Category: Sports

The Patriots hit what passes for the 2021 midway point in the new 17-game NFL season with Sunday’s gritty 27-24 win over the San Diego, er L.A. Chargers. After their wild off-season spending spree, that’s not what the optimists or pragmatic folks like myself were expecting. I even said they could start 6-2 if things went their way during what was supposed to be the easiest part of their schedule. But I underestimated how good Dallas and the Saints defense would be — which showed itself in the Pats’ only real dog so far. Well, OK, the Houston game was stinker.    

So amid the ups and downs here’s a midseason report and what to expect moving forward.  

Coach B:He’s faced a ton of pressure from the over-reactionary wolves mostly for how well you-know-who has done in Tampa Bay and their 2-4 start. The most ridiculous came from doofuses on the afternoon crew at Boston’s Sports Hub, who actually wondered out loud whether ”the game had passed him by.” Like integrating 25 new players is no big deal and should happen like that. The last time they had as much turnover was 2001 when, while also breaking in an untested QB, they were 5-5 after their first 10 games before rolling off nine straight wins. Not saying it’ll happen the same this time, just that it takes time. Not that he hasn’t made a mistake or two, the most damaging one being sending Stephon Gilmore away just before getting hit with a rash of injuries in the secondary. He’s also getting hit for being too conservative for not going for it on fourth down. Which worked out perfectly on Sunday, didn’t it, when they got stopped on fourth and 1 at the goal line instead of taking the FG and then falling behind 17-15 late in the fourth quarter. Of course that comes from the same people who killed him for going for it on fourth and 2 vs. the Colts in 2009. If you want to hit him on the GM front, have at it, but even with the mistakes I’m OK with what he’s done overall.  

The Big Mac Project: Amid all the yacking that he’s a dump down artist, his 1,997 yards after are 9th best in the NFL, put him on pace for 4,237 (Brady at 2,830 in 2001) and are more than Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers and all four QB’s taken ahead of him in the 2021 draft.

Best free agent – Matt Judon: With JC Jackson he’s arguably been their best defender who’s shown up in the run game and been the most reliable at pressuring the QB.  

Best surprise – Jakobi Meyers: I wondered if his leading the team in 2020 catches was a function of somebody from a bad bunch had to do that. But with a team-leading 48 catches for 427 yards, not so, as he catches in traffic, takes big hits, is clutch and most importantly is reliable on third down.   

Biggest free agent disappointments: There are a few among the large free agent newcomers, but so far it’s the starting-to-come-around Nelson Agholor, whose target-to-catch ratio is among the worst in the league and who had a few big drops.  

Biggest disappointment – offensive line: Trent Brown has played one play and since he went out right tackle was an absolute disaster until Michael Owenu went back there and Ted Karras went to left guard vs. the Jets. That led to the first time Mac Jones was protected all year and the result was a 54-point explosion.

Below expectation: We’ve been told all off season and in pre-season that Josh Uche was going to be a sack machine. He’s had his moments, but with three sacks, seven solo tackles and a fumble recovery in garbage time vs. the Jets that has not been the case.

Anything good most don’t realize: With all the yards they give up, especially vs. Dallas, it obscures the fact that the Pats are only giving up 20.5 points per game on average, which is 6th best in the league.

Likely second-half improvements: (1) The targets– Free agents Bourne and Hunter Henry seem to be finding their footing to give the QB more reliable options beyond just Meyers. (2) The offense – They’ve scored 110 points in the last three games, which suggests the pieces are coming together.

Biggest trade deadline need: Game breaking wide receiver that Agholor was supposed to be.   

They will make the playoffs if: They need to beat wild card competitors Cleveland and Indy, who are just ahead in the next month, and a split with Buffalo would help too. To do that, (1) the O-line improvement needs to continue, (2) ditto for the defensive front seven, which played very well holding down the explosive Chargers on Sunday, and (3) they need to eliminate theboatload of stupid penalties, like those that brought back 29- and 38-yard (for a TD) runs by Damian Harris on Sunday and other bonehead mistakes that hurt all year.

