Fear not, Patriots fans! 

FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!

If that got you all jazzed up like Gronk on a Friday night, go ahead and click here for exercise programs to blow off some steam. Otherwise, NFL football begins Wednesday night with the Giants facing Dallas and the Pats take to the field Sunday at 1pm!

This team looks a lot different than any fans would have expected it to. With cuts last week affecting Deion Branch, Brian Hoyer, Jabar Gaffney, and many more, the Pats are looking thin in places fans thought there was unbelievable wealth.

This Patriots team in 2012 will be the youngest team to have ever played under Bill Belichick’s tutelage. Few veterans will be donning the world-famous blue and silver this season and it’s completely on purpose.

If there is one thing that Patriots fans have tried to put in the back of their mind for years, it is that Belichick and Tom Brady will someday leave this team and leave the game of football. The Patriots seem to be starting that process Belichick’s way. A way that New England has come to trust without question.

Brian Hoyer was released making Ryan Maillett the clear second string QB and heir-apparent to Brady, unless something better comes along in the meantime. Hoyer could be a very serviceable QB eventually, but his timing in conjunction with Brady’s slowly depleting window simply will not allow him to thrive here.

The wide receiver situation will be interesting to watch play out. Of course Brady has his toys at this position along with his tight ends to continue to be one of the highest scoring offenses in the league. The positions are simply going to be thinner than they may have seemed to be just a few weeks ago. In the end, Josh McDaniels has returned to Foxboro and his success with Brady is very well documented.

The offensive line will continue to give Patriots fans heart attacks throughout the season and I have to believe it could very well be a bit of a turnstyle part of the team. Only a few men stand between New England’s Golden Boy and hungry hyenas looking to rip his head off.

The defense in a whole has been a project for a couple years. Young and hungry, this defense should be a massive surprise this year. The linebacker corp is honestly a pack of starving dogs ready to get to work and the rest of that side fo the ball should be right behind them and fueled by their excitement.

No matter what, the Patriots are about to return some pride to sports fans in New England. We can now proudly speak of our team on Facebook and Twitter, don our jerseys in public, and devote game days to sitting on the couch with friends and wobbly-pops. All things the Red Sox have recently stripped from our lives.

Welcome back sports fans and LET’S GO PATS!

Holy crap, huh?

The Denver Broncos have agreed to a deal with free agent Peyton Manning for five years at a staggering $96 million dollars.

Let that sink in…

(Cue muzak)

OK.

$96M over five years breaks out to $18M in 2012, $20M in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons, and $19M in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Um, yea. That just happened.

Mind you the fact that Peyton Manning has no played contact football in a year and a half. He has nerve issues that could never heal or heal perfectly, or be career (or even life) threatening at the wrong hit.

And then there is Tom Brady. The Golden Boy, New England’s God, the only guy in New England loved by dudes and chicks alike.

In 2010, the New England Patriots extended Brady’s deal four years for $72 million (average of $18M per season). Sure, that’s not chump change… unless you’re Peyton Manning.

That deal covers the Patriots QB through 2014, when he will be 37 years old.

Brady had made it very clear at the onset of that extension that he plans on playing football until he is 40 years old.

Undoubtedly, this statement has been ringing in the back of Manning’s head when he probably threw a fifth year across the table at John Elway. Why is that fifth year so important? Manning turns 41 on March 24, 2017. Meaning the fifth year he is 40 years old for the entirety.

Brady is one year younger than Manning and certainly has less health issues at this point in his career. One could argue that Brady’s magic number would now become 41 year of age to dual out Manning and both contractually finish in the league at the same time.

The Patriots have some decisions to make this offseason but this should really be an easy one. New England cannot afford to lose everyone’s favorite mustachioed receiver, Wes Welker, especially in these waning years of Tom Brady’s career.

The scientific dissection that Brady can perform with his short game receivers like Welker, Rob Gronkowski, and Aaron Hernandez leaves the Patriots only needing to find that one long-ball streaker to add to the mix.

With the NFL’s new tag rates, Welker would be etched to make $9.4M for one year if tagged. If tagged and getting a deal eventually done, the $9.4M would be guaranteed money worked into the contract, likely for three years.

Only drawback for Wes is that the tag dollars were reduced as part of the new CBA, from $11.4M to the $9.4M. Or to all of us, “HOLY $#%&! money” to “less HOLY $#%&! money”.

