Week 11 Injury Report, Monday Night Football special edition: Patriots at Panthers

You are not alone if it feels like five months since the Patriots last played (their blowout win over the Steelers) a game. Since then, they had a bye week and now we have to wait an extra day since they play Monday Night Football (8:40, ESPN) at Carolina (6-3). I can't say it's the game of the week since Denver hosts Kansas City on Sunday Night Football but the silver medal in this case is no small feat.

The injury reports were released today and there were a few notable items. Safety Steve Gregory (thumb) is out but you already knew that since his thumb is broken and he had surgery on it. Cornerback Alfonzo Dennard (knee) is also out, I had missed it during the week but I guess he got hurt in practice. Yikes, hope that's not too serious. Leon Washington (ankle), Kyle Arrington (groin) and Aqib Talib (hip) are all questionable for the Pats.

For Carolina who is arguably the hottest team in the NFC, tight end Ben Hartsock (knee), linebacker Chase Blackburn (foot) and guard Chris Scott (knee) are all out. Cornerback Drayton Florence (groin) is the only Panther that is questionable.

Enjoy another full day of NFL Red Zone tomorrow and at some point, I'll update this on Monday when more inactives became available.

UPDATE 11/17: Washington is out, he hurt his ankle in Week 5 and hasn't been seen since. I don't understand why he's not on IR, this is a waste of a roster space if he never is on the field.

UPDATE 11/18: Shane Vereen will be activated for tonight's game, his first appearance since Week 1 when he broke his wrist. The four other inactives for the Pats are LB Steve Beauharnais, Brandon Bolden, DL Jake Bequette and OL Chris Barker. The inactives for Carolina: WR Tavarres King, WR Marvin McNutt, RB Kenjon Barner and DE Frank Alexander.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Texans Return To Foxborough, With Hopes Of Actually Giving The Patriots A Game This Time

Unlike in the past, I don't have much interest anymore in breaking down what I think will happen next Sunday (4:30 p.m., CBS) since that is mostly a useless task but as your loyal blogger, I'm here to inform you what you already know: the Texans are coming to Gillette Stadium to face the Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round.

Houston held on for an ugly 19-13 win against Cincinnati yesterday to clinch their second trip to Foxborough in less than a month. On December 10, the Texans traveled to Gillette for a showdown with the Patriots on Monday Night Foootball. They were the top team in the AFC but they were humbled 42-14 and had been in a serious tailspin until yesterday.

All I'll say is that don't judge Houston or New England for that matter, on what happened during the regular season. For Patriots fans, two years ago should refresh our memories to how much a blowout win in December matters once the postseason rolls around. New England pasted the Jets 45-3 on December 6, 2010 then lost 28-21 to the same team, on the same field in the divisional round. Apropos of nothing, the Pats opened up as a 10-point favorite.

Denver hosts Indianapolis on Saturday (4:30 p.m., CBS) in the other AFC game. Before the playoffs started, it felt like a Patriots-Broncos AFC Championship was a foregone conclusion. The Texans and Ravens will both give the home teams trouble, I don't expect either game to be a lopsided victory. However, I didn't see anything from Houston or Baltimore this weekend that made me doubt either New England or Denver.

UPDATE 1/8: Today the Pats signed wide receiver Andre Holmes to the practice squad.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Happy Tom Brady Day From The NFL

It is only right that on Tom Brady Day (12/12/12), our lord and savior was honored by the NFL with yet another AFC Offensive Player of the Week award. It is the 23rd of his career which pushes him ahead of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

In Monday night's beatdown of the Houston Texans, Brady was 21-of-35 for 296 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions plus that nifty six-yard run for a first down that featured him getting the crowd pumped up afterwards. His total quarterback rating was 95.6 with a passer rating of 125.4. Just like that performance showed that New England (10-3) is the team to beat in the AFC and maybe the NFL, Brady's MVP candidacy received a significant bump thanks to the Monday Night Football spotlight.

Brady and his team have another great chance to build their impressive resume on Sunday night (8:20 p.m., NBC) as they host the San Francisco 49ers (9-3-1), who are one of the top teams in the NFC and the NFL.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Week 14: Texans At Patriots Injury Report

I don't know about you but I'm not sure that I can wait an extra day for Patriots vs. Texans on Monday Night Football (8:30 p.m., ESPN). Just kidding, I would do just about anything within reason since it has all the makings of an instant classic regular season game.

