Today there was a story on the undefeated.com that brought a huge smile to my face. The 2008 Boston Celtics are having a reunion this summer to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their NBA Championship at an undisclosed location, organized by none other than Rajon Rondo. Rondo has been given a lot of crap over the past year because of the way he talked about how the Chicago Bulls veterans (Dwayne Wade/Jimmy Butler) have cried to the media rather than deal with team issues within the team members themselves. He doesn’t play a lot, and has often butted heads with Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg leading to a somewhat confusing season for the 31 year old. Rondo is on the record as saying that the Celtics were the best team he ever played for and that it was his favorite team to play for as a professional. But the best part of this reunion he’s planning? You may notice that a certain someone is missing from Rondo's instagram post. Ray Allen is NOT invited. There was a clear falling out between Rondo and Allen and it is no secret that the two didn’t like each other while they were teammates in Boston. But it was not just Rondo’s call to not invite Allen, and he said that when he asked his former teammates, he got “a no, and a no head shake.” Rondo had this to say when asked why Ray would not be invited, "I don’t know a good analogy to put this in. It just wasn’t the greatest separation. It wasn’t the greatest thing that could’ve happened to us as a team, a bond. We were at war with those guys [Miami]. To go with the enemy, that’s unheard-of in sports. Well, it’s not so unheard of. It’s damn near common now. “The mindset we had. The guys on our team. You wouldn’t do anything like that. It makes you question that series in the Finals … Who were you for? You didn’t bleed green. People think we had a messed-up relationship. It’s not the greatest. But it’s not just me. I called and reached out to a couple of other vets and asked them what they wanted to do with the situation. They told me to stick with what we got [without Allen].” Ray Allen became Boston’s public enemy number one in the summer of 2012. The Celtics were reloading after losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat in 7 games and still had their eyes on a championship. They planned on getting everyone back and healthy to make another run for a title while the core of their team was still in their prime. But Ray Allen decided to take his talents to South Beach and sign with the enemy. The contract he signed with the Miami Heat was for 3 years and $9.5 and he turned down 2 years and $12 million with a no trade clause from Boston. He left $4 million a year on the table to go down to Miami and play with LeBron & company after they just beat the Celtics, because he and Rajon Rondo didn’t get along. A Kevin Durant caliber move, before Kevin Durant had the chance to make it. My favorite part of the situation was the way that Kevin Garnett reacted when the Celtics played in Miami in Ray Allen’s first game against his former team. Allen came off the bench for Miami and when he walked over to shake the hands of his former teammates, coaches and medical staff after checking into the game for the first time, Paul Pierce and KG were having none of it. And Ray thought it was ok!
Don’t get me wrong, without Ray Allen there is no 17th banner. Allen was traded from Seattle to Boston on draft night in 2007 and without that deal, I don’t know if Kevin Garnett waives his no trade clause from the Minnesota Timberwolves to come to Boston either. So without Ray Allen, there would be no reunion possible. But I absolutely LOVE this move to leave him out. Allen had the delusion that he would still be friends with his former teammates and his “family” (his words, not anyone else’s) after leaving them in the dust? The guy pulled arguably the biggest Benedict Arnold move for any Boston athlete ever and then thought he’d still be welcomed back to the Garden with open arms? Please. Somewhat tame, but completely different than what a true heroes welcome is like: You may ask why the fans, as well as Ray’s former teammates and coaches, did not have such a warm and fuzzy reception to his gestures. Look no further than Mark Stein’s article about Allen’s retirement this past summer, in which he asked Allen’s former Celtics teammates, most notably Paul Pierce, about their time in Boston and his departure to Miami: “That was a tough situation because we thought it was betrayal,” Pierce said. “That’s why the whole thing evolved like it did with us not talking to him. Ray didn’t really have the best relationship with Rondo anyway. That was nothing. [Rondo], me and Kevin, he didn’t have any talk with us [before his Miami decision]. “I tried to call him and I didn’t get any return calls before he signed with Miami. That was our rival. We were brothers. We came in together. We just wanted a heads-up or a ‘what’s on your mind?’ or something like. Then, all of a sudden, he left. That was the biggest disappointment on my end. Not even getting a callback at that moment.” Ray had this to say on the matter: He claims that it was a business decision, but after the contract numbers that I mentioned earlier went public it’s tough to believe. And Paul also said this about their relationship in an interview with Jackie MacMullan in 2015: "It was a weird relationship. We were all good friends on the court, but Ray always did his own thing. That's just the way Ray was. Even when we were playing together, we'd be having a team dinner and Ray wouldn't show up. We'd go to his charity events but Ray wouldn't show up to somebody else's." That’s just the tip of the iceberg of stories about Allen distancing himself from the team. The bottom line is that Ray Allen will never be a true Boston Celtic. He played for them and was a part of something great, but he will never be remembered as one of the all-time greats. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett bought into what the Celtics are. Winners. They understood and appreciated what it means to wear the green and play for the city. There’s no doubt that Ray will be a hall of famer and his resume as a player speaks for itself. But Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will have their jersey numbers hanging up in the rafters at TD Garden someday for the work that they put in and what they meant to the city. They brought a winning culture back and the 2008 Celtics made it fun to watch basketball again. But as far as their reunion this summer, leaving Ray Allen off of the invite list just solidifies the fact that this team was special. They handled their business the right way and they fought for each other each and every night without making any excuses. The Celtics were a brotherhood, and on July 10, 2012 one of their brothers betrayed them. I’m happy that Rondo took it upon himself to get the gang back together to celebrate an incredible season and I’m even happier that "Judas" Shuttlesworth won’t be at this last supper.
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The past couple weeks have been tough for the New England Patriots. A great win on Monday Night Football against the division rival Bills led to a complete bag job by the NFL six days later in Denver. The Patriots battled hard and had the game won in the snow on Sunday Night Football. But a botched punt led to a fumble. Despite Patriots safety, Nate Ebner coming out from the pile with the ball, the officials granted Denver the ball back. That was the first of several blatant horrible calls against the then undefeated Patriots. Phantom penalties on both Gronkowski (offensive pass interference on third down) and Patrick Chung (defensive holding in the end zone on a third and goal sack) led to the Patriots losing their first game of the season. They battled back and Tom Brady led his team back to tie the game and send it to overtime. But with Denver being a tough enough opponent, the referees made the game virtually unwinnable for New England and they lost on a walk off touchdown run by C.J. Anderson. And we as fans had the scare of the century when Rob Gronkowski went down grabbing his knee after a Broncos safety went low on him during a catch attempt. Although technically it is legal, those hits cause an injury more often than not and luckily this one was just a scare. Gronk thought that his knee was injured like it was in 2013 (torn ACL) after taking a similar hit. Luckily he was diagnosed with simply a sprained knee and is week to week rather than being out for a long period of time. This was one of the only positives from that game, but they were still 10-1 going back home where Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are virtually unbeatable. This game should have been an opportunity for the Patriots to get back to their winning ways playing against a much inferior opponent, but much to the chagrin of the City of Champions it didn’t end up that way. The Eagles were in a completely different point in their season. Coming into the game at 4-7 they needed a win to stay in the playoff picture, and Chip Kelly was coaching for his job. He had been on the hot seat for a long time and after a horrible loss on Turkey Day in Dallas, it looked like it was a win or get fired for Chip Kelly. The Eagle offense got Sam Bradford back after several weeks on the sideline with a concussion and a shoulder injury. Tom Brady got Danny Amendola back on Sunday but it was the Special Teams that proved to be the x factor for the Patriots. And not in a good way. The offense looked like it was right back where it was, and they jumped out to a 14-0 lead over the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. Then a botched pooch kick from former Ohio State Rugby player Nate Ebner set up the Eagles with great field position and Sam Bradford led them down for a score to cut the Patriots lead in half. But in the next New England drive the Patriots couldn’t decide whether to try and get a score before the half or run the clock out, and by the time they decided to go for a score they were forced to punt right before the half ended. It was then that Ryan Allen had his punt blocked and returned for a touchdown. So the gamble of a trick play backfired and the Patriots found themselves in a unique position…tied at the half. From there the Patriots put together a couple solid drives but Tom Brady had a pass deflected and then intercepted 100 yards for a touchdown. To mix that up with another Eagles scoring drive and a Darren Sproles punt return for a touchdown the Patriots found themselves facing a 35-14 deficit late in the fourth quarter. Tom Brady took his offense full of rejects and misfits back into the game and scored twice in 8 minutes to cut the lead to 7 with just over 3 minutes remaining. After failing a second onside kick, the Patriots defense had the responsibility to get a stop. And Jamie Collins answered the challenge. With just over a minute remaining, on a 3rd and 5 for Philadelphia, he stripped the ball away from Kenjon Barner and the Patriots gave the ball back to Tom Brady and the offense. But after 4 consecutive HORRIBLE dropped passes by the Patriots receivers, they turned the ball over on downs and lost the game. Just an absolute disaster in all phases of the game, and very uncharacteristic of a Bill Belichick coached team to lose 2 in a row, and hadn't happened since September 2012. Despite the loss and all of the obvious issues with both the team’s health and consistency, I think there is a silver lining. Brady connected with Scott Chandler for a touchdown and he was targeted a lot more during the game on Sunday, which I believe is only beneficial for the offense when Gronk comes back from injury. And the Patriots are still tied for the lead in the AFC. They have had an extremely unlucky season as far as injuries to major players are concerned, but they are still 10-2 overall. Things could be a lot worse. The Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts were projected Super Bowl contenders, but are both barely hanging on to playoff contention right now. The Patriots are expected to get a lot of guys back in the lineup in the coming weeks which is huge as well. Jamie Collins came back from his undisclosed illness that kept him out of the lineup for over a month. Dont’a Hightower and Rob Gronkowski will be healthy for the playoffs, as well as Julian Edelman. They will be fine once the regular season is finished and the real season begins. The only thing that concerns me, and will continue to concern me is the offensive line. Brady was hit 13 times on Sunday against Philadelphia, and he threw 2 interceptions because he was forced to rush a throw out due to lack of protection. That will only become a bigger issue as the year goes on because the only person that the Patriots cannot do without is Tom Brady. Obviously losing 2 games in a row is never a good thing, but losing in the way that the Patriots have is not all bad. The Denver game was a complete disaster and I honestly believe that the referees took the game away from the Patriots. Credit to Brock Osweiler and the Broncos for capitalizing on their opportunities