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Best/Worst in Weekly Patriots Links-12/24

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“Just ’cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.”

Bye Bye Denver. See you next year. (Roughly) Same time, same place. Mile High demons are officially exorcised. Between last season’s regular season collapse, and the thorough beatdown (see above) at the hands of that Bronco defense in Denver for the AFC title, this “monkey” was real and needed to be conquered. That being said, the job is not done. Far from it. The road to the Super Bowl must run through route 1 and the Pats are in control of their own destiny. Before we move along that road, let’s talk about last Sunday afternoon.

Kevin Duffy (Mass Live) wrote on CB Logan Ryan, the Patriot defense answering the call, and how this game was a personal one. He quotes Ryan:

“How (the Broncos) ended our year last year, man, this was definitely a personal game for us,” Ryan added. “I don’t care what anyone says. We wanted to come out and play well. We felt like we played well last year, too, but we didn’t play well in the red area. We wanted to come out here and completely dominate the game, make the quarterback look like a young quarterback.”

Great news, Logan. You did. No matter what the stat sheet says, or what Manny Sanders tweets, the New England defense deemed Denver’s offense anemic. Manny, no matter how you slice it, 3 points at home isn’t getting it done. Sour grapes don’t get you anywhere in this league. While Brady wrote a thank you letter to the fans after last season’s tragic loss, Sanders is tweeting garbage, Talib is talking smack, and Ward is suplexing people in the waning seconds of the game. Mike (Mark? Who cares…) Kiszla did a hack job of a sell on TJ’s classless take down of JE11:

…there was Ward, out on the field, slamming New England receiver Julian Edelman to the ground with a vicious tackle on an incomplete pass. As the penalty flag for unnecessary roughness flew, Ward turned to the New England sideline, raised both arms above shoulder-level, bent his elbows and flexed his biceps defiantly at the Patriots. This defense dies hard. “We always fight,” Ward said.

Since when did TJ Ward become a martyr? Give me a friggin’ break. Sorry, Mark, Mike, Marv, that wasn’t a play to the whistle, or hard nosed, that was a dirty move by a frustrated player with a history of such actions. Sugarcoat all you want, I’m just thankful Julian wasn’t injured on the play.

Moving to greet pastures, Marcus Cannon is a beast. Boston Globe Correspondent Everett Cook wrote a brief piece on him here, highlighting the differences between his performance in last year’s bout and this year’s.

On Sunday, Miller again lined up on the other side of the line from the Patriots. This time, though, he was almost invisible. The defensive star registered four tackles and never got a sniff of Brady, who was hit just five times on 34 passing plays en route to a 16-3 Patriots win.

It wasn’t always 1 on 1, and a (rightly) conservative (for the Pats) game plan helped, but the big right tackle did his job and then some. What a story, what a season. I really can’t say enough good things about the former TCU standout. I will say, however, he should give a nice chunk of that bonus contract money to O-line coach Dante Scarnecchia, who by all intents and purposes is a miracle working magician. Jerry Thornton wrote on the “2016 Patriots Man of the Year”:

The five starters in that game – Vollmer, Kline, Stork, Mason and Cannon – were the cards Scarnecchia was dealt coming out of retirement and asked to build a winning pot with. And as we sit here 14 games into the season, he’s sitting behind stacks of High Society. He discarded Kline and Stork. Vollmer got injured and is probably done for good. And has settled on a unit of five full time, every down starters of Solder, Thuney, Andrews, Mason and Cannon that is playing like a full house that seemed impossible last winter.

Scar’s impact cannot be underestimated. This guy has made a career of maximizing talent and this season is no different. You know who else can’t be underestimated? The New York Jets. We all remember last month. It took a gutsy drive at the end of the game from a one-legged Brady to limp out of Jersey with a W. While this one is at home, and these teams are clearly going in different directions, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a competitive game for at least a half. One thing to watch for: the potential Patriots’ debut of Michael Floyd. Floyd’s off field troubles, are, for lack of a better word, troubling, but if integrated properly this guy can help. We’ll just have to wait and see. For now, we are on to the Jets.

Holiday bonus “grab bag”: