New England Patriots Links 1/04/12 - Hernandez Will Be The Difference Maker

by Marima on Jan 4, 2012 10:50 AM EST in New England Patriots Links

Aaron Hernandez is healthier, and a much-improved player than he was last January.

Greg A. Bedard asserts the reason the Patriots will be tougher to defend this January is clearly Aaron Hernandez.

For his rookie season and most of 2011, Hernandez was part of the secondary group of weapons Tom Brady had at his disposal. But as the regular season finishes, Hernandez is on a par with Welker and Gronkowski. Hernandez, despite turning only 22 in November, is light-years ahead of where he was as the playoffs beckoned in 2010. He’ll be hard-pressed to ever be the complete tight end Gronkowski is, but he has matured into a well-rounded player.

And that looms as a very big development for the Patriots.

Now, he can do it all. Even Hernandez’s blocking has become an asset. Give a large amount of credit to tight ends coach Brian Ferentz for the job he’s done with both of the young tight ends - especially after valuable veteran Alge Crumpler departed.

Tom Brady is asked if he and his teammates are concerned that slow starts could be a fatal flaw in the playoffs.

"We’re always trying to play better. I think we come out of every game saying there’s things we didn’t do so well and there’s things we have to do better. I don’t think what’s in our mind is, 'We’re going to lose, we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose.' You don’t think about that. You think you’re going to win. You think you’re going to pull the game out. You have confidence that if you play for four quarters and you play hard and you make more plays than the other team, then at the end of the 60 minutes you’re going to win the game. Believe me, we all wish we were up 21-0 instead of down 21-0. But if we’re down 21-0 we still have confidence that we can come back and win the game.

TEAM TALK

Andy Hart says rookie RB Stevan Ridley is hitting his stride with 200-plus yards in his last three games.
Ask PFW: Getting coordinated during bye.
Press Conference: Bill Belichick (18.31 min. video)
Patriots Today - How the Patriots got here. (3.31 min. video)
Patriots Today - Breaking down the secondary. (3.06 min. video)
Patriots Today - Belichick, Wilfork on WEEI. (3.51 min. video)
WEEI Patriots Monday: Tom Brady (18.09 min.), Rob Ninkovich (8.20 min.), Brian Waters (4.04 min.), Vince Wilfork (14.25 min.) and Bill Belichick (28.24 min.)

LOCAL LINKS

Brian MacPherson warns slow starts might wind up costing the Patriots in the playoffs.
Tom E. Curran thinks the Patriots' early-game brainlock is from Tom Brady analyzing what the opponent's strategy is going to be.
Karen Guregian ponders the fact that the Patriots haven’t lost since Albert Haynesworth was cut, and wonders if it's related.
Mark Farinella makes sure readers know that this Patriots team has faults, and says there should be an asterisk after 13-3.
Christopher Price tells us how Gronkowski and Hernandez have transformed the Patriots' passing attack.
Jerry Thornton explains why the reports of the death of the Patriots Way were greatly exaggerated, and laughs at the Jets in the process.
Mike Reiss finds that while the Jets had a toxic mix, the Patriots' chemistry was the right formula.
Jeff Howe writes a terrific piece on how Wes Welker has spent his entire football life proving doubters wrong.
Karen Guregian catches up with rookie Nate Solder who was thrown into duty early and not able to ease into his first season.
Mike Reiss notes Julian Edelman has carved out an interesting niche for himself on the Patriots' roster.
Jeff Howe thinks Wes Welker dances like Elaine from 'Seinfeld' and 19 other Patriots thoughts.
Rich Levine shows a little love for the Law Firm.
Christopher Price details who was Tom Brady's favorite (and most dependable) target this season.
Christopher Price breaks down which NE defenders did the best job of getting after the QB this season.
Mike Reiss takes a look at the final tackle leaderboard, with Jerod Mayo (103) the leader, and Andre Carter & Mark Anderson both finishing with 10 sacks apiece.
Mike Petraglia notes Brian Waters believes Gillette Stadium 'can be loud - at times.'
Jeff Howe reports the Patriots got back to work after a day off Tuesday, to lay the foundation for their bye week.
Mike Reiss & Mike Rodak serve up some quick hits from the media-access period in the Patriots' locker room yesterday.
Tom E. Curran touches on New England's penchant for deferring a decision after winning the coin toss to start the game.
Rich Levine soaks up the drama in Indy to help pass the time while the Patriots are on their bye week.
Michael Whitmer notes home field advantage is hardly automatic for the Patriots.
The Boston Globe charts the seeds of Super Bowl champions since 1990.
Ian Rapoport reports the Patriots went through what is believed to be a record-setting number of transactions in 2011.
Christopher Price offers a Patriots positional playoff preview: Quarterback.
Jerry Spar highlights Tom Brady on the Dennis & Callahan show.
Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Pats will have their first bye-week practice today; All three Pats' Super Bowl victories came with a bye; The NFL allows teams with byes to have one padded practice; Tom Brady admits to following NY newspaper reports of the Jets; FB Lousaka Polite was pleased with his performance lead-blocking for BenJarvus Green-Ellis's TD.