but that was a complete scam by the NFL to keep the Patriots from winning. And everything from the game this past Sunday can be cleaned up, mainly on special teams but also just simply catching the football. Tom Brady’s receivers have the most drops in the entire league this season, and it’s not even close. With 4 games to go I see the Patriots worst case scenario going 12-4 which should at the very least give them the 3rd seed in the AFC. The ones that I can see going poorly are this Sunday on the road in Houston against former offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and on the road against the Jets. Houston has one of the best defensive lines in the game and I could see JJ Watt having a field day against the Patriots hilarious excuse of an offensive line and don’t forget about former Patriot Vince Wilfork wearing Texans blue nowadays. That being said, the last time the Patriots played in Houston was the game where all of the Texans players wore letterman jackets to the game. This was originally supposed to be a cool idea that brought some tradition back to the team, but it turned into the Patriots dismantling them on their own field and they have not been the same since. And the Jets always play the Patriots tough, no matter what their records are at a given time. The Jets game is Week 16, with possible playoff implications for the Jets which will also play a huge factor. I honestly see this little skid as a minor hiccup in what will hopefully be another legendary season for the Patriots. It seems like a lot has gone wrong for them in the past couple of weeks, but it will only help them in the long run when players start to come back and eventually lead them to Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. But these games are as crucial as ever when it comes to earning a top 2 seed in the AFC and earning a bye week in the first round. But the strive for 5 is still alive!
Monday Night Football. Prime time. That’s what the Patriots have to look forward to in a few short days. The opponent? The 5-4 Buffalo Bills. The Bills are similar to the Giants in that their record does not reflect how good of a football team they are. They caught the injury bug early and have had to deal with a lot of adversity so far this season. Tyrod Taylor came on to the scene in training camp and everyone was stunned when Rex Ryan named him starting quarterback before the season opener. He played decently well to start the year and then was replaced by former first rounder EJ Manuel because of injury. Manuel has been a huge bust since being drafted out of Florida State, and when the Bills lost to the Jaguars in London he became the first QB in NFL history to have lost a start in 3 different countries (The Seahawks beat them in Toronto a few years ago). But with Taylor under center the Bills are 5-2 which is pretty impressive considering their only 2 losses are to the Patriots in Week 2 and against the Giants, who played well enough to put them in a position to beat the Patriots (Tom Brady prevailed yet again however). The Patriots come into Monday Night as hot as anyone in football right now. They are 9-0 and coming off of their biggest win of the season against the Giants in the Meadowlands. But they lost Julian Edelman in the process, which is a huge blow to Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. It’s not all bad however, because both Sebastian Vollmer, Tre Jackson and Marcus Cannon returned to practice this week which would drastically improve the offensive line if they were ready to go for kickoff. Another guy to keep an eye on is Scott Chandler. He was a Buffalo Bill a year ago and had a touchdown catch against the Giants this past week. With Edelman out, it will create more space in the middle for another target. And between him, Gronk and Amendola stepping in to replace Edelman, it will be tough for the Buffalo secondary to lock up all of them. To add to this, the Patriots are without Dion Lewis, who was a huge threat out of the backfield against Buffalo in week 2. This is because the Bills defensive line is one of the best in football. Marcel Darius, Jerry Hughes and former Texans number one overall pick Mario Williams have shown to be the backbone of Rex Ryan’s defense. Tom Brady threw 59 passes in that game, many to Lewis who used that stage as his “coming out party” in terms of reestablishing himself as a legitimate NFL back. With LeGarrette Blount as more of a big, short yardage runner, expect to see a lot more of Brandon Bolden or James White to get serious playing time to act as the receiving back that Lewis was during week 2. The Bills are coming off of a huge win of their own. They have 11 days to prepare for the Patriots because they most recently played on Thursday Night Football, also in the Meadowlands, against the New (Jersey) York Jets. It was Rex Ryan’s first time back since being fired a year ago and it was an extremely emotional win for the Bills. They played extremely well and made enough plays to win the game when Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick threw an interception against his former team. It was Taylor’s second game back from injury and he has proved all of his doubters wrong after backing up Joe Flacco in Baltimore for the past 4 seasons. Shady McCoy has played well when he is in the lineup, and historically has played exceptionally well on Monday Night Football dating back to his days in Philadelphia. And Charles Clay has done a tremendous job all season long replacing Scott Chandler at the TE position, alongside Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods on the outside. For as much as I love to give the Bills fans I know a hard time about this offense is full of nothing but rejects, they are very good when healthy and have shown it on the field. One thing to keep in mind is the discipline of the Bills. Historically, Rex Ryan led teams are fairly undisciplined and this season is no different. Through 9 games this season, the Bills have an NFL high 107 penalties (90 accepted) for 808 yards. This will play a factor because it means that they traditionally beat themselves in games, and the Patriots will take advantage of every opportunity that Buffalo gives them. Watch for Tom Brady to have another huge game as well. Bacarri Rambo came out yesterday and said that he felt “disrespected” that Tom Brady threw the ball so much when they were up by so much in the fourth quarter of their week 2 matchup. Are you kidding me?! Hey Bacarri, want to know how to stop the Patriots from throwing so much? Make a couple plays and force them to try and mix it up. It’s not rocket science. Anyway, this went public today and you can bet that Tom Brady is licking his chops hearing that. Prediction:
