Scott Cordischi On Sports: Pats Are The Colts

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

I had to laugh listening to “Felger & Massarotti” on 98.5 – The Sports Hub Tuesday. Co-host Michael Felger was saying how the Patriots have lost their way in recent years from being a well-balanced football team to a one-dimensional team similar to the Indianapolis Colts of last decade.

Welcome to the party, Michael.

Felger is a great sports talk show host, probably the best in Boston. But is he just now realizing what most of us have realized for a few years now?

It was written here well over a year ago and said by yours truly on talk radio here in Providence even before that that the biggest problem for the Patriots these past few years is that they have become that finesse team that Indianapolis was when New England beat them regularly early last decade.

What’s surprising is that Bill Belichick let it get this way. Whether it was the St. Louis Rams of 2001 or the Colts from last decade, Belichick’s teams beat them when it counted because they had a tough, play-making defense. No more.

While New England’s offense has been much more explosive in recent years than it ever was when they won their 3 Super Bowls, their defense has regressed to the point where they cannot pressure opposing quarterbacks and cannot get off the field on third down.

Unless those two things change this year, don’t expect the Patriots to win a 4th Super Bowl anytime soon.

-Wes Welker and Deion Branch were among the Patriots players to report to Foxboro Tuesday. Wednesday the entire team is scheduled to report to Gillette Stadium.

-If you didn’t appreciate Bob Kraft before the past few weeks, you have to appreciate the man now.

-The Red Sox don’t need to make a big trade prior to the deadline because they are a virtual lock for the postseason along with the New York Yankees.

-Many of the so-called “experts” are picking the Pats as the odds-on favorites to win it all this year because of Belichick, Brady and the continuity within the organization heading into this year of uncertainty.

-98.5 – The Sports Hub handed out hand lotion with copies of the Bruins new Stanley Cup Championship DVD. Think about that for a moment.

-The Minnesota Vikings are reportedly trying to acquire QB Donovan McNabb from Washington. What’s the matter, Brett Favre wasn’t available?

-Speaking of Favre, the rumors that he may want to make another comeback can’t be true, can they? If they are, he’s lost this football fan.

-Raise your hand if you thought that the Yankees’ Curtis Granderson would have 28 homeruns and 77 RBI’s at any point this season, much less with 62 games still to play.

-Watching Andrew Miller pitch is the definition of frustrating.

-Matt Hasselbeck, Kevin Kolb, Donovan McNabb, Matt Leinart and Vince Young are just some of the quarterbacks who could be leading new teams in 2011.

-Former Patriot, Lion and Jet Damien Woody has decided to retire.

-Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo tells Yahoo! Sports that he believes that the Celtics window of opportunity to win a championship is still very much open.

-In the end, what forced the NFL owners and players to get a deal done was the almighty dollar! The owners didn’t want to miss out on the $200 million in revenue for each week of preseason games and the players didn’t want to miss a paycheck.

-In these tough economic times, the New York Jets did a great thing when they told all of their employees that they would be compensated for all of their lost pay during the lockout.