Most cut days are fairly bland and unexciting.  A few trades happen, but most of the time the only stories come from releases and players moving to injured reserve.  The Patriots were far more involved this year with two trades and a few surprising moves.

Injury – Brandon McGowan was a surprise pickup last season and played well early on.  He seemed to disappear at the end of the year, but he still made a difference for the defense.  He will be missed, but not as much as some will make you think.

Trades – To replace McGowan, the Patriots traded a conditional pick to the Chiefs for safety Jarrad Page.  A very similar player, Page was holding out for a better contract.  He appears to be another rental project for the Pats, who might sign him to a long term contract if he impresses the team enough.  LB Tracy White, a career special teamer, was also in a trade.

Surprise moves – The biggest surprises were the cuts of long term special team players Pierre Woods, Sam Aiken, and Eric Alexander.  Woods and Aiken provided were solid reserve players while Alexander was on essentially every special team squad.  The other somewhat surprise was Derrick Burgess at OLB.  Had he not skipped the beginning of camp I would be more surprised, but if the coaches saw a lack of effort then it makes sense for him to go.  All other cuts were not surprising.

Undrafted additions – DL Kyle Love and LB Dane Fletcher made the roster this year after not being drafted.  Belichick has an outstanding track record with undrafted players, including Gary Guyton, Mike Wright, and Randall Gay.  Love will likely not be active during the season while Fletcher could help at LB.  I keep seeing him listed on the inside, although he is a tweener player who was a sack leader at Montana St so he might end up on the edge,  He has all the physical attributes, he just wasn’t drafted because he went to a small school.

On a final note, it looks like the Shawn Crable adventure hasn’t ended yet.  The Patriots signed him today to the practice squad.  No other team signed him during the preseason and the Patriots may have seen improvement over the past few months to take another chance.  This could be interesting to watch if the OLBs have issues early in the season.

Gronk certainly earned his roster spot for the 2010 season

A clearer picture emerged from the final preseason game on who will likely remain on the 2010 Patriots and who will need to find a new team.  Damione Lewis’ release has already been announced so we know he’s out.  Here’s who are most likely on the team this season:

QB: Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer – Pretty easy.  Zac Robinson didn’t show much, but he could be a practice squad addition this season.

HB: Laurence Maroney, Fred Taylor, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, Benjarvis Green-Ellis – The group remains the same this season as they will all have their individual roles that Belichick tends to give his runningbacks.  Green-Ellis is perpetually on the bubble, but his versatility will keep him on the team.  Thomas Clayton will be at the top of the speed dial if the Pats need a mid season signing.

WR: Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, Brandon Tate, Taylor Price, Sam Aiken, Matt Slater – Keeping seven receivers on the roster seems a little nutty, but we all remember last season.  Aiken stays as a special teams mainstay and Matt Slater’s versatility as a returner, gunner, receiver, and safety will give him a job on this team.

TE: Alge Crumpler, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez – The TEs have been the talk of the preseason and looked very impressive.  A good mix of receivers and blockers makes this group a potent threat and a possible change in offensive strategy.

OT: Matt Light, Sebastian Vollmer, Mark Levoir – This is a hard group to project.  Belichick doesn’t seem too impressed with this group after Levoir so expect a tackle or two on the practice squad.  Levoir is the pick because of his experience in the offense already.  Although they traded for Ojinnaka, Belichick does dwell on mistakes.  Once Kaczur is back his versatility will make a difference whether he starts or not.

C/G: Stephen Neal, Nick Kaczur, Dan Connelly, Dan Koppen, Rich Ohrnberger, Ryan Wendell – This group has a lot of young players who will need to step up.  Ohrnberger was asked to step up Thursday and Belichick had a lot of good words for his performance.  Wendell also seems to be a player the Patriots believe in so he makes it.

DL: Vince Wilfork, Gerard Warren, Mike Wright, Myron Pryor,Ron Brace, Brandon Deadrick – You’ll see a lot of these players on the field regularly as Belichick will use their strengths on difference defensive packages.  The real question will be who steps up for Ty Warren, out for the year with a knee injury.  Deadrick becomes the bubble selection because he didn’t play Thursday.  Looks like the team knows he’s staying on board or he would have been cut earlier this week.

