The Pats Continue To Shuffle Their Roster As They Release Longtime Kicker Stephen Gostkowski

As our daily lives get stranger by the day due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Patriots are doing their best to become a completely different looking team when (fingers and toes crossed) they have a season this fall. Today, they released kicker Stephen Gostkowski-the franchise's all-time leading scorer-who was the longest-tenured Patriot for a few days since Tom Brady officially signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (puke) on Friday. Now, special teams ace Matthew Slater fittingly has been here longer (2008) than any other player. if you connect the dots, Gostkowski's oft-criticized career here will almost certainly echo whomever has the unenviable task of following Brady's once-in-a-lifetime career arc. Your move, Jarrett Stidham.

Pats fan or not, I think that we can all agree that Adam Vinatieri (much like Brady for quarterbacks) is the greatest in NFL history at his position. Way back in 2006, Bill Belichick thought that it was time to move on from Vinatieri so off he went to Indianapolis (where technically he still plays). After winning another Super Bowl-his fourth-and adding to his unparalleled legacy of clutch field goals, it's safe to say that is one of the most notable whiffs that Belichick has made roster-wise in his life. Think about it though, when he was drafted in the fourth round in 2006 (118th overall), Gostkowski was walking into an impossible situation. No matter what, he'd never live up to Vinatieri who had been at the forefront (which is ultra rare for a kicker-the red-haired stepchild of NFL positions) of New England's first three championships.

It's not Gostkowski's fault that while he was in Foxborough, the team became a juggernaut year after year so they weren't in nearly as many tight games, even in the playoffs. By extension, this also meant that he did not make too many notable (ie. game-winning) field goals because who remembers three points when the Patriots were winning by double-digits? The record shows that New England won three more Super Bowls while Gostkowski was here, he went to four Pro Bowls and was named an All-Pro (the highest individual honor) twice. Would having Vinatieri have bought the Pats another title? Probably, you have to think that they could have won at least one of the three (two losses vs. the Giants and another vs. Eagles) since they were all decided by one score (eight points).

I'm not claiming to be the biggest Gostkowski fan and I will admit that particularly over the last few years when he got extra shaky since the league moved PATs back to 33 yards and it was no longer an automatic point, I had lost confidence in him. Like most moves with the Patriots, this was a cost-saving move since he was quite overpaid at this juncture in his career and he's 36 years old coming off a season-ending hip injury so he figures to only have a few decent seasons left at best. However, let's remember what a clownshow it was after he went down as Belichick cycled through three more kickers (Ryan Nugent, Kai Forbath and Nick Folk) before finally finding one to somewhat depend on. At best, New England's ceiling next season is most likely nine or ten wins tops. That means that the kicking game will take on more importance than it has in years since their offense is going to be weak, they'll struggle to score overall, they are sure to be in many close games and playing from behind more than they've been used to.

Gostkowski was a pro and never complained that he was put in such a tough spot from Day 1. You never called him the top kicker in the NFL but he had a great run where he was unquestionably one of the best. We can only hope that Stidham or whatever lucky guy is the long-term solution to "replace" Brady has as much success as Gostkowski did in New England. If we take a realistic look at the totality of Gostkowski's career as a Patriot, we can fully understand how difficult it is to replace a legend and now magnify that times a thousand since a quarterback has way more of a say in almost every final result than a kicker. Ugh, so how is your self-quarantining and social distancing otherwise going?

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The Unthinkable Has Finally Happened: Tom Brady Will No Longer Play for the New England Patriots

For the past few months at least (more likely years), the signs were there that the Patriots and Tom Brady were headed for a final farewell. Still, up until the last second, it was hard for Pats fans like myself to fathom that the greatest quarterback in NFL history would ever play for another team. Enter this morning's social media post by TB12, somehow a fitting way to end this all in 2020 while we are all stuck inside on St. Patrick's Day due to the Coronavirus. In two separate posts, Brady thanked the Patriots organization, teammates and support staff followed by a love letter to the New England area and Pats fans around the globe. He is not retiring and we don't know where he will play starting this summer (assuming that we all make it until then) but this much is certain: he is finished here.

