This has been a good year performance-wise for the Sox farm system.

While I/m sure Padre fans are happy to see Kelly’s performance, I’m also sure their horrified to see A-Gon in Dodger blue.

Why the Red Sox trade for Adrian Gonzales will go down as one of the best Sox moves of all time:

WAS NOT Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo, and Reymond Fuentes for Adrian Gonzales…. It was those three prospects in exchange for unloading Crawford and Beckett, plus picking up Loney, De La Rosa, Webster, and 2 other decent prospects… and also allowing them to let Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre walk in free agency (compensation = Matt Barnes, Jackie Bradley Jr, Henry Owens  and Blake Swihart ). We have a payroll the size of Tampa for 2013 and 6 of our top 10 prospects thanks to that trade…

That reasoning brings to mind the quote from Seinfeld…”That, is one magic loogie!”.

 Very intelligent critique. It all came together for the good of the Sox.

I think kelly will be a fine pro, But let’s not call cooperstown just yet. He faced the .252 hitting Atlanta Braves. 

Nice column, Alex.  Just keep rubbing salt in the wound. ; )

Even at the time, the trade for Gonzalez never seemed like a great idea.  Sure, the Sox got a year of performance out of him at about $6 million and pretty much put themselves in the driver’s seat for the Gonzalez “free agent” sweepstakes, but they stood a good chance of landing him at about the price they paid if they had just waited until 2011.  Kelly, Rizzo, Fuentes, and Patterson seemed like a pretty high price to pay for what they actually gained from the deal.

Hey Johnny Spygate- Bill just put you in your place!

Yeah Bill. That AFC east is a real accomplishment.

Great to hear he’ll be back. Can’t say enough about what he’s done for this team. This coach has me thinking before each season starts, that a trip to the Superbowl is possible every year. How many other teams fans can say that?  Hell, If healthy, I expect them to be there again next year, this a day after they just got their azz’s handed to them. Keep up the good work BB. 

All of Patriot Nation is glad you’ll be back Bill.  Screw the media, when will they figure out you’re not there to make them happy?  Here’s to hoping you are the HC of the New England Patriots for a long, long time.

win or lose we are spoiled love my patriots.i remember being the laughing stock of the nfl.now we are the hated.but really its not hate its jealousy that we are competing every year.some teams wish they could just make the playoffs.

Sure Tito, the NFC north is quite a powerhouse, too

Bill is the BEST. The other negative stuff you hear is just plain envy. His players resoect him as do his true fans and there is no one I would take over Bill to be our coach. Period. Thanks for coming back.

Arrogance! Sheer arrogance!

Arrogance! Sheer arrogance!

Bill  didn’t play  sunday  it was team lose……….

He didn’t say the AFC east…. He said the AFC. Jacka$$

Did anyone really think he wasn’t going to come back?

Too many drops, abandoned the running game wayyyy tooo early, abandoned no huddle, waited too long to blitz Flacco.

 Who hasn’t?

You might want to read that again.

 Terrible division. You would think at least Miami would have improved by now.

Without Brady he is a run of the mill coach. Mr Personality 

People forget that the Pats have the youngest defense in the league.  I have been predicting that next year is the Super Bowl winning year.  Hope I am correct.

Bellichoke hasn’t won a SB since spygate, and since Charlie Weiss and Romeo Crennel left. I thought bellichoke got to much praise back then and not enough blame the last eight years. The patsies where man handled in the playoffs by the jets, giants, and now the ravens. The problem with pats fans are they are still in 2004. Admit it your just not as good as those teams back then. tom brady has lived a charmed life but if you fans call it the way it really is he has not come through and carried his team on his back to win a SB. I know pats fans think TOM TERRIFIC is the best QB in football but really he hasn’t won a SB since he was wetting his pants. Let the hate begin.

Tito:  Glad you appreciate that.  You’re very wise indeed.

“Bellichoke hasn’t won a SB since spygate,”  Wasn’t Spygate back versus the Rams’. And not sure if that had anything to do with why they won that game. They beat the bag out of the rams’ receivers in the first half, that’s why they won. Get over it punk.

