With free agency set to begin Friday and the Patriots facing a number of key personnel decisions, we’re going to take a look at the best and worst of Bill Belichick’s forays into free agency with the Patriots. Yesterday, we looked at the five worst signings of the Bill Belichick Era. Today, here are the five best:

Read the rest of this entry »

What did you think of Bill Belichick’s move and Adalius Thomas’s response?

His move did not surprise me at all. I mean, I would say a couple of things surprised me about this. First of all, the move didn’t surprise me, clearly the Patriots players are on notice. We are in emergency lockdown, Three Mile Island, you know, this is code red if there ever has been one around the Patriots right now. This is one week, maybe, if you don’t pay attention to the weather and you set your alarm for 7:15, grab a quick bite and get in the car and realize “I made a terrible mistake” whatever, maybe. But it just strikes me in a week like this that you can’t do that.

It is easy to sit back here and second guess and say you can’t be late and then there is a winter storm, but, you know, how he responded to it did not surprise me at all. I honestly think, because Tom Brady had his baby this week, if this were another week without the baby involved, if Tom Brady showed up one second after 8 o’clock, I think a lot of people view that Bill Belichick would have never done that to Brady, I think in this week he would have done it. In my opinion, I don’t fault him for doing it, especially that one of the guys is Adalius Thomas and him are at cross purposes and he will be out of here at the end of the year.

The one thing about Adalius Thomas is that A) he comes from a place where they played really good defense and so it is not like he is Corey Dillon being rescued from purgatory or worse and being rescued and put on this great football team. And number two, the Patriots defense is worse and he came in to be an accessory to this defense, not to be a serf. In the Baltimore scheme, not that they had a lot of power, but if something wasn’t working they told Rex Ryan and Rex would fix it if he agreed.

I am not saying it is totally dictatorial with the Patriots but it is certainly a lot more so. But, the other part of him that people need to realize is that this is a guy who is a really smart guy who is formerly an intern in a congressman’s office early in his career in Baltimore. He has a lot of things going on in his life, he has a lot of interests and like a said a minute ago, he is not going to be a serf to Bill Belichick. So, if you want to look at it right now, hey, I lined up, I was the leader of the parade, I didn’t think it was a good signing, I thought it was a great signing because the Patriots got him for probably $2 million less a year than he could have got in San Francisco. If you remember that, whenever it was. So, this was a guy who the Patriots got who they thoroughly vetted, who they wanted but it turns out that he is not a good fit for their system and it turns out some of the things they loved about him, his intelligence, his smart play on the field, his ability to relocate to play all over the place, I mean they thought he was going to be a more athletic Vrabel and he has simply has not just turned into that. And now, you are simply not going to just bury his personality, you are going to have to cut him which I am sure that Bill Belichick will do at the end of the year. Read the rest of this entry »

In advance of Sunday’s Patriots-Colts game, NBC Sports conducted a media conference call today with play-by-play man Al Michaels, analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison and SNF producer Fred Gaudelli:

HARRISON ON COVERING THIS GAME AS AN ANALYST: “Now that I’m covering it from a media standpoint, it gets me even more excited because now I get a chance to…sit back and relax and enjoy the game and not have to really worry about being nervous or having that anxiety facing those guys.”

MICHAELS ON THE RIVALRY: “This is the fifth time in six years that our crew has had a chance to do this game (third time on SNF, twice on MNF) and this game has been either the most anticipated or one of the most anticipated of the season. It’s one of those games when the schedule comes out and you see it you just hope each team gets out to a pretty good start and they have.  Without question, this is the rivalry of the decade.”

DUNGY ON THE RIVALRY: “From a coaching standpoint, it’s a tremendous matchup. When you play against a team like (New England), it’s such a big challenge.  It brings out the best in you and elevates your game. It’s just a tremendous rivalry.  The respect for each other is there and it’s been a great game and one I’m looking forward to seeing for the first time from a different perspective.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Rodney Harrison apparently still bleeds the red, white and blue of the Patriots.

During a national conference call to discuss this Sunday night’s huge game, Harrison, in his first year as an NBC analyst, said he is hoping the Patriots come out on top.

“Hopefully, the Patriots can go out and kick some butt,” said Harrison. Representing the Colts is former coach Tony Dungy, who like Harrison, is in his first year removed from the rivalry.