To put this in perspective, Drew Bledsoe got hurt in the fall of 2001 (when I was a senior in high school) and Brady took over from there. He appeared in nine Super Bowls-winning an unforgettable six of them including four MVP awards-and cemented his legacy as one of the best professional athletes ever. He went from an anonymous sixth-round pick in 2000 (199th overall) from the University of Michigan to the gold standard for winning and excellence. I am 36 years old but Tom is still one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The Pats went 12-4 last season but choked in the first round of the playoffs against Tennessee and much of that failure could be blamed on the lack of weapons that head coach/GM Bill Belichick failed to put around Brady. Yes, TB12 will be 43 years old in August and Father Time will forever remain undefeated but he has done as great a job as anyone we've ever seen to at least slow down that clock.

As the undisputed top head coach in NFL history, Belichick has managed to skirt much criticism over the years for his lack of social skills and general mediocrity as a general manager. He doesn't draft particularly well, his record in free agency is spotty at best and some positions have been nothing but a black hole (namely wide receivers) for the Pats when it comes to developing his own players. Besides the fact that fans of every other NFL team hate him because of how much he wins but that was always a moot point because those same haters would also give up their first born child to have Belichick in charge of their club.

I get that in many ways the Patriots dynasty was rough on the overall quality of the NFL these past two decades and now we'll finally get to (somewhat) settle that age-old tired journalism question: who is more important, Brady or Belichick? Putting aside the fact that it will be utterly bizarre to see Brady wearing any other uniform except the Patriots but now it seems to be down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Los Angeles Chargers for his services in 2020 and beyond. This is yet another reminder (not that we need it at the moment) that nothing in this world lasts forever, in sports or in life. You can be a once-in-a-lifetime player but even that guy hits an invisible term limit and suddenly it's all over. Honestly, I could care less if the team made him a low-ball offer or if he demanded more money (ie. respect) and years. Like any breakup, there will always be a he-said she-said element to it all and that really doesn't mean anything to me.

This is not to say that the Patriots will tank this season which would be perfect since next year they could draft Clemson's outstanding quarterback Trevor Lawrence who will be a junior this fall and is a lock to be the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Nope, that simply won't be possible no matter how you slice it since Belichick is too good of a coach and they still employ plenty of quality players that make 2-14 or 3-13 virtually impossible. In a weird way, it'll be interesting to see how the Pats do with a new starting quarterback (not counting the brief tenures of placeholders Matt Cassel, Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett when Brady was hurt or suspended). The Dolphins and Bills have both already improved in free agency but the Jets will always be the Jets, however the AFC East will no longer be the lock that it was forever under Brady.

The constant drama and behind the scenes sniping back and forth through the media between Belichick and Brady definitely got old the last few years. Belichick obviously will never change or become a fully formed human being anytime soon but perhaps a new quarterback will allow him to ease up just a smidge on his legendary cold disposition. So who will the starting quarterback be for the Pats in their Week 1 game in September? Jarrett Stidham (not ready) or a veteran (please not Andy Dalton) that New England has to trade for or sign in free agency? The new reality is that Brady will no longer be a Patriot which is sobering enough. We have no idea where he'll end up for the last few seasons of his incredible career and likewise, nobody knows how the Patriots will actually proceed moving forward.

Social distancing is the perfect excuse to throw on your Brady Patriots jersey, pop in your favorite Pats Super Bowl DVD and remember all the good times that he gave to us. In the back of our minds, we all knew that this day was coming sometime soon. No matter what else happens with New England, there is less than zero of a chance that they have an unprecedented run of success like the one that we just witnessed. The Patriots have been a cheat code and now we will quickly be reminded of how hard it really is to win in the NFL. Brady and Belichick made it look easy and now let's see how they each do out on their own (with a new head coach and a new QB respectively that will fall well short of their previous partner). It was the ultimate power marriage and now that it's officially done, all we can do is be thankful that it happened in the first place.

