Archives for November 2008

‘”He is a good football player,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said of Edwards. “He is accurate, makes good decisions and has a good feel for the position. Of course he came from a good passing background but he has good field vision, sees things well, reads coverages, goes to the place where the guy has light coverage and he is also working with some very good receivers, so I am sure that helps the passing game as well. He has been very efficient. Even last year when he stepped in he seemed to have a good presence on the field and good command of the offense.”‘

‘Last month, perhaps, the Bills could have looked toward Sunday’s game as a kind of “statement game,” especially with Brady out and Matt Cassel calling signals for the Pats. Now the Bills are just trying to stay afloat — although Jauron doesn’t necessarily see it that way. “I (don’t) look at it that way,” said the former Swampscott High star. “I’ve never looked nine games into the season when the season starts.”‘

Patriots look to Webster (Boston Globe)

They’ve been losing by nose (Boston Globe)

Stretch run in AFC East looms as four-horse race for Patriots (Boston Herald)

BenJarvus Green-Ellis steps up (Boston Herald)

Jason Webster gets second(ary) chance (Boston Herald)

Quite a traffic jam in the AFC East (Boston Herald)

Patriots cheer election of Barack Obama (Boston Herald)

Tom Brady is Back Bay’s No. 1 dog walker (Boston Herald)

Patriots know Bills QB Trent Edwards’ quality statistics don’t lie (Providence Journal)

With Wheatley on injury list, Pats re-sign cornerback Webster (Providence Journal)

Obama’s person for the job, say the Patriots’ O’Neal, Hobbs (Providence Journal)

Patriots part of a crowded field at the top of the AFC East (Brockton Enterprise)

Webster looking to step up, turn tables on Bills (Brockton Enterprise)

Pats have Bills to pay (Worcester Telegram and Gazette)

Secondary now near a tertiary (Worcester Telegram and Gazette)

Pats turn to Webster for CB depth (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

No rest for the weary (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

New England Patriots try to fend off Bills and Jets in AFC East (Springfield Republican)

New England Patriots re-sign cornerback Jason Webster to shore up secondary (Springfield Republican)

Green-Ellis Making Name With Pats (Hartford Courant)

Pats are perfectly positioned for playoffs (Lawrence Eagle Tribune)

Pats see hope in Oval Office again (New Bedford Standard Times)

Patriots re-sign CB Jason Webster (AP)

Patriots bring back CB Jason Webster (The Sports Network)

Inside slant (The Sports Xchange)

Strategy and personnel (The Sports Xchange)

Notes, quotes (The Sports Xchange)

Webster adds depth at corner; Wed. notes (Patriots.com)

Patriots sign CB Jason Webster; Crable to IR (Patriots.com)

Trent Edwards Conference Call (Patriots.com)

Dick Jauron Conference Call (Patriots.com)

Bill Belichick Press Conference (Patriots.com)

Patriots – Bills Injury Report (Patriots.com)

‘Wide receiver Lee Evans is 0-8 against New England. Of the four games played at Gillette Stadium with him in the lineup, Buffalo has lost 29-6, 21-16, 19-17 and 38-7. Combined with a 56-10 home loss, the Bills were outclassed 94-17 in last year’s Patriots series.’

‘Is QB Trent Edwards suffering from the after-effects of his serious concussion suffered on Oct. 5 at Arizona? He says no but the numbers say yes.’

‘DT Marcus Stroud, who played on several playoff teams in Jacksonville, isn’t one to press the panic button. Buffalo has dropped consecutive games to the Dolphins and Jets, losses magnified in meaning because they were to division rivals. “Even though we lost two division games, I like us to be at 5-3 and there are still eight games left in the season,”‘ Stroud said. “It is a long season and by most of the accounts you guys didn’t have us picked to be this good. According to your all standards, we are doing pretty well. Now we have to continue to get better by our standards. Right now, that is the only thing that counts – the guys in that locker room and how we feel. We feel like we still have a chance to go out and play good football and win games.”‘

‘”Losing the last two games is hard. There’s nowhere to hide,” cornerback Jabari Greer said. “No matter what we’ve done before, having that two-game losing streak, the taste in your mouth can easily become something if that’s not corrected. It can change the whole mind-set of the season.”‘

‘Patriots 26, Bills 10.’

‘Well, the mood was a lot better from everybody including myself when we went 4-0, but the fact is you’ve got to take every week as it’s presented to you. We’ve got to take the 5-3 record and move on. We know this is just a huge game for us coming up.’

‘We’ve been getting beat on a couple different plays. I’ve made some skeptical decisions and [we’ve] faced some solid defensive schemes. [Those] are really the three things that have caused those [turnovers]. We weren’t making those mistakes early in the season and that’s why we were going in that direction. Now we are going in the other direction because of making those mistakes and those turnovers. Like you eluded to before there’s not really…you don’t know how to fix them you just try to make sure that you’re prepared for them and don’t do them again.’

‘"We’re in a situation now where we’ve kind of gotten to that point," Evans said after practice Wednesday. "And now we’ve got to pull ourselves out of it. We certainly have the people on this team to do it, and the character on this team to do it, so it’s just a matter of doing it."’

‘But all that is outweighed by the fact that this offense must find a way to enable Evans to break out at least two or three times a game; he simply can’t have two receptions for 23 yards with 58 minutes down. The way he was used against the Jets would be like asking Peter O’Toole to appear in a Burger King commercial; it goes without saying that he’s capable of a larger, more dignified role.’

‘Jarvis was a season-long starter as a Bills rookie, but tore up a knee in the opener of his second year and was done. He lasted eight games in 1973, long enough to earn his Electric Company distinction, before another knee injury took him out. He played just one more game in 1974 before retiring midway though the following training camp, satisfied with his pro stint. "You got a chance to know you could run with the best," he said.’

‘”People are a little down right now, but I don’t know about (a loss of) confidence,” linebacker Kawika Mitchell said in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Monday. “It’s just natural for everyone to have their heads down a little bit right now, but you have to pick it up and put it behind you and get ready to move on because in the NFL, this thing doesn’t stop, it keeps moving.”‘