Shots Heard 'Round The Web - Patriots Links 9/24/08

Vince Wilfork's high school jersey, number 75, will be retired at a Florida ceremony this Friday.  Cool.

LOCAL SHOTS

• Mike Reiss convenes a panel of experts to interpret the signs and get an early read on this team.
• Reiss also notes Belichick's plan for the bye week, and says that the Patriots agreed to terms with free-agent receiver Maurice Price.
• John Tomase asks if the players will be looking for Miami's Wildcat formation to be regurgitated and used against them in other games.  Hobbs responds.
• The Wildcat story gets better and better.  Dave Hyde discloses it was first used as a high school football play.  That's something I really didn't need to know.
• Kevin Rousseau scolds the boo-birds and suggests if ever a team deserved a mulligan, it's this one.
• Mike McDermott responds to Ellis Hobbs taking the boo-birds personally and offers his commentary on whether the fans are indeed spoiled.
• McDermott also feels a complete team reinvention is necessary, and reports on goings on around the NFL.
• Matt Cassel proved he was no Tom Brady on Sunday, but Dave Brown suggests "let's wait before tearing him down."
• Shalise Manza Young gets up close with Billy Yates.

SHOTS FROM AFAR

Today's episode of "Moss Watch":  Don't pick on Randy Moss yet.  CBS analyst Solomon Wilcots thought Moss had "shut it down" Sunday by failing to extend his arms to make a catch, but doesn't see the same Moss of the Raiders infamy.  Good read by Karen Guregian.

• The Miami Herald headlines that Miami Dolphins' RB Ricky Williams regrets the open-field cut block on Pat's linebacker Mike Vrabel.....but the article itself says it differently.
• Football Outsiders' Ned Macy declares the Patriots'  flawed defense might not be ready to carry the Brady-less offense into the playoffs, and that's just one of a multitude of problems.
• The Orlando Sentinel says it's madness to have Cassel leading the offense, and wants Belichick to take the Buc's unwanted quarterback Jeff Garcia to man the helm.
• Peter King devotes the entire first page of his Tuesday column to not only listing, but also categorizing and analyzing, all possible replacements for Matt Cassel.  He feels the Pats will soon bring in some QB's to work out...quietly this time.  Shhhhh.
• AP football writer Dave Goldberg discusses the shifting of the balance of power in the AFC after week three's games, and notes the NFC isn't exactly going according to script either.
• Don Banks notes that the AFC standings are "refreshingly out of order," with the 3-0 Bills on top of the division for the first time since Week 4 of 2005.  Hmmmm... the word "refreshingly" doesn't quite do it for me.
• John Czarnecki feels if other teams can run on the Patriots like Miami did, this could be a long season for Belichick and his boys.