dave mcbride

They were the Boston Patriots until 1971, but moving to Foxborough -- which is actually pretty far from Boston, relatively speaking (30 miles) -- changed all that.

Boston is definitely still at base a Red Sox town. 100 percent agree.

I'm going to push back a little on what you say about the NE run game. Let's look at their production in their 6-game winning streak (carries-yards-rushing TDs): 32-148-4 (long of 32) 39-142-1 (long of 14) 39-151-1 (long of 16) 34-184-2 (long of 22) 30-134-0 (long of 21) 24-105-1 (long of 19) That is a ton of rushes per game and really big rushing numbers too (144 yards per game). Now the ypc over that stretch may not sound like much -- 4.36 -- but they're not getting breakaway runs that skew the stats. (They have one run that went longer than 22 yards, and 32 is hardly a ypc-skewer anyway.) And they have 12 kneeldowns for -14 yards. Take those away, and you're magically at 4.72 ypc over this stretch. Moreover, there are also no long QB scrambles that are skewing the numbers either--Jones ran for 42 yards over those six games, with a high of 19 yards total vs. the Jets. My point is that they're relentless with regard to churning out positive rushing yardage via the running backs, controlling the ball, and getting first downs. Over the course of these six games, here are the first down differentials between NE and their opponents: +14, +4, +4, +13, +9, and +5. Bottom line: it's a dominant, game-altering running game right now regardless of the ypc. We shouldn't assume it isn't based on a somewhat deceiving ypc. The very large number of carries per game speaks to it as well. To quote Josef Stalin, "quantity has a quality all its own." Finally, if you want to look at all of the games, they have one truly wacky outlier: the Tampa Bay game. They threw it 42 times and only ran it 8 times for -1 yards. That's right: negative 1 yards total.

20-20+ is indeed very windy. Sounds like it might start out in the 20s and die down down a bit as the evening goes on. We'll see.

On the site, they do have a forecast for Monday night. Looks like it'll be pretty windy and increasingly dry as the game goes on, but obviously things can change between now and then. Mon 06 | Night 26° 23% precipitation W 22 mph Cloudy and windy early, becoming partly cloudy late. Low 26F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Humidity: 61%

I’ll say this about TO — he is a legit first-ballot hall of famer (although he wasn’t voted in the first time around). His numbers are staggering.

Trent Edwards had a couple of moments. And remember JP and that Houston game? There are still drops down there ...

Ironically, I know a bunch of Pats fans, and they all have strong and informed opinions about Grogan, Tony Eason, and Kenneth Sims.

If you look at his advanced stats (adjusted passing), he was above average (over 100) 12 out of his final 13 years with one year of flat average (100). QB ratings from that era are REALLY deceiving given the numbers we see now, where a 95 rating is mediocre. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SimmPh00.htm

I don't recall him having a particularly strong arm, but it was a long time ago. You're right that he had a ton of injuries over the course of his career, and by the time he became a household name (mid-80s) he had missed a fair amount of time. That's what I remember, at least. I'm not saying he couldn't make the throws, but he was no Jeff George. Yeah, people forget that Pennington's arm was good enough before the torn rotator cuff injury (the worst injury a QB can have; it's what Newton had and he can barely throw now).

That actually makes sense.

Simms is definitely an important player in NFL history. Not a big arm but a first round pick; won a lot of games; was pretty much always slightly above league average in terms of performance (as per PFR); and game managed a power running team that relied a lot on TEs. He didn't have a HOF career, but he definitely qualifies for the Hall of the Very Good.

I went out for a beer with an old friend of mine last night who is from Boston and a fanatical Pats fan (his dad has had season tickets for over 40 years). His comp for Mac Jones was Phil Simms, and that made a ton of sense to me.

What is amazing to me is the requirement that a certain number of people who are actually on the roster every week have to be inactive. What's the friggin' point of that? In no other sport does that happen.

The backup in every instance is worse, and Winston was actually having a very good season. Siemien has been terrible.

Taylor Heinecke lookss to me like a long-term loser but a guy with a long career ahead of him getting coaches fired whenever he has to play for an extended period of time. He’s a poor man’s Fitz, and his ceiling is Steve DeBerg. He was AWFUL vs. Buffalo. Lawrence had an easy TD a dropped and another great pass within the five yard line dropped on a 25 yard throw late in the game. Don’t get me wrong - he is not good yet. But he played better than Allen and did enough on his end to have the Jags beat the Bills by two scores. His supporting cast is awful, though. Roethlisberger may be in steep decline, but he’s still competent when healthy and a lot better than Rudolph. The Bills win that game if Rudolph starts. Basically, for all of their losses, they would have won if the backup had started.

Five of the Bills seven wins have come against backup quarterbacks. They are 2-4 against starting QBs. The easiness of the schedule is real. They have feasted on weak opponents.

I didn't leave them out; I know he wasn't good vs. Indy, KC, or Philly a couple of years ago. I'm just saying he performed well vs. Houston, and no, you can't exclude that game. No team has scored more points or gotten more first downs against Houston than the Bills, and only one team gained more yards (LAR).

He had a rating of 102 vs Houston in a downpour and was 20 of 30 for 248 yards.

A dome ain't gonna save you from that drive!

Remember this bad weather game in Buffalo involving Belichick?

Don't get me wrong - I was a fan of his and defended his play last year. He was reasonably productive in the games that he played.

LSU has to keep up with Bama so ... they'll take almost anyone if they're elite. Otherwise, the AD and coaches are going to get fired. Bama gets the pick of the litter these days, but the team has also had its fair share of complete dolts/criminals (Ruggs, Dareus, Reuben Foster, Cam Robinson, Kuondijo, etc. etc.). ND is a pretty selective school, with 19% of applicants getting in. Alabama accepts 83% of applicants. Of course, as the flagship state university, it has a different mission and different responsibilities to the Alabama public than a place like Notre Dame. But yeah, the standards are obviously lower for athletes at ND even if they're higher relative to the rest of the nation's football programs. https://www.uhnd.com/football/2015/07/01/notre-dames-academic-risks-selfinflicted/ "Notre Dame’s standards are well known for being one of the most difficult in the country. High school athletes must have at least four college prep courses and two years of foreign language completed to be admitted. Additionally, recruits must be able to point to specific evidence from within their high school academic record that indicates the capability of meeting the stringent demands of academic life at Notre Dame. But clearing the admittance hurdle is only the first step. Notre Dame student-athletes are subjected to difficult math courses, such as calculus, as freshmen and must achieve – as well as maintain – a GPA of at least 2.0 by the end of their freshmen year. To put this standard in context, many universities only require one year of foreign language to be admitted, and students do not need to achieve a 2.0 GPA until their junior year."

My guess: the countless minor injuries plus a couple of more major ones add up over time, and once you're 30 or so and are running a 4.5, you aren't going to be wanted by teams looking for an answer at speed receiver.

It is partially a myth, but not entirely. The standards ARE higher than at places like LSU, which has no standards outside of being a good football player.