The Patriots wrapped up their preseason schedule with a 16-13 loss to the New York Giants. Jimmy Garoppolo went wire-to-wire in this one and had his moments, both good and bad.

While some are ready to just hand him the backup QB job and get rid of Ryan Mallett, we likely won’t know for at least a few days what the team plans to do. Final cuts are tomorrow, but we can expect the roster to be in flux through at least Tuesday.

I thought the broadcasts on WBZ improved throughout the preseason, and while last night was still silly at times, it was much better than the first effort of the season. Fauria has moments where he can actually give pretty good analysis, he got into detail at one point last night about footwork on a catch, making the right plant when turning which was information, but then he also has moments like “everyone loves bubbles!” which just makes you roll your eyes.

Matt Chatham as usual, is the best part of the broadcast. While some may object and say that he is too deep and technical in his analysis, there is a segment of the viewership that really wants that next level dissection of plays.

Last night’s game will only get one replay on NFL Network, that being tomorrow, Saturday August 30th at 1:00pm ET. The Giants broadcast crew of Bob Papa and Carl Banks with Howard Cross & Bruce Beck on the sidelines will call the game.

What we learned: Patriots put wraps on preseason with 16-13 loss to Giants – Chris Price breaks down the takeaways from last night.

On the media side:

CBS’s all-female studio show is intriguing – Chad Finn looks at the CBS Sports Network’s new studio show, featuring Lesley Visser,  Amy Trask, and Tracy Wolfson, as well as contributions from Andrea Kremer, Laila Ali, Dara Torres, and Swin Cash.

Finn sort of buried the lede though later in the column by noting that Gerry Callahan has already re-signed with WEEI while John Dennis has not. It seems unlikely that Dennis will not eventually re-sign with the station, but it could be an interesting few days. (Update 1:10PM – Finn Tweets that Dennis has agreed to a new deal as well.)

The New England sports survey conducted by Channel Media & Market Research and mentioned in the Inside Track this week had some curious picks in the media section.

According to the Track, “The survey was conducted from Aug. 12-24 and 40 percent of the respondents were from Massachusetts with the other New England states making up the rest. Seventy-five percent of those polled were male, and the majority were between 25 and 44 years old.”

Also, the polls were completely “write in” meaning choices were not given to the respondents. They picked these.

Felger and Mazz read off this list on Wednesday at the end of the show. I don’t remember all exactly, except for the winners. These are what I remember:

Top Team Play by Play or Analyst – Don Orsillo was the winner. Others in the top five included Dave O’Brien, Bob Beers, Tommy Heinsohn and Jack Edwards. No Mike Gorman which is an absolute travesty.

Favorite Sportswriter – Mike Reiss won this one. Other favorites in the top five were Gerry Callahan, Dan Shaughnessy, Tony Massarotti and Gordon Edes. Tony Mazz has written about five times in the last year.

Favorite Sports Radio Host – Tony Massarotti. I’ve lost all faith in humanity with this pick. I’m truly aghast. Other favorites were Dale Arnold, Scott Zolak, and tied for fifth were Mike Felger and Marc Bertrand.

Favorite TV Sports Host – Tom Caron. Others on the list included Jerry Remy, Bob Neumeier and Felger.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

27 thoughts on “Patriots Wrap Preseason Slate, Cuts Tomorrow”

  1. Mazz AND Tom Caron? Something is definitely wrong with that survey. I’d rank them as 1A and 1B of “Worst”.

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  3. I will be playing the role of misogynist today because there is no other way to say what I am about to say without either being accused of being a misogynist at worst or insensitive at best.

    I would like to know why a “female” perspective is missing or needed in my enjoyment of sports analysis. If the show is going to concentrate on female sports (Tennis, Golf, Soccer, WNBA), then it is not targeted at men because men do not watch these events in enough numbers to warrant its own boutique show. There are not enough women viewers to make a sports driven “VIEW” style show work. So that means they have to also be discussing the popular news in mens sports of the day.

    This is the problem with network programming. There is a perception that there is an undiscovered niche that needs filling. The answer to the anonymous CBS exec who asked “why didn’t anyone think of this before?” is “Because all prior execs wanted to keep their jobs. Putting shows on the air that no one watches is not conducive to keeping one’s job”.

    I could be wrong people might come out of the woodwork to hear Leslie Vicar opine on whether Brian Hoyer or Johnny Manziel should start the 3rd preseason game for the Cleveland Browns. They might tune-in in record numbers to hear the latest breakdown of the 1-3-1 zone the Mohegan Sun rolled out last night in their WNBA game. Heck, the hard hitting segment on pressures of high school girl athletes to take PED’s both to increase performance and loose weight, might draw Duck Dynasty ratings. I just don’t see it.

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    1. This opinion while I agree with portions of would be destroyed by Richard Deitsch from SI. Women like Tracy Wolfson and Leslie Visser are true pros and could be on panels with men. This seems like a wannabe female PTI I don’t think it will rate, but McManus will blow his own horn for how progressive his idea in the sports media caused.

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    2. I don’t care if you’re male or female,i just want people on who know what the hell they’re talking about. And the men they usually have on are just as clueless.

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    3. As you said, it’s basically “The View meets First Take”. CBS wants to try and more power to them. Not my network or money. The problem is, like you said, the numbers. From attempts in the past and when people have studied this, unless you’re addressing ‘female issues’ during a time when many would be watching, like the View, most women, when it comes to sports, admit that they care little about gender and want that to come from someone credible (which we could debate the credibility of, as well). As a reference, when I’ve seen WNBA ratings broken down before, it’s something like 75-80% male. And, guess who the advertisers pay for? Much more for men than women. CBS has to know this. I can laugh at these networks all day for
      stupidity but at least people lose their jobs when bad decisions are made.

