The Patriots hold a 10-9 lead on the Giants after two quarters at the New Meadowlands Stadium. Here are a few quick notes:

After some debate, the Patriots did indeed open with their complete group of starters on both sides of the ball, with the majority of each group on the field for two series’ each. Tom Brady, in his first action in a preseason finale since 2003, finished 4-for-8 for 51 yards with one touchdown (to Rob Gronkowski) and one interception (on an underthrown deep ball to Randy Moss).  Among the starters, tight end Alge Crumpler had one catch for 22 yards, Wes Welker added one catch for 14 yards and Randy Moss had one catch for 10 yards.

The Giants opened with a nine-play, 86-yard drive that took just 4:17. It was a bad series for the New England defense, as New York chewed up ground easily, on the ground and in the air, culminating the series with a 13-yard pass play from Eli Manning to tight end Kevin Boss. The Giants did a nice job exploiting some open space underneath — New York’s gains on its pass plays on the opening drive were for 22, 2, 12, 17 and 13 yards, the last being Boss’ score. No big gains, but a steady consistent series of passes that wore down the Patriots’ passing defense.

New England’s best defensive play — and one of the best examples of team defense it has shown all preseason — came on a third and 8 with just over three minutes to go in the first quarter. The Patriots, and Mike Wright in particular, did a good job pressuring Manning. When Manning got the pass off, rookie cornerback Devin McCourty did a nice job in coverage on Hakeem Nicks, and the ball went incomplete.

After the Giants’ first drive went for a touchdown, the Patriots answered with an eight-play drive of their own that went 45 yards (thanks to a nice 56-yard return by Thomas Clayton) and ended with a five-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski, who ran a sharp route over the middle and hauled in the pass. It was a drive that culminated with a score and featured some nice work in the passing game (with passes to Crumpler and Moss), but unlike the first two games, New England struggled to execute on the ground — the Patriots ended the first half with 137 yards in the air, but just 46 on the ground.

While the Patriots opened with Fred Taylor at running back, Laurence Maroney saw his first action since the preseason opener when he came on with the backup offense on New England’s third offensive series of the night. He had two carries for seven yards on his first series, which ended with a three-and-out, and ended the first half with seven carries for 32 yards, tops among both teams. At the tight end spot, if Week 2 was Aaron Hernandez’s time in the spotlight and Week 3 was Gronkowski’s turn, the first half was Crumpler’s chance. Crumpler was targeted three times, but had one drop and wasn’t on the same page with Brady on another red-zone pass play. He did end up with one catch for 22 yards. Brian Hoyer relieved Brady, and went 7-for-12 for 86 yards. He got knocked around pretty good behind New England’s backup offensive line, with his helmet almost getting knocked clean off at one point.

FOXBORO — For the second straight day, Bill Belichick had the look of an NFL coach primed and ready for the season to begin.

Several attempts were made to ask the Patriots head coach questions on various topics such as Tom Brady entering the final year of his contract and Vince Wilfork‘s feelings about an 18-game season.

Maybe he was just trying to set an example for his team like always but each time Belichick stayed focused on the task at hand – getting ready for the last tune-up before the bullets start flying for real on Sept. 12.

For example, on Wilfork’s comments to WEEI on Monday that he’s all behind an 18-game schedule as long as the players get paid, Belichick said, “Right now, my thoughts are on the Giants, getting ready for the Giants and the regular season. That’s where I’m at right now.”

Nothing more, nothing less.

“We’re winding down here in preseason, the last preseason practice,” was how Belichick opened his Tuesday briefing. “Looking forward to going down to New York, having a good experience here with the Giants in a new stadium and let it roll.”

Then there was this exchange between the well-respected Albert Breer of the Boston Globe and Belichick on a certain star quarterback for the Patriots entering the final year of his contract.

Q: With all the roster stuff that is going to happen in the next week or so, how important is it that you your quarterback is 10 days away from going into the final season of his contract?

BB: Everybody that is out there is under contract.

Q: Tom has never been this far [into a contract] before –

BB: Every player on the field is under contract.

Q: So you wouldn’t be concerned about someone being in the last year of his contact, even if it is Tom Brady?

BB: There are a lot of players on our team that are in the last year of their contract. There are a lot of players on every team that are in the last year of their contract. That’s not an unprecedented situation.

Q: Is his contract a priority for the team right now?

BB: We’re coaching the team. I’m coaching the team. Everybody out there is under contract.

Boom. Like perfectly picking up a blitz, Belichick wasn’t about to let anything or anyone get to his quarterback.

That’s the focus and execution he wants to see from his team starting with the final preseason game this Thursday against the Giants.

Thanks to the Patriots’ PR staff, here’s the complete transcript of the Q&A between Bill Belichick and the media this afternoon at Gillette Stadium:

BB: We’re winding down here in preseason. [This is] kind of the last preseason practice. We’re looking forward to going down to New York and having a good experience here with the Giants [and] the new stadium and let it roll.

Q: How many practices have you had since camp started?

BB: I think it’s like 38, something like that. Thirty seven.

Q: Is that right on schedule the way you mapped it out?

BB: Yeah, it’s about right. It’s not the 50-something we would have back in the 80s, but it’s about what it’s been.