Today, the teams released their injury reports. Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip) is out for New England while tackle Derek Newton (knee) and linebacker Brooks Reed (groin) have already been ruled out for Houston.

The Patriots have 13 guys listed as questionable with the most relevant being Chandler Jones (ankle) and Logan Mankins (ankle/calf) since they've missed the last two and three games respectively. The Texans only have two guys that are questionable: cornerback Alan Ball (foot) and tight end Garrett Graham (concussion).

The usual suspects make up the rest of the questionable guys for the Pats: Ron Brace (elbow), Patrick Chung (shoulder/hamstring), Dan Connolly (back), Aaron Hernandez (ankle), Dont'a Hightower (hamstring), Brandon Lloyd (knee), Kyle Love (knee), Nick McDonald (shoulder), Brandon Spikes (knee/ankle), Sebastian Vollmer (back/ankle) and Wes Welker (ankle).

All those players mentioned in the previous paragraph for New England suited up for the Patriots last Sunday in Miami. However, Connolly left with a back injury in the first half and never returned so we'll have to see if he plays on Monday.

Have fun watching the rest of the NFL in action tomorrow, good luck in your fantasy football playoffs and make sure to get plenty of rest. We'll need it, regular season games don't get much bigger than this. I'll update the injury report when I see who else will be inactive for both teams.

UPDATE 12/9: Graham is out for the Texans.

UPDATE 12/10: Inactives for the Patriots-McDonald, offensive lineman Markus Zusevics, defensive lineman Jake Bequette, Brace, safety Derrick Martin and fullback James Develin.

Inactive Texans-Ball, guard Antoine Caldwell, defensive tackle Terrell McClain and guard Cody White.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Matt Light To Be Honored At Halftime On Monday Night During Patriots-Texans

There is no other way to say it, the next two weeks for the Patriots are going to be awesome: they play two consecutive nationally-televised games as they host the Texans (11-1) on Monday night (8:30 p.m., ESPN) and then the Niners (8-3-1) on the following Sunday night (8:20 p.m., NBC). Since Houston is in the AFC and the current No. 1 seed, it's not an understatement to say that Monday night is the biggest game of the regular season for New England.

With that in mind, it's nice to hear that the team is treating it like such and pulling out all the stops both on and off the field for their fans. Today it was announced that retired offensive tackle Matt Light will be honored at halftime on Monday. Kevin Faulk was similarly feted earlier this season. Light officially retired in May after playing his entire NFL career in New England (2001-2011). What's more, he revealed that he had competed while battling Crohn's disease.

I have no doubt that this will pull in Monday Night Football's biggest rating of the season (at least so far) since it is the best matchup. They've been cursed with a bunch of crappy games but that certainly won't be the case on Monday at Gillette Stadium. It's a huge contest in terms of playoff seeding in the AFC since a Texans win would basically ensure that they get the top seed and a bye while the Patriots would have to scrap for the second seed at best. Conversely, if New England can beat Houston, not only would it make it possible to get the No. 1 seed but more importantly, they could gain plenty of confidence knowing they beat the Texans and got one step closer to home-field in the AFC playoffs.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Okay, I'm Out...

Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for!!!

They finally did it. With the nation watching last night on Monday Night Football, the replacement referees screwed up so badly that it actually cost the Packers a football game. If you didn’t see it, (and I didn’t until after the game because I am boycotting as best I can) it was one of the most absurd plays/calls/endings of all-time as Seattle was handed a fraudulent 14-12 win at home.

On the last play of the game, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson dropped back and threw a hail mary to wide receiver Golden Tate. Tate, blanketed by several Green Bay defensive backs, went up for the catch but did not come down with the ball. Instead, Packer cornerback M.D. Jennings clearly intercepted the football. With Tate tugging at the ball, two referees came over and decisively called the play correctly. Just kidding, one signaled a touchdown and the other signaled that time had expired, in one of the most hilarious/pathetic/embarrassing moments in sports history.

