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Brady wins 2010 NFL MVP

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While Belichick winning Coach of the Year really gave me a new appreciation of the 2010 Patriots season, I’m left kind of feeling blah about Brady’s MVP. Maybe it’s because he had such a stinker in the playoffs, something that was confirmed around the Super Bowl this week by the many football analysts and pundits out there. From Mike Reiss:

When the topic was the team’s playoff loss to the Jets, there was one overriding theme: Tom Brady took the team far during the regular season, but he didn’t look like himself in the playoff loss. When looking at where things broke down in that game, Brady was where most analysts started. One opinion that stood out was that Brady is usually so mentally tough that he can overcome mistakes, but some felt his first-quarter interception put him in a funk that he couldn’t recover from. “He didn’t look right,” was the common refrain. 

This interview with Michael Lombardi did make me feel just a little bit better. The fact is that while this season ended in disappointment just like 31 other teams did or will, we had a better four month regular season than anyone else. No we didn’t win a Super Bowl, but it was a magical season while it lasted with lots of amazing and exciting football. 2010 was just more proof that as long as BB and TFB are around the Patriots are going to be a contender.

Tom Brady Patriots MVP

Playoff Picture Coming Into Focus

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If you’re looking for a great place to break down the playoff picture I recommend you head over to NFL.com standings page. Weirdest thing about this weekend is that if the Jets beat the Steelers it ensures the AFC East winner will get the #1 overall seed. In that case the Patriots would still need to win a couple games to seal the division up. If Pittsburgh wins the hunt for the #1 overall seed continues but the Patriots would effectively clinch the division, assuming they don’t have a sudden 3 game meltdown.

The NFL Void, Tully Banta-Cain & Wes Welker’s Recovery

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If you’re an NFL fan it doesn’t get much worse than the May-June stretch. You find yourself constantly scanning the internets for news that will never come. Sure you might hear bits and pieces… contract extensions, minor signings, but for the most part we are in the treacherous time of year known simply as “The Void”.

You’ve already educated yourself on your teams draft picks. Maybe even convinced yourself that your team will go 15-1. Which, by the way, I find ironic that even when Jets fans seem assured they will have one of the greatest seasons in NFL history they still won’t be able to beat the Patriots twice.

Anyway, it’s kinda hard to blog during the Void. Most NFL bloggers are really reaching for material right now (see the above 15-1 reference), so I prefer to try and get my Patriots obsession under control. Do other things. Read a book even.

But here are some quick hit Patriots thoughts for the week.

On Tully Banta-Cain As mentioned in the quote in my previous post it seems like most people are writing off Tully Banta-Cain’s 10 sack 2009 season as a fluke. Yes he did have 5 of his 10 sacks against the Bills but let’s not forget the fact that the Patriots owning the Bills has been no easy feat. The Bills did beat both the Dolphins and Jets last year, and really the Patriots dominance of the Bills has been a large part of how they’ve continued to dominate the AFC East for the last decade. So yes, take 5 of 10 with a grain of salt, but remember those two wins played a big part in the Patriots winning the division.

It’s also common to say that TBC was no good against the run, and should only be a situational pass rusher. Well this tells a different story. The only bad game TBC had against the run was against those very same Buffalo Bills. According to ProFootballFocus.com, Tully was the best player on the Patriots defense in 2009. So let’s not be so quick to write him off as a one-year wonder who can’t stop the run. If anything it was pass coverage that was not his specialty.

On Wes Welker’s Recovery There’s a lot of baseless negative rumor mongering that goes on when it comes to the Pats, especially via the Boston and National Media so I’m going to take this opportunity to pass along some positive rumor mongering. First we saw a tweet from Maria Menounos saying:

Hung out w/my patriots-vince wilfork, tom brady and wes welker…wes says he’s healed and ready!psyched!!

OK, who knows what Wes actually said to Maria, he could’ve just been trying to pick her up. But then came this post on the excellent Patriots message board PatsFans.com:

A good friend of mine (a reliable guy) sat directly behind Welker on a flight from Boston to LA today (another Playboy visit vs. passing camp with TB?). Welker told someone sitting next to him that he is “way ahead of schedule”. Take that for what it’s worth at this point in his rehab but it can’t be a bad thing.

OK, can I confirm that either of these reports are true? No. Do either make me thing there’s a chance WW will be ready before week 7? Nope. But it’s two counts of positive news, albeit unconfirmed rumors, that make me feel good about Wes’ chances for a full recovery this year so take them for what they’re worth.

But I will say this, if anyone is coming back way ahead of schedule from an ACL tear it’s Wes Welker.