You’d be hard pressed to find much of a difference between the Tom Brady we saw for almost two quarters last night, and the quarterback we saw for so many years earlier this decade. The touch on a couple passes was slightly off, but other than that, he looked fully recovered from his knee injury. The Patriots won their preseason opener 27-25 over the Philadelphia Eagles, (who by the way, signed Michael Vick last night) down in Philly.
On Patriots Daily, Chris Warner gives us a few gut reactions to last night’s win.
Christopher L. Gasper says that it didn’t take Brady long to warm up the Patriots offense. Ian R. Rapoport has Brady and the Patriots taking a small step in a long journey. Shalise Manza Young has Brady happy to get his first game behind him. Hector Longo says Brady is back – physically, mentally and emotionally.
Bob Ryan says that the return of Brady means that expectations are once again sky-high for the Patriots. Jonathan Comey says that with Brady, the Patriots have a chance to repeat their 2007 season – but with a nicer ending. Karen Guregian says that based on last night, there should be no worries about Brady.
Bill Reynolds is critical of Brady, saying that the Patriots quarterback will only talk if he gets paid for it.
Chris Forsberg has Julian Edelman stealing the show last night. (Mike Reiss, right again.) Guregian has Edelman making a great first impression last night. Mike Reiss has Darius Butler learning on the fly about life in the NFL.
Christopher Price cranks out the 10 things that we learned last night. Jonathan Comey has his own version of 10 Things We Learned last night. Mark Farinella tells us who was hot and who was not last night. Erik Scalavino has the positives, negatives, and in-between results from last night. Longo lists out his Big Shows & No-Shows.
Gasper’s notebook has Ellis Hobbs focused more on impressing his current team than his former one. Rapoport’s notebook notes that Andrew Walter was the first QB off the bench last night. Young’s Patriots Journal has more on Edelman.
Misc
Chad Finn looks at day one of 98.5 The SportsHub. Christine McConville isn’t pleased that the station didn’t go with a full lineup yesterday. (Guess she doesn’t read BSMW – I said live programming would start at 1:00pm yesterday.)
Mark Murphy has Leon Powe speaking about his departure from Boston, and it is evident he has very mixed feelings about how things ended here. Peter Martin has more from Powe. Robert Lee says that the Celtics roster is just about set. Paul Flannery has a look at the NBA offseason.
I missed this Bob Lobel interview with Dan Guttenplan when it was originally posted.
Red Sox links are posted below.
Popularity: 7% [?]
People probably weren’t watching but the Gruden-Jaws-Tirico combo was terrific.
I didn’t hear them but I had a feeling Gruden was going to be GREAT. I’m really looking forward to MNF this year now that Kornholer is gone….mark my words, Gruden is going to be the next big thing as far as national analysts go. Only thing is I hear he still wants to coach so he might not be in the booth long.
Bill Reynolds is OBSESSED with the whole “celebrity culture” thing. He would be better off writing for People Magazine. He is CONSTANLY making comments about Giselle and what a “celebrity” Brady is. In this column he bitches how Brady just gives standard quotes to local writers but will only talk about “marriage and fatherhood” to national magazine writers. 1st off, doesn’t he realize most Diehard Pats fans (not the pinkhat type) could not care less about Brady’s thoughts on “marrige and fatherhood”?…..How many Patriot fans does he think buy Details Magazine?….I love Brady as the Pats QB but I don’t give a Rat’s ass about his “behind closed doors” life…..Reynolds is supposed to be a sportswriter, he should try writing about sports once in awhile.
Anyone still listening to WEEI?
Not me. Zolak and Tanguay destroy Dale’s grating voice and personality. Dale is Holley’s downfall.
Despite Gresh being better suited (what is he on? calm down dude) for the Big Show, the pre-game show yesterday was better than any football oriented Big Show in several years.
I’ve never really liked Mazz, but will give him another chance.
sounds all the same to me, like it’s one big radio station. let’s call it 85098.5…..nothing new,nothing different. more loud voices and blowhard opinions.