Shots Heard 'Round The Web - Patriots Links 10/02/08

by Marima on Oct 2, 2008 8:27 AM EDT in News Comment 7 comments

LOCAL SHOTS

Bill Belichick responds to Raiders owner Al Davis's accusations that the Patriots tampered with Randy Moss, before the 2007 trade that brought him to New England.
Shalise Manza Young reports that according to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, "No tampering charges have ever been filed with our office with respect to Randy Moss."
Young updates us on the status of rookie linebacker Shawn Crable who has yet to see any playing time.
Mike Reiss reports from the Patriots locker room, his Nuggets from Gillette.
Reiss glues us in on the bonding status of Randy Moss and Matt Cassel.
Projo.com provides the full transcripts of Bill Belichick's Wednesday press conference, and Randy Moss' Wednesday press conference.
Rich Thompson says Laurence Maroney and ball control are key for the Patriots.
From the Patriots team website: "Pro Bowl nose tackle Vince Wilfork has two years remaining on his rookie contract but...he would like to emulate Troy Brown, who retired last week after 15 years – all spent in a Patriots uniform.
Patriots Daily has a nice piece on Troy Brown: 2001 Was Turning Point For Brown, Patriots.
The New England Patriots Alumni Club (NEPAC) will host its second-annual "Game With the Greats" event in Gillette Stadium's Fidelity Investments East Clubhouse on Sunday, October 5 when the Patriots travel to San Francisco.

FOCUS ON THE 49ERS

Mike Reiss compiled for us some links from the San Francisco side.
Chris Gasper highlights three key areas in Sunday's Patriots-49ers game.
Shalise Manza Young talks about the 49ers many looks on defense.
Greg Beachum reports the Niners are willing to trade sacks for scores, and QB J.T. O'Sullivan doesn't mind a bit.
Belichick discusses talented running back Frank Gore.
Matt Brown, STATS editor, presents his Pats-Niners preview.
The 49ers released their participation report.

POWER RANKINGS

What If Sports ranks them (ouch!) 22nd (+3)
Fox Sports on MSN ranks them 15th (-2): "This weekend Doctor Evil will emerge from the Patriots' bye week, and after getting embarrassed by Miami in Week 3 he has to have something tricky up his sleeve, right?" Dr. Evil???? Sooooo clever.
ESPN ranks them 13th (-2): "If they can't beat the 49ers on Sunday, prepare for panic to set in." (Note the disparity in the voting among the 12 ESPN writers.)
ProFootball Weekly ranks them 13th (-1): "Have to think Kevin O’Connell will play at some point." How 'bout the end of the 4th quarter?
NFL.com keeps them ranked below 12th in the "middle of the pack."
The Sporting News ranks them 10th: "Something tells me the Patriots figured something out during the bye."
Dr. Z at SI ranks them 7th (-1): "I get a tremendous kick out of the transcripts of Bill Belichick's daily press conferences. Here's an excerpt from Tuesday's, for instance:

Q: How would you assess your turnover differential this week?

A: Always like to get more and give up less."

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Gotta Love Bill

I love that last Q&A quote. I nearly spit out my coffee I was laughing so hard.

Blogger at SBNation's New England Patriots blog, Pats Pulpit

by MaPatsFan on Oct 2, 2008 9:46 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

that Al Davis makes a claim like this. I know that few who follow the league take Al seriously about anything these days, but the Patriots’ and Bill’s reputations don’t need any more negative PR around the league. We’re not exactly the white knights of the NFL right now in most people’s eyes.

So I have some questions. If there was indeed merit to the claim, why didn’t he file a tampering charge, as is common in the NFL these days? Why raise the issue now, more than a year after the trade was consummated? If there is truth to the accusation, it seems like it would be fairly easy to substantiate…I don’t think seeing if Randy flew to Foxborough in advance of the trade or if Bill or other Patriots staff rented a workout facility in California would be a difficult paper trail to pull up.

Maybe he’s trying to distract from his perceived incompetence in the firing of Lane Kiffin?

by jctsai12 on Oct 2, 2008 12:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Alot of what you say...

…is logical, which is why it doesn’t apply to Al Davis. ;-) In my mind, Al Davis is a guy with a big checkbook and no brains. He’s a classic example of an autocratic leader. That would be fine if he had a high football IQ, but he doesn’t. Hire good people and stay out of the locker room.

Blogger at SBNation's New England Patriots blog, Pats Pulpit

by MaPatsFan on Oct 2, 2008 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

extremely infuriating

Al Davis has flat-out hated the Patriots since his 2001 playoff hopes died in Foxboro with the Tuck rule. There is no way on this earth he would have let a tampering charge against New England slide, especially involving Randy Moss – his prize stallion that wouldn’t perform in his Raiders sideshow, but ran strong and free breaking NFL records for Kraft — and taking a cut in pay for the privilege.

What galls me is that every national news outlet is letting their headlines imply that this isn’t simply the rantings of a vengeful, narcissistic, bitter old man. Instead of “Patriots Belichick denies Davis tampering allegation; Moss declines comment.” It should read, “Raiders’ Davis falsely accuses Belichick of tampering. No evidence to support his claim.”

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Oct 2, 2008 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs