Category: Sports

The Big Story – Celtics Begin Title Defense: The play-in Tournament Tuesday to send four teams to the NBA’s main playoffs which starts Saturday. The Celtics begin their title defense Easter Sunday. Enjoy.

Sports 101: Just four players in NFL history have had four consecutive 100-catch, 1,000-receiving-yard seasons. Name them.

News Item – NBA Regular Season Ends: A few season notables.

Nikola Jokic became the third to average a triple double — 29.8 points, 12.8 assists and 10.3 assists.

Denver and Memphis fired their coaches two weeks before the playoffs start. Sayonara to them.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in scoring at 32.7 ppg and OKC won a fourth best ever 68 games.

How bad was the Southeast Division? Only 41-41 Orlando wasn’t below .500.

Coaches who once got unfairly fired in Kenny Atkinson and Doc Rivers got their measure of revenge on their nemeses. Doc by digging out of a big early hole to be the 4-seed in Milwaukee, as Philly, who fired him, finished 24-58. For Atkinson it was winning the East in Year 1 with the Cavs, while the punks who stabbed him in the back in Brooklyn (just because they could) got theirs — Kyrie Irving with the latest injury, a torn ACL, and after costing a billion draft picks to get Kevin Durant to form a supposed super team, the 36-46 Suns didn’t even make the playoffs.

Brooklyn, who let those two do that to Atkinson, went 26-56 and is farther away than ever.

After going 20-7 since falling into their lucky trade for Luka Doncic, the Lakers are a real threat to re-tie Boston for first in championships with 18.

SGA gets MVP over Jokic because he is by far the most valuable player on the team with the best record.

News Item – College Football: Who didn’t see NIL holdouts coming?

Well, it happened at Tennessee last week when starting QB Nico Iamaleava sat out spring practice amid contract talks. UT’s response was “go fly a kite” and they immediately dropped him from the program.

News Item – The Masters: Notable happenings over the weekend.

Rory Mcllroy finally held onto a lead to win and become the sixth to win golf’s grand slam. But with all those makeable missed putts on that rollercoaster of a back nine he sure didn’t make it easy for those rooting for him

Clutch putt on the 72nd hole by Justin Rose to force the playoff, then he missed basically the same putt on the same hole (18) in the playoff to lose.

Sixty-seven-year-old Bernard Langer missed the cut by one shot in his final Masters thanks to a double bogey on the dastardly 15th hole.

Scottie Scheffler buried a 62-foot putt during Thursday’s opening round.

The Numbers:

19 – MLB-leading errors the Red Sox committed in their first 15 games. Meanwhile Dave Dombrowski’s Phillies have made just three all year.

31 – first-half points scored by the jacked and pumped Doncic in his return to Dallas before finishing with 45 in L.A.’s 112-97 win.

80 – hard-to-believe age legendary baseball reporter Peter Gammons turned last week.

… Of the Week Awards

Better Late Than Never Award – NCAA Final Word: We’re 10 days past Florida’s win over Houston for the national basketball championship. But it’s worth mentioning the most amazing stat of that game is that Florida somehow managed to win despite trailing for 38 minutes and 57 seconds of its 40 minutes. Big D that forced Houston turnovers in the final two minutes was the difference. It was the first time since 1989 that a freshman didn’t play in the game.

Sports 101 Answer: The four 100-1,000 players are Antonio Brown, Marvin Harrison, Dasante Adams and newly signed Patriot Stefon Diggs.

Final Thought – Celtics Playoff Keys: Having won 22 of 27 since the All-Star break, they go in playing well, with the quest for Title No. 19 starting Sunday. Here are their keys for a solid run:

Having an inside scoring Plan B for when the 3’s aren’t falling, which inevitably will happen.

Health — Brittle Kristaps Porzingis is always just one play away and the big unknown is the knee issue dogging Jaylen Brown. Is it just an annoyance or worse?

Thus they need no disappearing games from Jayson Tatum, which has been a past playoff (and Olympics) issue for him.

Consistency from the Top 3 on the bench.

Can Mazzulla please come up with a better end of the game (quarter) scoring play beyond the isolation fall away that Tatum always misses?

