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 7^th 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 8^th 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 25^th 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

Connelly’s Top Ten – Patriots / Porcello / Irma

1. Isaiah Thomas hip in big trouble – I’ve heard (from someone that knows someone) that his career is now in jeopardy and might be facing hip replacement surgery.

2.Patriots

* Patriots are in last place – Bill’s in first!

*In Super Bowl championship years – Patriots were 2-3 in opening game / 4-1 second game

* Has Deion Lewis lost a step?

* Has Malcom Brown improved?

* They looked like an 11-5 team

3. Red Sox

* The three-man booth with Eck and Remy wasn’t awful

* Friday night – 28-minute bottom of the fifth – that’s an out every 9.1 minutes

* Drew Pomeranz is tied for the American League lead in wins with 15 – I presume he would be the only pitcher to win that title and never make it into the eighth inning in a game

* Just think – David Price and Rick Porcello make a combined $50mm a year and they won’t pitch in the first three games of the playoffs.

4. Around the NFL and College Football

* Eziekel Elliot getting in injunction just drove every fantasy football player wild who didn’t draft him

* Evander Holyfield’s son is returning kicks for Georgia (one of 11 kids – six mothers)

* Ohio State is 1-2 over last three games / 3-2 at home over their last five games

* Boston College up to its old tricks in the ACC – throwing three interceptions to Wake Forest

5. Around the MLB

* Red Sox managers Lovullo and Francona will be managers of the year in their respective leagues

* No Major League pitcher on a pace to win 20 games

* Adrian Gonzalez impact on the Dodgers: While on disabled list the team was 46-8 since his return - 7-16

* Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins has hit 14 home runs in 107 at bats = 7.6 at bats per HR (Stanton is 9.7 at bats per HR)

6. Draft position of the Patriots captains:

* Andrews…..Undrafted

* Brady………..199th

* Slater………..153rd

* Harmon……..91st

* Gronkowski….42^nd

* McCourty…..27th

* Hightower….25th

7. Amazing Stat – Rick Porcello versus Pedro Martinez:

Porcello in 2017….9-17 record / 29 starts

Pedro 1999-2002: 68-17 record / 106 starts

8. Old School – In 1971, four Oriole pitchers won at least 20 games – Jim Palmer, Mike Cueller, Dave McNally, Pat Dobson. How about multiple 20 games winners for the Red Sox in a single season dating back to 1930:

1935 – Wes Ferrell - 25 / Lefty Grove - 20

1946 – Dave Ferris – 25 / Tex Hughson - 20

1949 – Mel Parnell -25 / Ellis Kinder - 23

2002 – Derek Lowe – 21 / Pedro - 20

9. Just a Little Bit Outside – 9/11 and Irma

* Don’t forget about 9/11 anniversary – amazing 16-year anniversary – never forget!

* Underdogs can use weather to help neutralize a superior foe – so wouldn’t be this an opportune time for an enemy of the United States to attack with the Texas floods, Florida storms and Mexico earthquakes

* Looters exploiting the vulnerable represent the worst element of our society – if they were shot on sight they would have no one to blame but themselves – I wouldn’t waste any Kleenex on their loss to the community

* Irma approaching Florida is eerie - it’s like Hiroshima having notice (not that it was the wrong decision)

* Would it be bad if Irma took out the Tropicana in Tampa?

* Where’s Shelby Scott?

10. Randomocity

* Sadly, the US Open isn’t what it used to be - Nadal didn’t have to beat one player in the top 25 in rankings -  seedings of opponents 121^st / 85^th / 64th / 59th / 53^rd / 32^nd / 28^th

* Brilliant letter by Isaiah Thomas – his line “I fell in love with Boston” will endear him forever here

* How about Martina Hingis winning two US Open championships this weekend: Women’s Doubles / Mixed doubles – 25 Grand Slam titles now

* With football teams doing excessive team building exercises – a high school in New York is in trouble when a football player dropped a log killing him

CONNELLY’S TOP TEN - So Much for 19-0

1. PREGAME CELEBRATION

* I thought the whole production was terrible

* There was no direction for the unveiling of the banner - it just sort of happened

* My heart ached for Edelman (and his skinny jeans)

* Marky Mark script and delivery average at best

* Maren Morris sang the National Anthem - who is that - nice job by the crowd singing

2. TOM BRADY

* Average game - Andy Reid defense had

him flummoxed - too much lofting the ball

* Missed a wide open Allen to start the game

* KC Defense confused him all night - nothing deep and McDaniels never adjusted

* Brady ended the game with that frustrated look

3. OFFENSE

* Another Josh McDaniel special - lets run the ball right up the middle on 4th down twice and get stuffed and change the whole complexion of the game

* Gronk is interfered with more than any player in NFL history

* How painful to watch Cannon get beat and then stand over Tom Brady and not help him up

* James White has added some missibility to his game

Not excited about Hogan and the end around

* Watch out for this narrative from the Gronkowski family - now that my contract is full of incentives I’m not getting the ball

4. DEFENSE

* Embarrassing - they weren’t calling Patricia a rocket scientist at the end of the game

* D Line got their ass kicked all over the field - 27 carries and KC averaged almost SEVEN yards a pop

Hightower went down and all of sudden you have the worst, smallest linebacker corps in NFL history

* If Cassius Marsh is going to have two crosses tattooed under his eyes then he better be able to cover someone

* How can Jordan Richards go from the bubble to making the team to starting - and losing Kareem Hunt for a TD reception

* Looks like it will be a long year with the rush

* McCourty all over the field - best Patriot - 10 tackles

* Alan Branch a no show

* No one could set the edge - at least Ninkovich could do that

5. KRAFT SIGHTING / BILLS GARB

Bob started slow (after the pre-game) - but came on strong with sneaker piece at end of first half and then four showings in the second half

* Bill with a light blue wind breaker

6. CHIEFS

* Eric Berry was the best player on the field

* Andy Reid looks sickly - but he outcoached Patriots

* KC killed them and got the bad end of penalties 139 yards to 55 yards

* Made the Patriots look like the Washington Generals

7. BROADCAST

Collinsworth is the best in the business

* Bob Costas took five minutes before the game to talk about how it was unfair the Falcons didn’t get to touch the ball in overtime of the Super Bowl?

* A four hour broadcast - these television people just don’t get it

8. INJURIES

* Amendola returning punt - that was predictable

* Hightower gets the money but you know he’s fragile - already hurt

* Gronk lies in the end zone for a while

. featured STATS

* From NBC - KC had three drives over 90 yards - they only had one all of last season

* From NBC - Terry Bradshaw only had 4 games of 300 yards passing or more

* FROM NBC - Most yards ever on a Belichick team - 537 yards

10. OTHER

* Bolden power - roughing the punter lets them re-kick eventually costing 28 yards

* Malcom Mitchell injury hurts

* Good luck Florida

* Pats received the ball to start the game and lose