Bottom line: Without playing close to a complete game until Week 7 vs. the Jets, they still are just three plays away from starting 7-1. You can’t unring the bell off a loss of course, so instead they are just 4-4. But Coach B’s biggest strength has always been that the team improves as the season moves along, which is how to ultimately judge this team in 2021. Because, as I said in the season preview, the biggest x-factor would be not Big Mac but how quickly all the new faces can be turned into a well-functioning team. And with three wins and narrow losses to the Bucs and Cowboys that each turned on one play in their last five games that seems to be happening, making the prospects for the second half seem a lot brighter than they did after that deflating loss to Dallas three weeks ago.

The Celtics kicked off their season last week in an error-filled but very entertaining overtime loss to the Knicks. Even with that disappointment, the bright spot is that it looks like games between the C’s and the Knicks this year will mean something for the first time since the Bird era. The 1970s Havlicek/Cowens vs. Reed/Frazier games were even better, but beggars can’t be choosers. So I’ll take this.

That was followed by an awful loss to Toronto at home, which underscored why I’m totally wait-and-see on the C’s after being really harsh on most of the deals done by Brad Stevens this summer. Not so much for who he got rid of, or got back even, but for taking back less than he could have gotten in each deal. But I’ll admit they have much better depth as a result of his moves after depth being a major weakness a year ago. Thanks partly to their pure luck getting business challenged Dennis Schroder. After a far too placid demeanor in 2020-21, his feisty attitude should give them more of an edge in 2021-22. I also like that they’re building it with complementary players around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown rather than just assembling talent.

Celtics Players to Watch   

Jayson Tatum: I’m harder on him than anyone and want more than just 50-point games. It’s obvious he hit the weight room because he is really cut, which will help him take the next step up as a player. But to be a Top 5 guy who can lead his team to the Promised Land, he needs to become the kind of leader he’s yet to grow into. 

Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith: Are they going to grow into players of value? My money is on Romeo.

We’ll have more on the C’s as the year goes along, but for now here are some other things to keep an eye on.  

Teams to Watch 

Knicks: The NYC media as usual is overrating their own, but they have fight and toughness under Tom Thibodeau, which I like. As for the local connection: I hope Kemba Walker found a home in his hometown, but the C’s needed to move on from him for team fit reasons. I’m also glad Brad didn’t overpay to keep Evan Fournier away from New York, because while he can score as he did on opening night, he’s inconsistent and plays no D, as evidenced by the 46 Jaylon got on him in the opener.

Bucks: I don’t like to use the word “luck” when a team played as hard as the champs did, but I could never shake the feeling they weren’t that good last year, especially with only two reliable bench guys. It’s a testament to what a couple of stars can do in today’s NBA. Don’t see much change besides losing defensive brawler PJ Tucker. But Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the NBA’s three best players and I don’t underestimate what the man who gives more effort than anyone on every single play means to this team. So they‘re dangerous, but if Al Horford can still play D the Celtics can beat these guys in a playoff series.

Nets: As with every team he’s attached to, they’ll be better without non-vaxxed Kyrie Irving. Because Kevin Durant and James Harden are the best one-two punch in NBA and are surrounded by good role players, and GM Sean Marks is a very smart guy who’ll come out of trading Kyrie with something better.

Miami: On paper Pat Riley’s moves look great, but their fortunes depend on whether (1) the tick down point for newly acquired big-game 35-year-old point guard Kyle Lowry isn’t on the horizon, (2) Tyler Herro stops being Miami Beach big-time boy and gets back to the guy who wrecked the Celtics in the 2019 playoffs, (3) Victor Oladipo can return to his pre-injury self to give them a major bench, and (4) Bam (love that name) Adebayo continues on his path to becoming one of the league’s top big men. 

76ers: Who knows what the impact of the Ben Simmons mess will be? But I do know GM Daryl Morey overplayed his hand in demanding too much for an overpaid crybaby who shrinks from the big moment, That gives him zero trade leverage to get close to equal value in his coming trade. And, sorry, Philly gets no sympathy here, after screwing their fans by losing on purpose for four years to get this joker during the bogus/failed “Trust the Process.” You reap what you sow.    