NATIONAL NEWS

Kevin Fishbain (Pro Football Weekly) Patriots resemble last year's team, but outside expectations lowered.
Kevin Fishbain (Pro Football Weekly) Patriots rookie report: Week 17.
John Parolin (ESPN Stats & Information) Three-point stance: Bye week.
PFW Staff (Pro Football Weekly) PFW analyzes and ranks all 12 postseason challengers, and finds that each has its share of potentially deadly flaws.
Erik Frenz (Cold Hard Football Facts) Patriots team report: 2011 season in a stat-shell.
Kerry J. Byrne (Cold Hard Football Facts) 2011 NFL season by the numbers.
Eli Kaberon (Pro Football Weekly) 10 years after the Tuck Rule game.
Greg Gabriel (Nat'l Football Post) 2011 NFP All-Rookie offensive team. Nate Solder gets some recognition.
Boomer Esiason (SI) Behind the Mic: Only Steelers, Ravens can stop Patriots. (2.30 min. video)
Jason Cole (Yahoo! Sports) Fatal flaws of NFL playoff teams.
Don Banks (SI) 2012 NFL playoff primer.
Special feature (NFL.com) The Road to Super Bowl XLVI: The journey of each of the 12 playoff teams that define their march to the playoffs.
DJ Gallo (ESPN) Winners and losers of the NFL season.
Steve Wyche (NFL.com) Saints, other playoff teams know how to handle problem players.
NFL Total Access (NFL.com) Sounds of the year. (1.30 min. video)

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Comments

Love the Jerry Thornton piece

He’s unapologetically a total Patriots homer, but his style of writing and comedy is a nice change from all the doom-and-gloom nonsense like Shaughnessy coughs up.

Can I Scream?

by Adam Fox on Jan 4, 2012 11:49 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

Thanks for the heads up.

I needed a little dose of optimistic homerism. That hit the spot.

The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
Some people can learn from the mistakes of others, while some people need to pee on the electric fence themselves.
Belichick is looking for a new name for his boat: VI Rings sounds pretty good.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Jan 4, 2012 12:26 PM EST up reply actions

and Mark Farinella

Man, that piece was a downer – and from a guy who covered the Patriots in the Sullivan days. I know he’s furious at Robert Kraft and his casino proposal for the town of Foxboro, and he’s no fan of Bill Belichick, but he’s taking it out on the team something fierce.

An asterisk next to the 13-3 season? Really? Really? Who beat the Green Bay Packers? The 7-9 Kansas City Chiefs. Doesn’t that tell you something? Who beat the Ravens? The 8-8 Chargers, 7-9 Seahawks, 5-11 Jaguars and 9-7 Titans. The single team they beat with a winning record would have been 8-8 if they hadn’t beaten the Ravens. What does that say about them?

Without the tight ends? Not much of an offense… Beyond those two, and Wes Welker’s 1,569 yards (that brings it up to 72.7 percent), what was there?

Such a totally bogus point. Take away the three best skill position players on any team — including NFL record-setter Gronkowski, and Welker who was first in the league in receptions and 2nd (only to Megatron) in receiving yards — and you could make the same statement.

Sure this team has flaws, but they all do – at least in the AFC. Why he has to nitpick this particular team to death is beyond comprehension. In my opinion it’s a bit unconventional but very likeable, hard-working group of players and I’m rooting hard for them. Who knows what will happen? I will say it’s a tad bit early though to be calling for Bill Belichick’s or Nick Caserio’s head on a platter.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 4, 2012 12:44 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

As the old adage goes...

An asterisk next to the 13-3 season?

“You are what your record says you are!” -Bill Parcells

I hate Boston media sometimes. I think the piling on the Red Sox after their collapse is deserved. But the Patriots cruising to a No. 1 seed, and they haven’t played a single playoff game yet? Eh?

Can I Scream?

by Adam Fox on Jan 4, 2012 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

You know, it irks me a bit, but I feel more comfortable when there are so many naysayers.

Keep it coming, I say.

We may be the #1 seed, but keep looking at us as a long shot. No complacency here.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Jan 4, 2012 12:55 PM EST up reply actions

Because the Saints lost to only league beaters, like the Packers...

…and the Bucs and Rams. Oh.

Pats Pulpit | Follow @Rich__Hill

by Richard Hill on Jan 4, 2012 6:43 PM EST up reply actions

Mark Farinella can shove his asterisk where the sun don't shine.

Wins are wins and losses are losses.