OLB: Tully Banta-Cain, Rob Ninkovich, Jermain Cunningham, Derrick Burgess, Pierre Woods – Marques Murrell couldn’t keep his hot streak up and was edged out when Burgess returned.  Woods and Ninkovich provide too much special teams experience.

ILB: Jerod Mayo, Brandon Spikes, Gary Guyton, Eric Alexander – Tyrone McKenzie gets edged out by Eric Alexander, who has been a staple on special teams for years and used on short yardage situations as well.

CB: Darius Butler, Devin McCourty, Jonathan Wilhite, Terrence Wheatley, Kyle Arrington – Leigh Bodden’s injury means Wheatley actually gains from his strong preseason performance and makes the squad.  Arrington also stays due to his strong special teams abilities.

S: Brandon Merriweather, James Sanders, Brandon McGowan, Patrick Chung – Not a shocking group of names here.  Sanders was somewhat on the roster bubble, but he makes it with the major injuries over the past few weeks.

Specialists: Stephen Gostkowski, Zoltan Mesko, Jake Ingram – No competition means their jobs are safe.

There it is.  Don’t shocked if a trade occurs or one of the special team players are switched out, but I don’t expect many surprises with this group.

Tonight should be fun. Have the office Fantasy Football draft at a local bar after work, and the Patriots will be closing out their pre-season schedule as well. Seeing as there is no money involved I’ll likely get sucked up in the meaningless football game and draft a shitty team, but it is what it is. Here is what I will be looking for out of the Patriots as I debate whether or not to take Tom Brady with my second round pick.

WWLMD – What will Laurence Maroney do? – The most talented back in the system has been a ghost since the first game against the Saints. I have always liked Maroney. I have always defended Maroney. I have always thought Maroney has got a bad rap. Hell, in what could be his last year here, why stop now? Unless there is an injury that no one knows about, this guy needs to play tonight. Until Laurence Maroney is out of football I am going to keep on saying that if given 20+ carries every week the guy will put up all pro numbers. What hurts him is the lack of touches. I liken him to a pinch hitter in baseball. Often even the best hitter on the team struggles coming off the bench for one at bat a game. Maroney is this guy. But if you constantly keep him in the action he will produce. This is why I don’t understand why he hasn’t been getting touches. Maybe it is beyond my level of football comprehension, but if Maroney doesn’t get the majority of the carries tonight, I am going to be a little disappointed. One of the big things I think the Patriots need to do differently this year is focus more on the running game, and Maroeny could be a weapon for you. What’s the point of keeping him around if you aren’t going to utilize him?

No Leigh Bodden, No Problem – Hopefully. I have high expectations for this defense going into the season, especially the defensive backs. Despite their youth, Darius Butler, Devin McCourty, Pat Chung, and Brandon Meriweather ooze talent. Combined, they could easily be the best defensive backfield in the league. But that’s a big if. Last week Sam Bradford picked them apart, especially Butler and McCourty. Hopefully they each have a closers memory and have already forgotten it, cause it was ugly. What you don’t want is for them to get embarrassed again and have to mull on that for a week and a half going into the season. A solid performance tonight could really set the tone for practice leading up the Bengals and the rest of the season.

Will Tyrone McKenzie finally show up? I was super excited about this kid last year after they drafted him out of USF in the third round, then he tore his knee up before training camp even started. He was deemed fully healthy again going into this year, but we haven’t seen much of him. We know Jerod Mayo and Brandon Spikes have solidified the starting jobs in the middle, but there is still competition to be the first to sub in. Right now Gary Guyton looks to be ahead of him on the depth chart, but McKenzie was seen with the green dot on his helmet during practice indicating that he will spend a lot of time leading the defense tonight. His upside is huge, but you don’t win playing time based on upside. He is going to need to put a good performance together tonight if he wants to earn some early snaps this season.

