Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Enough talk about Tom Brady, flower pots, babies, and his wife Gisele.  I want to talk about Brady, QB ratings, TD passes to Moss, and checkdowns to Welker (if he plays).  I'll be at Gillette Stadium for the game, soaking up all the festivities, and fighting the traffic to get home at "Ohh dark thirty", but it's a small price to pay.

I'll have lots to tell you about tomorrow but until then, here's your  open Game Thread.  Don't forget to swing on by Buffalo Rumblings for a rival fan's perspective on our matchup.

GO PATRIOTS!!

Whoooo hooooo!  Football is back!  Now I have an excuse not to do the lawn, repair the fence, work on the walkway.  The best part?  My wife's as much of a football nut as I am.  Get the grill going, throw on some tips, have a few adult beverages, and watch some football.  Our New England Patriots play tomorrow night against the Buffalo Bills (did I tell you I was going ;-)), but that's ok.  I have a pretty good idea what I'm doing today.

Drop a few comments if you happen to be around.  Love to hear from ya.

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Weird stuff crosses my Inbox on a regular basis.  Interview requests, link swaps, ad posts - it's your typical deluge of things to sift through every day (and well into the night).  This one probably counts as one of the weirdest, in a good way that is.

Basically, I'm the VIP guest of Verizon for the season opener against the Bills.  They're doing a promotion for their FiOS product and I was invited to see a demo, eat some food, and enjoy the game.  Oh ok, I guess I'll go. ;-)  There's something about a film crew to record my FiOS "experience" after the demo.  I'm not too sure about that one, but if you get a kick out of seeing my ugly mug, I'll do it. ;-)

You can bet I'll be blogging the heck out of this experience when I get home.  Oh, and you'll be surprised at the jersey I'll be sporting for the game.

Yeah, it's not the Patriots, but what the heck?  Steelers and Titans are usually mentioned in the same breath as Patriots and Colts when we talk about teams ready to rule the AFC.  This will be a good one.  Drop a comment or two if you choose.

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Yup, our final 2009 preseason matchup is against the team that ended hopes of a perfect 19-0 season.  I'll try not to dredge up too many bad memories (swiss cheese O line) or negative thoughts (McD failing to adjust).  Suffice to say I think this will be a snoozer of a game.  If we even see Tom Brady or Eli Manning set foot on the gridiron, I'd be shocked.  Andrew Walter will get a workout as will Brian Hoyer, but pretty boy will hang on the sidelines.  Maybe some Wes Welker?  It would be nice, but Greg Lewis and Joey Galloway need the reps more than WW.

This is a "try not to get injured" game for those with a roster spot and a last chance for those on the bubble.  It'll be interesting to predict who stays and who goes.

UPDATE: DB Analysis is in

Howdy faithful.  After the snoozefest that was a 6-7 loss to the Bengals, our Armchair Coaching staff provided me their analysis.  We're missing a few positions, so if you haven't please email that analysis to patspulpit at gmail.com.  I've also noticed a few coaches placing their thoughts as comments on this blog.  Please send your analysis to the email above instead; I'd like to publish all the entries at the same time in one story.

Without further delay, here's your coach's analysis after the jump.

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7:30 PM EST, WBZ-TV, 98.5

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Howdy Gang,

I'm opening up this game thread early as I'll be out-of-pocket for a bit.  For those without viewing access to the game, I'm searching for live radio feeds that you can take advantage of.  98.5 The Sports Hub is the official radio broadcast, but I can't seem to find Internet streaming information.  More to come hopefully.  At any rate, there's drive charts and play-by-play action on NFL.com; I'll post a pointer as soon as the game starts.

FOOTBALL!!  GO PATRIOTS!!!!

Kevin Faulk and the Patriots pitch in for charity

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What a terrific Patriots game Saturday night! 

Satisfying our need for an early off-season Patriots fix, a group of us attended Kevin Faulk's 3rd annual Celebrity Softball game Saturday night at Brockton's Campanelli Field.  Watching the Bruschi-led Patriots Blue Team vs. the Faulk-led Patriots Red Team, it was a win-win for everyone involved - the hooting, whistling and cheering fans, the players goofing around enjoying themselves, and the United Way's Massachusetts and Louisiana chapters that benefited financially from the fun-filled evening.

The size of some players is astounding and Vince Wilfork is simply the largest man on the team by far.  O-Liners Stephen Neal, Nick Kaczur, Russ Hochstein and Wesley Britt each have volleyball-sized calves and that's not much of an exaggeration.  When introduced, these big men barely managed an awkward shuffle from the dugout to the field, making it a good thing they could hit because it was obvious these guys were built for strength, not speed.  Blue-shirted Sammy Morris and red-shirted Jerod Mayo served as the umpires - but neither mastery of the rules nor objectivity seemed to be qualifications for the job.  Plenty of good-natured altercations arose over umpiring decisions, and players from both sides looked for opportunities to clear the benches, rush the field and maybe tackle an outfielder or two. 

Wilfork won the hitting contest, and Jonathan Wilhite easily won the dance-off against Antwain Spann.  Tully Banta-Cain was beaten in a Patriots trivia contest when he didn't know which player had the nickname "Slot Machine," and athletic Kevin O'Connell, hampered by several teammates, lost a race around the bases against a young fan.

The highlight of the night for me was in watching a relaxed group of our players having fun with each other and hanging out, coming together as a team for a good cause. 

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