Patriots being patriotic

Well the NFL decided to stir up a hornet’s nest this week by confirming a new rule when it comes to standing (or not) for the National Anthem and “respecting the American flag”.

Firstly, I love the patriotism shown by American’s and American sports by standing, hats off, hand on heart, and singing proudly for the Anthem before every game and each morning in school. I wish we did something similar in the UK but having Scottish people sing God Save The Queen, which is seen as an English Anthem, would have people up in arms – as would vice versa – and that’s not counting the Welsh and Irish. However, there’s something great about uniting under one banner and feeling our hearts swell with pride.

Secondly, free speech is a wonderful. The dictionary defines it as “the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint“. Even without the first amendment, the dictionary definition is enough for many to realise that what the NFL has done is completely absurd and has undoubtedly brought it back to the forefront rather than leave it in the background.

So what does that mean for the New England Patriots? I think it means potential disruption to the players and division behind the scenes but I guess maybe no more than it has in the past already. It certainly means for fans, analysts and commentators that come opening day against the Texans, we’ll be playing count the number of players on the sidelines. We’ll be ready to interrogate the reasoning behind coming out to the field vs staying in the locker room. This tit for tat game, could last all season but hopefully by Halloween another horror story will have taken over our consciousness.

I fear former Patriot Chris Long said it best when he Tweeted “This is a fear of a diminished bottom line. These owners don’t love America more than the players demonstrating and taking real action to improve it.”

It’ll be an interesting spectacle but not one I’m particularly looking forward to…

The Patriots Roster…

Free agency started like a whirlwind for most teams and before you knew it, the draft was upon us. We’ve picked up some decent players in both and I’ve got a feeling Coach Belicheck is not done yet. Pass-rush hasn’t really been addressed yet and it’s my opinion that is where we’ll see some activity before our first game against the Texans.

Some smart acquisitions like Cordarrelle Paterson to replace Amendola as special teams returner and Danny Shelton to beef up the defensive line.

The draft is always an exciting time for all but with no 3rd and 4th round picks, smart choices had to be made early on. Isaiah Wynn was announced as a tackle and between him and Trent Brown, should fill the void left by Nate Solder’s departure to NYC. I’m not a Mock Draft person but I do see who people have at the top of their lists in each respective position and with Wynn being the number one OL on the board it was a great pick at number 23. To get the number two RB with our second 1st round pick at 31 was almost unbelievable! So far so good…

Now I’m not going through all the picks one by one but overall I’d say we’ve had a good draft and with some solid free agency dealings we could be a playoff team again. I say could because nothing is certain. Our divisional rivals haven’t done much to cover themselves in glory, maybe apart from Minkah Fitzpatrick, so topping the division can be done again but getting to an eighth championship game might be a struggle.

Tom Brady has committed to at least two more years and with him and Bill, anything is possible but apart from Gronkowski, there’s very little star talent to receive the ball. It’ll be the usual running back by committee and dragging 3 star receivers up to 5 star standards. Edelman will hopefully be back fighting fit for the new season and Hogan could be the shining star, shining brighter than everyone else. Here’s hoping anyway. There’s certainly no talk of 19-0 this year!

This is just a short, “get back on the horse”, blog for now and I know I need to up my game and produce more content for your eyes to read. Trying to balance family life with work and hobbies can be difficult for the best of them and all I can do is try.

Let me know in the comments if you’d like me to write snippets of my life as well as Patriots chat or just stick to the topic in hand 🙂

Should he stay or should he go?

In almost the same words uttered by seminal punk-rockers The Clash, Malcolm Butler is a hot-topic on everyone’s lips that has the Patriots at the forefront of their thoughts.