The guaranteed money accompanying the tag alone all but rules out any other possibility but obviously most fans (myself in particular) would at least like to see the DL tandem of Mark Anderson and Andre Carter return as well.

All Patriots’ free agents as of 2/20/2012 listed below:

DL – Mark Anderson

WR – Deion Branch

DL – Andre Carter

G – Dan Connolly

DL – Shaun Ellis

RB – BenJarvus Green-Ellis

LB – Gary Guyton

QB – Brian Hoyer (Restricted)

DB – James Ihedigbo

DL – Kevin Love (Exclusive Rights)

WR – Matt Slater

DL – Gerard Warren

WR – Wes Welker

Expect to see the tag get placed if a deal doesn’t get done by March 5th. The Patriots would have to almost be mental to allow Welker to hit free agency.

While being heckled by classless New York fans (is there any other kind?), Gisele responded “My husband cannot (expletive) throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can’t believe they dropped the ball so many times.”

While the team hasn’t had anyone respond to the leaked comments, just this morning ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted “Brandon Jacobs to reporters on Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen: ‘She just needs to continue to stay cute and shut up.’”

Maybe it’s the cultural divide between South American and North American life. Maybe it’s the divide between rich people getting richer and having no care in the world for anyone else. Maybe Tom Brady really is the pretty boy everyone says he is and hence married a dominant wife.

The world may never know.

But in the end, Gisele’s comments can’t possibly go over well with Patriots players. They could certainly blow it off as a heated moment or a fleeting comment from the wife of their QB who is simply giving her own opinion.

Is it possible this is a common subject in the Brady/Bundchen house? Certainly didn’t sound like she was uttering some new philosophical statement. Maybe the B&B house is full of comments about a lack-luster surrounding cast to the aging Brady.

Even Michael Jordan needed to add stars around him in his later seasons.

At least Chad Ochocinco seemingly didn’t take offense too it, though we’re not quite sure if he is actually on the team or not anyway. @Ochocinco tweeted “Mrs. Giselle Bundchen and some black guy” adorned with this beautiful mug:

I simply can’t bring myself to write it all down so I STRONGLY encourage you to join us on the 4SB Facebook Page now!

AND PARTY LIKE GRONK! YO SOY FIESTA!

A great game last Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens ended with play-after-play lining up just the way Bill Belichick wanted to see it go. With Sterling Moore, a player dropped by the mediocre Oakland Raiders and picked up to the Patriots’ practice squad, making the key defensive stops in the endzone that we have not seen since Asante Samuel last donned the backfield. Raven’s kicker Billy Cundiff pooching the kick from 32 yards away was an ending Myra Kraft could have only dreamed of.

Coming out of Sunday, even Tom Brady admitted that he was less than stellar. The team didn’t do anything amazing and still eeked into the Super Bowl in Indy against their 2007 Super Bowl opponent, the New York Giants.

And in a way, this 2011 run feels nothing like that 2007 run.

Sure, it’s easy to say that there’s clearly a difference in the teams. The 2007 team had won every single game that season while this season, the Patriots played no team with a winning record until the AFC title game against Baltimore.

The 2007 Patriots had an aging cast of future Hall of Famers on the defense. Eager to get one more ring before hitting the dusty trail.

The 2007 Patriots were on a revenge streak of “eff yous” against the entire NFL after being outted for Spygate. The numbers put up week-after-week were not unlike my Friday nights of Madden. Brady and Randy Moss both reached NFL records in touchdown numbers and the NFL was scared.

This year’s Patriots are not the 2007 Patriots. But you know that.

No one expected a lot from this Patriots team. A 10-11 win season was right where we thought they would be. Slipping into the playoffs, hopefully in front of the New York Jets, and possibly going a round or two.

But the SUPER BOWL?!

It’s a win-win situation for New England fans. Still a little hungover from the Bruins Cup win of June, we were all accepting of the fate of the Pats this year.

“We’re going to the Super Bowl! We’re going to the ‘Ship!” was the call of Rob “I Am Party” Gronkowski after Sunday night’s win. The stage is set and the opponent is chosen.

Anyone planning on participating on the Super Bowl betting over at TopBet should keep an eye on the line. The Patriots are currently favored by a slim margin with the over under on points being 53.

In my wildest imagination, as awesome as it is to be a Patriots fan this year (and for the last decade, at that), I cannot imagine another heartbreaking loss like 2007. Lucky for us, this team doesn’t have the same ramifications as that one.

This weekend on the radio, I heard a caller call in. An older woman, spouting about how her husband has been a fan of the team for 40 years through heartbreak and championships. She used a word that I knew immediately resonated with Pats fans, that word was “proud”. She was proud of the team for overcoming a lack of expectation. She was proud of what the team has done for the legend of Myra Kraft and the Kraft family.

And I couldn’t agree more.

This 2011 Patriots teams reminds us of what we love about our sports teams. Take the Celtics of late out of this, our favorite championships were executed with home-grown talent and by taking risks on guys the rest of the league didn’t believe in anymore (IE the 2004 Red Sox, Patriots of the early 2000s, the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Bruins).

This year’s Boston Red Sox is a team of overpaid, overvalued, whiny players who are coming off the most disgusting end to a season and off-season New England has seen in a long time.

This Patriots team is not your 2012 Red Sox.

They are likeable.

They are working class.

They have guys playing whatever position Belichick tells them in that day even if they played QB in college, drafted as a wide receiver, return kicks, and need to be put in as a DB for the entire game. Thank you Julian Edelman.

So, despite a season that has culminated in a lot of debate over their value and whether each win was good enough or the defense was good enough or if Brady still has it, the Pats have landed in Indy.

Revenge is not the key word in Super Bowl XLVI. The word is redemption.

This is not a Super Bowl about avenging the loss to another team. The Patriots simply don’t care what other teams, even if it is against their own team. These Patriots have pride and with pride on the line, redemption for the name of everything in Foxboro is the key.

The moment that the ball left the foot of one Billy Cundiff, who may have just gotten the Patriots’ game ball, every person watching could see it hooking left, with the score being left at 20-17 Patriots. The magical words of former Pats backup Scott Zolak ringing across the airwaves, “HE HOOKED IT!” have given me chills a half dozen times in the past 12 hours. And seeing the comparisons to Ace Ventura’s “Ray Finkle” become a trend on Boston’s Twitter was fantastic.

So the game ended and the speculation began.

Are these Patriots as good as the New York football Giants? Did they deserve to win that game? Is Bernard Pollard a stone-cold Patriot assassin?

The answer to all of those questions, is yes.

So on we go to what will most possibly be two weeks of pure hell. Replays from every negative moment of the 2007 Super Bowl. Giants talking trash while Bill Belichick and Tom Brady kiss their ass for all of the good things they do. Boston vs. New York. A Manning playing in Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time this year.

What it all comes down to is Sunday, February 5th. Super Bowl Sunday.

… And for some reason, New England feels like they are 0-13.

It is undeniable that the Pats have at times looked dazzling. In more cases, they have looked less than stellar.

So, which team is this?

On Sunday against the Washington Redskins, Tom Brady threw for 357 yards, including 160 to his favorite TE Rob Gronkowski, with three touchdowns and an interception.

Coming out of that game, what was anyone in New England talking about? A spat between Brady and Offensive Coordinator Bill O’Brien caught on the CBS cameras on the sideline as caught perfectly in this wonderful GIF format.

Over 350 yards, three touchdowns, and we’re worried about a yelling match between guys who are in the most physical sport in America?

GRONK SMASH!!!

Better yet, the defense.

While no one in New England (or anywhere else even) will ever say the Patriots are holding teams’ offenses, there have been weeks when the media and fans have felt comfortable enough to assume this group of drain-plugs was improving enough to keep most offenses below what the soaring offense could provide.

Of course, the 10-3 record reflects the fact that the defense does JUST  THAT.

Like Denver and their miracle story of Tim “Dont-call-me-Jesus” Tebow and the well-known fact that his defense allows him to win by holding the opposing team below the offense’s output, the Patriots do the opposite.

Honestly, this makes for a great match-up this coming week.

The defense who has to do just enough to keep the opponent’s point total below the great offense against the offense who has to simply be within a score or two at the end of the game to do what they need, especially in Denver.

Mile High baby.

But, I digress…

So which team is this? Should it be all doom and gloom or should we be be finally thinking about replacing that 16-0 banner with another Super Bowl one?

Honestly, I lean towards the dark clouds and whimpering in a corner.

I simply don’t see it. I watched that game in Washington just like most of you did. I didn’t see anything spectacular happening. I saw a lot of easy missed scoring opportunities by Brady with the pigskin flying over Gronk’s head, at the feet of Aaron Hernandez, once into Washington CB Josh Wilson’s hands (the lone INT), and once into the arms of Chad @Ochocinco, which has to mean it was underthrown, right?

Bazinga.

