Patriots Fanatic

An interesting insight on the Pats from second round draft choice Chad Jackson:

In an interview, Jackson said that on one of his visits the Pats gave him some offensive game film and told him to have it broken down by the time of his next visit. Jackson said no other team he visited did anything like that. Add another player to the list of those who have in interviews pointed to something the Patriots do that no other team does. The weird thing to me is that for a lot of those examples I hear (like this one with Jackson and like when Rodney Harrison talked about the situational practices the Pats do that he’d never seen before) are things I would have assumed that all teams do as a matter of course. And yet the Pats seem to be the only ones doing them. Hail Bill!

ESPN’s Michael Smith was on WEEI today saying that the Pats are in the thick of the Jevon Walker hunt. I’d imagine they’d have to trade away a pretty high draft choice to pull that off. And Walker’s coming off ACL surgery. Well, we’ll find out soon enough with the draft this weekend.

Football Outsiders has the news.

Here’s an interesting exchange from today’s press conference (via Reiss’s blog):

Do you like Bill Belichick?

“I don’t care who it is or what’s going on, I think, just to be real honest, I don’t care if we’re brothers, sometimes you fight but at the end of the day you still love each other. I don’t love Coach Belichick like I love my kids and my wife, but at the same time I think there’s definitely a level of respect I have for him, when you look at his track record, he’s the winningest coach in the last four years. That speaks for itself. Myself, I’m like a sponge and I know he has a lot of knowledge and wisdom on a lot of issues as far as football is concerned that can help me out. He’s coached a lot of great players. He’s always pushed me to go to higher levels and that’s something that I definitely respect and would like to grow with as well.”

Mind you, I don’t really care that Seymour doesn’t “like” BB — that he respects him and will execute his game plans is good enough. But I do admit that I’d love to know what the players think of him. My guess is that they don’t really like him much at all (let’s be honest — between Holley’s book, Halberstam’s book, and the evidence we’ve seen, BB is probably not the most fun guy to be around), but like Seymour, they like that he can put them in position to win.

UPDATE:
Apparently Reiss’s transcript left out the opening three words: “Why wouldn’t I?” Unlike some commenters, I don’t think that changes the meaning of the rest of Seymour’s answer.

Though the contract can’t officially be signed until August because of NFL rules that a contract can’t be adjusted more than once in 12 months, ESPN reports the Pats and Seymour have reached a long-term deal. According to Reiss, the Patriots have confirmed the ESPN story.

UPDATE:
The rule is apparently that a player can’t get a raise more than once in twelve months. So the contract can be executed immediately, and in fact (according to ESPN) is expected to be executed later this week, though the big money can’t kick in until later.

Martin Grammatica????

And Tebucky “How many of my own guys can I knock off the tackle” Jones?

I might have to start seriously wondering about Bill and Scott after this.

Sunday, Sept. 10 - vs. Bills, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 17 - at Jets, 4:15 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 24 - vs. Broncos, 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 1 - at Bengals, 4:15 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 8 - vs. Dolphins, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 15 - BYE
Sunday, Oct. 22 - at Bills, 1 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 30 - at Vikings, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 5 - vs. Colts, 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 12 - vs. Jets, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 19 - at Packers, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 26 - vs. Bears, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 3 - vs. Lions, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 10 - at Dolphins, 1 p.m.
Sunday. Dec. 17 - vs. Texans, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 24 - at Jaguars, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 31 - at Titans, 1 p.m.

Weeks 10-17 (except for the Christmas Eve week) are subject to being switched to NBC’s Sunday night game on twelve days notice.

Maybe those of us who noticed that Brady seemed to be having some problems with throwing too high were onto something. From today’s Metrowest Daily News:

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady played half of the season with a
hernia and will have surgery to correct the problem, probably within two weeks, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The hernia problem did not keep Brady from practicing or force him to miss any time, but he did throw some passes uncharacteristically high as the season went on, indicating the injury may have affected his
release.

The Globe catches up with former special-teams ace Larry Whigham:

Larry Whigham, a safety who made his mark primarily on special teams while playing for the Patriots from 1994-2000, is hoping to return to the NFL after a three-year absence. Whigham, who said he’s taken his name off the NFL retirement list and has worked with strength coach Tom Shaw to lose 25 pounds, is living in Providence after a tragic turn of events.

Whigham, 33, had bought into a Subway franchise in his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss. Then Hurricane Katrina hit. Whigham said the store was demolished. Then, a few days later, Whigham said he was waiting to fill up his car with gasoline, along with two siblings, when they witnessed a man get shot over a dispute over a bag of ice.

”At that point, I just decided it was time to leave town; it was a real tough, difficult time for me,” said Whigham, who packed up his car and drove for three days to visit relatives in Tacoma, Wash.

A little more than two weeks later, he received a call informing him that the mother of his child had committed suicide. Whigham then moved to Providence to raise his son, and is currently working as a loan officer for a mortgage company.

After Whigham left the Patriots following the 2000 season, he played the next two years with the Bears (and was a teammate of Rosevelt Colvin’s). He said he retired before the 2003 season to sort things out, as he was in the process of a divorce.

Whigham recently lost his AFC Championship ring from the 1996 season, but it was returned when the fan who found it recognized him from a TV commercial he was filming for a mattress company.

Reiss’s blog reports that Patrick Pass was seen at practice.