Hey Donnie:  Sorry to hear about your brain damage.  So sad.  :(

It seems like the Harbourgh brothers have Bill’s number. With the clock on Brady winding down, can he find an answer? He’s one of the best coaches but this challenge he might be able to overcome.

Good season.  Sad ending.  Get over it.

GO CELTICS!!!!  …and Bruins…and Red Sox!  Happier here than in Baltimore for sure.

I like this guy’s attitude.  The rest of the yahoos should hop on board the Dano Express.  
The David Ross era begins in less than 3 weeks

As any good Patriot fan WE LOVE IT

They Blitz,I missed it Bring Romeo back

Since you are so smart and i have Brain damage. you may want to get your facts right. Spy gate came out during there undeated opps one loss SB season. You and Dano are so smart!

I’m a Boston fan too, but Ravens are in the Superbowl, and Baltimore made the playoffs last year, sox did not.

GO Habs GO 

SB’s aren’t the only barometer to judge a coach’s success. Go check this stat out? Not one coach has more wins (season & postseason) during the same timeline BB has coached the Pats. No one. His winning % is right up there too. Look at any period (from spygate on and/or B4). You want to debate as to TB’s effectiveness winning the big game (playoffs) and you’ve got a point. But even TB has been successful during that same tenure as BB too. TB will be remembered as one of the best QB’s of all time (at present). Will he be the greatest, time will tell? Winning another SB definitely puts him in that discussion. Although, his window for competing for SBs is closing.

Bill is going to coach until he dies.  The window here will always be open as long as he’s coaching.  After Tom is gone, and the Patriots have an extra $20m+ to throw around on the defense, the team will win in new ways.  This was THE youngest team in his era.  Things will be ok, look at the AFC and tell me who is set up better next year or even the next three years.  It gets frustrating watching this team melt in big situations, but they’ll be back next year.

Anyone still parroting spygate, get a life. First off, it’s old history, move on. Truth is, BB wasn’t doing anything different than other coaches were (only his staff was dumb enough to get caught). Other teams have been fined for this as well. Now that there are CLEAR, DEFINABLE and ENFORCEABLE NFL rules for this (not that way when BB/Pats were fined), teams know the risk if they get caught. You want to berate BB and/or discount those seasons (& SBs), think about this. If you’ve ever played the game, it is ONE thing to know plays and quite another to STOP them. The Pats executed stopping those plays, period. Yeah, I hear you “knowing the play” helps but to have consistent success (wins), you have to EXECUTE on every play (offense & defense).

You say Belicheck hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 2004 as thought it is utter failure.  Do you know how hard it is to GET to a Super Bowl, let alone WIN one in the National Football League?  Do you know how many teams/fans/cities would LOVE to say they won a Super Bowl in 2004?  Most of the league!  I’m not a Belicheck apologist, but let’s get some perspective here.  They’re fighting for the AFC Championship every year.  That’s pretty good.  How would you like to have been in some other cities the past 10 years – Miami, Baltimore (yes, Baltimore), Cleveland, Cincinnati, Nashville, Denver, San Diego, Kansas City..and the list goes on.  Most of the fans in those cities haven’t had the pleasure of witnessing championship games and Super Bowls during the past 10 years.  We have.  Try to appreciate it.

We need to bring back Romeo Crennel to be DC.  No adjustment and no blitzing yesterday and no hard hits except for Mayo’s one on Pitta.  Brady was scared and played that way, he easily could have run for a first down a couple of times but didn’t.  Mismanagement of the clock at the end of the first half too..  Abandoned the use of tight ends, Hernandez was invisible in the second half.  Should have used Hooman a little especially in the red zone.  Oh and too many drops…..  WTF!

