Wrapping up Patriots-Jets, new era for Sox starts today

Although it wasn’t pretty, a win is a win, and the Patriots are now in first place in the AFC East despite having many flaws. The main concern for me surprisingly is not the secondary, it’s the offenses inability to close out games. For the third time in six games, the Patriots blew a two possession lead in the fourth quarter. In each of these  games the offense has had the chance to first make it a three possession game over the course of the game, and then having possession of the ball with around five minutes to play and a one possession lead, but have given the ball right back to their opponent fairly quickly, failing to produce a good drive when it matters most.

There is no question the secondary is bad, but there isn’t going to be a drastic turnaround. On the other hand, the offense is one of the most prolific in the league. There is no excuse for failing to put teams away, and struggling with their four-minute offense. A lot of this has to with the Patriots not having an idenity on offense. Tom Brady was asked about it and he said he didn’t really know either. This is not good when it’s Week 6 and you still don’t know your idenity on offense. The Patriots are messing too much with the run. They are a built to be a passing offense. Line up four or five wide with Brady in the shotgun and let him pick defenses apart, stop messing with a running game, especially in key situations.

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It’s their biggest concern– Shalise Manza Young says giving up big plays is the biggest issue for the Patriots.

Patriot report card– Ron Borges hands out his grades for Week 7.

Patriots must keep pace fast– Jeff Howe says the team is at their best in the no-huddle.

McDaniels keeps seeking consistency– Tom E. Curran looks at the Patriots offensive play-calling.

The Red Sox are set to introduce their new manager John Farrell today with a press conference at Fenway scheduled for Noon. Unlike last year, the Red Sox got their number one choice. Only time will tell if it was the correct move, and the organization better hope it was because they certainly passed on some very worthy candidates. For the record, I do believe Farrell was the right guy for the job as he has the ability to change the pitching staff around, which is the key to the 2013 Red Sox.

John Farrell isn’t more pf the same for Sox– Chad Finn has the Farrell hiring being the right move.

Best job ever– Gerry Callahan says Farrell cannot do any worse than the job Bobby Valentine did.

No comes hard part for Red Sox– Peter Abraham looks at hardest part of the off-season being rebuilding the team.

Red Sox can expect Farrell to understand team, city– Sean McAdam has Farrell’s familiarity with Boston will do him well.

Pitching Farrell: New manager’s most pressing task is obvious– Alex Speier says Farrell will need to turnaround the teams’ pitching staff right away.