Patriots Fanatic

Bledsoe is calling it quits.

The Bledsoe years here were bittersweet. He was tall. He had an arm. But he didn’t want to put in the year-round time improving his game, he couldn’t do progressions, and had terrible pocket feel. It’s too bad for him he didn’t come out of college in the 1970s. Behind the kind of offensive line you could put together in those pre-free agency days, and with some wideout burners, he may well have been known as the greatest QB of all time. Unfortunately for him, he came into the NFL in the 1990s and would not or could not adapt to what defenses did to him once Belichick had a shot at him.

And lets not hear about how he was amazing in the 2001 AFC title game in Pittsburgh. Brady had led the Pats most of the way down the field before one of Cowher’s thugs cheap-shotted him. Bledsoe then made a couple of good plays to finish the drive. After that, with the exception of one crucial 3rd down completion, that was a hide-your-head-behind-your-hands-and-pray-nothing-bad-happens game. Don’t forget the ball Bledsoe threw backwards over his head while facing away from the defense. Still, it was nice to see him get one last moment in the spotlight.

And then, after those first 8 games in Buffalo, it all turned to ashes. Pats fans would nod in quasi-sympathy as Buffalo and then Dallas fans would complain about all the faults Pats fans knew too well. Can anyone forget the patented Bledsoe backpedal toward the sideline and throw the game-losing INT?

But he was tall. And strong. And had a rocket arm…

Eugene Wilson and Ellis Hobbs are listed as questionable for Sunday.

Looks like the DB carousel has started up this year, too…

Randall Gay has been placed on IR, and Hank Poteat has been signed to replace him.

ESPN and the Globe report Branch has been traded to the Seahawks for a 2007 first-rounder.

The standard line in the media is that if Branch reports by Week 10, he gets credit for an Accrued Season and becomes a free agent. However, a commenter at FootballOutsiders found the following text in the 1998 CBA. Yes, it’s the 1998 CBA, but the 2006 Extension Terms Sheet (also available via the NFLPA) doesn’t address the calculation of Accrued Seasons, so presumably the rules haven’t changed. Section (a) is the one the media (and Branch and his agent) talk about. But everyone seems to ignore (b), even though (b) seems to directly apply to Branch.

Here’s hoping that (b) really does apply and that Branch has almost no leverage at all.

Section 1. Accrued Seasons Calculation:

(a) For the purposes of calculating Accrued Seasons under this Agreement, a player shall receive one Accrued Season for each season during which he was on, or should have been on, full pay status for a total of six or more regular season games, but which, irrespective of the player’s pay status, shall not include games for which the player was on: (i) the Exempt Commissioner Permission List, (ii) the Reserve PUP List as a result of a nonfootball injury, or (iii) a Club’s Practice or Development Squad.

(b) For the purposes of calculating Accrued Seasons under this Agreement, for any League Year during the term of this Agreement beginning with the 1993 League Year, a player shall not receive an Accrued Season for any League Year in which the player is under contract to a Club and in which he failed to report to such Club at least thirty days prior to the first regular season game of that season, or in which the player thereafter failed to perform his contract services for the Club for a material period of time, unless he demonstrates to the Impartial Arbitrator extreme personal hardship causing such failure to report or perform, such as severe illness or death in the family. The determination of the Impartial Arbitrator shall be made within thirty days of the application by the player, and shall be based upon all information relating to such hardship submitted by such date. The determination of the Impartial Arbitrator shall be final and binding upon all parties.

No, not Branch .

Pats have traded Patrick Cobbs to the Steelers for an undisclosed draft choice.

Pats have released LB Monty Beisel, WR Eddie Berlin, QB Corey Bramlet, TE Chris Luzar, WR John Stone, OLB Chad Brown, CB Vernell Brown, DL Eddie Freeman, OLB Jeremy Mincey, and CB Eric Warfield.

Tom Curran has the story.

Branch claims the Pats orally agreed to accept any “fair and reasonable trade” and that the Jets’ proposal is so, and therefore the Pats are reneging.

Meanwhile BB has a 4pm press conference…

According to Reiss, the Pats lead the NFL in cap space, at $15 million.

Brady had a press conference today. The full Q&A is here.

It’s good to know the Denver playoff loss still burns him:

“It was tough. It’s funny, I don’t watch a lot of TV. But before I went to bed I was actually watching TV and was on the ‘On Demand’. Then I went to ‘Patriots On Demand’ and was like ‘Let me flip through some of this stuff.’ So I watched the press conference before the Denver game, and the last thing I say, to the last question about Champ Bailey, was ‘Yeah, every time I throw over there I’m really going to make sure I’m careful.’ I’m sitting there, lying in bed, thinking ‘Of all the things to have said, sure enough.’ Champ took one [interception] 103 yards. That’s going to stay with me for a long time – and I continue to be reminded every time it’s on NFL Network, every time I watch that, it’s Champ running down the sideline. It was a tough way to end the year. We were really playing at a much higher level than we were earlier in the season. We were a very confident team. We laid an egg out there, and I was a huge part of that. Hopefully, with the work that we’re doing now, trying to improve, when we get in those situations again we won’t make those same mistakes.”

Who are these people and what did they do with the real Bill Belichick? In the fourth round the Pats picked yet another TE and a kicker (ok — you can’t blame them for drafting a kicker). How many people would have thought that the Pats wouldn’t pick a single person on the defensive side of the ball in their first five picks?

UPDATE:
Ah — it appears Mills is more of an H-back/FB than a real TE. That makes more sense. Still, to go five picks and not select a single defender. Interesting…