250424 – Page 3

The Art Roundup 25/04/24

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Childhood memories: Nashua Theatre Guild presents the New Hampshire premiere of Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a play by Katie Forgette, on Friday, April 25, and Saturday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 27, at 2 p.m. at the Court Street Theatre (14 Court St. in Nashua). The story is a “bittersweet memory play about a Catholic childhood in the 1970s … a gently funny, often hilarious and touching production directed by Vicky Sandin,” according to nashuatheatreguild.org. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $18 for 65+, students and military.

• Our Town: Tickets are on sale now for the Community Players of Concord’s Thornton Wilder’s Our Town on Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 4, at 2 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St. in Concord). Tickets cost $20 for adults, $18 for 17 and under and 65+. See communityplayersofconcord.org

• Basket making: Ruth Boland will hold a series of basket-making classes (three eight-week sessions) for all levels, beginners included, starting Tuesday, April 29, in Nashua. The classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For a fee of $200, attend any 10 classes during the session including multiple classes during a week, with additional classes available for $10 per class or for $32 per class attend individual classes, according to an email. Email ruthbolandbasketry@aol.com to register or for additional information.

• Playreading: Theatre Kapow’s ARTiculate series returns with a live reading of the play Bauer by playwright Luren Gunderson on Sunday, May 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org). The play “tells the visceral and true story of forgotten modern artist Rudolf Bauer, struggling with his fading place in the history of art,” according to the Currier’s website. After the reading, there will be an “expert-led conversation in the galleries inspired by the themes of the play and the Currier’s latest exhibition, ‘Nicolas Party and Surrealism: An Artist’s Take on the Movement,’” the website said. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $25 for 65+ and students and $15 for ages 13 to 17. See currier.org.

Jack of Diamonds
Majestic Productions will present Jack of Diamonds, a comedy about four residents of a retirement home trying to regain their savings stolen by a crooked financial adviser, on Friday, April 25, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 26, at 2 and 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 27, at 2 p.m. at Majestic Theatre (880 Page St. in Manchester; majestictheatre.net). Tickets cost $15 to $20.

• Play fest: The Players’ Ring (105 Marcy St. in Portsmouth; playersring.org) will present Dionysia: A Festival of Short Plays Friday, April 25, through Sunday, April 27, with shows on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and shows on Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15.

• Summer show: Disney’s Freaky Friday will be the summer musical appearing on the Wilcox Main Stage of the Prescott Park Arts Festival in Portsmouth Friday, June 20, through Sunday, Aug. 10. Show will be most Thursdays through Sundays at 7 p.m. Matinees will be announced later this season. Reservations opening in May. See prescottpark.org.

• Craft classes: The Meredith League of NH Craftsmen has several upcoming classes, according to a press release. On Sunday, May 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. it’s an Advanced Stained Glass Class with artist Sue Ries; tuition is $55 plus a $45 materials fee. On Wednesday, May 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. it’s a Mini Textile House Workshop with artist Cheryl Miller; tuition is $50 plus a $25 materials fee. On Saturday, May 10, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., it’s a Nuno Felted Scarf Workshop with artist Melinda LaBarge held at the Meredith Community Center; tuition costs $68 plus a $25 materials fee. Also May 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., it’s a Fun with Felt class; tuition costs $45 plus a $20 materials fee, the release said. The Meredith League of NH Craftsmen Fine Craft Gallery is at 279 DW Highway in Meredith and call 279-7920 to register; see meredith.nhcrafts.org/classes.

• Mother’s Day concert: St. Peter’s Church (Mammoth Road at 3 Peabody Row in Londonderry) will hold a “Contemporary Baroque” chamber music concert with the Brandenburg and Beyond ensemble on Sunday, May 11, at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public (donations accepted), according to a church email. “You will hear classic baroque works including Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, themes from Masterpiece Theatre … and many others,” the email said. See stpeterslondonderry.org and brandenburgandbeyond.com.

Slow walk to romance

The Bridges of Madison County musical in Manchester

Even though it won Tonys for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations, The Bridges of Madison County opened on Valentine’s Day in 2014 and closed in mid-May. Dr. Alan Kaplan, the founder and artistic director for the Manchester Community Theatre Players, has an inkling about why this happened and will apply his ideas in an upcoming production of the musical.

“This is a play I’ve been interested in for many years,” he said in a recent phone interview. Kaplan has read the novel, seen the Clint Eastwood-directed movie, and watched the first staging of the show in Williamstown, Mass. He even conversed with Jason Robert Brown, who wrote the Tony-winning music and lyrics.

The story centers on a fated couple and the decisions they must make when their connection becomes undeniable.

Francesca Johnson (Susan Schott) is a beautiful Italian woman who married an American GI as World War II was ending to escape her ravaged country. Twenty years later she’s preparing for a rare stretch of solitude on her Iowa farm while her family is away at the State Fair. Her reverie is interrupted when photographer Robert Kincaid (Don LaDuke) pulls into her driveway, asking for directions to a bridge he’s shooting for a National Geographic story.

The songs are varied and evocative, as good as anything to come from Broadway. “What Do You Call a Man Like That?” is an operatic waltz that perfectly captures the reticent housewife’s growing desire, while “Another Time,” an echo sung by Robert’s former wife, has a folky, Joni Mitchell feel. Sung by Francesca’s husband Bud (Dan Arlen), “Something From a Dream” is an aching ode to a marriage that, unknown to him, may be slipping from his grasp.

Though the music is powerful, it’s the story that brings power to the show. Hovering over forbidden love is the question of what might have been. In Francesca’s case, the man she left in Italy for glamor across the sea that never materialized, and for Robert, a driven nature that left little room for human connection.

For Kaplan, it was this element that attracted him most to directing The Bridges of Madison County.

“Usually with a musical, the music carries the show; the acting should be reasonable, but the music can cover it,” he said. “This is a musical where the actors have to really be on their game, and it gave me the opportunity as a director to really pull the most out of a cast in terms of acting ability.”

One of the challenges in presenting the play is conveying a sense of place and distance. Much of the action happens during phone calls between Francesca and her husband, Bud, as she struggles with her newfound love for Robert and how it might change her future. Some critics found the Broadway staging jarring.

“All the set pieces were on stage all the time,” Kaplan recalled, and juxtaposing cast members hundreds of miles apart was another problem. “You may have a bridge in the middle of a kitchen, or a refrigerator in the middle of an outdoor scene. It was confusing.”

Outdoor scenes more easy to accomplish in a movie were harder to do theatrically. So Kaplan took cues from Eastwood and placed a big screen at the rear of the stage to project scenery. A videographer was commissioned to capture locations in Iowa, and there is footage of Naples, Italy, and the cities Francesca imagined visiting in America.

The main set, Francesca’s kitchen, is on wheels and can be moved as the action demands. It’s an elaborate production for a community theater. That’s something Kaplan tries for whenever MCTP mounts a play, but it was particularly urgent in the case of this show, one so close to his heart.

“We didn’t want to just repeat something that only had a hundred performances on Broadway and then closed after four months,” he said, “I think that the reasons for it, as I mentioned, were pretty obvious. So the hope here is that we have improved on it.”

The Bridges of Madison County
When: Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through May 4
Where: MCTP Theatre at North End Montessori School, 698 Beech St., Manchester
Tickets: $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $10 for ages 18 and under at mctp.info

Featured photo: The Bridges of Madison County. Courtesy photo.

10 Easy Plants

Veggies, flowers and trees for a low-effort gardening season

Alright, if one more person tells me they’re not a gardener because they don’t have a ”green thumb,” I’ll scream.

Anyone can grow veggies and flowers, and even plant a tree. Let’s look at 10 plants that will grow for you, regardless of your previous experiences. Just remember, the plants you start will need your attention daily until they have established a good root system and can get enough water in dry times. But if you can brush your hair and teeth daily before going to work, you can visit your seedlings every evening and give them a drink of water if they need it. Once established, they won’t need so much attention.

1. ‘Sungold’ cherry tomatoes

This is a fantastic producer of one of the best-tasting tomatoes in existence. Buy plants from your local nursery. Like all veggies, it needs six hours of daily sunshine or more, average to good soil, and a little water when first planted and in times of drought. It is a big, tall plant, so plant it with a metal cage around it to hold it up, the biggest you can find, preferably 54 inches tall. One plant can easily produce 100 to 200 tomatoes over a long season. I’d suggest two plants minimum, as they taste so good you will eat many on the way to the kitchen. Plant 24 to 36 inches apart. They are relatively disease-free.

2. ‘Bolero’ carrots

This is the gold standard of carrots. Tasty, productive. Its only flaw is that the seeds are tiny so people end up planting them too close together, and then not thinning them by the Fourth of July as they should. One solution? Buy pelleted seeds. They are coated in clay so they are the size of BBs and easy to plant where you want them. Plant in full sun and an inch apart, then thin to 2 inches. Improve your soil with compost — one bag will do for an average seed packet. Carrots need plenty of nitrogen, so add a little organic fertilizer, too. Water daily until the carrots come up, and then weekly in dry times.

a variety of carrots of different sizes and colors laying in the grass — Carrots need to be planted by seed directly in the soil. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Although carrots come in many colors, I like the taste of conventional orange ones best. They certainly have more beta carotene than yellow or white ones. I had great luck with purple carrots last summer — they grew straight and gorgeous, but I found them a bit stringy. All carrots are a great source of vitamins B, C and K and potassium, fiber and antioxidants. Let your kids eat them right out of the ground, just wiped clean or sprayed with the hose.

3. ‘Black-seeded Simpson’ lettuce

close up of lettuce plant in ground, green leaves with red edges — Replant lettuce regularly to have salad all summer. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Another workhorse readily available in six-packs from your local garden center. Much easier to buy small plants than to start seed. Full sun or light shade, decent soil. Pick leaves for sandwiches as they grow, or wait until they are full-sized and harvest the entire head of lettuce. If you buy seed, you can replant more lettuce every two or three weeks all summer. Be sure to thin out — lettuce seeds are small and it’s easy to plant seeds too close together.

Lettuce comes in many colors and textures. Your vegetable garden will come alive if you plant reds and greens or frizzy leaves and smooth leaves in patterns. Alternate them, planting seedlings 6 inches apart. Think of your garden as a painting, the plants as the colors and shapes that please your eyes.

4. Bush beans

Plant seeds in average soil in full sun after soil warms and there is no chance of frost. Bean seeds are big, easy to plant. Plant seeds 2 inches apart, thin to 4 inches. Rows 8 inches apart. Bush beans come in three colors: green, yellow and purple. The yellow ones have a distinct taste, but the green and purple taste the same to me. Purple beans turn a tepid gray when cooked, so serve them raw in salads when having guests. All freeze well.

Pole beans are easy to grow, too. ‘Kentucky Wonder’ is an old favorite. There is some extra work in growing pole beans: You have to build a trellis or cut some poles for a tripod they can climb. The rewards can be big: So long as you keep picking pole beans, they will keep or producing more beans. Not so for bush beans — they produce for three weeks and are done.

5. Verbenas

tall flowering plants with small purple flowers growing along the side of a wooden structure — Verbena bonariensis is loved by monarchs in the fall. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

These are annual flowers that bloom all summer. There are many named varieties sold as plants ready to bloom at garden centers, all good. “Superbenas” are hybrids that are worth the extra price. They take hot and dry better than many annuals.

My favorite verbena is unusual: Brazilian verbena (Verbena bonariensis) is 4 to 6 feet tall on thin strong stems that need no staking. Monarchs love them for their pollen and nectar in late summer.

6. Marigolds

Marigolds come in a dozen sizes and colors — or more. They are a classic flower that loves hot, sunny places but will take some shade. They are quite fragrant. Great in containers or in the ground. Buy plants in six-packs to have plenty. Some people plant marigolds around their tomatoes to keep away insect pests. I’m not convinced that they really do that, but the color is a nice addition to the vegetable garden.

7. ‘Prairie Sun’ Black-eyed Susan

two large yellow flowers with long petals, in summer garden along paved walkway, seen from above — Prairie Sun. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

These flowers are a perennial that keep on blooming from July to Halloween. In Zone 4 or colder it is not fully hardy, so I buy some every year. Some survive my winters, some do not. It’s a great cut flower. Likes sun, but will take some shade. It isn’t really a black-eyed Susan, as the center eye is green. Another really hardy black-eyed Susan is called ‘Goldsturm.’ It blooms nicely, year after year, in late summer.

8. Catmint

bushy flowering plant with small light purple flowers climbing up the stems, planted in garden — Catmint. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Catmint (Nepeta faassenii) is a perennial that loves hot, dry locations. It has light blue flowers that bloom for a long time. Not to be confused with catnip; your cat will leave it alone — and so will bugs. Bees and hummingbirds like it, but deer and rabbits don’t. ‘Walkers Low’ is a good one, 24 to 30 inches tall and wide.

9. Fothergilla

close, overhead photo of leafy bush with roundish leaves, brightly colored in reds, yellows, and purples — Fothergilla in October. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

This is a native shrub that blooms early in the season with white bottlebrush flowers. Its best season, however, is fall. It has great fall foliage with red, orange, yellow and purple leaves all on the same bush. Relatively slow growing, doesn’t require annual pruning. But that also means buy the biggest plants you can find. It takes time to get to full size — about 6 feet tall and wide.

10. Oaks of all sorts

small oak tree with red leaves on branches — Oaks are pretty for us and food for caterpillars and wildlife. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

These are the best trees for supporting pollinators as their caterpillars feed on the leaves. Caterpillars feed our baby birds, providing about 90 percent of their diet or more. Doug Tallamy, a Ph.D. entomologist in Pennsylvania, determined that a clutch of chickadees consumes between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars from hatching to fledging. If we don’t provide enough native plants like oaks, we won’t have food for our baby birds. You can help.

The pin oak (Quercus palustris) is one of the most used trees in the Northeast: it is fast growing and tolerant of pollution, compacted soils, road salt. A small one will grow 12 to 15 feet in five to seven years.

Think about planting an oak in the middle of your lawn as a specimen tree. It will attract birds, pollinators, and the acorns will feed wildlife. You don’t have to buy a seedling. In the spring look under an oak tree and try to find an acorn on the ground that has sprouted. Plant it where you want a majestic tree. Water weekly the first summer. Oaks are some of our most long-lived trees. I saw one in Pennsylvania at a Quaker meeting house that was said to be 300 years old.

Over the past 55 years I have planted more than 100 kinds of trees and shrubs in my 2-acre yard, and probably even more kinds of flowers. I eat veggies from my garden all year as I freeze and store them. Not everything works 100 percent of the time for me, but plants have evolved to succeed. So try planting some this summer. In the ground, in a pot or in a window box. You’ll be pleased and proud when your efforts succeed. I know I am.

This Week 25/04/24

Friday, April 25

Nashua Theatre Guild presents the New Hampshire premiere ofIncident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a play by Katie Forgette, tonight, tomorrow, Saturday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 27, at 2 p.m. at the Court Street Theatre (14 Court St., Nashua). The story is a “bittersweet memory play about a Catholic childhood in the 1970s … a gently funny, often hilarious and touching production directed by Vicky Sandin,” according to nashuatheatreguild.org. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $18 for 65+, students and military.

Saturday, April 26

Today is Open Farm Day at Coppal House Farm (118 N. River Road, Lee, 659-3572, nhcornmaze.com) from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring animal viewing, farm demonstrations, treats from local food vendors, live music, horse-drawn wagon rides and more.

Saturday, April 26

Today is Dance Day at Pumps & Pirouettes (250 Commercial St., Manchester, 518-5350, pumpsnpirouettes.com), from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with classes running all day long in shortened blocks to allow new and experienced dancers alike the chance to try out all the styles that Pumps & Pirouettes offers including ballet, heels, jazz, hip-hop, k-pop, contemporary and more. Each class runs for 30 mins and costs $1.