This year marked the sixth season since the scandal broke following the 2007 season opener, putting the Spygate incident in the midpoint of New England’s long run of high-end play. Since the start of the ’07 season, New England has gone 76-20 in the regular season. In the six seasons before the scandal, the Patriots are 70-26

Haters can point to the Spygate all they want.  The team performance still stands before and after.  And they’ve been to Super Bowls since.  Anyone that wants to use Spygate as a reason why they’ve not won a Super Bowl recently doesn’t give the league credit for how competitive it is.  If you need any further proof looks at the other 31 teams and how much less they’ve achieved before and after.  Not to mention that because we are 70-26 and a regular playoff team we play 16 games getting every other team’s best football.  There is no let down as playing the Pats is a measuring stick if not a losing team’s Super Bowl.  (See Arizona’s win this year against us).

At this point all the Pats/BB/12 haters are so predictable its almost sad that you lump into a majority with no unique perspective.  It’s easier for you to say/type one word “Spygate” instead of researching anything factual to support your argument for why the Pats have missed out on another Super Bowl win.  

I hope we can get our young defense in order for a solid run and win 1 more Super Bowl.  

Heres what the Pats need to do next year and they WILL win the Super Bowl.
1. Sign Talib
2. Get rid of Branch and either sign Percy Harvin or Dwayne Bowe
3. Bring back Welker
4. Get a freeking kick returner
5. Brady,Welker,Gronk,Hernandez,Lloyd,Wilfork,Talib,Spikes,Mayo,Hightower,Edelman and the new WR they bring in ALL need to be healthy going into the playoffs AND stay healthy throughout the playoffs.

This team didnt win 2 straight super bowls because of KEY players being hurt. Gronk last year and Gronk/Talib this year. The #’s 1-4 are easy.  #5 is the challenge but it can be done.  Im still convinced we are better than the Ravens with Gronk and Talib playing 4 qtrs vs their team. If you look at the Ravens offense…Rice,Smith,Boldin,Jones, and Pitta all are healthy. If they would lose Smith or Boldin who is their Gronk, they would have been out last week in Denver

Got that right Bill…….and put the Ravens, especially the punks named Suggs and Pollard, on the radar. Next year is pay back for their classless mouths. In fact, from ownership down the Ravens have no class. Thugs and punks.

Hey brian good points on the regular season but one stat you fail to mention is what is the post season record since spygate broke. I think everyone would agree fans players owners that they would rather hve 50 regular season wins with one more SB.

Took down Houston twice with ease.
Lost in Baltimore on a pass interference all
 
Then 2 bad losses with Arizona and Seattle mixed in.

All I will say to this is the PATS have a fairly easy 6 wins every year. When you’re racking up win totals you should take that into account. They play in the AFC East and aside from the JETS there has not been a competitive team in the AFC East since Brady has been the QB. The PATS have a ticket to every playoff season punched before the season starts because they will always win the AFC East. They have an opportunity every year to win the SB because they will be in the playoffs.

Also, I know everyone thinks Brady is the best evah but Brady didn’t win those Super Bowls. The defense had allot more to do with those SB wins than Brady did. Brady and the PATS stopped winning SB when they stopped having defenses that could win the game for them, or make a stop when they had to. Manning has NEVER had a championship defense. Brady now knows when Manning has dealt with his whole career. He needs to score every time because he can’t count on the defense. I also realized it id very rare that the PATS face adversity. Their coaching is head and shoulders above most teams so they walk all over teams during the regular season. Come playoff time they have to actually play and they haven’t gotten it done.

 I suppose you would prefer he take a page from Rex Ryan’s book.  Belichick tells it like it is and doesn’t trash talk or allow his players to trash talk. 

Bill, we know you are the Duke of Defense. But, please, I am begging you, let’s some pass rushers this off season! 

Bill is “One Of” the best coaches in the NFL, but he acts like a classless “JERK” and if Bob Kraft
is the Great Gentleman he appears to be, he should publicly chastise  the great Mr.B for his
lack of class after the game.  There are NO excuses for what he did and he should be shown that
he is not above reproach.

 What an arrogant SOB. He gives the Pats a bad name and Kraft hasn’t the stones to call him out.

all good points CAP! however, although on the backside of his career consider that John Elway never got a ring until his last and second to last years in the NFL.
I still like Bradys chances and I think he will get one more before its all said and done!