“[The Patriots] reminds me of where we were last year,” Dungy said. “We were 3-4 last year but we didn’t see ourselves as a 3-4 team.”

Asked to compare the chemistry of Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison over the years and the current working relationship between Tom Brady and Randy Moss.

“I would definitely have to say Marvin and Peyton,” Harrison said, noting that the Colts tandem has been together for so long. Read the rest of this entry »

Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison took his former teammate Tom Brady to task on national television on Sunday night. During halftime of the “Football Night in America” telecast on NBC, Harrison told Brady to “Take off the skirt and put on some slacks. Toughen up.”

Harrison was referring to the pointing Brady did after Terrell Suggs hit his right knee in the second quarter of Sunday’s game. Suggs was flagged for roughing the quarterback and the Patriots went in for a subsequent touchdown.

After the game, Ray Lewis was critical of the officiating and said that referees are doing too much to protect the quarterback.

“Without totally going off the wall here, it’s embarrassing to the game,” Lewis said. “You can’t do that. Brady’s good enough to make a play. Let him make his own play. You can’t end the play like that and then throw the flag. No, man. The embarrassing part is when he understands that, and he walks up to one of us and says, ‘Oh, that was a cheap one.’ Read the rest of this entry »

According to an NBC spokesman, the purported Twitter account belonging to NBC Sports football analyst Rodney Harrison is a fake, and the former Patriots safety doesn’t tweet and doesn’t know how to tweet. The person who runs the page admitted Friday morning that he is not Harrison, but has since Tweeted that they were simply taking his comments from radio interviews and posting them. The phony Twitter feed sparked a battle with Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, who believed he had a serious trash-talking battle with Harrison last week via Twitter before the Patriots-New York game.

While the Patriots have refused to respond to New York safety Kerry Rhodes and his trash-talking, one former New England player isn’t holding back in the war of words. Ex-Patriots safety Rodney Harrison has made his feelings known about the Jets’ approach, and Rhodes in particular.

In response to Rhodes’ statements saying the Jets wanted to “embarrass” the Patriots on Sunday, Harrison Tweeted Thursday: “The Patriots won’t go into a war of words with any team, they hear everything and then use it to play better on Sunday.” Harrison took it to a new level on Friday with the following message: “Kerry Rhodes is not really a tough guy, i saw him pass on plenty of tackles… i want to see what kind of game he brings Sunday.”

In between the online back-and-forth, Harrison took to the airwaves to lambaste Rhodes.

While his former teammates have been reticent to engage in the war of words, Rodney Harrison wasn't holding back. (AP)

“I respect Kerry Rhodes as a playmaker, but he’s not a tough guy,” Harrison told ESPN 1050 radio Friday. “I’ve seen him turn down tackles many a time…. Guys are not happy with Kerry Rhodes talking and Rex Ryan talking. It’s just blatant disrespect. You don’t talk like that. Some nerve of this guy to come out and really say that. He’s going to have to back it up.”

For his part, Rhodes isn’t backing down. He Tweeted Friday afternoon: “I’m detecting a lil jealousy from @rodneyh37 he must wish he was playing 2morrow. My talent outweighs his ask belichick.”

UPDATE: The back and forth has continued through the early evening. Harrison has returned fire with his latest Tweet: “Kerry, you talk big for someone yet to even win in the playoffs.Think you will ever accomplish what i did?”

Meanwhile, Rhodes responded with a flurry that included the following message: “r u playing sunday? i respect ur game but u crossed line. and i never talk smack u started it. i kno u respect my game! Tweet it!” He added: “u being someone who played the game knows the media runs it i said we are gonna try to embarrass them! lol u should respect that.”

And Harrison answered with a two-part response, one provoked in part by a statement Rhodes made earlier in the week about possibly shaking Tom Brady: “I’m sure if somebody is around [Brady's] leg, or he feels pressure below, he’s not going to step into his throw,” Rhodes said, according to the New York Daily News.

“The talk about Brady’s knees and promising to hit him more than 6 times is what hit a nerve did you ever come back from … a surgery like that?” Harrison asked. “no wonder you have no idea what kind of effect your words have for certain players who went through rehab.”