Did they communicate with each other at all verbally? Of course not.  Simply looking at one another for a millisecond before giving two separate rulings would suffice. What a joke.

And if you thought Brandon Spikes’ tweet was bad, check out what Packers guard T.J. Lang tweeted after the game “Got fucked by the refs… Embarrassing. Thanks nfl.” Followed by “Fuck it NFL..Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs.” At this point, I’m willing to chip in as well.

To make it worse, we then had to watch Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll (former Patriots coach) jump up and down and pump his fist like he had just won the damn Super Bowl. Jesus, how much punishment do Packers fans need right now?

This has gotta be it for Goodell and the owners right? I mean it was all fun and games when guys were running around wondering where to spot the ball, losing control of football games and taking 10 minutes to get clarification on a ruling. Now games are being lost as a direct result of these guys' incompetence. I don’t care where they have officiated before; there is no way anyone could have looked at that play last night and thought anything but interception.

If money is the top priority for the NFL and its owners, than public relations has to be priority 1-A. Thanks to these bozos, the running theme of this season so far has been the referees. Think about that for a second.

I didn’t watch last night because I have no interest in watching a knockoff version of the NFL. That is the only way that the owners will take notice. If Goodell and the owners want to salvage any part of this season, they have to accept pretty much anything that the referee’s union wants at this point.

At this point, the referees should double what they are asking for and if that doesn’t work, maybe Ed Hochuli can physically assault anyone standing in his way. All I know is Bill Belichick isn’t putting his hands on those guns.

Pause.

Tweet


Follow @RyanBurns88

Patriots-Chiefs Injury Report For Monday Night Football

The New England Patriots (6-3) will be making their second appearance of the season on Monday Night Football, they opened 2011 in Miami on MNF, as they host the Kansas City Chiefs (4-5) at Gillette Stadium.

The injury report came out today and at least for the Pats, there were few surprises. Since we don't know much about the Chiefs' day to day news, I felt like their injuries were more interesting (if that makes sense).

New England cornerback Devin McCourty is doubtful with a shoulder injury; I'd be shocked if he played, there is no possible way he's healthy enough. Plus, why push him to return against Tyler Palko?

Also, predictably Patriots linebackers Brandon Spikes (knee) and Dane Fletcher (thumb) were both declared out. Is Fletcher dead? That has to be the only explanation. What type of thumb injury could keep a football player out this long?

Finally, linebacker Jeff Tarpinian (illness) and safety James Ihedigbo (shoulder) are both questionable. This would have made me laugh in August or September but sadly they both started last week against the Jets.

For Kansas City, quarterback Matt Cassel (aka Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and linebacker Demorrio Williams are out. Cornerbacks Brandon Carr (ankle) and Brandon Flowers (back) along with defensive end Glenn Dorsey (knee) and safety Jon McGraw (shoulder) are all questionable.

I couldn't tell you if Carr is good or not but I know that Flowers is one of the best young defensive backs in the NFL. Dorsey was a beast at LSU but he hasn't made much of an impact for the Chiefs and McGraw is a scrub.

Stay tuned tomorrow and/or Monday as more information will come out.

UPDATE 11/20: Patriots safety Pat Chung (foot), cornerback Kyle Arrington (foot), running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis (toe), center Dan Connolly (groin), defensive end Shaun Ellis (rib), running back Kevin Faulk (knee), linebacker Gary Guyton (shoulder), wide receiver Taylor Price (hamstring), wide receiver Matthew Slater (shoulder), offensive lineman Nate Solder (concussion) and offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer (back) are all questionable for tomorrow night.

UPDATE 11/21: You're not going to believe this but Ray Ventrone was added to the 53-man roster! Offensive lineman Thomas Clayton was released. Don't be shocked if rookie offensive lineman Marcus Cannon makes his NFL debut tonight. Also, McCourty was ruled out which if you've been reading this blog is not news at all.

The inactives for New England are: Chung, McCourty, Faulk, Tarpinian, Ryan Mallett, Fletcher and Spikes. For Kansas City, Dorsey and McGraw are the most notable guys that are out. Cassel was placed on IR today so UMass-Amerst wide receiver Jeremy Horne was called up off the practice squad.

Follow @RichSlate


Tweet