Hawks: A young up and comer, but not sure they are/were as good as the hot streak that catapulted them into the 2021 playoffs. Trae Young is great, but Tatum is better to make the Celtics better than Atlanta.

Lakers: In their continuing effort to break their tie with Boston for most NBA Championships won at 17, they made big news trading for stat-machine but hard-to-play Russell Westbrook. They also brought in an astonishing nine new players, including GM Lebron James’ buddy Carmelo Anthony and the returning Rajon Rondo (a good move). That’s a lot of adjustments. It won’t work if Westbrook plays point guard, but might if he plays off guard and LBJ runs the O as a point forward. Either way these dudes are work in progress.      

Suns: Bet my autographed Alvan Adams NBA card this team takes a big. I’m too impressed with myself, step back. And not just because Devin Booker is tempting fate by going out with one of the Kardashian clan. Though it is a reason, because their curse on sports people has taken down far bigger players than him.

Golden State: Steph Curry is unbelievable, and getting Klay Thompson back is major. But I don’t see this group getting back to what they were at peak.    

Arguments for Another Day: Chris Bosh in the Hall of Fame? The Top 75 NBA players list. I can assure you I have a lot to say about both in the days ahead.

What a difference 14 days can make. After the Red Sox lost two of three to the lowly Orioles in the second to last series of the year, talk show blowhards and other media types were getting ready to bury them after what they thought would be a final week collapse. Then there was the friend of mine who I call Mr. Sunshine for his, let’s call it dour, outlook on local teams on Facebook the second anything goes wrong, calling them “pathetic” after the Game 1 loss to Tampa Bay. But after taking out Tampa Bay in four there’s a breezy “had it all the way” as they moved into the ALCS.

Sorry, but that kind hypocrisy and abandon ship mentality after one loss makes me absolutely nuts. Especially when it comes from “fans” or those supposedly attuned to make informed media judgments.

I think there should be a standings among the media to see who is most often right and wrong. Most wouldn’t do it because that brings accountability for what they say, even though they expect it from players and coaches. For the record, I had the Sox for 82 wins. So I missed and think they’re playing with house money.  

That’s my take on the week’s biggest story. Here are some more on the other big stories.  

I’m sure they’ll disagree with me in Dodgertown. But seeing arguably the greatest head to head pennant race in baseball history end on a blown check-swing call doesn’t seem right. If the bases were loaded maybe I’d change my mind. But the cardinal rule of sports should be to let the players decide it, not the umps, and certainly not a guy over 100 feet away on a near impossible angle making the call as happened in the NLDS. Isn’t that why instant replay was brought into the game? Joy in L.A. A sports tragedy for SF. Major-league black eye for baseball.  

Baseball 101: Who led the 2021 Red Sox in stolen bases?

Pretty rich hearing Rex Ryan ripping Mac Jones by calling him Danny Wuerffel-like, a reference to the guy who won a national title at Florida in the ’90s because the talent around him was so good they didn’t need much at QB. After buying the bluster early, Rex was treated like a buffoon at the end in NYC. Then after two dismal years in Buffalo, who immediately got better after he got axed, he got demoted to TV. So given that, who’d have thought the two-time failure would be worse at broadcasting than he was at head coaching? 

Speaking of announcers: John Smoltz has beenexcellent during the Red Sox playoff games on FS1/Fox, as was partner Joe Davis in the ALDS. He excels at talking us through situations as they arise, especially on the pitching end. Case in point, not more than five seconds after Smoltz said in Game 1 vs. Houston, “you can’t pitch Jose Altuve up and in because his short arms let him get to those pitches” as a graphic illustrated his hot spot, Tanner Houck did it and Altuve put it into the left field seats. That is great work by a color analyst. A stark contrast to the steady stream of nonsense A-Rod delivered in the wild card game vs. the Yanks.

