We are mere days away from the opening of training camps around the NFL, and for the New England Patriots there will be more competition at starting spots than there have been in a long time. Here are a look at the Top Five battles at Patriots' camp and our projection of who will come out on top:

5. Right Tackle - Nick Kaczur has been decent in his three years on the Pats, but the addition of monsterman Sebastian Vollmer via the second round of this year's draft could make things interesting. Vollmer played both left and right tackle in mini-camps and has the size and athleticism to contribute right away. The wild card is Ryan O'Callaghan, who has seen spot duty in three seasons though he missed almost all of 2008 with an injury.

Our Projection: Kaczur holds off the young Seabass. O'Callaghan is sent packing.

Continue reading "Top 5 New England Patriots Training Camp Battles"

I'm starting to see a pattern with Roger Goodell's leadership as commissioner of the NFL, and the cliched phrase that comes to mind is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Or maybe a better choice would be "mo' money, mo' money, mo' money!".

Early on in his tenure I liked what I saw from Goodell, and that was even as he was fining and taking draft picks from my beloved New England Patriots for the video taping incident of 2007. I thought Goodell handled that situation as it should've been handled, and did not cave to the overhyped media frenzy that followed.

Goodell has been strict on player conduct, and that has become the thing he has hung his hat on. However in almost all other areas we're starting to see change just for the sake of change. As in "cha-ching" change.

Continue reading "Roger Goodell and the NFL Ruin The Draft"

Patriots football is back and if you're like me you spent all day today scanning the various media outlets for reports on what was going down on Day One. And also maybe setting your desktop with pictures of Tom Brady once again in full pads.

After the long offseason many things are often clarified on Day One of Training Camp.... who's still recovering from injuries, where the new players are lining up, and most importantly how #12 looks. Here's what we gathered from today...

-- Belichick looks like he's easing the important veterans back into the action. Randy Moss, Jarvis Green and Joey Galloway were all given the first practice off. Tedy Bruschi, Matt Light, and Richard Seymour all got the afternoon off. So yes, there are almost two straight weeks of double sessions scheduled to start, but clearly Belichick will temper the work, especially for veterans. With that said we need to state this now:

Continue reading "Patriots Training Camp Begins: What We Learned"