After last Sunday’s debacle in Miami, the Patriots will attempt to pick up their first win of the season, and avoid putting themselves into an early season 0-2 hole when they take on the Vikings in Minnesota. It won’t be easy, as the Vikings have some dynamic talent on both sides of the ball, and they are coming off a runaway win in St. Louis last week.

CBS has the game on Sunday at 1:00pm with Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts on the call, and former NESN Red Sox reporter Jenny Dell will handle the sideline duties. It will be our first chance to see her on a Patriots broadcast.

The game will be played outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium, the home of the University of Minnesota, where the Vikings are playing the next two seasons while their new stadium is built.

In the few scattered times that the Patriots have been discussed this week – there have been a few other NFL things going on if you hadn’t heard – I’ve seen confusion and discussions over the Patriots rotation on the offensive line in Miami. Many people, including beat reporters, seem confused about  reasoning behind the shuffling. A look through Mike Reiss’s blog archives and snap counts show that this was not that unusual for the opening game. Rosevelt Colvin was on 98.5 this morning and also said that in the first game of the season, the team would rotate players on the offensive line to break them and not put too much load on them to play a full game right off the bat.

Look for the offensive line to solidify over the coming weeks.

Check all the coverage leading into Sunday at PatriotsLinks.com.

One quick Red Sox note – It might be blasphemy here, but I’m looking forward to seeing Mookie Betts play second base – hopefully for the rest of the season.

OK, two. Does Giancarlo Stanton already play for the Red Sox? I know him getting drilled in the face last night was gruesome, and he is an MLB Star, but with all the rumors about the Red Sox interest in him, (feels a lot like all those Adrian Gonzalez rumors we heard before the team actually acquired him.) you’d think he already played here. Both radio stations are talking about it, the Globe runs its “On Baseball” column about him, it’s a little unusual for an out-of-town player.

Media

CBS’s James Brown on the mark regarding Ray Rice – Chad Finn applauds the network host’s comments on the NFL and domestic violence last night.

He also notes the return of Curt Schilling to ESPN, Dan Koppen’s work on CSNNE, and Glenn Ordway’s Big Show Unfiltered finding its first terrestrial home at ESPN New Hampshire (900 AM and 1250 AM) starting next week.

From hardcore to hard knocks: Alum lands at NESN – The Emerson College Newspaper The Berkeley Beacon profiles alum Doug Kyed who the Patriots beat reporter for NESN. Kyed faced a tough choice – hard rock stardom, or attending Bill Belichick press conferences.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

20 thoughts on “Patriots Look To Avoid 0-2 Start”

  1. I assume “Big Show Unfiltered” won’t be as “unfiltered” language wise if it’s going out over an ESPN radio affiliate from now on, no?
    BTW I’ve tuned in at times but it’s pretty terrible without Pete (hard as it may be for some to believe) and is excruitating when they have this “Alex Raymer” (sp) blogger on. He sounds like Gasper’s more hyperactive younger brother and does them no favors.

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    1. without pete it is brutal……and u know why he’s great on the radio,, cause he actually watches sports, unlike most on boston sports radio…..big O was calling raymer the future of the business when show first started,,hahaha

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  2. Continued from before about ESPN being the only network going after this, but, kinda expected, CBS is still sanitizing its editorial content:

    While commentators at other networks have called on NFL Commissioner
    Roger Goodell to resign for his role in the Rice story, McManus said he
    gave instructions to his on-air talent not to personally call out
    “individuals involved in the story, whether it be team ownership,
    whether it be NFL management.” He said, “I don’t think in this half-hour
    of programming that’s our job to do.” He said on-air talent was instead
    encouraged to “express opinions about the situation, to express
    opinions about domestic abuse, to express opinions on how the NFL has
    handled this”

    http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2014/09/12/Media/TNF-Pregame.aspx

    Par for the course, in reality.

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  4. Not blasphemy at all, Bruce. Mookie Betts, if not traded for Giancarlo Stanton, is going to be our next superstar.