And Earth to Alex: Listen to what Smoltz said about yanking starters too early as you regularly do. “I get the analytics” but I’m not gonna yank a pitcher who’s clearly in his rhythm for someone I hope will be in his. 

Along a similar vein, my friend Gary Parsons, the displaced Red Sox fan in Michigan, asks regarding the practice of the day, how can you regularly use eight pitchers in a game and expect all of them to get the job done?

So much for the 5-1 start that seemed possible for the Patriots with four of their first six games at home while playing what looked to be the easier part of their schedule. Instead, after Sunday’s loss to Dallas, they’re 2-4 after losing all four of those home games. But while you can’t unring the bell of the losses, they were three or so inches away from end-of-the-game field goals bending the wrong way for them vs. two 5-1 teams and an ill-timed fumble 9 yards away from the winning field goal vs. Miami from being 5-1 themselves. Not exactly sure what it means, good or bad, beyond that it’s a game of inches.

Think it’s just a coincidence Cam Newton magically changed his mind about getting vaccinated? Or is it because he hasn’t had even a nibble from another NFL team since being cut by the Patriots and figures not being vaxxed isn’t helping the cause?

Which brings us to the now benched, un-vaxxed Kyrie Irving. Disagree with Nets GM Sean Marks saying Kyrie“loves playing basketball.” His self-created, me-first distractions that get in the way of playing show he does not. He’s just a guy given the gift of having great “talent” and he’s been fawned over for that from an early age. I think he likes playing basketball, but there are clearly other things important to him. That’s fine and his choice, just don’t be a fraud about it, which he’s been since he was in Cleveland.   

Baseball 101 Answer: While he’s not exactly in Ricky Henderson territory, believe it or not catcher Christian Vasquez was the Sox stolen base leader with eight.

Don’t know how accurate it will be if it actually happens, but I noticed on the map in last week’s Boston Globe showing the effects global warming will have on shorelines around the city it said if we have an average 3 degrees Celsius increase in temperature in Boston, the shoreline will engulf Fenway Park to put it under water. Of course they project that to happen in 200 to 2,000 years so your seats are safe for now.

The baseball playoffs are underway, having gotten started nicely when the Sox croaked the Yanks 6-2 in the play-in game. More interesting, at least to me, is what we can learn about team-building from watching Tampa Bay, even if I don’t care for what their robotic stat geek approach is doing to the game. They have athletic talent and pitching depth used in a different relay-race way than the olden days, and they have figured out how to win cost-effectively. I’d say maybe there’s something there for the Sox brass to learn from, but that’s why they hired TB alum Chaim Bloom in the first place.

Now for some more thoughts.

I don’t know if TB stumbled on it just trying to save money, but they show that the most cost-effective way per out is to load up on six or seven hard-throwing relievers whom they usually turn the game over to after five innings. That’s because if those guys pitch four innings per game every game and are even making $3 million per (which they’re not) that’s 648 innings for a paltry $21 million. As opposed to the Yanks getting 181 innings from Gerrit Cole for $32 million per year. That’s $10,802 per out for TB vs. $60K for NY and since most of those D-Rays are under 3.00 in ERA they’re competitive to Cole’s 3.23. So tell me which way is better.
So the trick is to draft and develop guys to be one-inning power pitchers who are interchangeable and not married to a specific role, including closer. Since the Red Sox have not developed a starter to win 10 games or more since Clay Buchholz came up in 2007 they should try that instead of what they’ve been so unsuccessfully doing for 20 years.

One final note on Cole: When he refused to talk about the Astros moments after he and they won the 2017 World Series because he was now a free agent and didn’t work for them any longer, he went on my sports hate list instantaneously. So it was great to see him spit the bit (as the Boss used to say) in the big moments. Well-spent $324 million I’d say.

In case you’re wondering, the 106 games won by the 2021 Dodgers are the most ever by a team finishing in second place. Even more amazing is that even though the 107-win Giants seemingly clinched a playoff spot in July they didn’t clinch the NL West until the final day of the regular season.

Incidentally, a big payoff could be coming for those who bet on them to win the World Series before the year in Vegas, where they were a 100-1 shot.