Hoping for the Knicks in Round 2 and the Lakers in the Finals.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story: By the time you read this we’ll know if Houston won its first ever basketball title or if it’s three times this century for Florida. UH got there overcoming a 14-point deficit with 8:17 left to stun Duke 70-67, while Florida’s 41-27 second-half blitz erased an 8-point halftime deficit to beat Auburn 79-73. On the women’s side after eight hard-to-believe years of UConn not winning, the title is finally back again after crushing South Carolina 72-59 to win their 11th title overall behind 41 from Azzi (Elmer) Fudd (24) and Paige Bueckers (17).

Sports 101: In Nikola Jokic’s latest astonishing feat, he posted the third ever 60-point game triple double (61-10-10) game in a two-OT loss to the T-Wolves. Name the other two 60-point triple-d guys.

News Item – Red Sox Week: (1) They won five straight after starting 1-3. (2) Rookie Kristian Campbell entered the week hitting .355 with four doubles, two homers, six RBI. 3) Garrett Crochet was not quite in the groove, but he did go eight while grinding out a needed 6-2 win over Baltimore. 4) The Raffy Devers hysteria after his 0-for-19 start ended when he went 10 for 19 with four doubles and a homer in the winning streak.

News Item – Celtics Update: Having won nine of 10 the C’s are heading to the playoffs on a roll.

It should be noted, though, that the teams beaten in their first ever 6-0 road trip during the streak were a combined 78 games under .500. So not exactly overwhelming competition. But it still defies logic that at 32-7 they’re better on the road than they are on the parquet at 26-13. Derrick White buried number 267 vs. Memphis to become Celtics record holder for most ever three-point shots made in one season.

A Little History – 60 Wins: If the C’s win two of their last four, they’ll be the first Celtics team with back-to-back 60-win seasons since the second Big 3 did it in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Before that it was the Bird-led group doing it three times between 1983-84 and 1985-86, as Larry’s group was in the midst of doing it six times in seven seasons. Prior to that the Havlicek-Cowens C’s did it twice (’72-’73 and ’74-’75). The Russell-era team won 60 just three times despite winning 11 titles in 13 years.

The Numbers:

69.9 – best this century team FG percentage shot by Milwaukee when they went 51 for 74 in a 133-123 win over Phoenix.

70 – consecutive games scoring over 20 by OKC’s Shai Gilgeous–Alexander to break Michael Jordan’s all-time NBA record.

895 – career goals by Alexander Ovechkin after passing Wayne Gretzky’s unsurpassable 894 to be the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Red Sox Owner John Henry: For finally acting like the big market owner he is by spending big on free agent Alex Bregman and by locking up Crochet and Campbell with six- and eight-year deals last week.

Thumbs Down – Bonehead Move of the Week – Jayson Tatum: For not having the discipline to keep it zipped before getting a technical foul at the worst possible time after a 15-point lead had slipped to 9 with 2:55 left to give the Kevin Durant-less Suns a free point and the ball on Friday.

Random Thoughts:

With both on hand, Friday was Where Are They Now? Night at TD Garden. The “They” are those not admitting now they were behind the push a few years back for the Celtics to trade Jaylen Brown for Bradley Beal. Brown dominated him and others by scoring 31 points to Beal’s measly one point on Friday. For the year it’s Beal 17 per to Brown’s 22.6 while also contributing much more on the boards and on D. Reminds all of what Bill Parcells famously said: “if you listen to people in the cheap seats, sooner or later you’ll wind up there with them.” Bullet dodged.

Sports 101 Answer: The other 60 triple double guys are Luka Doncic (2022) and James Harden (2018).

Final Thought – Parcells Headed to Patriots Hall of Fame: You can be magnanimous and say, thank you. Or you can be combative and say, what took so long?

Either way, thanks to Pats owner Bob Kraft for putting their personal history behind them to set in motion the induction of Bill Parcells into the Patriots Hall of Fame this summer.

Yes, there was him igniting the border war nonsense. But that was actually a good thing, as it made the Jets-Pats rivalry even better. But in resurrecting a moribund fan base after the disastrous Victor Kiam era you can make a case his four-year tenure, which concluded with a Super Bowl trip, makes him the fifth most important Patriot behind Billy Sullivan, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Drew Bledsoe. So well deserved, Tuna, and good job, Bob, for making it happen.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – The Final Four: When Florida meets Auburn and Duke faces Houston Saturday it will be the first all 1-seeds Men’s Basketball Final Four since 2008.