Patriots 38 Bills 17 Finally got em. This past Sunday was a massive team win for the Patriots for many different reasons. It was the most decimated the offensive line has been this season, the first game without Dion Lewis and they lost Julian Edelman early in the game with a broken foot. And they were facing a team that has historically beaten the Patriots, and was the only team in the NFL since 2008 that they had not been beaten. Now obviously they don’t play every year, but it’s not often that Tom Brady loses to anyone more than once. It was huge as well because it was the latest in a game that the Patriots trailed. They battled hard, played as a team and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. It was an extremely tough game from the get go and we realized real quickly that Odell Beckham Jr. is the real deal. On the Giants second drive he hauled in a “go” route downfield with his fingertips and took it to the house following a poor read from safety Devin McCourty. 87 yards just like that. And not a great start to the matchup that would decide the game. OBJ was the responsibility of Malcolm Butler all day and if the first play had everyone nervous for what appeared was going to be a very long day. But Butler stepped up huge in this game and bounced back tremendously. Following the touchdown, OBJ was thrown to 11 times and only had 3 catches for 17 yards. Incredible performance against arguably the most dominant receiver in the game right now. Butler’s biggest play came in the 4th quarter just before the 2 minute warning where OBJ got open near the pylon. He had a touchdown in his hands which would have more than likely sealed the deal for the Giants. But Butler stuck his hand in and knocked the ball out of his hands as he was completing the catch, similar to Sterling Moore’s play against Baltimore at the end of the 2011 AFC Championship game. The pass fell incomplete and the G men were forced to kick a field goal to put them up by 2 with 1:47 remaining in the game. This was big as well because the Patriots only had 1 timeout remaining and the play happened with 2:01 left in the game. This meant that the Giants had to run another play before the 2 minute warning which was a huge part why the Patriots had a chance at the end. WAY too much time for Tom Brady. Brady took the Pats down the field 44 yards and set up a 54 yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal with 0:01 remaining on the clock. Danny Amendola had a HUGE catch on 4th and 10 to start off the drive, and had a great catch with 6 seconds to go that put the Patriots into field goal range. 54 yards seemed like a chip shot for Gostkowski who is 80% from 50 or more yards away in his career, which is nothing short of elite. It’s pretty tough to say that a New England kicker will ever be better than Adam Vinatieri, but Gostkowski is getting pretty close to that. This win was huge not only for the season, but it also shuts up all the national media that has given Brady and Belichick a hard time for losing. It seems like every time anyone makes a catch on Sunday Night Football, Cris Collinsworth finds a way to compare it to either the Tyree or Manningham catches and that will most likely never end. People like that will always want to bring that up because they are envious of the success that the Patriots have had. The Giants will always have those two Super Bowl wins, and they earned them fair and square (with a little help from the referees not blowing the Tyree play dead before he even threw it). Despite standing at 5-5, the Giants are leading their division and have lost 4 games in the final minute. They are a damn good football team and I would not be surprised if they made a late season run to put themselves in a position to punch a ticket to San Francisco in February.
I think that it’s safe to say that this season has gone well for the New England Patriots so far. At the midway point they are sitting atop the “competitive” AFC East, and are tied for the number 1 seed in the AFC at 8-0. This NFL season as a whole has been incredible so far and it starts with the amount of successful teams. After week 6 there were 5 unbeaten teams and after week 9 concluded last night with the Phillip Rivers led collapse of the San Diego Chargers, which I love, there are 3 unbeaten teams remaining. The Patriots, the Carolina Panthers, and the Cincinnati Bengals all stand at 8-0 currently. It is the first time in NFL history that 3 teams opened the season 8-0. But, as much as I love and respect the rest of the NFL, this is a Patriots blog. Tom Brady has continued to play the best football of his already unbelievable career and is on pace to throw 44 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. At the age of 38 he looks like he could play for another 10 years if he really wanted to (which would be every Patriots fan’s dream). This is the first time that the Patriots have gone 8-0 to start a season since they ran the table in the regular season in 2007. The similarities from that season to this are very similar in that Tom Brady had weapons to throw to. In 2007 it was Randy Moss, Wes Welker (who just signed with the Rams yesterday) and Donte Stallworth who were TB12’s main targets. This year he has Edelman, Amendola, Jojo Lafell and the big man Rob Gronkowski. The 2007 team had an elite defense, something that Tom Brady has been gifted with only a few times, but every time he has, the season has been special. And something that is weird and unorthodox is their schedule. Obviously they play the Jets, Bills and Dolphins two times every