Can we get a GD injury update? Jermaine Cunningham and Julian Edelman have been missing from practice, Cunningham since after the Saints game, and Edelman since after the first quarter last week. We know Ron Brace has a sprained ankle. Aaron Hernandez has been practicing in shorts with an unknown injury. Brandon Meriweather was back on the practice field, but he too left last weeks game. Can someone please tell me what is going on? I doubt tonight’s game will be any help, but it would be nice to see some of these guys on the field just to show me that they are OK. I’m not so much worried about Edelman and Meriweather (although last time I said that Bodden ended up on IR) as they have gotten some good game time thus far. But it would be nice to see Hernandez, and especially Cunningham back in the lineup. Cunningham had the chance to win a starting position going into camp and we hardly got to see him. Hernandez had a solid couple of weeks, but we haven’t seen him since. Obviously it is more important to get them ready for week one, but the more game time you can get these rookies, they better off they will be entering the season. Hopefully all the missed practices and games were a precaution and we can see a little of them both tonight.

Today was the day for all NFL teams to reduce their rosters to 75 players.  Most moves for the Patriots were fairly mundane.  Daryl Richard, Bret Lockett, and Josh Barrett’s move to season ending Injured Reserve were expected while Terrence Johnson was expected to be cut eventually.  The shocker came with Leigh Bodden, who will miss the season with a shoulder injury.  His presence stabilized a secondary in turmoil last season.  Yes, they still gave up many big plays, but few were from his efforts.  One of the most underrated corners in football, he played consistently week in and week out.  Fortunately the Patriots are deep at cornerback, although no corners with more than two years of experience remain.  The talent is there to step up, but they will have to react like the 2004 Patriots rather than the 2008 Patriots.

The Patriots play their final preseason game Thursday, which will likely act as a final test for players on the bubble.  Brian Hoyer won the backup QB job last year with his play in the final game so don’t be surprised to see a young guy step up and solidify his roster spot.  After that, final cut day is Saturday, when teams must shed 22 players off the roster to get down to 53.  I’ll be back with predictions later this week on who makes the roster and who will be left behind.

White Sox to claim Manny Ramirez – Manny is expected to hit the waiver wire any time now. The Dodgers, like the Red Sox two years ago, are simply fed up with him and want him gone. According to FoxSports, the Chicago White Sox are prepared to claim him and try and work a deal. This was probably the best news that I have heard in a while because you know the Devil Rays would kill to add him to their lineup. And say what you want about Manny, when he is on the field, the dude can hit. If you put him in that Rays lineup they become that much better and you can bet your ass teams will fear him.

I love how Rajon Rondo quit on Team USA – According to WEEI.com, Rondo claimed there were family matters and other things he needed to attend to before the NBA season started. Call me insensitive, but I’m calling bullshit. Rondo was pissed that he wasn’t getting the love that he deserved so he walked out, and I am perfectly OK with that. The kid thinks he is kind of a big deal and demands the respect of a top player in the league. Nothing wrong with that. I guarantee you if he was the starter and not Derrick Rose he would not have quit the team, and you can take that to the bank.

Belichick on Maroney: “I think he’s ready” – Coach Bill talked earlier today about Laurence Maroney and whether or not he was over the case of fumblitis that he contracted last season, and it sounds like he is in pretty good shape. I have been waiting a long time for Maroney to put up an all pro year. In fact, I think I have predicted it for at least the last two, if not three seasons. He is like Alex Gordon (Roayls 3B). Every year I claim he will live up to his lofty potential, and every year he ends up on my fantasy team, and every year he ends up disappointing. Please don’t do me wrong again Laurence. I beg you.

Can we have Lackey pitch every game against the Mariners? Is there a way this can happen? Because he sucks against every other team, even the shitty ones, but for whatever reason dominates the Mariners. Yea, I get that they suck and all, but it’s not just that. The stuff he had in both his starts this year against them has been disgusting. First, he took a no no into the eighth inning out on the left coast earlier this year, and just last night he showed us a fastball that Boston fans haven’t seen since he mowed us down last fall in the playoffs en route to striking out ten over eight innings. Someone needs to play these two tapes on repeat until the guy can figure out his act and pitch like that every game. Please.

