For most of this week, on sports radio anyway, you’ll probably hear non-stop about Wes Welker saying that it was ‘nice to stick it in Bill’s face‘ and about Stevan Ridley’s fourth quarter fumble, which apparently completely invalidated his 151 yards and a touchdown yesterday.

The Ridley fumble, egregious as it was, was made up for when the defense forced a fumble of its own. Yeah, you can say his night was stained by the fumble, but it is also clear that the coaching staff cannot bury him on the bench like they did last season. He’s become essential to the offense. Ridley has given the Patriots an element they’ve lacked since the Corey Dillon days came to an end.

As for Welker and his comment, it’s clear to me that he was goofing on Felger. He knows the crap that Felger has put out there, and his comments said with a wink and a smile was poking fun at that. Anyone searching for a more malicious intent to the comment either isn’t very bright, or wants to bring attention to himself.

A few links of coverage on this Columbus Day:

Patriots’ defense may never be great, but good enough – Greg A Bedard says that the defense is ahead of where it was a year ago.

Patriots win by a few feet – Ron Borges has the Patriots picking up Rex Ryan’s ‘ground and pound’ mindset.

Patriots’ defense contains Peyton – Mike Reiss says that the defense, while vulnerable at times, did its part in the win.

What we learned Sunday: In stopping Peyton Manning, Patriots rely on familiar formula – Chris Price runs down some takeaways from yesterday.

Patriots turn up tempo to new level in win over Broncos – Tom E Curran has Denver unprepared for the pace at which the New England offense was operating.

Get the rest of the coverage at PatriotsLinks.com.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

10 thoughts on “Patriots Hold Off Manning, Broncos”

  1. agree about Welker. Felger asks Welker THE SAME QUESTION EVERY WEEK about “must be nice getting more catches/target etc..etc..” and it was back in WEEK 1 where that was kinda-sorta a “story” even then it was a STRETCH …it’s FELGER who just won’t let it go….looking at Welkers stats this year the whole thing was OVERBLOWN.

    WEEK1) 3 catches 14 yards
    WEEK2) 5 catches 95 yards
    WEEK3) 8 catches 142 yards
    WEEK4) 9 catches 129 yards
    WEEK5) 13 catches 104 yards

    What is the problem?…sure, When Hernandez gets back he might not see as much time or get as many catches. It’s called having a lot of options/weapons which is a GOOD thing. Some of these media dolts act like this is Pop Warner football where everybody has to play the same amount get the same amount of catches etc. etc….in fact after yesterday’s game Felger was asking “what’s wrong with Gronk?’…cause he’s not getting his “quota” of catches according to Felger….ridiculous, made up drama.

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    1. Totally. The “What’s wrong with Gronk” stuff bugs the hell out of me too. Because the answer’s right there: nothing, other than his being banged up a bit. It’s just that (a) his blocking is needed more this year with the changes in the OL, and (b) he’s a point of focus for opposing defenses now. And he’s STILL making ridiculous grabs in traffic.

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  2. I think that was a good, solid win for the Pats… but I know we’re going to hear a lot about the failure to control the game with a late lead (besides the stuff Bruce notes). And I think there’s some merit in that criticism. While the running game is vastly improved, the Pats still haven’t shown that they can use it to get two or three first downs to grind out the clock when necessary.

    Frankly, I don’t think they will anytime soon — I think the success of the running game is tied to the passing game; i.e. the success isn’t coming against run-focused defensive schemes, but against mismatches with pass defenses. That’s the dimension that Dillon (and BJGE, too) gave the team that Ridley does not: a big, strong back who can get 2-4 yards even when the D is stacked up at the line waiting for the run. Bolden’s showing some signs of that — he’s got the size; he just needs more experience. And I’m not complaining — I’ll take the 150 yards a game they’re getting on the ground any day.

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  3. “Anyone searching for a more malicious intent to the comment either isn’t very bright, or wants to bring attention to himself.” – Great line Bruce, you know who will be filling those two roles right?

    “Wants to bring attention to himself” – Leading this motion picture is Michael Felger.

    “Isn’t very bright” – In a supporting role, played by Anthony Massaroti. YARM YARM YARM!

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    1. line of the day from mediots?….”well, even if he was kidding there’s always some truth in sarcasm”…think I’ve heard it at least 20 times today

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      1. Greg Bedard, who does look at film and does actually report on the actual game, was doing that, too. I sigh.

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    2. Peter King devoting a paragraph in MMQB to take a small incident in a market and turning it into something he can lecture us and the world in hopes to make a better place? What? That never happens!

      The sad thing I thought on this is that its not like King is devoid on contacts and doesn’t do his homework before writing something. He could have consulted Curran or another person up here for that “wait, what?” context and probably had someone tell him “It sounded like he was taking a jab at Felger more than anything.” Maybe he did or did not.

      Where King gets a pass on this was that long before he even started to write this part, ESPN and national outlets jumped on this. PFT had a post up, FoxSportsRadio was going with this angle, and some stuff I heard on ESPN used it as well.

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  6. I just Wekler is just a dumb guy trying to be funny. Stick to football meathead..skate your lane and get the F out after the season.

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