But the question is, does having the so-called best teams there make for a better tournament than one with a couple of Cinderella stories in the mix? Personally, I’d rather we had UConn there trying to win a third straight title because that would’ve been historic. But sadly that didn’t happen. Either way the fun starts from San Antonio on Saturday and ends Monday with a new champ.

Sports 101: How many of the top five individual scorers in the NCAA Basketball Championship game can you name? Hint: The point totals are 44, 42, 41, 37, 35 and have all happened since 1965.

News Item – Red Sox Update: (1) They won the opener behind a two-homer game from Wilyer Abreu, then lost three straight to leave Texas 1-3. (2) Kristian Campbell became the first of their vaunted prospects to make the dance when he was the starting second baseman on opening day. He had five hits in his first four games, including his first big-league homer, and started in left field on Sunday. (3) With Campbell set at second, it set in motion the inevitable moves of Alex Bregman to third and Raffy Devers to DH. (4) Garrett Crochet got off with a decent but not anything special 5.1 innings pitched in the opener when he whiffed four and gave up five hits and two earned runs.

News Item – Good Move, Patriots: Given he’ll be 32 during the season and coming off a torn ACL, signing Stefon Diggs for three years and $26 million guaranteed is a gamble. And that’s before getting to his diva-ness.But, while he’s likely past his peak, if in good health he’s better than anyone they have and a possible 1,000-yard receiver if he’s 85% of what he was in Buffalo. Plus now they don’t have to force it on draft night trying to find a receiver like they did while badly missing last year in Round 2.

The Numbers:

6 –record number of consecutive opening days Baltimore’s new left fielder Tyler O’Neill has homered after hitting a three-run bomb vs. Toronto this year.

7 – players/coaches ejected after a brawl between the T-Wolves and Pistons on Sunday.

19 – different players to start at third base for the San Francisco Giants in their last 19 openers.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Down – JuJu Watkins: Sad to see the USC star go down in a win over Mississippi State with a torn ACL. First because of the injury, and because it denies us seeing the highly anticipated head-to-head battle of women’s hoops’ two best players between JuJu and UConn’s Paige Bueckers later tonight (Monday). Boo.

Why Can’t We Get Guys Like That Award – Mookie Betts: After missing virtually all of spring training, the one that got away hit two homers including the 10th-inning walk-off that made the Dodgers 8-5 winners in their home opener vs. Detroit.

Random Thoughts:

Has any season started with Red Sox Nation really excited to see a season opener started by a guy who was 6-12 the year before as Garrett Crochet was in Chicago?

Here’s a tip for the Patriots’ drafting team. Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Brian Thomas, Odell Beckham Jr. and others all came out of LSU. So if they are looking to draft a receiver, maybe they should hire the guy who found them for LSU to be in charge of drafting wideouts for the Patriots.

Sports 101 Answer: The Top 5 championship game scorers are Bill Walton (44 vs. Memphis State, 1973), Gail Goodrich (42 for UCLA vs. Michigan, 1965), Goose Givens (41 for Kentucky over Duke, 1978), Lew Alcindor (37 for UCLA vs. Purdue, 1969) and John Morton (35 for Seton Hall in loss to Michigan, 1989).

Final Thought – A Little History – George Foreman: Never has anyone had a bigger personality transplant than the two-time heavyweight champ, who died last week at 76. He went from a sullen, brooding Olympic gold medal winner in 1968 to the jovial, laugh-a-minute TV pitch man he was after returning from a 10-year retirement to win back the crown. It was an eventful career where arguably boxing’s most punishing puncher twice beat Joe Frazier in fights spiced with many knockdowns. He took the title from Frazier in the first one, with it immortalized by Howard Cosell’s great all-time call, “DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!” Over in two rounds after six knockdowns. The second was a little longer but just as brutal. Then came the Rumble in the Jungle when he lost the title to Muhammad Ali’s famed rope-a-dope strategy as he won back his title in 1974. Then came the first retirement and what can only be described as the amazing comeback. RIP, big fella.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story: Baseball Arrives: Tough call — opening of the baseball season or the NCAA Basketball Tournaments as the week’s top story.