Mike Reiss took a look at the Patriots 2008 draft earlier today and the results were not pretty. Two third round picks are no longer with the team (Shawn Crable and Kevin O’Connell) and their second round pick is struggling to make the team (Terrence Wheatley). Good thing they cleaned up in 2009 and 2010 to make up for it.

Anthony Rizzo now has 23 home runs while playing most of the year at AA Portland. For those who don’t know, Rizzo is only 21 years old, and missed a season battling Hodkins Lymphoma. People need to keep an eye on this kid, because he is on the fast track to major league stardom. The Sox are due to produce a home run hitter from their farm system one of these years, maybe he can be the first.

Apologies for my absence, especially right before the first preseason game. I moved to LA this past week and have yet to get internet.  Sadly I missed both preseason games and I’m kicking myself for it.  This week I go on the search for a sports bar carrying the game and hope to bring you a better spotlight than the first two.  There are a few items to touch upon, so let’s get to it…

1.) Injury bug catches up to Pats – After avoiding major losses from injuries, the Pats seemed to drop like flies last week.  First, Nick Kazcur appears to be out for the year with a bad back, meaning a replacement for a replacement will be at left guard.  Torry Holt’s run for the 3rd WR spot ended with his knee injury, although he was aready on the bubble for a player who couldn’t play special teams.  The most important loss came with Ty Warren, who is one of the top 3-4 DEs in the NFL.  His play convinced the Patriots that they could invest in him and Vince Wilfork instead of paying a declining Richard Seymour.

2.) Derrick Burgess Returns/Positive News At OLB – On the bright side, the Patrots rgained depth at OLB with Burgess’ return.  His experience and pass rush ability will help the Pats compete this upcoming season.  Marques Murrell made a big play against the Saints early so he could be a dark horse for the OLB job.

3.) Wes Welker and the Receivers – Looks like he’ll be ready for the season opener.  With Julian Edelman entering his second season and depth added by Brandon Tate and Taylor Price, the WRs could end up being dangerous.  Against the Falcons the new TE corps looked strong and could make a major impact in the offense.

Not sure I can recall a situation where Skip Bayless has ever been right, so should we even bother watching this season and getting our hopes up?

Ryan Kalish can play for me any day – It’s only been four games, but how can you not love the way Ryan Kalish plays the game? The guy is a reincarnation of Trot Nixon (although Trot certainly isn’t dead). He plays the game hard and is above average in every aspect. I’m pretty sure no one in the park realized what was going on after he threw out Shelly Duncan at the plate on Monday night. I mean, a left fielder who can throw? Who’d have thunk. Obviously he isn’t going to hit .500 for the rest of the season, but he really impressed me in his short stint thus far, and I was already pretty high on him to begin with.

The Jeremy Hermida era was short lived – I mentioned last week that Hermida’s days may be limited. I said I would rather have Hermida than Eric Patterson, but unfortunately, Hermida got the axe Saturday. I’m still kind of puzzled by the move. Patterson adds no value to the club. As long as Lowrie is healthy, he will never see the infield, and once Ellsbury comes back, he should never see the outfield again. Long term, I still think Hermida is going to be a decent hitter. It would have been nice to find a way to keep him around for next year.

Grant Balfour hit the DL this week when he strained his oblique wrestling with his pitching coach. You know how I know he’s gay?

Kevin Youklis tore a muscle in his hand swing a bat. Could this injury have happened to anyone other than the Red Sox? I don’t know who sold their soul to who but this team is cursed. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the amount of injuries this team has overcome is unfathomable. If they do any damage in the post season it has to go down as one of the best seasons ever, right?

On that note, looks like I need to start being nicer to Mikey Lowell – With Youk down, Lowell is going to see some significant playing time. Either that, or Kevin “I couldn’t drive in a run with the bases loaded in slow pitch softball” Cash will catch and V Mart will play first. Hopefully, it is the former. He started off right Tuesday hitting a two run homer and playing good D at the one bagger, keep it up and maybe I can go a few weeks without ripping.

Where was Jacoby Monday night? – I’m not blaming this on Jacoby as it seems like it was the teams decision, but why would they not activate Ellsbury on a night when Mike Cameron goes on the DL and your team is desperate for help in center field, even if it means doing nothing more than making the routine plays? He had already played five rehab games and showed no ill effects other than a little soreness. At a time where every game is magnified and every loss kills, you have to think, does Jacoby turn a 6-5 loss into a 6-5 win?