Too many dimwits trying to read too much into it.

Yeah, the team is flawed. The 2001 team was flawed. The 2003 team was flawed. The 2004 team was the most balanced team, and the 2007 team was flawed. So were all the rest of them.

You attack the other team’s weakness with your strength. That’s what you do. Will the Pats get it done this year?

No one knows for sure. If they don’t their will be a lot of, “I told you so”s out there, but is predicting that one team out of 12 won’t win the Super Bowl all that hard to do? You have a 91.7% chance of being right. If they win it, will they STFU?
Afraid not. Some of them might even claim that their disrespect of the Patriots CAUSED them to win the Super Bowl, and they deserve a ring for helping them. Pathetic lot they are.

by SlotMachinePlayer on Jan 4, 2012 12:13 PM EST reply actions 3 recs

Somehow other teams are getting more of a pass

I have seen one article about how the Packers won’t make the Super Bowl because of their 32nd ranked defense, but it’s been much more rare than similar articles about the Pats. And everyone has brought up the Pats recent struggles in the playoffs, but most of them seem to forget that the Saints lost last year to the 7-9 Seahawks in the first round. Plus the Saints defense isn’t anything special either.

At least Jason Cole plays fair and mentions the flaws of EVERY team. There’s too much parity in the league for any team to be perfect. It’s about who has the right chemistry, and who gets hot at the right time. Right now the Pats are on an 8 game winning streak, and while it hasn’t always been pretty, it sure seems like they’ve got as good a chance as any other team. Affixing an asterisk is really a cheap shot. What a $*%^.

by Aluminum Penguin on Jan 4, 2012 1:34 PM EST up reply actions

Come on

That article was hilarious.

Got to admit, Bill Belichick finally got it right when he drafted Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. But did he get it too right?

That doesn’t even make sense by sportswriter standards. Are they too good? Damn you Belichick, the Patriots Tight Ends are always too open, its making Ochocinco look bad!

Patriots’ fans should be lighting candles that the tight ends don’t suffer as much as a stubbed toe between now and Feb. 6 – the day after Super Bowl XLVI.
- Learn how to duck and cover, Tom.

Because every other team in the playoffs could totally survive if two of their top 7 players got injured in the playoffs.

And the winning record stat thing is nonsense. The only two winning teams Pittsburgh beat this year were Cincinnati, who only beat Tennessee, and Tennessee itself. They got whipped by the good teams they played (the Houston game wasn’t as close as the score indicated, and would have been worse if Johnson hadn’t been injured). New Orleans has a more impressive schedule, but blew a bunch of easy games. And they allowed .2 ppg less than NE. It doesn’t mean that NE is great, but it doesn’t mean they can’t beat good teams either.

Oklahoma State will beat LSU in the National Title game by more than 7 points.

by No Pity on Jan 4, 2012 1:36 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Pittsburgh beat us buddy.

by Crizzle12 on Jan 4, 2012 6:10 PM EST up reply actions

But I thought the Pats didn't count since they suck so bad

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 4, 2012 7:02 PM EST up reply actions

The record arguement is

the most ridiculous knock I’ve heard on this team. The only way they would have beaten a team with a winning record this season is if they went 16-0. The Giants finished 9-7 so they would have been yet another team that finished .500 that the pats beat. The Steelers were the only team that finished with a decent record that the pats faced.

Rex Ryan: "There’s no way that we’re looking to replace Mark Sanchez"
Patriots Nation: "Thank God"
Giants Fans: "FOUR MORE YEARS!! FOUR MORE YEARS!!"

by Chris Kole on Jan 4, 2012 7:10 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Also last year’s ‘terrible’ team beat a fair number of teams with winning records. The Jets (once), Steelers, Ravens, Packers (sans Rogers), Bears and the Colts. And yet their one and done is one of the sticks used to beat this team with.

by freemanator on Jan 4, 2012 8:06 PM EST via Android app up reply actions

If you

Want to keep trying to convince yourself that a defense that gave up a historical amount of passing yards isn’t one of the worst in the league that’s up to you. I’m just going to continue to call it as I see it.

by Crizzle12 on Jan 4, 2012 11:42 PM EST up reply actions

I never said they weren't

but apparently, their offense is pretty good and with all the yards their defense gives up, they’re middle of the pack when it comes to giving up points.

If you’re going to call it as you see it, maybe you should open your other eye or stop squinting because the only thing you seem to see about this team is one defensive stat.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 5, 2012 6:48 AM EST up reply actions

I don't judge

This defense based off stats. I judge it based off what I see in the games. I’ve seen virtually every QB they have played against torch them, and lately they havn’t been able to stop the run either. You never feel comfortable with them on the field and you know that during any game against any opponent they ha e the chance to give up 30.

by Crizzle12 on Jan 5, 2012 4:15 PM EST up reply actions

you know how many times this year they gave up 30+ points?