Saturday, April 26

It’s Independent Book Store Day! Balin Books (375 Amherst St. in Nashua; balinbooks.com) will have refreshments, exclusives, a rack of advance reading copies and more with 10 percent of the day’s sales (including $1 per advance reading copy) going to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter, according to an email from the book store. Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester, bookerymht.com) has plans for local authors, giveaways, discounts, live music and more, according to an email from the store. Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord, gibsonsbookestore.com) will offer “exclusive merch, giveaways, maybe even some games and activities,” according to an email from the store. Check with your favorite indie bookstore for updates.

Sunday, April 27

Lyle Lovett and his Acoustic Group perform tonight at the Chubb Theatre (Chubb Theatre at CCA, 44 S. Main St, Concord, 225-1111, ccanh.com) starting at 7:30 p.m Tickets start at $58.28.

Sunday, April 27

The Hooksett Lions Club Presents its 28th Annual Model Train and Modeling Show today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cawley Middle School (89 Whitehall Road, Hooksett). This event features vendors, operating layouts, raffles, a white elephant table, food, clinics and more. Admission is $7 for adults, $1 for children 6 to 12, and free for children five and under.

Tuesday, April 29

Meet Ellie, Nashua’s newest police dog at the Nashua Public Library (2 Court St., Nashua, 589-4600, nashualibrary.org) today at 1 p.m. Meet Officer Turcotte and his partner, K9 Ellie, and learn about Ellie’s job at the police department, ask questions or simply say hello.

Save the Date! Tuesday, April 29

The Flying Gravity Circus, featuring children and teens who learn the circus arts, will perform a show called “One Man’s Trash” Tuesday, May 6, at 7 p.m. at Pine Hill Auditorium at the HIgh Mowing School in Wilton. Tickets cost $16.30 for adults, $11.20 for kids. See flyinggravitycircus.org.

Featured photo: Independent Bookstore Day Logo.

Quality of Life 25/04/24

Gold (golden brown) anniversary

As reported in an April 18 online story by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR), the chicken tender has celebrated its 50th anniversary. Manchester comedian and chicken tender activist Nick Lavallee, known as “The Mayor of Tender Town,” organized a celebration at the Puritan Backroom Restaurant on Thursday, April 17, to celebrate the chicken tender’s entry into middle age. Food historians speculate that Manchester-style chicken tenders originated at the Puritan. NHPR quoted Lavallee: “A Manchester style tendie. Not only is it marinated in a blend of pineapple juice and other things, but when it’s served fresh and hot, it’s like it’s more of a crisp than a crunch,” he said. “It’s the best. There’s nothing quite like a Manchester style tender.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: As reported by WMUR in an April 17 online article, the cast of the MTV show Jersey Shore visited the Puritan to celebrate its chicken tenders. “Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino, Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi, Ronnie Magro and the crew from the show were at the Puritan Backroom in Manchester filming a new season of their show, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, the story reported.

EZ to get scammed

An April 15 online story by WMUR stated, “The state Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are working together to combat a scam that targets E-ZPass users in New Hampshire.” Many drivers have reported receiving fake text messages saying they have outstanding balances on their EZ accounts for unpaid tolls that need to be paid immediately. (For example: “Immediate action is required to avoid penalties and enforcement actions resulting from non-payment,” as the scam text QOL received just this week said.) “The agencies are planning to use data from reports to identify patterns and potentially disrupt scam operations,” the WMUR story reported.

QOL score: -1

Comment: WMUR quoted Senior Assistant Attorney General Brandon Garod, who emphatically stated that “E-ZPass will never text someone about an unpaid bill, something it makes clear on the front page of its website.”

A very senior prom

On Thursday, April 17, Winnacunnet High School students helped throw a prom for residents at a Hampton assisted living home. As reported in an April 18, online article by WMUR, “For months, students and residents at Cornerstone at Hampton worked together to plan the event, creating centerpieces, selecting songs for the DJ and crafting a menu.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: The prom’s theme was “Botanical Garden.” WMUR reported that “each resident was invited to bring a family member or friend as their prom date.”

QOL score: 62

Net change: +1

QOL this week: 63

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Draft winds blow tonight

The Big Story – NFL Draft: It comes your way on ESPN and The NFL Network starting Thursday at 8 p.m. and goes through Saturday. Picking fourth and having four in the first 77 and nine picks overall, the Patriots have major skin in the game to make it a fun weekend for Patriot Nation.

