Mike Dussault

Tom Brady’s Helmets: A Retrospective

May 2, 2018 by Mike Dussault

Yes, this was the worst loss of his career, but damn did he look good running out of the tunnel.

With all the fluff out there about drafting quarterbacks, bad draft choices and discontent between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, it’s time to drop some hard-hitting journalism here on the blog. Let’s get serious and talk about how this is sadly the last year Tom Brady can wear his helmet of choice.

One of the things that instantly made me like Brady was that he just had the perfect quarterback look. Yes, 12 is the number for signal-callers, but it was Brady’s low-rising helmet that put him on another level. At that point, Peyton Manning had already set the NFL world on fire, but if it came down to simple looks on the field, I was already taking Brady before he had even started a game.

But it wasn’t like Brady jumped right into the perfected look that he’s now known for and he even experimented with other helmets for a few games in 2011 and 2012.

Let’s take an important and possibly ground-breaking look back at Brady’s helmet-look over the course of his career and figure out what he might switch to in 2019.

Tom Brady Will Finish Career as Patriot, On His Own Terms

May 1, 2018 by Mike Dussault

After almost a whole two days of talking about real Patriots news and the draft, the focus was ripped back away from football and back to the 2017 season and just how happy Tom Brady really is after he sat down for a rare offseason interview with Jim Gray. His lengthy talk gave plenty of fodder to whichever side you choose to take in the spring of the Patriots’ alleged discontent.

No matter what you want to believe, the remaining fact is Brady will be quarterbacking in Patriots training camp in July, where football betting lines still have New England as Super Bowl favorites. We are of course nearing the end of the Belichick-Brady run, and things have certainly evolved, but the important issue — going after Super Bowl 53 — remains unchanged and unlikely affected.

It didn’t take long before the warring factions who cover and follow the Patriots started trading jabs over Brady’s answers. One side focused myopically on Brady’s “plead the fifth” comment at the start, while the other pointed to Brady’s later comments on how much respect he has for Bill Belichick, and around and around we go. Social media can be so fun these days.

The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle. And as usual, the arguments are often in bad faith. Brady is clearly transitioning to the end phase of his career. He’s making more time for his family and he’s training his way. He has said those things implicitly a number of times. He knows Belichick can no longer unexpectedly ship him out of town so he’s doing what he wants.

Patriots 2018 Draft Recap

April 29, 2018 by Mike Dussault

After months of buildup, the 2018 NFL draft is now in the rearview mirror and Patriots fans can begin to focus on mini-camps, the June-July void and finally, training camp. The major pieces that will comprise the 2018 Patriots are in place, and while the draft was a trade-down-fest with plenty of fodder for sports talk shows, the team once again got a bunch of really good football players who will improve a team that came within one stop of their third Super Bowl title in four years for the second time.

When you think back to a decade ago, things were very different. The Patriots veteran defense was hanging on by a string in 2008, and when Tom Brady went down in the opening quarter of the season, the rebuild was jumpstarted. They missed the playoffs that season on a tie-break and would be upset at home in their first playoff games in both 2009 and 2010, before scrapping their way back into a Super Bowl in 2011. They haven’t missed a conference championship game since.

But now the Patriots have seen little-to-no dropoff on the offensive side of the ball. Brady has maintained his level of excellence even though the pieces around him continue to shift. Last year’s MVP performance was a crowning achievement even in the final game’s defeat. Yes, Brady has lost three Super Bowls, but 52 was just an epic performance by him.

The Patriots’ window is still very much open with Brady, but time is running out. How will these draft picks assimilate and help? Let’s take a big picture view.

Patriots Address Linebacker Need With Bentley and Sam

April 28, 2018 by Mike Dussault

After I lamented the Patriots lack of draft capital invested in the front seven, they made two picks on Saturday at the middle linebacker position, taking Ja’whaun Bentley and Christian Sam in the 5th and 6th rounds respectively.

Both should immediately step into competition with Elandon Roberts and could possibly push for playing time as rookies, especially if injuries strike. That’s how thin the Patriots are at off-the-ball linebacker. But both players reinforce our image of what the Pats look for at linebacker.

Patriots Draft CB Duke Dawson, Trade for OT Trent Brown on Draft Day Two

April 28, 2018 by Mike Dussault

You have to hand it to Bill Belichick. Every year even the most astute draft pundits are completely pretzeled by Belichick’s drafts, and this year has been more pretzel-inducing than most.

Look, I get it. He’s the genius… the best coach in history, he has a plan, knows what fits and will coach up an empty bag of potato chips and it should still be enough to win the AFC East and make a playoff run. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still pull our hair out wondering about all the moves he made.

Day Two of the 2018 NFL Draft began with the Patriots trading for offensive tackle Trent Brown, a hulking right tackle once called by Von Miller the best in the game. But he’s had injury issues and was supposedly way out of shape when he reported to San Fran this season, and with Marcus Cannon atop the right tackle depth chart (and a Patriots family favorite), along with the Day One selection of Isaiah Wynn, how exactly Brown fits in is very much up in the air. And the Pats paid a pretty hefty price, the 95th overall pick.

Patriots Select RB Sony Michel 31st Overall

April 27, 2018 by Mike Dussault

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oz9tQsdevc

The days of the running back position being a free agency afterthought are over as the Patriots selected Georgia running back Sony Michel 31st overall, the first time they’ve selected a running back since James White in 2014 and the first time they’ve taken one in the first round since 2006 with Laurence Maroney.

Michel is a one-cut, no-nonsense runner who is explosive, along with being a two-time captain. But most impressive is that he understands pass protection and that should get him on the field immediately. He brings the kind of home run hitting ability the Patriots have lacked from their backfield. He’s not the elusive Dion Lewis or the hulking LeGarrette Blount, he’s a down-your-throat slasher who will get every yard that’s there and more and that’s why picking him feels like a return to the roots of the Patriots offense.

Michel is a total package and screams Patriots which frustrates me even more because I was lulled to sleep on running backs in recent years and didn’t include him on my big board despite the obvious traits that he fit. But just like that, the Pats zag once again and add an exciting piece who could help transform the offense.

Patriots Select OL Isaiah Wynn 23rd Overall

April 27, 2018 by Mike Dussault

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T0U__4WNog

After months of speculation about needs and wants, potential trades and fits, the Patriots finally cut through all the noise and made their first selection of the 2018 NFL Draft, selecting offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn.

With most of Patriots nation wanting linebacker Rashaan Evans, the Titans jumped ahead of the Patriots and selecting him one pick before the Pats took Wynn. Who knows if the Pats would’ve even selected him, but it’s hard not to think Mike Vrabel and Jon Robinson thought Evans could be Bill Belichick’s target.

So now we get Wynn, which has a lot of layers to it. First is that he checks every offensive lineman box you could want except one big one — size. He’s athletic and mean, versatile and experienced, but he’s just 6’3″, almost unheard of for an NFL left tackle and that’s why most projections had him sliding inside to guard. Still, there are plenty out there who believe Wynn will compete to stay at left tackle and that could be very helpful to the Patriots.

But with starters Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney returning it’s hard to see Wynn stepping in and dethroning either of them immediately. But with Mason entering the last year of his deal, today’s stability can easily turn to next year’s need. Wynn will contribute one way or another, sooner or later.