Since no one was in the stands to do it last year during the playoffs, expect the booing of the Astros for their cheating scandal to continue until their final playoff out.

I count 11 ex-Red Sox in the playoffs, including Jackie Bradley, who hit a microscopic .163 for Milwaukee this year; TB’s Manuel Margot, who was traded for White Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel (5.09 in 24 appearances after being traded to Chi in late July) when Kimbrel came to Boston from San Diego; Chicago’s Michael Kopech (44 games in relief with a 3.50) and Yoan Moncada, who were the big chips in the Chris Sale trade; Marwin Gonzalez, who hooked on with Houston on the Jamie Collins plan after being DFA by the Sox in August to hit below the Mendozza line for both teams; Pablo Sandoval, still somehow in the majors with Atlanta, and Yaz’s grandson Mike, a key player for SF.

Then there’s the L.A. contingent managed by 2004 Game 4 hero Dave Roberts. Injury-riddled Mookie Betts didn’t have one of his better years while hitting .258 with 23 homers and 58 RBI. Meanwhile only 11 of David Price’s 39 appearances were starts when he pitched just 74 innings and had an ERA of 4.04, and 2018 postseason stalwart Joe Kelly was 2-0 and 2.85 in 44 games.

Between the injured Clayton Kershaw and suspended Trevor Bauer L.A. has $71 million in starting pitching sitting not available in the playoffs. That’s more than the D-Rays’ entire payroll.

The Giants did what they did with their leading homer guy Brandon Belt (29) and the only guy who could hit for TB in the early days, Evan Longoria, only playing 97 and 81 games respectively

Thanks to a .306 lifetime batting average and winning two batting titles while mostly playing the game’s most physically demanding position, many see ex-Twins catcher Joe Mauer as a likely Hall of Famer. If that’s the case, does the same go for Giants catcher Buster Posey? He’s a .302 lifetime hitter, with one batting title and more homers already than Mauer, while being the linchpin of three World Series winners to none by Joe. And No. 4 could be in progress as we speak.

The evening Massachusetts daily lotto numbers on the day before the Yankees-Red Sox playoff game on Tuesday were 1-9-7-8. That was the year of the last one-game playoff between the Sox and Yanks, otherwise known as the Bucky bleeping Dent game won by NY.

The omen didn’t work this time. Though I must say, good strategy by Alex Cora to pull the in-total-control Nathan Eovaldi after just 5.1 innings so they could lure Aaron Judge into barely being thrown out at the plate after a difficult double relay by bringing in Ryan Brasier so Giancarlo Stanton could hit another one of the wall to start the play in motion. Worked perfect. What a strategist.

Finally, Giancarlo, are you kidding me? Posing on a ball you think is going out instead of hustling to first in a winner-take-all playoff game? Really? Where do they find clueless meatballs like that?

Not that we didn’t know it already, but the outcomes during last week’s huge sports weekend once again showed how unfair sports can be. Despite infuriatingly losing two of three to the worst team in baseball during the final week, their best pitcher spitting the bit in both final-week starts, including just lasting into the third inning on Sunday, and Alex Cora yanking Tanner Houck with a slim 1-0 lead in the season’s biggest game after just five innings and 53 pitches on Saturday with a perfect game in progress, the Red Sox somehow managed to move on to play in Tuesday’s play-in game vs. the Yanks. Meanwhile, with their beleaguered coach abandoned by the memory-challenged in Patriot Nation showing the returning hero he doesn’t have all the answers to every test as he was being mostly outplayed Sunday night by a prodigy QB, the luckless Patriots lost 19-17 to the TB Brady’s when the 56-yard game-winning field goal attempt faded just enough to doink off the upright and away, instead of in.

Those were the news highlights of the big week and here are a few others.

