Pats defense has big holes to fill

I was minding my own business at a bar in Cambridge on Friday night when I saw the following message pass on the bottom line: Rodney Harrison has been suspended four games after admitting he used HGH. I had to wait for Sportscenter and make sure I wasn't in an alcohol-fueled haze. Sadly, it was true. He'll miss the first four games: at the Jets, home to the Chargers, home vs. Buffalo and at Cincinnati.

Without getting too dramatic, this was heart-breaking. Rodney has missed good portions of the last two seasons after suffering numerous injuries. He's won two Super Bowls since he's been here, quickly proving that he wasn't washed up like the Chargers believed back in 2003. Sports fans are naturally naive about their own teams and players; we feel like they're saints on and off the field, never doing anything wrong. The fact that the Sox and Patriots have been so good lately makes the blinders that much more powerful. While the wins pile up, we tend to look the other way more and more. Did I see this coming? Certainly not. Harrison has looked great in the preseason and in training camp. Somewhat surprising for a 34-year-old coming off so many career threatening injuries. Will I look down on him when he comes back? That's a little complicated but I'd say no. Everyone makes mistakes and being in the public eye as a professional athlete tends to magnify any transgression. It's inexcusable but he's been a model teammate prior to that. Truth be told too, the Patriots defensive secondary has also learned how to adjust to him being out in recent years. They'll use a patchwork secondary until Rodney comes back and hopefully has a healthy season.

The other big news this weekend from the Pats was that Richard Seymour will be on the PUP list at the beginning of the season (meaning he's out the first six weeks). Seymour hasn't participated in the preseason games and much of training camp so this shouldn't have been a surprise. Still, the Pats mask injuries better than anyone else in pro sports so who outside the team ever knows the full story? Seymour being out hurts obviously but the defensive line is probably the biggest strength of the team outside Tom Brady. Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork-the other starters in the 3-4 are budding stars while Mike Wright and Jarvis Green are capable backups.

At the beginning of the week, Asante Samuel finally agreed to a one-year deal, proving that his holdout was simply a waste of his time. The Pats won't franchise him next year but he's risking getting hurt since he didn't have a full training camp and preseason to get ready to go. It's great to see him back though. Going into the season with Ellis Hobbs and Randall Gay as the two starting cornerbacks was a nightmare. It'd be hard for Samuel to surpass his production last season (10 INT's) but he's an upgrade over the mostly bums who would replace him.