year because they play within the division. But the non-divisional opponents are eerily similar. The Steelers seem to be an opponent every year, but the way that the schedule was set up this year is that they play every team from the NFC East. That means that the Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins and Giants were 2007 regular season foes, just like this season. In fact, the Ravens, Chargers, Bengals and the Browns are the only teams from the 2007 schedule that are not on the 2015 schedule. I’m sure that in the grand scheme of things this means nothing but it is just an interesting irony. So what is there to look forward to in the second half of the season? The next stop on Tom Brady’s “F*** You” Tour is to the meadowlands to play against the New (Jersey) York Giants. This game goes MUCH further than the rivalry between Boston and New (Jersey) York. I will never forget what happened in Arizona in 2007 or in Indianapolis in 2011. And as a diehard Patriots fan, that was the worst feeling I have endured watching a sporting event, with Aaron effing Boone’s walk off homer off of Tim Wakefield in the 2003 ALCS. The worst part about it is the fact that the fans of the Yankees are typically Giants fans, making it 300 times worse. And from an actual football standpoint it is a tough matchup for the Patriots. JPP and his 1.5 hands are back on the field and although he is not in mid-season form yet, he is someone that needs to be located on each play because of his ability rushing the passer and defending the run. Although they don’t light up the stat sheet they do a lot of good things. Say what you want about Odell Beckham Jr. being overrated but he is a ball player. Already with 7 touchdowns he is leading the team in catches, yards and touchdowns by a landslide. Eli has bounced back following a historically bad season a year ago and has 19 touchdowns and 6 interceptions to add to a Rashad Jennings led rushing attack. The Patriots need to find a way to get pressure on Manning and get him rattled early. Expect a big game from guys like Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich coming off the edge and pressure up the middle from Donta Hightower and (if healthy) Jamie Collins. It will be tough for the secondary to try and match up man to man for a lot of the game so I wouldn’t be surprised if they used some safety help from McCourty, Chung and Harmon over the top of Beckham to force Manning into using short passes and make the other receivers beat them. It is tough to go an entire season and not lose a game, but as I look at each individual matchup I don’t see the Patriots losing. With teams like the Giants and Broncos on the road, the Eagles at home and each divisional opponent again still remaining on the schedule it will definitely be a challenge but if they keep playing well defensively and Tom Brady continues playing like the MVP of the league, there is no reason that the road to Super Bowl 50 wouldn’t go through Foxborough.
Sunday was another great game for Tom Brady and the rest of the New England Patriots, as they improved to 4-0 on the season with a win in Dallas over the Cowboys. Tom adding yet another impressive stat to his resume by becoming just the third quarterback in NFL history to start a season 4-0, four separate times (Fran Tarkenton, Peyton Manning). The first half was a little rough and it took some time to get going, but the defense showed that they could control a game as well and they played well enough to get the job done. The first quarter was tough for the Patriots offense and Dallas showed that they were not intimated by the GOAT coming into Jerry Jones’ new Cowboys Stadium. Greg Hardy made his presence known early and was wreaking havoc in the backfield and making left tackle Nate Solder earn every bit of the $20 million contract that Bill Belichick invested in him. Hardy of course was fresh as it was his first game action since Week One with the Carolina Panthers after serving a suspension for being convicted accused of domestic violence. He only recorded two sacks on Tom, but he was forcing bad throws and making Brady uncomfortable all day. The Patriots offensive line gave up 5 sacks in the first half alone and it was not looking good for a while. Rolando McClain was also making his season debut for the Cowboys in the middle of their defense. After being a star at the University of Alabama he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders and his career did not take off like it was expected to. He is an extremely smart player and has found his way in Dallas and also recorded a first half sack on Brady. After the end of the first quarter, the Patriots only had a field goal to show and they were tied 3-3. The second quarter was a little more of the same for the Patriot offense. A rough start and a couple of punts later Tommy led the rest of the offense down the field and capped it off by him doing what he does best. Sneaking. Brady scored on a 1 yard touchdown and proceeded to spike the ball as he has become famous for and he was the most fired up as I have seen him all season. And not many things get me more “jacked and pumped” (Pete Carroll) than when Brady starts yelling “Let’s Go” at the top of his lungs. Goosebump city. But I digress. That was with about 3 minutes to go in the half. After trading punts, TB12 had the ball with a minute to go near midfield and one timeout. He drove down the field and set up Stephen Gostkowski with a 57 yard field goal, his career long, to go into the half with a 13-3 lead. It was all Patriots from there. Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes to Dion Lewis and Julian Edelman and the defense held the Dallas offense to just a field goal. This Dallas team was no joke though. They were missing Tony Romo and Dez Bryant and the Patriots defense did a great job locking down future HOF tight end Jason Witten. The final score was 30-6 and it was a huge win for the Patriots but it was a bigger win for Brady. He got the chance to stick it to Jerry Jones, who was extremely supportive of Fuhrer Roger Goodell during the Deflategate witch hunt saga, and to get a win over the arrogant clown that Greg Hardy is following his remarks about the first lady (Gisele). It came out today that Nate Solder is lost for the season after tearing his biceps during the game this past Sunday, which would explain why Greg Hardy was such an impact player for the first half. Marcus Cannon stepped in for the second half and Hardy was not a huge factor, and he is expected to remain at left tackle for the rest of the year. It’s a huge loss but injuries are going to happen in the NFL. Marcus Cannon is more than capable of stepping in and performing and I am confident that it will not change very much going forward. Tony Romo was heard coming up to Brady in the post game handshakes and saying the words “see you in February.” And after getting so close last year it would not surprise me if they made a serious run late in the season when everyone comes back healthy. And now it’s finally Indianapolis week. I’ll get more into the details during my preview later on this week, but it’s by far the most important game of the season. After all of the nonsense this off-season that the Colts organization started with Deflategate, its payback time. The Colts have been getting annihilated by Tom Brady for almost 20 years and this is the worst thing that they possibly have done. Publicly, the Patriots are saying that it’s just another game. But anyone with a brain knows it’s time for revenge. And what better way to do it than on Sunday Night Football at Lucas Oil Stadium. #PrayForIndy
This upcoming week is going to be a lot more difficult than a lot of people think. Coming off the bye week, we all know that the extra week to prepare for the Dez Bryant and Tony Romo-less Cowboys has been nothing but beneficial, as well as giving some well-deserved resting time for the players, but this game is not going to be a cake walk. Brandon Weeden is not as bad as his career has played out and they have a top offensive line in football. And for as good as Dez Bryant is for that team, and he certainly is a huge loss, but the Cowboys have a bunch of other guys who are more than capable of stepping up and making plays. Jason Witten is already having another pro bowl worthy season, coming into the game with 25 catches for 238 touchdowns and 2 touchdowns. With guys like Gronk and Jimmy Graham playing in the NFL and revolutionizing the tight end position, most people forget how good Jason Witten is. He has Hall of Fame worthy career stats and is a guy that teams would kill to have, and build around. The running game is also going to be very interesting. With the lack of success Demarco Murray is having up in Philadelphia, we can see how valuable the Dallas offensive line was. Joseph Randle was a nobody last year and he has grown into a very good back in this league (and my fantasy team). He and Darren McFadden have been getting the bulk of the carries for the Cowboys this season and the offensive line has done a tremendous job opening lanes for them to get to the next level of the defense and make plays. With that success comes a great passing game as well and it opens up passing lanes downfield because the defense has to defend the run first and foremost. Defensively it will be a challenge as well for TB12 because of the weapons (no pun intended) that the Cowboys defense has. Greg Hardy has not played a snap this season and has already put up some completely unnecessary bulletin board material for the Patriots. When he was asked about Tom Brady he simply didn’t even acknowledge the question and simply said he hoped that Gisele and her sister would be in attendance because of how beautiful they are. Granted, that statement is true, but for a guy coming off a four game suspension because he “allegedly” threw his girlfriend onto a couch covered in assault rifles, and threatened to kill her, it probably was a little too soon to say comments objectifying women, let alone the wife of the quarterback you are about to face. But unfortunately, despite being one of the biggest pieces of trash in a league full of guys with questionable character, he’s a great defensive lineman and it’ll be interesting to see how the Patriots offensive line handles him and rookie Randy Gregory on the edge. Also, it just was announced today that the Cowboys leading tackler Sean Lee cleared concussion protocol and will be wearing his number 50 jersey in the middle of the defense on Sunday. He comes into the game with a team high 36 tackles, including 25 solo, and will try and disrupt Dion Lewis and the rest of the running game for New England. One thing to look out for is the Matt Cassel trade from a couple of weeks ago. The former Patriot was Tyrod Taylor’s backup up in Buffalo before the Cowboys traded for him following the Romo injury. He is an established quarterback in this league and has been successful as a starter, so I would not be surprised if Cowboys coach Jason Garrett called his number if Weeden starts to struggle early. Another thing to look for is for Danny Amendola to have a big game. Most people forget this, but Dallas was the first stop for Amendola. Before he was a great receiver for the St. Louis Rams, he was just another rookie trying to make an NFL team. He was an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech (as if he and Wes Welker weren’t compared enough) and his first shot was with the Cowboys in 2008. He was heavily featured on the HBO show Hard Knocks and really turned some heads, but he was cut from the Cowboys following training camp. Danny is the type of guy who plays with a chip on his shoulder and I can pretty much guarantee that if he has a chance to stick it to Dallas for not sticking with him, he will take full advantage. My prediction of the game is New England 45-24. Why so lopsided you might ask? This is another “in your face” game for Tom Brady as Jerry Jones basically told him to just take his deflategate suspension and move on. For as ridiculous of a statement that is, it’s safe to say that Tommy will come out “guns a blazin,” (no, not you Greg Hardy) and be fired up to play. And as good as this Cowboys team is when they are healthy, they are not nearly the same team without Romo and Dez Bryant.
