New England Patriots Links 4/29/10 - The Power Of The Hoodie

by Marima on Apr 29, 2010 9:54 AM EDT in New England Patriots News

The great and powerful Hoodie has Rays' manager Joe Madden's back covered.

Tony Fabrizio and Roger Mooney (Tampa Tribune) Patriots' Belichick, Rays' Maddon in hoodie heaven. Props to 'Chad Henne is Your New Bicycle' for his fanshot tip.

On the Rays' last road trip, [manager Joe] Maddon was told by Major League Baseball in Boston that he could no longer wear the Rays hoodie that he favors for cool- weather games. He didn't like the ruling and threatened to invite the help of Belichick, who often wears a hoodie on the sidelines while coaching.

Belichick - never one to go against the establishment himself, of course — sent Maddon a gray hooded Patriots sweatshirt Wednesday. In a typed note, Belichick said, "From one hoodie wearer to another, I thought I'd pass along my complete support with something to wear."

Pete Prisco (CBS Sports) Re-grading the 2007 Draft: Three-year look back gives real picture.

With Bill Belichick's reputation, you would think all of his drafts are great. This one wasn't. They hit on first-round pick Brandon Meriweather, who starts at safety and went to the Pro Bowl last season. But the other picks, all in Rounds 4 or lower have done almost nothing. Two trades raise the grade here. Belichick traded a second-round pick to Miami for Wes Welker and a fourth-round pick to Oakland for Randy Moss. Talk about stealing. With those trades, the grade goes up to an A, but based on the picks, it's a C.

TEAM TALK

Patriots Today - Kevin Faulk pitches softball game. (1.53 min. video)
Patriots Today - Catching up with James Sanders (3.26 min. video)
Kevin Faulk's Celebrity Softball Game for Charity, May 15th 7:05pm at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, MA. Last year's event was a blast, and we'll be attending again this year.

LOCAL LINKS

Ian Rapoport has an in depth column on getting to know Devin McCourty. Great kid. Worth a read.
Ian Rapoport relates what happened when a young, lightweight (162 lbs) Devin McCourty lifted weights for the first time.
Mike Reiss feels Patriots draft pick Jermaine Cunningham will feel pressure to apply pressure.
Mike Reiss breaks down the Patriots 12-member draft class noting the high number of players from the SEC.
Albert Breer reports CB Terrence Johnson (University of Pennsylvania) just signed with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent.
Christopher Price lists four more players added to the mix for the start of rookie camp on Friday, with links to more you might have missed.
Mike Reiss details the trades made during this year's draft. There were 33 trades league-wide and the Patriots made more of them with 7, than any other team.
Michael Hurley says don't count out Wes Welker for the Patriots in 2010.
Albert Breer takes a look at the chances Vegas sees the top contenders having of winning it all. Pats 9-1, Jets 6-1, Colts 4-1.
Christopher Price notes May 8th will be a good day to head to the Hall at Patriots Place to see Pro Football Hall of Famers Andre Tippett and John Hannah.

NATIONAL NEWS

Tim Graham (ESPN) AFC East offseason schedule finalized. Pats rookie minicamp opens Friday, April 30 to May 2nd.
Charley Casserly (CBS Sports) AFC Draft: Rating top picks. Believe it or not, he had Pats pick Devin McCourty rated as a 1st-round pick and Rob Gronkowski as a late 1st-to-early-2nd-rounder. BB might know something???
Ryan Fowler (What If Sports) NFL rookie impact players for 2010. Pats' Devin McCourty ranked 37th.
Wes Bunting (Nat'l Football Post) Day three draftees worth watching. Pats' Brandon Deaderick noted.
Seah Leahy (USA Today) Roger Goodell: Adopting new overtime rule for regular season could come to vote in May.
Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News) Draft flashback: 2007 was a boom-or-bust year.
Erik Matuszewski (Gainesville Sun) Tebow sets jersey sales record for NFL draftee.
Clifton Brown (Sporting News) If rookies go bust, five NFL coaches could go boom.
Frank Deford (SI) There are good role models and there are bad role models.
David Whitley (NFL Fanhouse) Stop excuses before I lose my mind.
Pro Football Hall of Fame 42nd Annual Photo Contest winner announced for the 2009 NFL season. Some great photos here, Patriots included.
Tim Graham (ESPN) Ireland controversy heating up for Dolphins.
Tim Graham (ESPN) Tannenbaum's tradewinds send Jets sailing. Great read just for this observation:

Why do I get the feeling that if Mrs. Tannenbaum sent her little Mike off to school with his packed lunch, he rarely ate whatever she made? By the time the lunch bell rang, he would've traded his bologna for a PB&J, his pretzel sticks for a fruit cup and offered recess services for a pudding to be named later.

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Small World

In the story about Devin McCourty weightlifting, they mention his trainer. I went to High School with him. He was a ferw years ahead of me, and I hadn’t heard about what he’s up to until just now.

by 6thround on Apr 29, 2010 12:35 PM EDT reply actions

that's cool

funny how you find things out like that

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Apr 29, 2010 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Liking Devin McCourty....

I’m chomping at the bit now….hurry up season and get here!

My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Apr 29, 2010 1:13 PM EDT reply actions

Why wouldn't they grade the 07 draft with trades?

I never understood why people are so unwilling to give credit for draft pick trades. We’ve gotten otherwordly production out of our second and fourth round picks that year, more so than probably any other players in those rounds. Just as the Santonio Holmes production will affect the grades of the Jets this year and Jay Cutlers play (tee hee) will affect the rating of the Bears this year and last.

by BigRedDog42 on Apr 29, 2010 3:04 PM EDT reply actions

Why would they grade the 2007 draft at all?

That was clearly one of the strongest teams of all time – 16-0, etc etc. Is it any surprise at all that some 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rounders couldn’t make it onto the roster considering they were competing against?

They drafted a three O-linemen, a DE, a CB, a RB and two linebackers in those later rounds.

For Kareem Brown to earn a roster spot, he would’ve had to crack a D-line lineup of Seymour, Warren, Wilfork, Jarvis Green and Mike Wright… sorry, kid.

To earn roster spots, those O-linemen would’ve had to displace some of the incumbent Pats O-line. Three of those guys were Pro Bowlers in 2007… pretty tough ask for a rookie.

To earn a spot, CB Mike Richardson would’ve had to beat out a decent CB battery (Hobbs, Samuel, Randall Gay). Then Richardson got hurt… kinda tough ask.

To earn a spot, OLB Justin Rodgers would’ve had to usurp Rosie Colvin, Adalius Thomas (the 2007 non-suckful version), Mike Vrabel or Pierre Woods. Like that would happen…

To earn a roster spot, RB Justice Hairston would’ve had to beat out Sammy Morris, LoMo, Heath Evans, or Kevin Faulk. Hairston started on the PUP-list, which means he couldn’t physically participate. Uphill battle much?

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.

by Comedic.Sans on Apr 29, 2010 7:02 PM EDT up reply actions

That's an excellent point

With draftees having to crack a line-up to be considered successful, it isn’t an accurate assessment of their skills or of the people drafting them, if the line-up they’re supposed to crack is already at a peak.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Apr 29, 2010 7:18 PM EDT up reply actions

This is why I consider it dubious

to rate the ‘success’ of a team (at drafting) based on the percentage of its draft picks that it ends up retaining (something that was done in a recent ‘study’ that rated the Patriots poorly because of that).

The goal isn’t to draft picks and turn them into pro bowlers. The goal is to win superbowls. If that means trading for OTHER team’s picks, so be it.

by mmmmm on Apr 30, 2010 1:13 AM EDT up reply actions