Q: By the end of the year, you’ll have about 200 practices?

BB: It would be nice to have 200. I think the top end would be about 120.

Q: Do you see how I set the bar high at 200?

BB: Well, we have certain restrictions on how many days we can practice and all of that.

Q: You’ve got question marks and unknowns every year, but are there more questions this year going in than there have been in the past?

BB: I don’t know. I couldn’t really rank one year with another or two years ago. [You] just deal with whatever you have to deal with the particular year and do the best you can with it.

Q: Any news on the five guys you have to cut today?

BB: No. That will be at 4:00.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to the Patriots’ PR staff, here’s the complete transcript of the Q&A between Bill Belichick and the media this afternoon at Gillette Stadium:

BB: We’re into our final week of training camp. It’s a big week for us. It will give us a chance to straighten out a few things and then work on the Giants. The Giants are a real good football team. A little different than what we’ve seen. Physical. Real good in all areas. Offense, defense, special teams. They have a good style of play. It’s very challenging. It will give us a chance to see the new stadium which we’ll be back in, in a couple weeks. It’s a good opportunity for us this week to get a lot of stuff done. Really our last chance till we get into a bye week later on this season where we’re not getting ready for a regular season opponent here every week. It’s important for us to try and iron out a few things. We’ll have a good competitive test down there in New York, New Jersey.

Q: What are some things that you look for when you go into a new stadium for the first time?
BB: Well, any stadium, just getting familiar with it. The field conditions, the footing, obviously. The returners, the ball handling. Whatever the structure is, lights so forth. Not that that will be an issue with the Jets. The familiarity with it, the wind patterns, just being comfortable with the whole setup. Coaches press box, coming down at halftime. It’s a lot of little things, but it’s just easier when you’ve had a run through once before, and you kind of know what you are doing. 40-second clocks for the quarterbacks. Stuff like that.
Read the rest of this entry »

FOXBORO –It has been the most-often asked question since Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel left before the 2009 season.

Who will fill the leadership void on defense for the Patriots?

As as much as coach Bill Belichick relies on his linebackers to call his defense and be responsible for so much at once, that leader is naturally a linebacker.

Jerod Mayo stepped forward Monday and said that while he’s still only 24, he’s ready to take on that task full-time this season, his third in the NFL.

Mayo said he’s still learning the Belichick system but now feels comfortable in teaching younger players what is expected on defense every game.

“I’m still a young guy, maybe not a young guy as far as years played on the team, but I’m 24 years old and still learning from guys like [Vince] Wilfork and [Ty] Warren, even though he’s not here right now, I’m still learning from guys like that,” Mayo said following Monday’s practice. “If the guys have a question for me, I’m there to answer it, try to play the same role that Bruschi and Vrabel played for me when I first came here.”

Clearly, the player most obviously in his sights is fellow linebackerBrandon Spikes, the talented rookie playmaker out of Florida who figures to be a big run-stopper and a foundation of Belichick’s interior D for years to come.

Vrabel is entering his second season in Kansas City after eight seasons and three Super Bowl titles in New England and four before that in Pittsburgh. Bruschi is now sharing his football wisdom with the world on ESPN.
And Mayo is left behind in Foxboro to carry the leadership torch along with Wilfork and Warren.

As for last Thursday, when the Patriots failed time after time to get off the field on defense on third down, Mayo said the team was reminded that’s not acceptable starting Sept. 12 against Cincinnati.

“We did get some humble pie and we didn’t play like we were supposed to,” Mayo said.

Former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, speaking on a conference call this afternoon, said his old team is “fed up” with the amount of trash talk coming from the Jets, and the Patriots have their Week Two game against New York “circled” on their calendar.

“You better believe, the Patriots have that [game] circled with the Jets,” Harrison said. “They hate the Jets, but they hate them even more because they’ve been coming out saying, ‘This is our division.’”

Harrison, currently an analyst for NBC’s “Football Night in America,” said the words coming from Jets head coach Rex Ryan are the most surprising.

“It’s one thing if a player trash talks,” Harrison said. “But if a coach starts trash talking, guess what? He hasn’t made one tackle, he hasn’t caught the ball, he hasn’t scored one touchdown.”

Harrison believes the words from quarterback Tom Brady — who told WEEI’s “Dennis & Callahan” last week that he doesn’t watch “Hard Knocks” because he hates the Jets — are fairly indicative of the way the rest of the organization feels about the Jets.

“Tom Brady is an honest guy, but Tom never comes out and blatantly says how much he hates a particular team,” Harrison said. “So obviously they’re very tired, fed up with the trash talk.”

Terrence Johnson

The Patriots announced Sunday they have re-signed defensive back Terrence Johnson and released offensive lineman Brian Simmons. Here’s the announcement from the team on the move:

The New England Patriots re-signed DB Terrence Johnson and released OL Brian Simmons today.

Johnson, 5-9, 190 pounds, was originally signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of California University of Pennsylvania on April 20, 2010. He was released by the Patriots on August 23, 2010.

Simmons, 6-4, 318 pounds, is a rookie free agent out of Oklahoma who was signed by the Patriots on August 15, 2010. He first entered the starting lineup for Oklahoma at left guard as a senior in 2009.