I’m going with baseball because for the first time in five years there’s legit optimism regarding the Red Sox.

As for the basketball, it doesn’t hold my attention like it once did thanks to the advent of one and done, the transfer portal, consolidation of the Power 5 Conferences and NIL money. On the women’s side even with its amazing improvement/evolution it’ll likely never grab me the way the men’s tournament once did. But here’s the good news: It’s a “to each his/her own” world, so everyone can watch whatever they like most! So enjoy.

Sports 101: Who threw the only complete-game opening-day no-hitter?

News Item – NCAA Hockey Regional at SNHU Arena: It kicks off Friday when it’s Boston College vs. Bentley at 2 p.m. followed by Providence vs. Denver at 5:30 p.m. The winners meet at 4:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. to see who goes to the Frozen 4.

News Item – Celtics Sold: The two most notable elements are (1) the $6.1 billion is the highest ever paid for a North American sports team, and (2) thanks to tension between him and Wyc Grousbeck, original partner Steve Pagliuca was by passed over in favor of some guy I never heard of. Most likely because he agreed to let Wyc run the team through 2027 and Pags would not.

News Item – MLB Stories to Follow: Seeing the astonishingly versatile “why can’t we get guys like that?” Mookie Betts moving over at 32 to play shortstop for the Dodgers. Terry Francona taking over in Cincinnati after retiring because he was “too beat up” to manage. Question: How do you get beat up managing? Can anyone stop the free-agent-heavy L.A. Dodgers with their monstrous $375 million payroll? The encore for Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 season. Can he do it again as he returns to pitching? How the Yanks fare with their retool after losing Juan Soto to the crosstown Mets and a mountain of spring injuries that includes losing ace Gerrit Cole for the year to Tommy John surgery.

News Item – NCAA Update: A few notables.Two-time defending champ UConn went down in a great game, a 77-75 loss to top seed Florida. In the battle of UMass, ex-Minuteman coach John Calipari beat ex-UMass player Rick Pitino, who recommended Cal for that job in the ’90s, when Arkansas knocked off 2-seed St. John’s.

Bryant University, who not too long ago was playing in the NE 10 with SNHU and Saint Anselm, got skunked by Michigan State 87-62.

The Numbers:

.333 –spring BA of Sox SS prospect Marcelo Mayer with one homer, two triples and 11 RBI in 36 at-bats.

17.2 –strikeouts per nine innings rate Crochet had with 30 in 15.1 innings this spring.

888 – career goals for Alexander Ovechkin leaving him six shy of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL record 894.

Of the Week:

Ignoramuses of the Week – The 2 percent of 4,003 voters who said the Bruins trade for Tuukka Rask was bigger than the Celtics getting Bill Russell in the Boston Globe’s Greatest Boston Trade Ever contest. Which was so big, I don’t know who they traded to get Rask.

What a Stupid I Yam Award – Me: For incorrectly saying in Sports 101 Joe DiMaggio won 10 World Series. He was in 10 but the Yanks lost to St. Louis in 1942, leaving Yogi Berra as the only 10-time winner. Thanks to Gil Rogers of Bow for pointing that out.

Sports 101 Answer: On April 16, 1940, the great Bob Feller no-hit the White Sox with 8 k’s in Cleveland’s 1-0 win.

Final Thought – Red Sox 2025: Things to be excited about:The trade that cost them four prospects but brought back lefty Crochet, who struck out people this spring at a Nolan Ryan-like pace. Second, free agent Alex Bregman gives them two things they badly need: better D at third base and the kind of leader this young team needs.

The young core. With Jarren Duran, Triston Casas, Brayan Bello, Ceddanne Rafaela, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell and Roman Anthony either here or on the cusp, the Sox have their best group of promising young players since the 1970s when guys named Lynn, Rice, Fisk, Evans, Burleson, Ben Oglivie and Cecil Cooper arrived one after another.