    Is High Pitch Merloni still whining about the Red Sox calling up their prospects “too soon”?

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  6. Coming up on this week’s Felger and Mazz show:

    MF: “Tony, I know it was a good win, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. This was a joke team. It’s the Vikings. They didn’t even have the best player, AP. They should have won.”

    TM: “You’re absolutely right, Mike!”

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    1. Friday was absolutely priceless radio on F&M.

      TM: Mike! The NFL and the Vikings aren’t talking because they are cutting a deal so that AP can play Sunday! He’s going to play Mike I know it! That’s what’s happening here.

      The dude as absolute clown. I always wonder what his family thinks of him. His in-laws in particular.

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      1. “Coming up next, I tell you why we should not get too excited about the Patriots win this Sunday. MFB on WEEI!” [cut to exit imaging clip]

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  7. Jerry Thornton had a wonderfully hilarious take in his Patriots post-game blog – are we supposed to be outraged over Belichcik putting his starters on special teams (still!) or only when something goes wrong? Gronk blocking and breaking his arm is the end of the Republic, but Chandler Jones blocks a field goal for 6, and nobody says a word.

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  8. F&M have become so anti-Brady it’s infuriating to listen to. They create strawman arguments just so they have something to bitch about with him. I honestly can’t recall anything positive in years now. Every week, every day…just pulling crap out of their butts to whine like pissy little girls about. Good thing I podcast the show so I can just fast forward through this bulllshitt.

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    1. First of all, this seems like a very minor point to comment on, but technically Edes is not wrong: In 36 games started as a major leaguer, Betts has started 28 games in CF, 12 in RF, and 2 at 2B. Those are the facts, not “weak narrative.” So who decides what Betts’ “official” position is, you? (in fact Edes never says he is officially a CF). The Red Sox, seem to think he could be the answer in CF (either for them or someone else) and they would probably be more official than you since the team decides where he plays. He may get more time at 2B for the next two weeks in place of Pedroia but that is to make sure all 3 CF get ABs and to make Betts more marketable in a potential trade.
      With all the other terrible sports reporters and broadcasters out there, Edes is hardly worth singling out for ridicule.

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      1. Edes is Mutt in print. There is never a shortage of lame narratives to be found in his articles.

        It’s not me that decides these things, it’s the player and the team. The team just signed Castillo to a $77 million contract to be the CF for the next however many seasons.

        Next season, Betts might play RF, or LF, or 2B or maybe this decision will belong to Marlins management.

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      2. Fair points, but I believe that Gordon, of all people, should know that Mookie played the vast majority (about 270 games or so) of his minor league time at second, and the reason he’s been shifted to CF is because that’s the only position that was available to use him in at the major league level, and they really wanted to get his bat in the lineup. There’s never been any indication from the Red Sox that there’s been any sort of organizational decision to permanently make him a CF, or even an OF. Of course that’s something they’re probably going to have to do if they intend to keep him at the ML level in the near future, as Pedroia’s not going anywhere.

        Long story short, I’d agree that it’s wrong to call him a CF, but I think Gordon’s point was more “three players whose logical position on this team right now is CF”, vs. “three CFs”.

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  10. Funny how right up through Saturday afternoon, LAST WEEK, there was lots of talk on 98.5 and 93.7 and I assume nationally and on TV and on the blogs and every other website, about how if Roger Goodell wasn’t IMMEDIATELY fired, the league would lose all credibility.

    Well if that’s the case, why are any of these people speaking seriously, about the NFL today?

    Ho hum.

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    1. KNow what else is “funny?” Hearing F&M spew this Brady BS yesterday, but today, when Greg Bedard is in studio they have nothing to say when Bedard says Brady and the WHOLE offense was pissed off and should have been. Funny how they change their tune 180* when someone with a brain sits across from them.

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      1. But the sad reality is that majority of listeners do not care if F&M have any credibility. It’s all about entertainment, and the ratings bear out that most feel that Mad Mike and Squeaky Spazz do that well, so they’ll continue to flip-flopping on their opinions based on who is or is not in studio with them.

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