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The Patriots Get Free Agency Rolling By Re-Signing The McCourty Twins & Matthew Slater

It's been a long time since I wrote a post about a simple news story for the Patriots but I don't think I have to explain why we all could use a break from our horrifying reality for a moment. Following the team picking up cornerback Jason McCourty's option for 2020 earlier in the week and then re-signing special teams ace/spiritual leader Matthew Slater to a two-year deal on Friday night, this evening brought word that the Pats had also brought back another captain-safety Devin McCourty for two more years as well ($23 million with $17 million guaranteed). Obviously, none of these aforementioned guys are named Tom Brady (ever heard of him?) but if you want to have any hope that TB12 has not played his last game for the Patriots, these moves have to be a good sign pointing in that direction.

I don't have a twin (as far as I know) but from everything I've observed over my lifetime, when it comes to twins, they are a different type of person. That's why when you saw that Jason McCourty was returning, you had to feel like it was a lock that Devin would be back too. For an example of how close the McCourty brothers are, they share a Twitter handle which is only slightly less absurd than it sounds. Jason is a servicable pro and while nobody would describe Slater as a star, he is very good at his limited on-field role (as the multiple Pro Bowls on his resume would tell you) but a true Hall of Famer off the field as cheesy as that sounds. Of these three, Devin is the real standout since not only has he been a nine-time captain but he's also been to four Pro Bowls and most importantly, won three Super Bowls. Like Slater, Devin has only ever played for the Patriots in his entire NFL career. You know who else has only known one pro franchise? A certain all-time greatest quarterback/player in NFL history.

More than anything after an off-season of non-stop drama and uncertainty, these moves show that no Foxborough isn't completely burning to the ground and Bill Belichick-the greatest head coach in league history but also an average GM-hasn't lost his way. Clearly, if Brady finally leaves here (and it's reportedly down to the Buccaneers and the Patriots) we will be singing a different tune but it has to mean something that these dependable, mature veterans all decided to stay with New England rather than start over somewhere else. No matter if it's after an epic win or a heartbreaking loss, Slater and Devin McCourty are always two of the go-to players on the Pats for the media. Furthermore, you always see them in the middle of every locker room celebration video after a Patriots victory (Slater voice). They are adults and it's easy to see why they have been captains seemingly forever here. No doubt, they would have had other choices of places to go but I'm sure after consulting with their families, teammates and agents and honestly assessing the entire situation, they realized that this remained the best spot for them to continue to play at a high level and compete for championships year after year which is what winners like them care about the most.

The Coronavirus has wiped away all other sports in the world for the forseeable future so I'm happy that the NFL hasn't deviated from its normal league calendar: legal tampering starts tomorrow at noon (wink wink) and then free agents can officially begin signing with teams on Wednesday. Even going into his age-43 season, Brady is still the biggest domino to fall in the NFL so you feel like once his decision is mercifully made, a flurry of other QB moves will be finalized around the league shortly after that. Going to the Titans made plenty of sense for Tom at least on the surface (good team, his buddy Mike Vrabel as the head coach, a fun market, etc.) but you can cross them off the list after they completed a stunning reach of a move tonight: re-signing Ryan Tannehill to a four-year deal worth a whopping $118 million dollars. Yes that's right folks, a team that improbably reached the AFC Championship Game last season after upsetting the Patriots and top-seeded Ravens on the road, chose the fluky Tannehill (who picked the right two months to play the best football of his life) over a few years of a very motivated Brady. In 2020 with the world falling apart before our eyes, somehow this made perfect sense. With that said, seeing Brady play for any other team would be devastating (as utterly painful as this whole excruciating process has been at times), particularly for such a rinky-dink team like Tampa Bay.