We’re four weeks into the 2015 NFL season and the Patriots have been proving to all the haters that they are still the frontrunner in not only the AFC but the league as well. After Tom Brady was cleared of his suspension (as everyone with a brain knew was going to happen) he has started this season as good as any in his already HOF worthy career. Only 7 days after he found out he could play, he opened up his “f**k you” campaign against the Steelers on national television with 288 yards and 4 touchdowns. This was a huge night for all of Patriot Nation because it was the night the Super Bowl 49 banner was revealed. #NoBradyNoBanner was a popular movement across all of New England throughout the Deflategate saga and it just fueled Patriot fans nationwide to continue defending the wall against Roger Goodell and the rest of his communist regime. When the NFL lost their case in court, which was just the latest example of Goodell’s incompetence, he pouted like a child and decided to not attend the opening game of the NFL season because he believed that “the focus should be on the game on the field and the festivities celebrating the Patriots' Super Bowl championship.” Or it was because he would have gotten boo’d out of the building because he tried to ruin the reputation of one of the league’s all-time greats just because the owners were sick of him dominating the rest of the league for 15 years. But I digress.
Brady and the rest of the Patriots went up to Ralph Wilson Stadium to face the Buffalo Bills. Rex Ryan is the new coach of the Bills and had his team and the rest of western New York drinking the kool aid about how it was their year and that finally he was going to dethrone the Patriots in the AFC East. The playful banter on the behalf of the Bills was great bulletin board material and they showed yet again that they are still inferior of the 4 time Super Bowl champ. Brady came out against the “unstoppable” Buffalo defense and went 38 of 59 for 466 yards and 3 touchdowns. Brady and the Patriots dismantled them on their own field and he improved his career record against the Bills to 24-3. The next week they hosted the winless Jacksonville Jaguars and defeated them 51-17. It was on this day that Tom Brady completed 33 of 42 passes including his 400th and 401st career touchdowns, joining only Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and as of last night, Drew Brees. As if it wasn’t impressive enough, he has the fewest number of interceptions at the point of the 400th touchdown pass in NFL history. This season Brady has 1,112 passing yards, 9 touchdowns, no interceptions and a QB rating of 119.6 ranking 3rd in the league only behind Aaron Rodgers and Andy Dalton. And since the halftime of the AFC Championship against the Colts, in which this Deflategate nonsense started, Brady is 145 of 197 with 1,571 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. That is only 18 quarters of football. Rodney Harrison played alongside Tom Brady for six seasons and won two Super Bowls as a member of the Patriots in the early 2000s. He had the quote of the offseason regarding Deflategate and the consequences of the accusations. “He will be supremely motivated this year. I know him. I know how he thinks. And this is going to be very bad for the rest of the league when they play Brady this year…This is the best thing that could have happened to Tom Brady. This will rejuvenate him. The rest of the league better look out. This year, he’s going to make everybody pay for what’s happened.” When asked about retirement last season, the 38 year old was quoted as saying “when I suck, I’ll retire.” At this rate he’ll be playing into his 50s because he is playing like he is still in his prime. Deflategate brought a lot of negativity to the New England Patriots and specifically to their poster boy Tom Brady. But one thing that Tom has proved time and time again throughout his football career is that he always finds ways to prove people wrong. And I agree with Rodney Harrison. There is nothing the NFL wanted less than a pissed off Tom Brady. He is taking every game personally and this may be his most important campaign yet, and I have a feeling that every NFL team will need to prepare for a war when they play New England. Because they are playing for more than themselves this year. They are playing for their reputation, as well as their fearless leader TB12. #PrayForTheNFL This past weekend, the John Carroll Community said goodbye to one of their most iconic buildings. No, not the Dolan Science Center or the Boler School of Business but a building much more legendary. 2355 Warrensville Center Road aka the Vatican was the single greatest house in the long history of JCU. On Sunday May 31st, 2015, the last piece of furniture was taken from a downstairs bedroom and with it every single great memory in the past year. This place started off as a place where a few of my friends lived and hung out. And within a few short weeks it turned into the raging capital of University Heights. It seemed that every Saturday night for the entire first semester following a JCU win we would be there celebrating, and following the two losses we were bound in misery together. I can't think of any better team building exercise than that.
