New England are experts at coming back from a slow start but this season they’re gifting games to their opponentsBy now, the NFL should know that the New England Patriots treat the first month of the season like an extended training camp. Of course the Pats try to win their first four games but the winning sometimes seems secondary to the bigger goal of trying to build a champion at season’s end. “They are definitely a better second-half team,” former NFL general manager and current NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly told me a few weeks ago. “It seems the players learn the system more then and Bill Belichick learns more about the players and then they get better and better...
On Thursday it was revealed a 27-year-old with 44 career NFL games had the brain of a 67-year-old man. Will the league do anything about it?We probably didn’t need Aaron Hernandez’s attorney to declare Thursday that his dead client had the brain of a near-70-year-old with severe dementia. Too many decisions the one-time New England Patriots star made before killing himself earlier this year at 27 made no sense. Experience has told us that when young, wealthy football players start making erratic life choices, there is probably a physical reason lurking inside their skulls. The question is: what will anyone do about it? Related: Aaron Hernandez lawyer says ex-NFL star had 'severe' case of CTE Continue reading...
The Cowboys caught a glimpse of life without running back Ezekiel Elliott and it was wasn’t pretty, while Tom Brady reverted to form after a Week 1 aberrationLast year the Dallas Cowboys were the story of the NFL with a star rookie running back rumbling behind a dominant offensive line, winning games because their rookie quarterback never seemed rattled by any situation. They were so good with Ezekiel Elliott running the ball and Dak Prescott throwing it that franchise quarterback Tony Romo was chased into an early retirement.The future belonged to Elliott and Prescott. Related: NFL round-up: Cowboys blown out in Denver as brilliant Brady lifts Patriots Marshawn Lynch is a national treasure pic.twitter.com/hbyQyJ4SdU Continue reading...
New offensive weapons mean the Super Bowl champions are as close as the NFL gets to a super team. Pats haters may be in for a tough few monthsThere’s a good chance we have already witnessed the low point of the 2017 Patriots season. Last week the team lost its preseason opener to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 31-24, while playing without stars Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. It was a pointless game, as most every exhibition games is. But since winning the Super Bowl in February in an historic comeback, the champions have loaded up for the games that matter and are heavy favorites to win it all again. Las Vegas sports books have them at 5-2. But there are two...
As he showed at the White House, Gronk comes across as the ultimate bro, but he’s an incredibly shrewd self-promoter – and the league’s finest tight endThe Patriots went to Donald Trump’s White House on Wednesday for a visit that seemed fraught with controversy from the moment the team sealed its Super Bowl comeback against the Falcons. There were questions about who would and would not attend the event, and for what reasons. There was talk about the close relationship between the president and Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. And there was just the thought of Trump and the Patriots sharing the South Lawn stage together, providing a visual nightmare to the millions of Americans who despise them...