Once. That’s right, they were torched for thirty points once. Maybe they don’t look pretty but they are certainly effective when it counts.

by Oughat on Jan 5, 2012 7:18 PM EST up reply actions

What a hackjob.

The sandbagging by Pats fans and Boston sports media is really getting insufferable. THEY’RE THE 1 SEED! It’s not like they backed in with help.

by dudebro on Jan 4, 2012 9:16 PM EST up reply actions

I had forgotten about Hernandez last year

His first game back from a hip injury was that playoff game against the Jets, and he clearly wasn’t even close to the player he is right now. I think that will make a big difference.

Plus, everyone forgets how the Patriots played better than they were supposed to last year, especially with young and inexperienced DBs, and losing Kevin Faulk early on.

Take a look at their 2010 Week 1 roster for a reminder.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 4, 2012 1:07 PM EST reply actions

Or this years game against the Steelers

He had just come back from injury and was extremely limited. I know that Rob and Welker are beasts but people tend to forget how key Herndo can be for this team.

But I prefer it this way. Our defense sucks, we only have two receivers, no running game and are on a three game playoff losing streak. No way are we winning the SB this year.

by bbismyhero on Jan 4, 2012 5:20 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Did you notice

Edelman was put on defense after charges were dropped from his nightclub incident? If he can grope defenders like that and get away with it, why not?

by iLikeStuff on Jan 4, 2012 2:49 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

Rec'd for comedy

by SlotMachinePlayer on Jan 4, 2012 2:56 PM EST up reply actions

Ridley averaging over 5 ypc

This guy should get the bulk of the carries between the 20’s. You want a veteran blocker/carrier deep in your end and their end. A guy like BJGE who won’t fumble. I’m not saying Ridley fumbles, but he’s more likely to than BenJarvus. This is the guy you want to feed on 1st or 2nd down and potentially be an outlet on 3rd. If he can get 5 yards on either early down it’s a huge advantage for the Pats. They can run just about anything on 3rd and 5. Try covering Welker and Gronk (and Hernandez) in that scenario. Welker cuts so quick, he’s pretty much open every time unless doubled. Gronk and Herndo are so big, they can just go 5 and turn around.

Give the man the ball. It’s guys like him that come on during the postseason that propel teams to the SB. See Starks from GB and Bradshaw from NYG SB years. Hopefully he can crank out big gains in the postseason. At a minimum teams have to be concerned with his ability.

by iLikeStuff on Jan 4, 2012 3:22 PM EST reply actions

Some positive signs headed into the playoffs

The playoff seeding seems to be in their favor and consider this:
1. They won 8 in a row
2. Chung and Spikes seem healthy
3. Add up the total points they lost by in their 3 losses. Answer: 15
4. Every team they lost to (at the time) was 1st in their division (minus tie breakers)
5. Only 6 teams had losing records when Pats played them and Pats took care of business
6. 2 of the teams we lost to are in the playoffs and I feel confident we don’t lose to again

Not only does #1 seed mean they get two weeks rest, but it hurts teams like the Steelers that need rest more than anybody. There’s also a good chance the Bengals win and then have to play in Foxboro. If they don’t it’s either the Broncos who we can crush again or the aforementioned banged up Steelers. They played both this year and know what to expect. They will only have to do extra homework on the Bengals. But that’s a young team – more prone to making mistakes on the big stage.

Regardless of the matchups in the AFC, I like the Patriots’ chances. Let’s do this!!!

by iLikeStuff on Jan 4, 2012 3:44 PM EST reply actions

Pittsburgh is supposedly the most "complete" team in the AFC

But Big Ben says his ankle is only about 5/10 on the health scale after tweaking it during last week’s struggle over Cleveland. And if Denver can do one thing well it’s rush the passer, especially at home. Scary.

Their defense will most likely still win the game for them, but they’re pretty banged up too and they’ll have to smash heads with Denver’s physical offensive line. They’ll also be missing their leading tackler Ryan Clark because he can’t play in high altitude with his blood disorder. Throw in three straight road games to get to the Super Bowl, and I’d be a lot more nervous as a Pitt fan than I am as a Pats fan.

by Aluminum Penguin on Jan 4, 2012 7:38 PM EST reply actions

Baltimore beat them twice too

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Jan 4, 2012 8:07 PM EST up reply actions

Regardless...

-Everyone would pick the Broncos as their opponent because they’re the easiest of the 3.
-Currently the Steelers have a couple of great players that are injured, advantageous for Pats.
-Bengals are a young team…are they capable enough though?

Pats-Bengals round 2.
Pats-Ravens round 3.
Pats-Saints Superbowl.

Let’s do it!!

by SparzWizard on Jan 5, 2012 3:09 AM EST reply actions