The Vatican, or the Can as it became known, even adopted their own language and terminology. Annoying tasks became known as a hassle including but not limited to moving the cars in the driveway (hassle whips), cooking food (hassle food), and other tedious activity. Nicknames became popular by referring to someone as a kid. If one consumed too much alcohol and became lackadaisical, similar to a dead person, they were dubbed the title "body kid." If someone were to hurt their foot and require either a rolling object to help get themselves from one place to another or a pair of crutches they were "scooter kid," or "crutch kid" (sometimes simply "boot kid," if in a walking boot only). And if someone were to experiment with the use of marijuana in the house they were the "stoner kids." As the year went on, each Vatican Council Member would refer to each other as "Dave" in honor of the Seth Rogan and James Franco movie, The Interview. These words and phrases won't be on dictionary.com any time soon but they made sense at the Can nonetheless. Despite not being on the lease I pretty much lived there as it was my place of choice to go on the weekends. Whether it be cramming 30 people in Jake's bedroom for a Jam Rock banger, bumping tracks with the lit water speakers in Dom's room, putting signatures onto a wall that probably was not made for it, giving Watson the work in 2K, drinking PPD out of a Gatorade cooler or Kravchuk running a naked mile in 2 feet of snow, it's safe to say that lifelong memories were made. I was fortunate enough (or unfortunate, depending on how clean you like your house) to live at the Vatican for the past three weeks and it has been a great way to cap off such a great year. As long as I live and as long as people are at John Carroll, they will hear about the legend of the Vatican and everything that characterized it. If you somehow weren't kicked out by Kravchuk, there were endless jersey parties, case races, and even jean short shorts themed parties (ok maybe it was just me and Krav). This was almost every week. So I want to say thank you to Mark, Watson, Korno, Jake, Dom, Kravchuk and AC for an incredible year. It's unfortunate that night's like these will most likely not happen again, but it was a great run while it lasted. But remember, it's just a pregame. I know that usually my blogs are about sports in Boston, but on this day I didn’t feel like that would be appropriate. On April 15th, 2013 it was shaping up to be another great Marathon Monday in the historic city of Boston. It was the 117th annual race and everyone was extremely excited to be there. I was on my first day of summer vacation following my senior year and was planning on going into the race with two of my friends after we finished track practice. We were going to visit a couple of my friends at Heartbreak Hill in Newton, right on Boston College’s campus and then follow the route down to the finish line to meet up with some of our other friends for the day. It was the first time being in the city for the marathon and I could not have been more excited to be there for the day. We took the red line from school to Park Street and then took the green line from Park Street all the way up to Boston College for the festivities. We met up with our BC friends and spent around an hour on Heartbreak Hill which was great. A lot of positive energy towards the runners who were still trying to complete the race. “Heartbreak Hill” got its nickname because it is the 20 mile mark of the race and it is a brutal hill to get over. It has been the breaking point for a lot of people as well as been a marker for runners to let them know that they are in the homestretch. From there we started our own walk down the hill along the race route towards the finish line on Boylston. This was at about 2:00 PM. As we were walking down we passed another friend of ours who attends Boston University with a few of his friends. We hung out for about ten minutes, shooting the breeze about the Bruins who had a home game that night and then we were on our way. It was a hot day so after walking for so long we figured that we would just hop on the green line and take it as close as we could go. And then at about 2:50 we were about a mile short of the finish line on Boylston when the green line stopped. We were confused as to what was going on and when a Boston Police Officer got on the train and ordered everyone out. I asked him what happed as we were leaving the train and he replied to me, “All I know is there was an explosion at the finish line.” This didn’t really answer my question too much in a sense that I thought that it was some asshole college kid with fireworks that went off at the wrong time. It wasn’t until we hopped off and the police was stopping all of the runners in their tracks. They cut off all of Boylston and a block surrounding it so we had to take back roads back and we just assumed that we could around the road block and meet up with our friends there. I looked at my phone to give our friends a call at the finish line to see what they were doing. I then realized that the cell towers had all been turned off. That is when I realized that it was a little more than a dumb practical joke. We kept walking and kept trying to get in contact with our families and friends to see what was going on. And then these two women came out of the back door of a building and were nearly in tears walking fast away from Boylston Street. They began talking to us and they told us that there were two separate explosions on Boylston, one at the finish line and another one a short time later further up the race route. One of the women described the scene as chaos and said there was blood all over the street. My friends and I were horrified. We walked for three hours from the furthest point north of the city to the southern most part from Boston College, back to my car at Boston College High. My friend lived pretty close by so we drove to his house for dinner and to watch the news and that is where I realized how horrible the events were that we had just come from. 3 people were dead and hundreds were permanently injured because of these attacks. And the attackers were still on the loose. In the area there were sporting events cancelled, and I had the opportunity to go to the Boston Bruins game on Wednesday the 17th which was the first home game of any team since the attacks. The atmosphere was electric and there was not a dry eye in the building as they showed a video montage of the events. With Phillip Phillips’ song “Home” playing, it showed the heroics of the common men and women who sprang into action to help their fellow Bostonians. Following the video, Rene Rancourt came out in his black and gold tuxedo to sing the national anthem, as tradition. What happened next was unbelievable and gives me goosebumps thinking about it to this day. He started singing and encouraged everyone in the crowd to join in. After two lines he left it completely up to the sellout crowd at the TD Garden and together we sang as one. It was the most incredible thing that I have been a part of and even the players said that they had never been so amped up to play following an anthem. It wasn’t until Thursday April 18th, 2013 that the FBI released the pictures of two brothers as the suspects for the attacks and the manhunt was on. After an MIT Police Officer was murdered the whispers began that it was the two brothers who were wanted for the bombings. And sure enough, it was. There was a massive police chase that night and I was listening to the scanner for the entire night. It was better than any episode of cops I had ever seen. The older of the two suspects was killed in the shootout and the younger was found hiding inside the winterizing tarp of a boat the next morning before finally being taken into custody that night. This ended a week from hell for the city of Boston and was an awful reminder for the rest of the nation that terrorism is still a real threat. But they did not succeed in trying to terrorize the American people, in fact they did just the opposite. The national support for the people of the city and the region was phenomenal and it brought the entire city together in tragedy during the event and triumph in the months following. Earlier this week, a jury found Suspect #2 guilty of all 30 counts he was facing and he will be sentenced to either life in prison or the death penalty. Either way, that scumbag is off our streets for good and will either rot in solitary or rot in hell. Either of which is ok with me.
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Pat O'Hearne
Just a kid from Boston trying his luck in Cleveland Archives
March 2017
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