn’t retired upon graduation
5. BOSTON COLLEGE FOOTBALL
* The worst thing you could say about a coach is that his team quit
* What a message Addazio sent to his team with 18 seconds left in the first half and the ball on the Notre Dame 44-yard line and two time outs and he virtually took a knee – how ironic that the school who threw the most famous Hail Mary pass in college football history doesn’t even trust their team to throw a ball into the end zone – how did the team respond – they were outscored 35-10 in the second half before Notre Dame decided to stop scoring (BC should play big games with a nothing to lose dangerous attacking spirit)
* BC gave up 515 yards rushing (515!) to a team that last week ran for 55 yards on 37 carries
* Defensive end Harold Landry finished last year with 7.5 sacks in four games – could have went into the draft and made millions – came back to play for Addazio and has one sack in three games and his future less green
* BC last eight games against opponents ranked in the top 25 – 0-8
* Has recruited one four-star player
* Central Michigan is a must win in two weeks – because they play top 15 teams Clemson, Louisville, Florida State and Virginia Tech over the next 6 weeks
* Take a chance and hire a coach that needs a job – Mack Brown (old doesn’t matter), Les Miles, or how about this - hire despicable Art Briles and make him donate his entire contract to Rosies House and put insane restrictions on his tenure and player’s behavior
6. Since 1980 Mt Rushmore – Brady, Bird, Neely, Pedro
7. Amazing Stat - Quarterback Luke Falk of Washington State’s in his last 28 games has thrown 85 TD passes / Boston College last 75 games - has thrown 83 touchdown passes
8. Old School – A stat from MLB Network – Yankees completed their 25th straight year with a winning record which is fourth behind the Bruins’ 29 straight years 1967-1996 – thank you Bobby Orr
9. Just a Little Bit Outside - Wow – Tony Romo – his voice wasn’t perfect but his insights were superb and a lot of them:
* Talking about Brady’s flat-footed throwing
* Brandin Cook and Brady not being on the same page and that Brees didn’t fight to keep him
* About Brees trying to add yards to his stats at the end of the game like he used too
* He read Tom’s lips talking to the trainer about Gronk
* Belichick running a certain defensive front to throw off game prep for future teams – really interesting
10. Randomocity
* Ironic David Ortiz is doing a documentary on Ted Williams seeing Ortiz has gone out of his way to say the red seat in the bleachers is fiction
* What has John Henry done with the Boston Globe – it shows up later and doesn’t have up to date scores or stats – with today’s technology this should be the easiest thing he does over there
* Colin Kapernick - Never seen a quarterback who has won 9 of his last 31 games get so much attention – Tebow fans aren’t as insane
* Great stretch of weather – should rent a cottage in September not August