There are two big questions, though. How many innings can the former reliever Crochet pitch now that he’s the ace? And the bullpen overall, and especially who is the closer? While they are clearly rising up, they likely still are a year away. But with the AL East appearing to be wide open you never know. So it should be a fun year. Prediction: Sox go 88-74 and make the playoffs.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: It all started with Tuesday’s play-in games, which included San Diego State vs. (yup, once mighty) North Carolina. It goes full throttle Thursday with the top seeds being Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida. The two biggest questions are (1) Can 10-seed UConn be the first to win three straight titles since the UCLA dynasty won seven between 1967 and 1973? and (2) How close to full strength will Larry Bird play-alike Cooper Flagg be when Duke opens Friday after spraining his ankle last weekend?

Sports 101: Aside from UCLA’s seven straight titles, how many of the eight other schools to win back-to-back NCAA titles can you name?

News Item – The Good, Bad and Ugly for Pats Last Week: Good – They solidified the defense, with the best FA signings being Eagles nose tackle Milton Williams and Detriot CB Carlton Davis. Edge rusher Harold Landry’s wasn’t bad either. Bad – Maybe he can’t play anymore, but not throwing a fifth-round pick at the desperate for anything Rams to take a flier on Cooper Kupp seems dumb. Especially with him signed at manageable money for just two years. Ugly – They got no left tackle and no number one wideout, leaving their two biggest needs unfilled.

News Item – Garrett Crochet: The new Sox hurler was named the opening day starter. Given his numbers — one run allowed in four starts with a whopping 21 strikeouts in 10.1 innings — that’s hard to argue with. That’s 18.2 k’s per nine innings and is more than baseball’s all-time one-game record was for 85 years until Roger Clemens struck out 20 in 1986. Can someone please tell me why top prospect Roman Anthony only had 22 at-bats as of Monday? That he knocked in eight runs in those 22 is impressive, as that projects to 240 RBI over a full season! I know, not possible, but that’s what it comes to in a short sample size.

Biggest Sox Question – They still don’t know who the closer will be.

Biggest Sox Surprise – Trayce Thompson. Klay Thompson’s unheralded little brother has a team-leading six homers and 13 RBI in 30 AB’s.

Sox Injured List – Starters Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford will start 2025 on the IL.

News Item – NFL FA Leftovers: The vaunted QB draft class of 2021 with five taken in the first 15 picks is likely the biggest bust ever. With Justin Fields (Jets), Zach Wilson (Miami) and Mac Jones (SF) moving last week they’re all now on their third teams. Trey Lance was bounced out of SF after just two years and first overall pick Trevor Lawrence ain’t exactly the most popular guy in Jax these days. After leaving the Giants and Steelers hanging I’d tell Aaron Rodgers to stuff it. Dealing with his nonsense once might have been worth it, but now it’s a distraction.

The Numbers:

6 – record-setting number of schools Rick Pitino has taken to the NCAA Tournament after St. John’s won the Big East Tourney Saturday to join BU, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.

70 – pace for the second most wins in NBA history the Cleveland Cavaliers are on.

Of the Week:

Thumbs Up – David Andrews: A true Patriots gamer gets it on his way out the door after being released.

Random Thoughts: Calling the SEC having 14 teams in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament “historic” is a joke. With major conference expansions as schools defect from their traditional conferences that’s no great accomplishment, because the big schools are stuffed into half as many conferences as there used to be. Jones to SF and Jacoby Brissett to Houston. The Pats are supplying the NFL with QB’s.

Sports 101 Answer: The back-to-back winning schools are Oklahoma State (45-46), Kentucky (48-49), San Francisco (55-56), Cincinnati (61-62), UCLA (64-65), Duke (91-92), Florida (06-07) and UConn (23-24).

Final Thought – Golf Media:

After he suffered a torn Achilles last week it’s sad to see Tiger Woods hurt again. But when is the golf media going to understand that he is no longer a big story? Every time a big tournament rolls around, like last week’s Players Championship, he’s a lead story despite the fact he’s far more likely to miss the cut than finish in the Top 25. Last week’s headline was Tiger Won’t Be Here This Year. It’s just nuts. Earth to golf media: It’s over. Like with Michael Jordan, Willie Mays and Peyton Manning the end comes for everyone no matter how great they are. And then those still don’t lead Super Bowl and World Series stories.