Sports 101: Name the only team since 1960 (NFL and AFL teams) to draft a QB in both the first and second rounds in the same draft.

News Item – NBA Playoffs: Nothing started off weird in the first weekend. The C’s got off nicely with an easy 103-86 Game 1 win over Orlando; OK City became the sixth team to beat an opponent by more than 50 points in a playoff game, and Golden State used its experience to frustrate upstart Houston. Only the T-Wolves thumping the Lakers was surprising in the weekend.

News Item – NFL Draft: Here are a few interesting facts, rumors and pre-draft scuttlebutt.

It was interesting to see that in a pre-draft Big Board on ESPN its author Jeff Legwold ranked presumed No. 1 pick Cam Ward as only the 20th best player in the draft.

With just four, the Vikings have the fewest picks this weekend, while the 49ers and Ravens have the most with 11 each.

One team that could move up to prevent the expected Shedeur Sanders slide is New Orleans, whose QB Derek Carr could be out for all of 2025.

Can an arm that’s 1/16 inch shorter than desired for an offensive tackle be worth all the hullabaloo we’ve heard about LSU’s Will Campbell? Seems like paralysis by over-analysis. If it were me, I’d just look at his tape.

With Matthew Judon still out there in free agency, Eliot Wolf got it right by not giving him the contract extension he demanded last summer. Instead he’ll use the 77th pick he got for Atlanta for him on Friday night.

The Numbers:

4 – errors by Gold Glover Alex Bregman, who by taking over at third base was supposed to solve the Red Sox’ defensive issues of 2024.

11 – earned runs allowed in 2.1 innings in a 16-1 loss to Tampa Bay by Tanner Houck to make it the worst start in Red Sox history, which ballooned his ERA from 4.41 to 9.16.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Joe Mazzulla: For donating his entire $3.2 million bonus to local charities. This incredibly generous act is made even more impressive because he hasn’t been collecting the big dough for very long.

Inning of the Week – the eighth in Chicago: The D-Backs scored 10 in the top half of the eighth and then the Cubs roared back to score six in the bottom half to take a 15-11 lead that became the final.

Astonishingly Incompetent Draft Note of the Week: Boston Globe columnist Chris Gasper reported last week that aside from Julian Edelman, who was a college QB, none of the 10 receivers the Patriots drafted between 2003 and 2024 had more than 58 career receptions or 750 career yards and four touchdowns. An amazing track record of abject failure.

Random Thoughts:

With victory margins of 25, 19, 16 and 5 not a lot of drama in the NBA’s boring play-in games to grab seventh and eighth seed in each division.

Sports 101 Answer: The 1965 NY Jets drafted Joe Namath second overall in the 1965 AFL draft and then took Heisman Trophy winner Notre Dame’s John Huarte in Round 2.

A Little History – John Huarte: Came out of nowhere to win the 1964 Heisman while leading Notre Dame to a shocking 9-0-1 season and a national title. But the pro career was a different story. He lasted just two seasons in NY and six overall where he completed just 39.1% of his 58 passes for one TD.

Final Thought – What Should The Pats Do?

I know they need a left tackle and a lead receiver going into the future. But after what Mike Vrabel and company did in free agency, unless a receiver they can get is the next Randy Moss, I’m willing to pass on both needs to do what I have to do to get Penn State edge rusher Abdul Jabar Carter. Adding a premier pass rusher to a team with three other passing threats and two very good corners gives them a chance to have a top 5 defense or maybe higher. And I’d rather have one dominating unit to always count on and a middling offense than have a 15th-ranked O and 10th-ranked D, because the latter seems to be a formula for 9-8. Then I’d add what’s needed with the 37th pick to move into the first round to get the tackle they need and hope an impact receiver will surface at the mid-year trade deadline.

Prediction – they take LSU’s Campbell in Round 1. Unless N.O. trades up with NY at 3 to get Sanders. Then it’s who’s left between Heisman winner Travis Hunter and my pick, Carter.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.