I love the Shaq to Boston news – Sure, he only averaged 20 minutes, 12 points, and 6.7 boards per game, but that’s right in line with what Perk would give you. The C’s needed a big man, and if Shaq was willing to come here for the veterans minimum, you’d have to think he is motivated to win a championship. If nothing else he will give you big man minutes that otherwise would have been for some stiff like Scalabrine. Best case scenario he gives you a down low presence on offense and grabs you some boards on D, something they couldn’t do against the Lakers.

Remember when the Rangers wanted Clay Buchholz for Salty? – Ha, those were the days. Instead we get him for a couple of prospects who will never become anything more than fringe major league players at best and a couple hundred thousand dollars (that was strange to say). Salty has been plagued by injuries and a case of the yips throwing the ball back to the pitcher but Red Sox scouts are confident that it is all behind him. He is still only 25 and at a position that usually develops late. After only a couple of games with Pawtucket they are already raving about his play behind the plate. If he can figure it out a little bit with the stick that this could become the deal of the decade for the Sox. And the best part is, we got to keep Clay.

I love the Patriots young defense – Obviously it’s impossible to judge players based on written reports of training camp practices, but the young players on this Patriots team really give you a reason to be optimistic about the future. Just from the past week I have read good things about TE Aaron Hernandez, CB Darius Butler, ILB Brandon Spikes, OLB Jermaine Cunningham, WR’s Brandon Tate and Taylor Price. The first pre-season game is a week from Thursday and it should be even more fun than normally with all the interesting young players on the squad.

I am not worried in the least about Tom Brady not being under contract – Would it be nice if he was locked up for the rest of his life? Sure, but I don’t think Robert Kraft is willing to risk the PR disaster that would be Tom Brady leaving the Patriots organization. Once it is all settled, Kraft is going to have to spend far more than he ever would have wanted to in order to sign Brady, but everyone knows it is for the best. I would advise Kraft to get a deal done sooner rather than later though as it would be advantageous for him to sign Brady before Peyton Manning and the Colts set the new ceiling for quarter back salaries. If this drags into the season I would be surprised. If I had to guess I would say a deal gets done a couple weeks for opening day.

There is a zero percent chance Brett Favre retired – This is nothing more than Favre being a media whore. He has tried to retired elevnty billion times to this point and has never stayed that way. Plus, as Jeff pointed out already, it wouldn’t be right if Favre didn’t come back to somehow screw the Pats. I do think he will miss some time in the regular season as he seems to come back later and later each year, but the dude is set to make $13 million this year. If he doesn’t play 75% of the games, I may be forced to quit this whole blogging thing.

I love that the Celtics open the NBA season against the Heat – Good work with the scheduling NBA. Lebron has opened the season against Boston two years in a row, so why not keep the tradition going? All everyone wants to see is a Heat/Celtics finals next year, so giving the people a sneak peak to open the year is brilliant. And at least now we can safely say, one of these teams won’t go undefeated.

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Yes, I’m entering the Brett Favre guessing game, but you’ll like where I’m going with this.  My prediction, based off of nothing substantial, is that he will decide to return to the NFL in time for the Vikings week 8 game against the Patriots.  Why you might ask?  Well, Brett Favre has made a career out of screwing the Patriots.  How so? Well…

Super Bowl XXXI – The Patriots and Packers meet in the Super Bowl.  Although the Patriots put up a fairly good fight, the Packers had the killer blows in the 2nd quarter and on Desmond Howard’s big kick return TD.  Favre has his only brilliant game in the 1996 or 1997 postseasons as evidenced by only needing to defeat a 9-7 Panthers team in their second season for the NFC crown.  Otherwise, he only had fairly good or average games in the playoffs in 1996 and 1997 that were won many times by the defense.  He saved his best for the Patriots.

October 27, 1997 – Favre beats the Pats.  No big deal here, he just simply beat them.  Still counts.