Why don’t they just let it be and put him in the Hall? Because no matter what, he ain’t coming back to within three time zones of what he once was.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – NFL Year Opens: The new business year starts today with the opening of free agency, where the real action takes place over the next 10 days. The next time to add talent is over three days during the 90th annual NFL draft beginning on April 23. And the final big time is after June 1 when teams can cut players and lessen the cap hit by splitting their contracts over 2025 and 2026.

Sports 101: Name the 10 who once played for the Patriots who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

News Item – Patriots FA Start: Despite being flush with free agent cap space with acknowledged huge holes on the O-line and at lead receiver they passed on immediate opportunities to address them right out of the gate. They wouldn’t meet the price of KC and Seattle to bring old friend Joe Thuney and wideout DK Metcalf to Foxboro. The 33-year-old Thuney, coming off a First Team All Pro season, has one year left on his $15 million and cost the Bears just a fourth-round pick to get him. For Metcalf, Pittsburgh gave up a second-round pick and $150 million over the next five years to trade for him. A lot of dough, yes, but that’s the going rate for high-end receivers.

If they had done that, they could have used their fourth overall pick to get a high-value left tackle to fill their three biggest holes, then focused their two third-round picks and remaining FA money to fortify the interior defense, which they started doing by signing Mike Vrabel’s edge rusher in Tennessee, Harold Landry.

So it sounds like more talk, little action again.

News Item – More Patriots Thoughts:

Travis Hunter: Not that the Patriots have to follow it if they decided take Henry. But he was listed as a DB at the Combine, which indicates where many believe he’s best suited to play. Given their previously stated Top 3 need that lowers the odds that NE will take him at 4.

Will Campbell: Does 3/8 of an inch in arm length really mean that much? The LSU left tackle is the highest-rated O-lineman on the Big Board. But the chatter about him is his arms are too short because they measure 32 5/8 inches in length, which is below the accepted 33 inches minimum for a left tackle.

Cooper Kupp: With Metcalf, Tee Higgins, Davante Adams and Deebo Samuel off the table what would you give to L.A. to get the once great but on the back nine wideout? A fourth-round pick?

Joe Milton: It would be stupid for the Patriots to trade their backup QB as the rumor mill is saying they might. They should showcase him in pre-season at least, because a strong showing raises his value even higher.

The Numbers:

30 – in case my Cowboys-loving friend George Copadis has forgotten, the number of years since “America’s Team” last even got to the Super Bowl.

84 – combined points scored by Peyton Pritchard (43) and Derrick White (41) to fill in the gap for the missing Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis in Wednesday’s 128-118 win over Portland.

Of the Week:

Thumbs Up – Joe Mazzulla: For correctly treating Saturday’s game with the Lakers as more than just a regular regular-season game by playing Tatum 45 minutes, Jaylen Brown 41 and Al Horford a season-high 38, leading to a 111-101 statement win.

Best Game of the Week – Nikola Jokic: For the Larry Bird play-alike putting up the first 30-point, 20-rebound, 20-assist game in NBA history in Friday’s low-scoring 149-141 win over Phoenix.

Radio and TV Broadcasters Phew of the Week: They were spared the arduous task of trying to pronounce the first name of Sox prospect Jhostynxon Garcia for at least another year after he was optioned to the minors last week.

And don’t ask me, I don’t have a clue.

Random Thoughts:

I heard all the chatter about Metcalf not being a good fit for Josh McDaniels’ system. But shouldn’t offensive coordinators find ways to get talented receivers the balls in the way that capitalize on their outstanding skills over just fitting them into the system? Isn’t that what coaching is about?

Sports 101 Answer: The 10 Patriots Famers are Nick Buoniconti, John Hannah, Mike Haynes, Ty Law, Curtis Martin, Junior Seau, Randy Moss, Richard Seymour, Andre Tippett and Darrelle Revis.

Final Thought: True, most are happy with Mike Vrabel as the choice for Pats head coach. But given that the barren roster had far more to do with their going 4-13 than Alex Van Pelt or even Jerod Mayo did, that puts personnel chief Elliot Wolf in the spotlight. With holes all over the roster he needs to deliver at least six players in free agency and the draft who can contribute in a significant way next season. Otherwise they won’t be much better.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.