The Pats' Family Tree is covered in... Moss

As a lifelong Pats fan, I have to wonder, with Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Reche Caldwell and Wes Welker (also your KR/PR) as your Top 4 WRs, does Troy Brown fit anymore in the Pat's family tree? Who's the #5? I guarantee, within the local media, THAT will be as big a story, if not bigger, than Randy Moss' 1st camp with the Pats.

Don't forget, Troy was still #2 in receptions last year (behind Caldwell).

But this is what the Pats do every year. Bring in about 100 WRs and try them out during camp only to have them inevitably fall into one of the following categories:

1. Release the guy nobody wanted anyway.

2. Release the guy who didn'y play last year due to injury, but they tried him out to see if they catch a sleeper.

3. Leave a 1st or 2nd year Free Agent WR on the practice squad (a la Bam Childress) until someone inevitably gets hurt or benched.

4. The slacker who gets benched and eventually PIP'd or, worse, just left off the active list each week (my money's on Chad Jackson this season).

5. Sign a FA WR, try him out, keep him on the practice squad, release him, sign him, release sign him, release him. This all happens within a 72 hour period. Then Week 8 of the season will roll around and they will re-sign the guy and he'll be starting opposite Troy Brown because Randy Moss has turf toe, Reche "Saucer Eyes" Caldwell has a case of the dropsies, Donte reverts to Donte from New Orleans, and Wes Welker is discovered to really be a disguised Tim Dwight after he let his hair grow 2 inches.

TRUST ME, this will all happen.

And still, at the end of the season, you will look at the stats and see that Troy Brown, again, ranks in the top 3 WR stats on the Pats despite signing a minimum veteran deal, giving his heart and soul on the field, not to mention playing DB/PR/KR as much as he will be a WR. He's a chameleon. Just when you think he's not there, he pops up in 1 of any number of places, always doing something positive when you look back on Monday at the game reel.

Spring has Sprung

Work on a day like this is brutal. After the poor weather last week and now a summer-esque weekend turning into comfortable sunny weekdays/workdays, one starts to look out the window and think about packing it in for the rest o' the day.

Drew Bledsoe: 1993-2007

While it reads like an obit, the caption says it all- the end of an era. This guy WAS the Patriots when New England began its ascent. You can say what you want about the Second Act of his career (Buffalo/Dallas), but Drew Bledsoe was a top QB until "the hit". He had led the Pats to their first SB since '85/'86 when the Pats took on the Packers in '97. And he was still a veteran influence (albeit from the sideline mostly) after Brady took over to make the run to their first title in 2001.

The #1 overall pick in '94, Bledsoe nearly singlehandedly revived football around here. His arrival, along with Parcells and the Kraft family, were really the beginning of the Golden Era in Patriots Nation. Heck, there was no Patriot's Nation before that triumvirate.

You could go to training camp any day and it would be a desert at Bryant College in Smithfield. After Bledsoe's and Parcell's arrival, training camp started becoming an event. I remember what used to be a dozen or so fans became hundreds, complete with merchandise, and cameras, and coolers and umbrellas to stake out a spot and watch all day long.

I know we have to give credit to Belichick and Brady, et al. for our current dominance, but as a true lifelong Pats' fan, I cannot and will not ever overlook Bledsoe's contributions to New England professional football. Thanks, Drew.

His final stats:

	Passing
	CMP	ATT	YDS	CMP%	YPA	LNG	TD	INT	SACK	RAT
Career	3839	6717	44611	57.2	6.64	86	251	206	467	77.1

So, What You Are Saying Is...

That's right, as fans of the NFL, we do NOT care if the players get hurt.

We'll be there.

We do NOT care if the players use PEDs.

We'll be there.

We do NOT care if DirectTV's Sunday Ticket screws everyone this side of the NFL Network.

We'll be there.

Off the field arrests?

Ha! Less than half of us are bothered by players' personal conduct so...

We'll be there.

That's the conclusion from an ESPN.com SportsNation poll, answered by over 56,000 visitors...

Have off-field incidents and arrests in recent years involving NFL players made you less likely to follow the NFL?
80.3%	No
19.7%	Yes

So what this tells me is this... the issues the NFL thinks it has are really non-issues. The League is so entrenched in its fan base's psyche, I think Roger Goodell himself could be arrested, and the NFL's approval rating would soar. Actually, that's probably a bad example... I doubt fans even care what the Commish does or says. Maybe if, say Manning or Brady were arraigned on 1st degree manslaughter charges you might have a drop in ratings/viewership/sponsorships/retail revenue/etc.

Might.

In our society, has the NFL become that powerful?

Untouchable?

Omnipotent?

Is there even an adjective that can do justice describing the League's trance on the public?

Or has our value system just plummeted so low that you can physically injure yourself, take drugs, injure others both in competition and by deliberate criminal acts, and be arrested for any variety of reasons, but as long as you are an NFL player, "John Q. Public" will watch you, cheer for you, heck, even buy tickets to your games, purchase your damn jersey, bobble head doll, and a poster for a kids' room.

I wonder if Roger Goodell even needs to save his League's persona if that is the type of positive fan response the NFL gets in spite of itself.

Scary.