Boston Sports Then and Now

Brady and Moss would be a historic passing combination in 2007.

Going into the 2007 season, the Patriots knew they needed “difference makers.”

New England needed more weapons on offense if they were going to compete with the explosive Colts.

Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, and fan favorite, Troy Brown were not going to cut the mustard in the passing game.

And the defense needed a few younger studs as well.

The front office didn’t hesitate to get the players they wanted and needed by any means necessary.

New England made a splash in free agency by signing the speedy wide receiver, Donte Stallworth.  They also reinforced the defensive side of the ball with Baltimore linebacker, Adalius Thomas.

Thomas, was coming off a Pro Bowl season with the Ravens. He recorded 106 tackles and 11 sacks which were both career highs. The signing of Thomas helped build much needed depth in linebacking crops.

If New England couldn’t sign them, they would trade for them.

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Our busy friend, Chris Price from WEEI, was nice enough to answer some Patriots questions from me and

Will Brandon Tate make an impact in 2010?

fellow BST&N staffer, Carl Desberg. We cover Tom Brady’s contract, the amazing Wild Wild Wes Welker, and the  many questions on defense.

Be sure to check out Chris’ blog, It Is What It Is on weei.com.

Carl Desberg: How do you see the Patriots defense getting pressure on the QB on passing downs? Is their best bet to continue to use three safeties with McGowan in the box like they did the latter portion of the ‘09 season?
Chris Price: I think they need to get some more help at the outside linebacker spot if they want to be able to get more pressure on the QB this season. Whether that means making a trade or bringing in a free agent OLB/DE (Adewale Ogunleye? Greg Ellis? Aaron Schobel?) they need to make a move to bolster a spot that needs more depth. Don’t completely dismiss the idea of a trade, however–they made an impact deal on August 2003 when they were able to swing a trade for Ted Washington. If they can find a suitable trade partner this time around, I wouldn’t be shocked to see them go after a pass rusher.

CP: Not sure at this point, although the language from Mankins’ agent Frank Bauer was surprisingly strong. Few agents have the stones to talk about the Patriots like that, at least publicly. I will say that I don’t believe he sits out for the entire season–he’ll end up playing somewhere in 2010.

CP: I think the longer that Torry Holt is sidelined, the better Tate’s chances are of getting serious playing time this year. During camp, he has seen a lot of time with what appears to be a reasonable facsimile of the starting offense as the receiver who is split wide opposite Moss, and has performed as well as can be expected, which is to say he’s done well. But there also have been plenty of times where he’s made some young mistakes. Ultimately, he will have a spot on the final 53-man roster–what he does with it depends on how many opportunities he continues to get.

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Brady will lead the well oiled machine of an offense.

There is much talk about Tom Brady as Patriots training camp approaches.

Yes, his contract is up at the end of the season.

Yes, there has been  talk of an extension. That’s neither here nor there though.

New contract or not, Brady will have a super year.

Rewind to 2007.

The record setting Patriots offense was led by their dynamic quarterback who posted a video game-like 50/8 TD/INT ratio and threw for over 4800 yards. Entering his 11th NFL season at the age of 33, can Brady ever get close to those gaudy numbers again?

There are reasons to believe he may.

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January is really a terrible time for the New Year. It’s always cold, often snowy, the days are short and nobody really enjoys champagne that much.

No, July 4th is a much better time to celebrate a new year. There’s grilling, fireworks, some of the longest days of the year, beach weather, beer, summer vacations – it’s just a much happier time.

But whether you choose to celebrate your changing of the calendars in January with the rest of the world or July with those a little more inclined to sanity, you agree on one thing: a new year means two things. The first is a fresh slate, a tabula raza, if you will, in which anything can happen – as Bill Watterson once aptly put it, “It’s a Magical World.”

The second, of course, is a chance to learn from your mistakes in the years prior.

Flashback: Monday, September 14th, 2009. Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Patriots, riding a consecutive-wins streak of 11 over the lowly Buffalo Bills found themselves trailing, 24-13 with 5:32 to go. Tom Brady looked unsure of himself in the pocket, thanks in large part to Bills’ DE Aaron Schobel spending more time in the Pats’ offensive backfield than any of Brady’s teammates.

The Bills were going to beat the Patriots for the first time at Gillette Stadium. On Monday night. On national television. In Week One. Trent Edwards was going to beat Tom Brady – who, by the way, hadn’t lost a regular-season game since December. Not of last year or the year before, but December of 2006. Could it really be?

Brady and Moss will need to be on the same page at all times if the Patriots have any hope of ascending to NFL greatness again.

Naw, of course not. This was Tom Brady’s team.

This was homo-undecuple perfection. They wouldn’t lose at home in Week One. Definitely not to the Bills. Brady wouldn’t let them.

And he didn’t; in the game’s last 2:06, Tom Terrific twice found Ben Watson in the end zone for Pats’ touchdowns, giving the Patriots a hard-earned (but maybe not hard-fought) victory over a once-proud AFC East patsy.

As the season wore on, however, something became painfully evident: these weren’t your now-18 month old cousin’s Patriots.

Perfection was not their forte – petulance, perhaps, or maybe even pitiful was more like it.

And by the time Ray Rice went MAC Truck on their front seven in the first round of the playoffs the next January, something Pats fans had feared since the Week 2 loss to The Sanchize’s New York Jets had become a painful reality: they just weren’t that good.

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Brown/Welker play only one way....all out.

As went Troy Brown and Wes Welker, as went the Patriots offense.

If the Patriots needed a tough catch, Tom Brady would seek out #80 then and #83 now.

Just as Drew Bledsoe had Ben Coates, Brady has been blessed with two players in his career that seemed to read his mind.

Brady threw it and they caught it.

Simple as that.

Brown and Welker were cut from the same cloth and Brady was their tailor.

They all helped sew up many victories for the New England Patriots franchise over the last 10 years.

Brown and Brady.

Welker and Brady.

They were interchangeable.

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Welker's return should not shock you.

Wes Welker is back doing what he loves to do.

He is playing football for the New England Patriots.

It may just be non contact OTA’s, but look how far he has come since that dreadful January day in Houston.

Welker was making a routine cut against the Texans but his knee didn’t react in the routine way.

He tore his ACL(initially it was thought he tore his MCL as well). He knew his season was over as he sobbed on the bench into a towel.

Little did we know the Patriots’ season was technically over that day as well. Without Welker the Patriots struggled mightily on offense as they got pasted by Baltimore in the Wild Card round at home.

What would life be without Welker?

Odds were that he may have suffered a Brady like injury and may miss at least half of the 2011 season. Which raised the question, who would replace Wes Welker?

Would Julien Edelman become the heir apparent?

People were talking like he may never play again, but haven’t we learned anything about Welker’s determination and pure will to compete?

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