My take…it’s time he went. Will it come back and bite us in the ass? Possibly. Is it worth it and to move on from this tense situation? Probably. It could all be a bit Much Ado About Nothing but on the surface of it, it’s really not. He’s been a pivotal part of recent history in New England and being suited and booted but left at such an important part in the season, I imagine it was like a knife in the back from Coach Belichick.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see him stay, improve and kick on from what is a clear low point in his career but I’m not sure if the chemistry in the locker room will allow it. If he stays, Coach Belichick would be best to sit everyone down and give a clear and concise explanation as to why events transpired as they did on February 4th. Players such as co-captains Duron Harmon and Devon McCourty just dismiss the questions and deflect to a standard response of “Ask Bill”, which could be a telling sign of their discontent and even Tom Brady expressed his support of Butler on social media. However, if that doesn’t happen, then I feel the best course of action is to let him leave as a Free Agent, pick up a contract of the monetary value he deserves and then Coach Belichick will draw a line under it and move on. I’d like to think the players then draw a line under what happened and do their jobs.

I think whatever happens, the players, will more than likely, will find out Bill’s thoughts on the matter and what transpired during the course of Super Bowl week if they’ve not already done so but the party line will be “no comment” or something to that effect. I’d be very surprised if anyone but Butler (if and when he leaves) or Coach Belichick will reveal what happened to lead the cornerback to be benched for the biggest game of the season.

I’m the first one to say that he didn’t have a great season in my opinion.

Year
Team
Games
Tackles
Interceptions
GP
GS
Comb
Total
Ast
Sck
PD
Int
Yds
Avg
Lng
TD
2014
NE
11
1
15
14
1
0.0
3
1
1
0.0
0
0
2015
NE
16
16
67
56
11
0.0
15
2
9
4.5
9
0
2016
NE
16
16
63
48
15
1.0
17
4
28
7.0
21
0
2017
NE
16
15
60
55
5
1
12
2
−1
−.5
1
0
Career
59
48
205
173
32
2.0
47
8
36
4.5
21
0

The stats back up my thoughts that he had a poor season. Maybe it’s a good season for some CB’s but not for Malcolm Butler, not for the New England Patriots. The final year of your contract, when you’d expect big numbers to put yourself in the shop window or justify your own ideas of getting Stephan Gilmore money, and you actually perform the worst you have for three years.

I hope I’m wrong and he does come back but I just can’t see it. Where does he go, I’m not sure but if he does go to the rumoured Steelers in Pittsburgh at least he won’t have to face Antonio Brown anymore!

His signed mini helmet will be adored in my man cave forever more for what he’s done for this franchise and for that play but what will be will be and good luck to him if he’s not seen in the home dressing room at Gillette in September.

The season is over…

So the season is over and it’s time for reflection. Did we fail? I think so. Do you think we failed? comment below.

I think the Patriots failed because the goal at the start of the season was to win Super Bowl 52. Did the team win Super Bowl 52? No. Therefore the season was a failure. It’s like aiming to lose 2st by summer before your holiday but you only lost a stone and a half. It’s like a recovering alcoholic being 500 days sober but having a drink on day 501. You would class them as achievements but the objective was a failure.

Where did it all go wrong? Benching Butler and not letting him play a snap in the big game? Losing Edleman to an ACL before the season has even begun? The captain of the defence getting injured 5 games in to the campaign? Or was it Marcus Cannon getting injured against the Chargers and then officially going on IR in December, ending his season there and then. In all honesty, it’s all of the above and probably a little bit more.

They managed without Gronk last year, so they can manage without Edelman this season was my thoughts. Plus we got Cooks and Hogan and Danny Playoff as decent replacements so not such a problem there. Now everyone says the defence was the obvious issue and I would agree. Hightower is my favourite player and a linchpin of that D, so for me, he was probably the biggest loss but that’s more of a personal opinion than maybe actual fact. Van Noy stepped up in huge ways when required and with Hightower back next season, I think the pairing will be a formidable force next season.

Moving forward for next season the defence needs bolstering and with Matty P off to the city of Motown it’ll be interesting to see who steps in to his shoes. My long shot is Belichick’s son, Steve and any slim chance Butler was going to stay in New England will be gone with it.

Thanks for reading and please check back in for more posts as the weeks and months go on.