2002 Season – In week 6, the Packers came into New England and Favre throws 3 touchdowns, giving the Patriots a 3 game losing streak that eventually stretched to 4 games and it was the first loss ever at Gillette Stadium.  Even after that devastating loss the Pats were in contention for the playoffs in week 17 if the Packers beat the 9-6 Jets.  The Packers, clearly a better team since the Jets were still reeling somewhat from Bill Belichick’s sudden defection in 2000, looked poised to win.  Unfortunately, the Packers were crushed by the Jets 42-17 and Favre doesn’t even finish the game.  The Patriots do not go to the playoffs for the only time when Tom Brady is starting at QB.

November 19th, 2006 – Pretty much the only time Favre didn’t screw the Pats.  Brady threw 4 TDs and dominated the Packers.

2008 Season – Although the Pats won the first game against the Jets, the newly acquired Farve helped stave off a late Patriots comeback in their second matchup on a 4th and long conversion in overtime.  Again, the Patriots needed to trust Favre to beat a team to make the playoffs.  The Jets took on the 10-5 Dolphins (w/ a tiebreaker advantage over the Patriots) at home.  The Jets were somewhat competitive, however Favre’s 3 interceptions closed the deal and the Dolphins went on to the playoffs while the Patriots became the second 11-5 team in NFL history to stay home.

There you have it.  Favre time and time again steps up to make the Patriots suffer.  Each year his retirement dance gets a little bit longer.  At this point it should stretch into the regular season since he returned right before the season began last year and right before training camp the year before.  If Favre does call it quits for good, then the Patriots should expect an extra win from a game that he would likely screw them over once again.

UPDATE: Oh, oh, I forgot a big one!!

2007 – Brett Favre and the Packers played the New York Giants in the NFC championship.  After a hard fought game, they had to go into overtime.  The Packers started with the ball, usually an easy win if the team with the first possession can get into field goal range.  On his first pass, Favre throws the ball into cornerback Corey Webster’s hands and the Giants went on to kick a game winning field goal.  The Giants, with their incredible pass rush combo of Strahan, Tuck, and Umenyiora, went on to stifle Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, ending their quest for an undefeated season.

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The 2010 Patriots Training Camp is off and running with some early excitement right off the bat.  Some thoughts on what has transpired:

1.) Youth and athleticism – The Patriots appear to have one of the youngest teams in Bill Belihick’s tenure as head coach.  This could be his most physically gifted squad as well with all the new additions.  Belchick goes into this season relying on few veteran upgrades like he has in past seasons.  Other than defensive line, almost every position will need a younger (and somewhat unproven) player to step up and play well.  Inside linebacker is a terrific example.  For years Belichick trusted Tedy Bruschi (age 27-35), Roman Phifer (age 33-36), Ted Johnson (age 28-32), and Junior Seau (age 37-40) to guard the middle.  Now, not one player will be near his thirties, with Gary Guyton the oldest as he turns 25 on Nov. 14th.  This team will be a little more hard to predict going into the season, however they can achieve much more than before.

2.) Outside linebacker keeps looking worse and worse – The most questionable position on this team has lived up to expectations.  Shawn Crable started the fun by failing his conditioning test and being released a day after, ending a injury plagued career of a promising player.  Then camp opened up and Belichick said everyone under contract showed up.  Unfortunately, he didn’t mention he wasn’t including Derrick Burgess.  Burgess appeared to be a strong option to play opposite of Tully Banta-Cain.  Without him, the Patriots are left to either insert unproven rookie Jermaine Cunningham or career special teamers Pierre Woods and Rob Ninkovich.  This will be an interesting situation to watch unfold over the coming month.

3.) Relatively positive reports thus far – Players will always go through ups and downs a camp, however the Patriots appear to be on the right track.  The injury bug has stayed away (unlike in Baltimore) and everyone passed the conditioning test (except for Crable, who was quickly released).  The young players have performed nicely, especially at positions where they are needed.

4.) A quick note on David Patten – he was fine player who worked hard to cultivate a fairly good NFL career.  He never put up big numbers, but he always seem to make a difference.  Players stick around for 13 years for a reason and he was a good character guy.  The Pats will miss his heart and leadership more than just his playing ability.