By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was in destroy mode Sunday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the team’s 39-26 victory over a team that has a strong defense, and who many opine is the best team in the NFL, Brady led the way going 30-43 for 350 yards and three touchdowns as well as one rush that earned him another touchdown.
For his career, Brady 6-1 against the Steelers — 4-1 at Heinz Field — and has 14 touchdowns against the Steelers and only three interceptions. Part of it is game planning: New England throws the ball against Pittsburgh 73 percent of the time and only rushes on 27 percent of the plays, as opposed to throwing it 55 percent of the time and rushing it 45 percent against every other team in the league.
Still, in order to continue that trend, the Pats need to be successful throwing the ball, and that comes down to Tom Brady taking charge.
It isn’t just against the Steelers though. New England, especially the way it is currently constructed, places all of its burdens on Brady. It’s cliché to say the team will go as far as he does, but [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
No matter how much Bill Belichick preaches that no one individual is greater than the team, Tom Brady is the face of the New England Patriots.
His talent, leadership and determination have led the Pats to three Super Bowl victories, in which he was rewarded the game’s MVP twice. He was the NFL regular season MVP when he led the Patriots to an undefeated regular season.
But has Brady ever really recovered from his ACL and MCL injuries suffered in 2008?
Brady can still play, and New England is still a good team, but is either elite anymore? Sometimes Brady just doesn’t have it—like against Cleveland yesterday—and the team cannot bail him out.
The overall passing stats will have you believe that nothing has really changed. He is on pace to throw 27 touchdowns, right around his season average, and he hasn’t thrown an inordinate amount of interceptions. His passer ratings for the past two seasons are the highest in his career, excluding the magical 2007 season, and his completion percentage is actually higher post-injury than pre-injury.
But there may still be an issue.
Mentally, Brady wasn’t always at his best last year. He looked uncomfortable and timid in the pocket [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
When the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick traded away Randy Moss, many were up in arms.
The best deep threat in the game was gone. Could any young receivers step up? Defenses didn’t have to double Moss anymore. How would the different coverage affect the receivers? Wes Welker? The running game?
The Patriots went out and picked up Deion Branch to add to the wide receiver depth chart. But really, how could the Patriots be a better team without Moss?
The Pats’ faithful responded differently, however. They just said that Bill must have seen something and they were cutting ties before it affected the team.
But what did Belichick see? In a non-scheduled press conference, he told everyone Moss’ contract situation and off-field attitude were not reasons for the move. So what was it, other than getting a third-round pick, which was seen as below value for the future Hall of Fame receiver?
Maybe they just saw a decline in production; in four games Moss had nine catches for 139 yards (no more than 59 yards in one game) and three touchdowns, not to mention not catching a single pass in the Miami game and didn’t play in the [...]

By: Dan Podheiser, YawkeyTalkies Assistant Editor
There were a lot of question marks surrounding this Patriots team heading into the 2010 season. I, for one, never pictured this team as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
But after Sunday’s win over Minnesota, a hard-fought, gritty showdown, I’m starting to think: Hey, maybe this team can win it all.
The Patriots have the best record in football and have beaten several good teams, but Sunday’s game really was a big one.
Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of the Patriots’ win on Sunday.
Quarterbacks
Tom Brady was hardly even noticeable on Sunday — and he still managed a 100.8 QB rating. Ho hum. All it took was a nice little 65-yard (mostly after the catch) toss to Brandon Tate to break the game wide open. Since Randy Moss left, Brady has had to pick his spots more finely. With just 16 completed passes — for 240 yards — he did that against the Vikings.
Grade: A-
Runningbacks
The law firm was prosecuting today. That’s right, I used it. BenJarvus Green-Ellis had himself a day against the Vikes, rushing for 112 yards on just 17 carries. Green-Ellis is looking like he could be New England’s first feature back since Corey Dillon, and even Dillon [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
In the New England Patriots’ Week 8 showdown against the Minnesota Vikings, all eyes will be on Randy Moss, who makes his return to Gillette Stadium after being traded in Week 5.
Will he want to make his old team regret not giving him a contract extension and trading him? Will he outperform his replacement, Deion Branch? How will the young secondary, who has struggled this season, cover him?
While the Patriots will have to focus on their defense this week, specifically their pass defense, the man they will be most focused on is quarterback Brett Favre.
Yes, Favre has been in a boot all week and everyone has questioned whether he will play. Do you really buy it though? Favre loves the attention, loves having people talking about him and what he’s going to do, so he stirs up the controversy.
Much like his “retirement”, don’t believe Favre won’t be on the field until the whistle has blown and he isn’t in uniform. There is a reason he has a 291 consecutive games played streak (315 including playoffs).
Bill Belichick said the team would plan for Favre playing.
However, while the talk of him playing or not is questionable, what [...]

By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
After this weekend’s NFL games and a slew of hard hits, the NFL and the media is ablaze.
Thanks to Brandon Meriweather, Dunta Robinson and Jerome Harrison the NFL is changing their policy again. Effective starting this week, offenders of “devastating hits” and “head shots” will be suspended.
Many people have thrown their opinion into the ring, and it seemed liked everyone working at ESPN was brought on television today to talk about it. Many were upset. Matt Millen went on to say, “It’s the game. It’s the way the game is played.”
I’m sorry Mr. Millen, but the way Brandon Meriweather played and how Eric Smith played in 2008 is not how football is meant to be played.
Football is a violent sport, and I love hard hits as much as anyone. And some of the montages of hits ESPN showed on air today, especially during their “Outside the Lines” episode today, were perfectly legal. Just hard-knocks football.
But there were definitely hits that were uncalled for.
The helmet should not be used as a weapon. The head is not a battering ram. To see someone launch himself into an opponent like a torpedo, going head first, is unacceptable, not [...]

By: Dan Podheiser, YawkeyTalkies Assistant Editor
If one win could ever solidify a football team as a contender, the Patriots’ 23-20 overtime victory over the Ravens on Sunday was just that.
New England came back from being down 10 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game and beat Baltimore in extra time. It was a complete team effort, and the defense surprisingly played tremendously late in the game.
Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of how the Patriots fared Sunday afternoon.
Quarterbacks
Tom Brady had his worst game of the season with just a 69.5 QB rating. He averaged just 6.6 yards per pass attempt, while completing 61 percent (27-for-44) of his passes. He threw two interceptions, which could have been costly. Brady wasn’t great on Sunday — but hey, the Ravens’ defense isn’t too shabby. I won’t praise “Tom Terrific” for playing poorly just because the Pats won the game, but he didn’t completely throw away his team’s chances; and for that, I won’t knock him too hard.
Grade: B
Runningbacks
You knew the Pats were going to spread the ball around without Randy Moss in the mix — but who knew that meant in the running game, too? Six New England players ran the ball 26 [...]