      It is a good time, with the sports bubble, to try something that’s been done in the past, but I’m in the same boat where I don’t see it lasting in the current form.

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    1. I would love to see Sean McAdam with Felger. Just for the chance to hear Sean make Felger cry again.

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  5. Bruce, that poll BLOWS, I mean it BLOWS, C’mon I mean I am worried TSH is going to cheap and won’t spend money. Anytime a decision is made based on money I find it to be straight CRAP.. “You’re absolutely right Bruce, this poll SUCKS. It BLOWS.

    Bruce is it possible to have online reader polls on this site grading, 3 shows on WEEI and TSB and individual hosts. I would love to see where to see the grades and rank them without naming anyone particularly, but that survey I bet would turn out different results than that “poll”

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    1. This was done several years ago for various media personalities. I’d love to see something similar again.

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  6. I’ve finally realized what Fauria’s role is at WEEI. He is their answer to Scott Zolak. Informed player who acts like a bozo half the time.

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  8. graphic at the bottom of the screen on the “Early Edition” show (I think that’s what it’s called) “Future QB controversy?”…. Ryan,Tanguay and Flynn discussing. The media gasbags can’t wait for a REAL QB controversy so they have to talk about the possibility of a future one….

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  9. I’d like to give an IQ test to the morons who voted any of those stiffs to anything but the Worst List. Really? Tony you’re right Mike Mazz, Zolack the Hillbilly with that horrendous Western Pa. Accent, and on and on it goes. The next time you hear these gas bags tell you how smart Boston fans are, have them committed. Blow it up?

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  10. I would have to think that the majority of these people don’t care for media/media gossip (us).

    Mazz is on TV a bit. Credibility is assumed with “well, if person is on TV, they must be credible.”

    Not agreeing or disagreeing but only stating the point that the average person taking these surveys is not someone who pays attention, or cares, to what we discuss here and on other media boards.

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  11. I emailed Bruce the survey by Channel Media & Market Research. Hopefully he has a way to post the entire results for all of you to read. I did my best the other day to give you the media results.

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  12. Let’s see how this cut down to 53 by cutting your long snapper as the last cut. Isn’t a ploy to buy some time to work out the details and what draft pick the pats receive back for games played by mallet. To either the rams or Texans. Of course after bb press conference set for ten am tomorrow

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  13. Bob Ryan’s Sunday column headline: “Are Fans Really Happy With The Patriots?”…. Ryan doesn’t seem to catch as much flack as Shaughnessy, but from my view he’s just as bad when it comes to the Patriots. Maybe worse, because he’s still obsessed with “SpyGate” and he loves to tell “the fans” how WE feel.

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  14. When Mallett made the 53 man roster, I read a lot of comments saying, “Why didn’t they just cut him? What a waste of a roster spot!”

    When Mallett got traded, I read a lot of comments saying, “They wasted a 3rd round pick on this guy, and all they got was a 6th round pick for him?”

    How often does a team trade a backup quarterback and get SOMETHING in return? Seriously. The fact that they got ANYTHING for the guy is a testament to BB’s acumen as a GM.

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    1. Said before but worth repeating:

      Fans and media won’t appreciate what we have with BB here until he’s gone.

      Media will always have agendas, in some capacity to fill, but I wonder how some of the callers like this get through, if there is nobody else calling or it is by design of the show to serve their agenda.

      Just wait for the fans, who used to scream about bad moves, call up when he’s not around with a line like, “This wouldn’t have happened if BB was still coach..”. Switch that to the media who love to trash the team, who wind up talking about how things were so good when BB was the coach (yeah while you were writing about how bad it was).

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  15. If you tuned in to anything local sports related, there was no-doubt talk about Rondo and the Celtics. Sounds odd considering we’re more than a month from the start of NBA, the Celtics won’t be very good. If you missed the, “why” it stemmed from a video that ESPN.com had posted up until a day ago of the “between the commercials” when JackieMac was on ATH.

    http://deadsp.in/6SFeHjv

    She’s not dumb and knows ESPN posts each break. It was interesting how it took so long for it to become bigger, but I’m wondering motivation to ‘leak’ this.

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    1. Isn’t Jackie one of the people that has, over the last 3 years, repeatedly pushed the idea that Rondo wants a max contract.

      I’m having a hard time computing this.

      She says Rondo wants a max contract, but that he want to be traded out of Boston. Boston can give him more money than any other team. Oh and she whines that “nobody believes her.” And Rondo’s camp instantly denied the report. Yeah I think Jackie is full of crappy. Mediots being Mediots.

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      1. There’s nothing inconsistent there. Boston can give him more money RIGHT NOW, because he’s under contract to them. If he were a free agent, he couldn’t get as much as Boston could give to extend him.

        But if he’s traded BEFORE his existing contract expires, then THAT team becomes the one who can give him more money than anyone else.

        So if he wants a max contract AND does not want it to be with the Celtics, he needs to push for a trade to the team he wants to be with BEFORE becoming a free agent. Which is basically what JMM is saying he’s doing.

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      2. Oh and she whines that “nobody believes her.”

        When the Rondo trade/contract thing has come up over the past year, always from your usual gamut of the nationals who are fed it and break that stuff, local media, who are either too “Green” or are being fed info from Danny deny it. That’s why she said it.

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  16. no doubt….I find him annoying as hell…Don’t try and tell fans” how “we” feel…you don’t have a clue. The way the mediots look at sports and the way fans look at sports couldn’t be different (for the most part) not counting the “moron fans”

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