By: Chris Talanian, YawkeyTalkies Fan Reaction
With five games left in the regular season, the Red Sox are finally out of the playoff race.
This is truly saddening.  Not just for the fans or the franchise, but for the local stores, business, and employees that suffer from a lack of October ball in Boston.  Personally, I have a friend that will not see a playoff berth’s worth of tips from her regulars in State Street.  That’s a whole month’s worth of mad money not earned because of untimely injuries!  Her fault?  Not a chance…
Just as it’s not the fault of Copperfield’s Bar, the Holiday Inn, or the Red Sox Team Store, who will all see an enormous drop in revenue this upcoming month.
But what is there to do?  Prepare for next year and hope for the best…GO PATS!

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
New England Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis is known as “The Law Firm” because of his multi-part name. Could he also adopt the identity of “The Answer” for the Patriots running-game woes?
Currently, the Patriots rank tenth in the league in rushing yards per game at 123.3 yards. The majority of that is thanks to Green-Ellis’ 16 carries for 98 yards against Buffalo. Prior to the game the Pats were only averaging 85 yards per game.
As commonly noted, running back has not been a stable position for the Patriots due to retirement, injuries, and inconsistent play. Since 2006, the Patriots have seen three different players lead the team in rushing yards for the season.
The Patriots have 370 yards rushing in the first three games. The top-two rushers in the NFL, Arian Foster and Adrian Peterson, have more yards than that by themselves.
As long as Tom Brady is the quarterback, the Patriots will always be a pass-first team. However, New England has had well documented problems closing and finishing out games in the past two seasons. Part of the reason could be due to the lack of balance on offense.
Green-Ellis could provide the perfect punch.
He is a [...]

By: Dan Podheiser, YawkeyTalkies Assistant Editor
In yet another run-‘n-gun, high-scoring affair on Sunday, the Patriots handled the Buffalo Bills 38-30.
The Pats have a knack for accumulating yards, on both sides of the ball.
Simply put, there’s never a dull or uneventful moment when watching a Patriots game. Sunday’s game against the Bills was no different.
Quarterbacks
Tom Brady was almost perfect on Sunday. No, really, his 142.6 quarterback rating was very close to the perfect 158.3 rating. With 252 yards and three touchdowns, “Tom Terrific” made another giant leap towards another MVP award. He hit all his receivers in stride and completed 21 of his 27 pass attempts. Like I said, he was just about perfect.
Grade: A
Runningbacks
Who would have thought that, within two weeks of the Pats losing two of their runningbacks, they would rush for a season-high 200 yards against the Bills? BenJarvus Green-Ellis was a horse on Sunday, rushing for 98 yards on just six carries. And how about Danny Woodhead? That little guy couldn’t be touched, rushing for 42 yards on three carries.
Grade: A
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
Ho, hum. Another Patriots game; another dominant performance from Patriots wide receivers. This time, the love was spread around, but Randy Moss still got his [...]

By Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
The weak link gets weaker.
Coming into the season the New England Patriots running backs posed the biggest question on the team, at least for the offense.
A group plagued by injuries, turnovers and inconsistency made the position a revolving door of inadequate performance.
After Week 1, the Patriots finally gave up on Laurence Maroney. The former first-round pick showed flashes of good play, but for the most part he was either putting the ball on the ground or not even making the active roster.
He never ran for 1,000 yards in a season, never played all 16 games, and he fumbled quite a bit in the red zone.
So he was cast off to Denver in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.
Instead of giving the ownership justification for trading away Maroney, the rest of the group—Kevin Faulk, Fred Taylor and BenJarvus Green-Ellis—ran for measly 52 yards on 20 carries. Faulk, was the leading rusher with 22 yards on five carries, yet was put on IR after the game because of a torn ACL.
The Faulk loss will be hard-felt. While the running game has not been a stable form of production for the Pats, Faulk has [...]

By: Dan Podheiser, YawkeyTalkies Assistant Editor
After a dominant Week 1 drubbing of Cincinnati, the Patriots didn’t look so hot against their division rival, the New York Jets in a 28-14 loss.
The offense was sharp at times, but was unable to get into a consistent rhythm at any point during the game. And the defense? Well, giving up 28 points to a Mark Sanchez-led attack is never good.
Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of how the Patriots performed in their loss on Sunday.
Quarterbacks
Tom Brady didn’t have the best game of his career against the Jets. In fact, at one point Brady threw six straight incomplete passes, tying the longest stretch of his NFL career. Brady completed just 56 percent of his passes, going 20-for-36 for 248 yards, two TDs and two INTs. His second touchdown pass at the end of the first half was beautiful; a soft, aired-out completion to Randy Moss, who made a one-handed grab. And to be fair, Brady’s second pick, which bounded of Moss’ hands twice, wasn’t really the QB’s fault. Nevertheless, a 72.5 QB rating won’t cut it in a game of this magnitude.
Grade: C+
Runningbacks
The Laurence Maroney trade was assuredly meant to give the Patriots’ other backs more [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
The New England Patriots came out on fire in their opening week victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Now they have a chance to send a statement to the rest of the AFC East, that statement being that the division runs through them and to be the champions you have to beat the champions.
There was a lot of hype surrounding the New York Jets this offseason, with all their roster additions, their appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks, and their bold claims of winning the Super Bowl.
Some anointed them champions, but after their offense’s futile performance in Week 1 against the Ravens, the panic button may have already be hit.
They Patriots need to jump on the Jets while they are down, asserting their dominance. There are some key things that the team needs to do in order to make sure that happens.
The Patriots need to prove they can win on the road
Last year in the regular season the Patriots were unbeatable at home going 8-0, however they were a pathetic 2-6 on the road.
The Jets did a poor job of defending their new turf last weekend, and they have to be up for the Patriot game or else [...]

By: Dan Podheiser, YawkeyTalkies Assistant Editor
In case you haven’t heard, the Boston Celtics have the greatest team ever assembled.
That is, if it were 2003.
In light of the Miami Heat signing three of the best players in the game this offseason, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge decided to go a different route. He signed the best players in the game – from seven years ago.
So let’s take a trip back to the 2002-03 season, shall we?
At center, we have Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq played just 67 games that year, but averaged 27.5 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. He was in the prime of a career that made him the most dominant center ever to play the game.
At forward, the C’s are rocking Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O’Neal.
KG, then a Minnesota Timberwolves superstar, was seventh in the league in scoring with 23 points per game, in addition to his 13.4 rebounds (second) .
O’Neal had a breakout season in 2002-03, his second year with the Indiana Pacers after coming over from Portland. O’Neal averaged 20.8 points and finished fourth in the NBA with 10.3 boards. His 178 blocks also ranked him fifth in the NBA.
As strong as the C’s are (or, [...]