The rushing attack didn’t accomplish much against the ‘Skins either, topped by Danny Woodhead with 41 yards compared to the impressive Washington rookie Roy Helo’s 126 yards of foot pounding.

(Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

The defense remains an issue but no one can say that the addition of Andre Carter on the defensive line hasn’t dramatically changed their dynamic. Carter’s forced fumble and regular omnipresence in the pocket have finally given quarterbacks someone other than Vincent Wilfork, who coincidentally recovered the fumble, to worry about. Andre’s 10 sacks this year coupled with his insane physique should not go unnoticed and may be earning him a final resting place to play out his career beyond his current age of 32.

Are the Patriots playoff ready? Unfortunately, we honestly don’t know. The competition in the second half of the season hasn’t really called for the best of this team. Against #TebowTime and his Broncos we may get to see something but only if it’s still a game in the fourth quarter.

It may just be another one-and-done playoff season in New England but we honestly won’t know until the time comes.

All I do know, is that what the Patriots have had going on so far has not been evident outside of the box score and that generally does not translate well on the field.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ok, sorry. I feel better now.

What in the hell was that?!

In a game that was a 60 minute version of the final minutes of Super Bowl XLII and the opening minutes of Wild Card weekend ’09, Tom Brady and Co. pulled yet another premature exit from the 2010 playoffs with a 28-21 loss to the “arch-rival” New York Jets.

I refuse to spit numbers at you because the only good ones have “J-E-T-S” next to them. I won’t rattle off the scoring drives. I won’t even talk about this game specifically except to say that it was completely obvious two minutes into the game that the Patriots would not be winning. Brady’s sulking on the sideline after a single failed drive was a sight Pats fans have seen before and know doesn’t usually end well.

With the Jets moving on to the AFC Championship for the second straight year, this time against the Pittsburgh Steelers, I will be planning my newly impartial Super Bowl betting at Sports Interaction. And you better believe I am rooting for a Pittsburgh and Green Bay Super Bowl. Literally.

(Sidebar: One thing I did notice as this weekend progressed was that all of the teams that had won as of the end of the Green Bay vs. Atlanta game were outdoor/coldweather teams. No domers, no teams from south of the Mason Dixon. Just northern, snow-blowin’ teams doing it during a wild winter season.)

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

So, Boston fans, I know how you are all feeling. It’s an ugly feeling that is becoming all to regular around here.

Think about it.

The Brady Bunch have now given us the following seasons:

2007: We know how that one ends.

2008: Brady goes down 12 minutes into the season. Matt Cassell leads the team to a 11-5 season, miss playoffs.

2009: Brady Returns! New England trusts it will be a revolution! Woops, there’s Ray Rice four seconds into Wild Card weekend.

2010: No hopes for the season, maybe a .500 record expected. Oh, wait, Welker’s ok? 14-2 it is! And now this.

Awesome!

Well folks, 29 days until Red Sox pitchers and catchers report!

In the meantime, enjoy the Celtics’ hopeful run at Banner 18. Their recent history has mirrored that of the Patriots as well (See: NBA Championship 2010; Game 7) and hope that we do not have to deal with this feeling again so soon.

The Patriots were the favorite on the Super Bowl from BetUs as we headed into Week 17 and nothing changed after it. If anything, they just emphasized the point as they played their starters throughout most of the contest and hammered the Miami Dolphins 38-7.

As the score indicates, the game was completely lopsided and if anything, it was the Dolphins that looked like they were putting in a lackadaisical effort.Head coach Bill Belichick did decide to keep some players out as receivers Wes Welker and Deion Branch were out, while tight end Aaron Hernandez missed a second straight game with a hip injury.

But the biggest surprise of the day was seeing Tom Brady play at all – never mind into the third quarter. Brady is everything to the Patriots and why even risk an injury? It’s a debate that goes back-and-forth and the people who say he should play in these situations won this time as he came through the contest unscathed. But any type of scratch and the conversation would have a taken very different tone.

For example, running back Danny Woodhead suffered a head injury in Week 17 and is now questionable for the Patriots first playoff game in two weeks.

Nonetheless, the Patriots finished 14-2 this season and gave their head coach his fourth season with 14 or more wins, which makes him the first head coach ever to do so. Meanwhile, Brady’s interception-free streak continues at 335 passes and he put a stamp on his MVP candidacy. The Patriots also set an NFL record for the fewest turnovers in a regular season.

They’ll now await the results of the Wild Card to determine who they face after their bye week.