News Item: Wickersham Book on Pats No Sham       

The post-Brady Patriots are in the crosshairs with ESPN reporter Seth Wickersham back with his second tome on the Patriots dynasty. Despite skepticism throughout Patriot Nation at the outset of the last one, it is being heavily scrutinized now after almost of all what he said last time was proven true. Given some of the disagreeable things that have leaked out, some unpleasant moments are ahead after some things owner Bob Kraft allegedly said to others about Coach B. For his part Bill Belichick says the relationship is solid. But if that’s fake news, you have to wonder where the end of Kraft’s rope might be if the 1-3 record during what was supposed to be the easiest part of their schedule continues to go south. Stay tuned.

News Item: Sox Exceed Expectations; Still Many Aren’t Happy

Got to love the expectation game in sports, where when things go bad it’s “I told you so” but when they go far beyond what many anticipated before eventually coming up short it’s not “thanks for a better season than I expected,” it’s instead “thanks for ruining our summer.” Granted a last-week Red Sox fold would have left a sour taste behind. But I’ll ask many in the media and cheap seats how many wins they were expecting in March. Given the obvious holes everywhere, Chris Sale injury questions and last year’s debacle, I doubt it was 92. I had them in the low 80’s and was bracing for worse. But they unexpectedly held the AL East lead into July and fought to the final out in Game 162. Not perfect and there’s still work to be done but it’s thanks for a great summer.

News Item: Low Expectations Greet 2021 Celtics

Speaking of expectations, with a 10-deep lineup and seven first-round draft picks over the next three years the Celtics had the ammo to compete for an NBA title going into 2018. But, after their second dumpster fire season in three years, Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens squandered that chance, which led Ainge to, ah, retire, Stevens to be kicked upstairs and a boatload of roster changes. First was the hiring of a guy I never heard of as the head coach, Ime Udoka. That he worked under legendary coach Pop is reassuring to some, but given that Gregg Popovich is in his own “Brady vs. Belichick” debate, as his team hasn’t done much since Tim Duncan retired, I’ve got see for myself what Udoka can do. Then there is the belief Stevens only became GM because the owners still owe him tons of money, something that was fortified when Brad had his lunch money stolen in his first three trades. We’ll leave the specific details to the season preview. But for now, Celtics expectations are at the lowest point since about 2015.

News Item: Worst Great Pennant Race Ever  

You have to understand the logic to get this headline. “Great” pennant races are defined here as those that go down to the final weekend with multiple teams involved. Like the AL race of 1967 when five teams entered the final week with a chance to win the pennant. When Yaz concluded the most inspirational season by a player since DiMaggio in 1941 by going 7 for 8 and knocking in the winning runs both times vs. Minnesota to eliminate them during the final two days of the year. The other way is a titanic two-team battle that pushes them to heights epitomized by what Reggie Jackson told Jerry Remy and Carlton Fisk as he entered the Sox locker room to thank them after the famed 1978 playoff game: “I hate to play you guys, but I love to play you guys.”

This year had both, with the Giants and Dodgers bringing to mind not only 1978 but their own rich history that saw them in special playoffs to determine the pennant in 1951 and 1962. And with the Yanks, Sox, Blue Jays, Mariners and A’s bunched together to start the final week the AL was more like ’67, though it’s been more of a study in bad baseball, where everyone survived terrible stretches to fall out of it before going on runs to get back in it, only to stumble again. It was like watching a slow-motion game of musical chairs where when the music stopped the Yanks and Sox just fell accidentally into their seats. Still, it had drama that lasted to the ninth inning of the final game.

All of which was fitting for the craziest baseball season I’ve ever seen.   

The Brady Bowl finally arrives Sunday night at the razor, though with a little bit of the luster gone after twin disasters last Sunday. The media is making a big deal of it as usual, but for me given all the Super Bowl wins, big games to get to those SB’s, the Manning-vs.-Brady games and even a few with the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, it’s hard to rank what the most anticipated game has been since the Patriots became worth following every Sunday over the last three decades.   