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The NHL Needs an Epic Bruins-Lightning Series This Upcoming Postseason In the Worst Way

I could go on all day about the beauty of the NHL playoffs (only about a month away now!) but one of my favorite aspects is that the matchups don't even really matter that much (at least like they do in other sports) to still produce a classic playoff series. Still, if two clubs (most likely division rivals) can enter with built in hatred and animosity, well all the better! The Bruins (43-14-12) and Lightning (43-20-5) finished the regular season series tonight at TD Garden with a thoroughly entertaining 5-3 victory by Tampa Bay. Boston went 1-2-1 against the Lightning in 2019/20 but the previous three contests were all decided by a goal: Tampa won a shootout 4-3 on Oct. 17, Lightning edged the B's 3-2 on Dec. 23 and Boston won 2-1 on Tuesday. These are no doubt about it two of the best teams in the NHL complete with star power up and down their lineups so another meeting in the playoffs (remember the Lightning wiped the Bruins out of the second-round in 5 games 2 years ago) would be nirvana for hockey fans.

An NHL regular season game on March 7 has no business being this thrilling but when you have line brawls and chipiness after seemingly every whistle, you know that Jack Edwards might need a clean up in the NESN booth afterwards. Before things got wild, they were weird as Tampa Bay scored on its first two shots of the game and they both happened to be during the same Bruins power play. The Lightning built up a 3-0 lead before the B's came roaring back with a pair of goals to cut it to 3-2. Harvard's best NHL player in a generation-Alex Killorn-gave Tampa an insurance goal before the top goal-scorer in the league (David Pastrnak, 48!) got on the scoresheet. Nikita Kucherov has points in 21 of his last 22 games (his only scoreless outing was Tuesday's loss vs. Boston) so he fittingly got some retribution with an empty-netter that clinched it. Meanwhile, the two teams combined for 94 penalty minutes which included two official fights and two misconducts not to mention countless scrums, donnybrooks and even a line brawl in the second period. Say it with me folks, old time hockey! Are you not entertained?

Tuukka Rask (20 saves, 25-8-6) is the frontrunner for the Vezina Trophy this season (it would be his second after capturing it in 2013-14) as the top goalie in the NHL but understandably, many Bruins fans will never fully feel comfortable with him until he wins a Stanley Cup of his own. He was Tim Thomas' backup in 2011 and never entered during that magical run. I hate to even bring it up but allowing two goals on the first two shots by the Lightning definitely sported the odor of Game 7 vs. St. Louis in June when a couple early goals by the Blues crippled the Bruins right away and they never recovered. Keep in mind that Steven Stamkos (core muscle surgery) is expected to miss six to eight weeks for Tampa Bay and their All-World defenseman Victor Hedman only played 4:36 tonight (7 shifts) after picking up an injury of his own. In other words, as great as those guys are, the Lightning clearly aren't a one or two-man team. Brandon Carlo (upper-body injury, cough concussion) was also a key player missing for the Bruins after getting hurt on Thursday at Florida (34-26-8) in Boston's 2-1 win.

Anthony Cirelli (who sounds like someone that plays in your Wednesday night men's league at Hockeytown in Saugus, MA) made it 1-0 Tampa at 5:08. His 16th goal of the season was unassisted and it came just six seconds into Boston's first power play of the tilt. If that wasn't bad enough, the Lightning doubled their lead 1:02 after that with another shorthanded tally. Mikhail Sergachev (forced into a game-high 28:20 of ice time with Hedman out) cranked in a one-timer from Yanni Gourde for a stunning 2-0 lead for Tampa and his 10th goal of the season. Boston hadn't allowed two shorthanded goals in the same game in over a year (Dec. 23, 2018 vs. Carolina) and you have to go back to Dec. 4, 1966 (vs. Toronto) when they allowed a pair of shorties on the same power play. Yeesh. Chris Wagner and Barclay Goodrow (a lost lax bro?) tried to fight later in the first period but the refs wouldn't allow it. Luckily after they went to the penalty box for unsportstmanlike conduct, they proceeded to come out and get into a bout six seconds after the penalty had expired. It wasn't exactly Wilder-Fury I but the Garden crowd certainly ate it up like it was a boxing classic. The scoreboard almost seemed like a joke at the end of the frame as the B's trailed 2-0 yet had outshot the Lightning 14-5. Spoiler alert, kids: that's really hard to do!

