The Patriots struggled and slogged their way to a 13-10 win over the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium last night. It wasn’t pretty, but the defense made plays, and won a game for the Patriots in which the offense struggled as much as we’ve ever seen in the last dozen years. Get all the coverage from last night at PatriotsLinks.com.

In terms of media coverage of the game, he’s the ups and downs:

Three Up

Mike Felger, CSNNE.

Wait, what? Hear me out here. For years, Felger has been saying that the Patriots need to win a game in which their defense steps up to cover for when the offense is struggling. Last night was that instance, and he admitted as much following the game on the post game show and gave them credit for it.

Christopher Price, WEEI.com

His column today – What we learned: For Patriots offense, it can’t get much worse – is fantastic. Covers almost everything that happened last night, and his comparison of this game to week two of the 2009 season is spot-on. (Interestingly, Welker missed that game because of injury.) If you can read only one take away from this game, read this one.

Jackie MacMullan, ESPN Boston

I know. I’m stunned too. But if you can get past the passive-aggressive Wes Welker references, MacMullan’s column today – Will patience pay off for Brady, Pats? – is actually positive in its message. Basically that things are going to get better, and that it is too soon to write off the young receivers – something many out there have already done.

Three Down

Albert Breer, NFL Network

So you’re the local reporter for the network, which is televising that week’s game right in your back yard, and you’re on the bench? You’re out, son. Couple that with his saying that (Ohio State’s own) Mangold lunging at (Douche) Talib’s knee was “eye for an eye” and then when called on it, saying he never said the actions were equal. Meanwhile, former Herald reporter Ian Rapoport is featured prominently on the broadcast, and had some breaking news, nothing big, just that Bill Belichick’s contract has been extended and he’ll be here “a long time.”

Gerry Callahan, WEEI

After a year in which Brandon Lloyd was bashed on a weekly basis, now Gerry Callahan wants to know why the Patriots haven’t and won’t bring him back. He again pined for Mike Wallace – the $60 million receiver who caught one pass last week and griped about his role, and wondered why the Patriots couldn’t have traded for Anquan Boldin – as if the Ravens would’ve even considered dealing him to the Patriots, and finally mused “would Donald Jones be worse than this?” Jones, cut by the Patriots this offseason then retired because of kidney disease.

Guess Who, Boston Globe

The 2013 Patriots look like the worst 2-0 team in the history of football. “The Waltz of the Tomato Cans” is playing over the loudspeaker at Gillette. Again. The locals are artificially inflated by the incompetence of their division opponents. Again.

Somewhere, John Henry is smiling.

For the weekly media notes, we have the following:

Pedro Martinez to join TBS for MLB postseason – Chad Finn has the Sox great heading to the TV studio for the MLB playoffs, plus a number of other local notes.

Mayock lends expertise to college and pro coverage – Bill Doyle has the NFL Network/NBC analyst equally adept at both the college and pro game.

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Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

10 thoughts on “Three Up, Three Down, Plus Media Notes”

  1. “Call it ugly. Call it uninteresting and unpleasant to watch. Just don’t call it unworthy.” “Given the way the year started and the injuries that have piled up since, no Patriots fan should turn a nose up at that.” “Some fans could ask for a little offense, but the truth is that the Pats don’t need it right now. The defense is playing that well.” “In fairness the weather was a big factor.” “But three points is three points.”

    Guess who said all that? Would you be shocked if I told you it was Mike Felger. Only he didn’t say it about last night’s game against the Jets, he wrote it on October 26, 2003 after an ugly 9-3 home win against the Cleveland Browns.

    I was thinking about the way the Patriots used to win games, back when they were winning championships, and remembered this game. A small amount of looking around the internet produced his article from when he was covering the team for the Herald. Back before he was all about saying things just to get a rise out of people and did actual reporting.

    There seems to be a ”mis-remembering” (tip of the cap to Clemens for that word) of how the Patriots used to win games in the championship years. Everyone seems to think it was always like 07. It wasn’t. There were a lot of ugly games that the defense needed to seal at the end. Back then that was good enough for most fans, and sports personalities.

    I openly admit that I did not watch the CSNE post game show last night, because Felger’s opinions usually piss me off and I can find better ways to spend my time than intentionally getting aggravated with someone who can’t hear me if I yell back. But I guess he gave the Pats credit so good for him.

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    1. I touched on this for the old Patriots Daily website: the 2003 Patriots started a record 40+ players for a Superbowl-winning team…then broke their own record the next year.

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  2. I couldn’t agree more Trip.

    Everyone in the media and region completely “misrememeber” the Championship years. In 03/04 the Patriots barely beat bad teams, almost exactly in the same fashion as last night. Anyone remember an OT win in 03 vs Houston? Being up 13-6 vs a terrible Jacksonville Team at the half and needing 14 4th quarter points to put it away. A 17-6 win vs a poor giants team?

    The worst fad is projecting a week two game to week 17 game or the division championship round,

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  3. There are rumors out there that Roger Goodell fined the Patriots and Jets $500,000 each for setting modern football back 30 years.

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  4. Worst media moment (of many) last night was Jerry Thornton’s cringe worthy comment about “Brady’s biological clock” and following it by asking Trenni Kusniarek if she was in “his demographic” and if that’s why she mentioned it. Just embarrassing.

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  6. “The locals are artificially inflated by the incompetence of their division opponents. Again.”

    Shank (and Mazz) make a living calling the fans stupid on a daily basis…

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  7. Not sure if anyone else had this but if you still have SD (sorry, I don’t want to pay Comcast another $30 with taxes for HD), ABC Boston took the HD feed from NFLN and did no conversion of the HD -> SD so folks like me (there are still many) were left with 60% of the picture. I had to wind up launching a digital player to get a picture I could see.

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  8. Re: Shaughnessy’s unending bitterness. Imagine that you toil for a rag whose readership is so dumb that they have to be TOLD the Patriots’ 2-0 start is an unimpressive one. I do pray for the safety and well-being of all the human and non-human occupants of the Shaughnessy household. Surely he takes this bitterness and rage home with him.

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  9. Can you imagine the outrage if the Patriots held a farewell ceremony for Peyton Manning that focused on the 2003 AFC Championship when they intercepted him 4 times?

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