FanHouse Jarvis Green

The New England Patriots have been in the news quite a bit the past week, and their quarterback situation for 2009 seems to be the primary reason. First, there was the report from Mike Lombardi that it was, pretty much, a slam dunk that New England would place the franchise tag on free-agent-to-be quarterback Matt Cassel. Then, on Tuesday, Wilson passed along the report from the Dan Patrick show that Tom Brady's knee is still a major league mess, and that we could see a two-headed monster of Tom Terrific and Cassel next season for New England.

So, naturally, Tom Curran of NBC Sports passes along today's news that the Patriots have not yet made up their minds with Cassel, possibly because franchising him could destroy their salary cap in 2009.

From Curran:

A source who'll be directly involved in the call on the Patriots ascendant quarterback said in an email that the report was "speculation," adding "needless to say, no decision has been made."

Examining Manning to Tyree, the play that changed the Super Bowl.

The four Patriots you see in the above photo all had a chance to sack Giants quarterback Eli Manning on his 32-yard pass to David Tyree in the waning moments of Super Bowl XLII. The two in the middle, defensive linemen Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour, had more than just a chance: They should have had him.

But thanks to good blocking by Rich Seubert, and thanks to Manning's own strength, Manning got out of the grasp of Seymour, who practically ripped his jersey off.

If there's one trait Manning doesn't get enough credit for, it's his physical strength. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Manning doesn't break tackles often, but he's not an easy guy to bring down, either. Seymour is a strong guy, and a lot of quarterbacks would have gone down with Seymour grabbing them, but Manning broke free.

Previous: Seubert Doesn't Quit
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Joseph Addai might not be afraid of the New England Patriots, but he forgot to tell Peyton Manning the news. On a third-and-9 with just over two minutes to go, and trailing by four points, Manning gets sacked by Jarvis Green, fumbles in the process, and the ball finds Rosevelt Colvin.



The Pats scored 14 points in the final eight minutes to take the lead. Before this game, New England had only trailed eight minutes all season. Today, they trailed for 28 minutes. Unfortunately for the Colts, they still left Tom Brady enough time to work his magic.

Also, classy move by Colvin after the fumble recovery (the last few seconds of the YouTubage above). He was called for a delay-of-game penalty for spiking the ball. No biggie ... except he went out of his way to make sure he spiked the ball on Indy's helmet at midfield.

Nice touch, that (and to think, Rosie Colvin sold Sno Cones at the RCA dome as a kid). It looks like this bunch learned a very valuable lesson after Ellis Hobbs mocked the Chargers following last year's playoff game. (By the way, Mr. Referee, Rodney Harrison is very disrespected by you flagging him for the delay of game. VERY DISRESPECTED.)

This is a slightly modified segment of one that was run on NFL FanHouse last year, in which a specific team blogger scours the internet and interviews a blogger of the opposing team.

I began this season by interviewing Tom-Masse of Pats Pulpit, a Sports Blog Nation column that covers the New England Patriots.

Dan Benton: "The Patriots went wild during free agency this offseason. Which of New England's many additions do you believe will play the most significant role throughout the season?"

Tom-Masse: "If you limit the discussions to free agents, linebacker Adalius Thomas will have the most significant impact, especially now that Richard Seymour is on the physically unable to perform list for at least 6 weeks and Rodney Harrison is serving a 4-week suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

Thomas is a Patriots kind of player. He is very versatile, and he's willing to do what's necessary to help the team. With Tedy Brucshi, Mike Vrabel and Junior Seau a year older, Thomas also gives Bill Belichick and his defensive staff more options and a legitimate threat so those other three guys can get more rest. Don't be surprised to see some very creative defensive sets from New England this season."