When Cedric Paquette put Tampa Bay ahead 6:50 into the second period with a wide open roof job from the door step, you had to wonder if this would be like Boston's 9-3 humbling defeat in Vancouver two weeks ago. Thankfully for the paying customers (and the Bruins fans around the globe), this was not a repeat performance of that dreadful no-show to end an otherwise great road trip. Nope, this evening the Black and Gold decided to fight back both literally (with fists) and where it counts the most (with goals). After a rough season offensively, Charlie McAvoy has played like the franchise defenseman that Boston hopes that he can fully turn into once the ageless Zdeno Chara finally retires. Boston University can be directly thanked for the first Bruins goal since it came from McAvoy (4-on-4), assisted by Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk (all BU alums). McAvoy's fifth goal of the season cut it to 3-1 and it came at 14:50 of the second period. The next few minutes were truly bizarre as the puck seemed to sneak by Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (35 saves, 35-13-3) but play continued for a few minutes well until things devolved into a full out battle royale 90s WWF style. After a review, Sean Kuraly was credited with the goal (his 6th of the season) from McAvoy and Ondrej Kase (his 1st point as a Bruin) at 18:37. Those last five-plus minutes of the second period after McAvoy's goal were scintillating: hockey (or sports in general) doesn't get much better than that in terms of incredible plays, physicality or crazy twists and turns.

Killorn's career-high 26th goal of the season at 1:08 of the third period was a bit of a wet fart to the proceedings. He tipped in Sergachev's shot from the point with Brayden Point fittingly grabbing the other helper. Somehow though like a horror movie villain, the Bruins wouldn't die as Pasta's blast of his own on the power play trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to 4-3 at 6:37. Torey Krug (40th assist! 5-game point streak) and Brad Marchand (NHL-best 13-game point streak) had the assists on the goal that put Pastrnak one goal ahead of Washington's Alex Ovechkin. Once again with all the momentum on their side, the B's felt destined to tie it and they couldn't have asked for a better chance to do that but Vasilevskiy stopped Pastrnak on a breakaway. Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy waited a bit to pull Rask but it was a moot point when Kucherov stole the puck in the Bruins' end and put in his team-best 33rd goal of the season with 1:02 left in regulation.

Just recapping that memorable meeting, I feel like I need a hot shower and message to recover so I can only imagine how the players and coaches feel. As you would expect, the Bruins won't practice tomorrow and they will be back at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, MA on Monday morning before hitting the road to play the hottest team in the league-the Flyers (41-20-7)-on Tuesday (7, NBCSN). Philadelphia has won nine straight games to pull into a virtual deadlock with the sputtering Capitals (4-4-2 in their last 10 games) for first-place in the Metropolitan Division. Philly's rapid rise has to be one of the most unexpected developments of this season, especially considering how stacked the Metropolitan is with the Islanders (35-23-9) and Blue Jackets (32-21-15) currently occupying the top two Wild Card spots in the East. Furthermore, the Hurricanes (36-25-5) and Rangers (36-28-4) are breathing down their necks as well. It's a relatively quiet week for the B's as they go to lifeless Buffalo (29-31-8)-losers of their last six games (Free Eichel!) on Friday (7, NESN) then they have a back-to-back with Toronto (35-25-9) coming here on Saturday night (7, NESN).

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