2009 New England Patriots

FootballDad

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I posted the bit about Gronkowski in his thread from this, but the rest of it is fairly pertinent as well, so I decided to post the rest for your enjoyment. I particularly like the props given to Buddy Farnham of Brown, who is an excellent receiver, and has an outside chance to stick, and to Dane Fletcher from Montana State. Of course, he was only the defensive MVP for the Big Sky Conference and a Buck Buchanon award finalist, yet goes undrafted. I guess his skin tone means that he has no "upside" and can't hack it at the "next level". Hopefully he will show the Pats something. I figure he's already better than most of the scrubs on the Pats almost-all-black defense that sucked so bad last year.




Patriots 2010 rookie mini-camp is in the books, folks. And the biggest news of the afternoon is that it seems some cuts have already been made. The field of participants dwindled from 26 to 22 players "¦ three from the offense and one from defense. The four who were missing were among the tryout contingent: a long snapper, a tight end, a receiver, and a linebacker.


So, that means the only tryout player who made it through the whole camp was my early sleeper pick, #13. Isurmisedafter the first practice thathe was Buddy Farnham of Brown, and according toThe Providence Journal, my guess was correct, although we haven't had confirmation from team officials. As a follower of Brown football, I've watched Farnham flourish over the past three years. The guy's got great hands, quick feet, good return skills, and runs crisp routes. Looks like he may get a chance to compete at the upcoming OTAs and mini-camp practices with the rest of the squad.


On the other end of the spectrum, Bryan Anderson (mulatto-FBD) from Central Michigan continued to struggle. He dropped yet another catchable ball in drills. With his size, I'd like tosee him produce in this offense, but so far, he's looked slow with below average hands. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to jitters, but that'll have to end once the real practices start.


Elsewhere this afternoon, at one point in the session, the entire team gathered to take whacks at the one-man tackling sled. A lot of players are big and strong enough to lift that thing off the ground, but TE Rob Gronkowski nearly flipped the thing over on one of his reps. That caught everyone's attention on and around the practice field. Quite an impressive display of power.


Keeping in mind thatBill Belichick said he'd be more involved with the defense this season, I kept an eye out for him from time to time to see where he was on the practice field. For the most part, he spent time with the linebackers and DBs, occasionally wandering over to the offensive field. The position coaches were running the drills, but several times,the head coachstopped to point out a nuance to a player or address the group as a whole to provide further instructions.


7-on-7 drills were surprisingly uneventful. Usually, there's at least one highlight to mention, but there were mostly unremarkable underneath or dump passes in this afternoon's period.


Kept a lookout for Dane Fletcher, the DE from Montana State (listed at 6-2, 244 on the roster),as per the request of many of our fans out there in Big Sky country. It looked like he was bouncing back and forth from the end spot to the middle linebacker position during 7-on-7, and he spent most of the practice sessions working with the linebacker corps. I like his look. He seems like he's got some speed and power. I'm intrigued to see what he can do in full pads and where the coaches see fit to insert him, both in the depth rotation and in the scheme itself.


Kickoff coverage got more attention in the afternoon workout. Not sure if this is an emphasis in other teams' rookie camps, but special teams clearly is given its fair share or work here in New England, even this time of year, as myfriend and colleague from ESPN Boston, Mike Reiss, were discussing out there.


Perhaps the most entertaining nugget of the day "¦ while offense and defense were working on separate fields, the DBs were working on a pass coverage drill, but there weren't enough bodies to act as wide receivers, so some of the ball boys and equipment staff took those spots. However, when he was done with his punting work, Zoltan Mesko jumped in to help as a receiver. And he actually made three nice catches on crossing routes and going downfield. Someone in our little media group jokingly called him "The New Dez Bryant"Â￾ "¦ so I conflated the two and came up with a new nickname: Zoltan Dez-ko!


As for his punting, he's starting to gain some consistency in his kicks, turning them over more often and getting that nice, arching spiral on the deep ones. Ditto, actually, for David King, who seems to be picking up the American game rather quickly.


All in all, after seeing all four practices, I'm most optimistic about the tight end competition because it looks like Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez have legit hands and all-around skills, which shouldadd a dimension to thePatriots offense that's beenlacking.


Also, there could bemore depth and talent at the inside linebacker spot, which has been thin the last couple of years.The punting battle will be interesting, as will the new additions at wide receiver and defensive back (not just Devin McCourty, but Terrence Johnson, Sergio Brown, and Ross "Baby Bubba"Â￾ Ventrone). There are jobs to be won in that secondary.


Didn't get a great look at the linemen on either side, but I'm intrigued by Thomas Welch, Ted Larsen, and the wrestler, John Wise, on the o-line, given Dante Scarnecchia's proven track record developing those players.


So, what's next for these rookies? Well, according to NFL rules, they must take the next couple of weeks off before they return to join the veterans for OTAs and full-squad mini-camp sessions at the end of May and through mid-June. In the meantime, they'll be trying to absorb everything they learned in these two days on the field so they'll be at least competitive when the rest of the players take part. They'll also be on their own to stay in shape. It's amazing how much you can lose in that short span if you're not maintaining a regular workout schedule. PFW, of course, will cover it all for you, both on this blog and on patriots.com (oh, yeah, and in the paper, too "¦ 1-800-494-PATS to subscribe).
 

green fire317

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i didnt know where to put this story so i thought i would put it here. It talks about Cam Cleeland, a man that has been mentioned at CF before.

New treatment for concussions helps at least one former player
Posted by Mike Florio on July 11, 2010 11:39 AM ET
When our good friend Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com forwarded a few days ago his new story regarding the post-football struggles of former NFL tight end Cam Cleeland, I was leery. It has become fashionable of late for former players to publicly complain after the fact about the head trauma they suffered while earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year (or more), and we rarely hear about the many former NFL players who live their lives without difficulty or disability of any kind.

Our biggest problem with such cases is that we're certain that most if not all of the former players would have signed up to play football even if they had been told in chapter-and-verse detail about the risks they were assuming by strapping on a hat and then banging it into stuff.

But Marvez's story is one of the few that contains some hope for players who have reached the point in their lives where the risks have come to fruition. Cleeland has obtained evaluation and treatment from Dr. Daniel Amen, who used nutrition and supplements to improve problem areas spotted in Cleeland's brain via a nuclear imaging scan of it.

"Rehabilitating brain trauma is my goal," Amen told Marvez. "Think of these players like police officers or firefighters. We know it's a dangerous job, and we own up to it. It's the same thing for these players."

Cleeland, who spent eight years in the league with the Saints, Patriots, and Rams, also acknowledges that he has no second thoughts about playing football. He does regret, however, the former culture of telling a player he has gotten his "bell rung" and putting him back in the game. Fueled by a Congressional interest in head injuries that arose last year, the NFL has made significant changes to the handling of players who have suffered concussions. (It came too late, but it was better late than never.)

Still, the risk exists. The players know it, now more than ever. But they accept that risk, because for every Cam Cleeland there are many players who have harvested the rewards and emerged from their playing careers without long-term consequences.

The goal, obviously, should be to get to the point where there are no Cam Cleelands. Our ongoing concern is that if/when the efforts to get there result in fundamental changes to the game that make it less interesting to the public, everyone loses.
 
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