If it’s for being driven by off-field drama like this, the Brady Bowl doesn’t top Bill Parcells’ first visit to Foxboro after defecting to be the HC of the NYJ’s microseconds after the Pats got creamed by the Packers in SB 31. Thanks to his one foot out the door, ah, effort during SB week everyone in the stadium was out for blood that night because Tuna was viewed as the villain who had ignited the border. Sunday will be the exact opposite where TB-12 will be treated like a hero coming home from war. And after he does the aw-shucks routine, even those on the Coach B side of the “Was it Brady or Belichick?” debate will be happy to see him. And, after all the thrills he gave us, why wouldn’t they? So there won’t be any sports hate Sunday and that’s a vital ingredient for great drama.

So what we actually have to all but the anti-Bill crowd is more like a college homecoming game with people on hand looking to see old friends like Brady and the great Rob Gronkowski. Here’s the skinny on that.

The basics: After respective bad games last Sunday the Bucs enter at 2-1, with the local 11 coming in 1-2 and the natives getting restless.

Big Mac: The big yack coming in from those looking to knock his early-season play is about not throwing the ball down field. Really? Then consider this Rookie Tom vs. Rookie Mac comparison. In the first five games Brady started in 2001 he threw for 167, 86, 334, 202, 206 with no TD passes or picks. In the first two he threw for 253 to Big Mac’s 476 while completing 59 percent of his passes to Mac’s 73 percent. Both were 1-1 with each losing to Miami. Brady by 20 (30-10), Mac by 1 and only after he’d gotten them inside the 10 with three minutes left before a fumble killed it. Thanks to awful protection and two drops that turned into picks, Sunday was a rough one for Mac, which was similar to Brady’s 4-picks loss to Denver in Week 5. But he’s being brought along exactly like Brady, and how’d that turn out?    

Gronk: Before getting drilled in the ribs on Sunday he looked like vintage Gronk scoring 2 TD’s in each of his previous three games. I’m not sure why, but it makes me sadder to see him in another uniform than Brady. And not just because the Hunter Henry-Jonnu Smith combo has hardly resembled the dynamic Gronk-Hernandez double tight end duo.

Brady: Even with Sunday’s loss he’s already thrown for 10 TD passes and over 1,000 yards, 432 of which came against the Rams’ stingy defense. So beware because at 44 he looks as good as he did when he was 27.

Coach B: I wish this game came closer to the end of November after all the new guys had played together in the system a little more, as it’s obvious everyone is not quite on the same page as yet. Even so, I can’t wait to see what the game plan is. Forget what Bill does to rookie QB’s; we get to see the plan against a guy he’s seen play over 200 times. If that hasn’t shown him where to attack nothing will.

Outside noise: The Brady camp was heard from in the lead-up. I don’t know about you but I’m a little tired of old man Brady. Yapping about his son’s vindication is a little like a guy barking before halftime arrives when he should be waiting until the game is over. On the other hand business partner Alex Guerrero is dead right about why the split happened in saying “Bill never evolved” because even though you want everyone to be treated alike you just can’t treat a 44-year-old 20-year veteran the same as a 24-year-old kid — it just doesn’t work. That’s definitely on Bill. Alex must read this column because that’s exactly what I said when the relationship started to rupture during the summer of 2017. 

Predictions  

Defense game plan: The two teams that had the greatest success against TB-12 while here were, as you know, the (gulp) G-Men under Tom Coughlin and the Ravens when Tex Rex Ryan was there. Both ran pressure up the middle to try and push the pocket in his face with the DB’s pressing on the short routes to make him hold it longer. I expect something similar, though since he/the Bucs probably expect that, only time will tell whether it works.

Offense game plan: Unless they fix the protection issues they’ve had all year on the offensive line it won’t matter. But I think they’re going to play action pass early to attack TB’s injury-riddled secondary and try to slow down its very good front seven.   

Key to the game: (1) Pressure on Brady. (2) Protect Jones — so it would be a good idea for all you Catholics out there to say an extra novena for the return of Trent Brown from his injured calf muscle. (3) Hit some shots down the field to Nelson Agholor. (4) Win the turnover battle — short fields help struggling teams and Brady eats them alive.

Outcome: After last week both teams need to win, though the Pats need it worse. Heart says Pats 18-16. Head says TB 31-16.