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To quote Snoop Dogg, “murder was the case that they gave” New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.
We don’t know the specific charge yet. However, he was officially arrested, taken away to be arraigned, and the New England Patriots have released him.
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Pictured above is the Newtown, CT helmet decal the New England Patriots will wear tonight when they take on the San Francisco 49ers in what could very likely be a Super Bowl 47 preview. But do remember that as big a NFL game this is, it’s still meaningless in the grand scheme of life. Sports are a distraction from life, not life itself. And a lot of people have lost sight of it.
The tragedy in Newton, Connecticut puts all this into perspective. Football is insignificant when measured against real instances of life and death. The Patriots are not just Boston’s team, they are all of New England’s team, and that includes the tiny Connecticut town founded 71 years before America was born.
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The New England Patriots truly have an abundance of talent at the wide receiver position. It’s probably their strongest and deepest group. Wes Welker may be very unhappy about his contract, but he claims he will not hold out this season. Chad Ochocinco tries to hold on for another year, former Illini star Brandon Lloyd will compete with Deion Branch to be the team’s deep threat, and 2007 perfect season role players Jabar Gaffney and Donte Stallworth are back in the mix. Don’t forget Julian Edelman, Matthew Slater and Northern Illinois and Riverside-Brookfield High School product Britt Davis.
Jeremy Ebert from Northwestern is hoping to find his niche in New England as well.
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If Deion Branch and Josh McDaniels can come back into the fold, there’s no reason Asante Samuel can’t do the same. This year’s Wes Welker franchise tag situation is similar to how it played out when the New England Patriots slapped the tag on Branch and Samuel in the past. If Welker, wants to hold out, and leave- fine.
He’ll soon see the grass was greener where he was. Cornerback Asante Samuel needs to as well. Like the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, the Eagles are pretty desperate to sell
And consider this from The Victory Formation:
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Word is all over the internets today that the Peyton Manning deal is done. He’ll sign with the Denver Broncos. Which means jettisoning incumbent starter and 2011 franchise identity Tim Tebow. And surprisingly John Fox and John Elway aren’t expecting much in return for Tebow; therefore it’s a buyer’s market.
The most logical landing spot might be with the offensive coordinator-then-head-coach Josh McDaniels who originally drafted him in 2010. McDaniels is back to his old gig with the New England Patriots, meaning Foxboro could be Tebow Town….if a season ending injury to Tom Brady occurred.
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Well-traveled but talented NFL wide receiver Brandon Lloyd has played for the: San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos and St. Louis Rams.
It was in Denver, where Josh McDaniels was the coach that Lloyd had by far his best season, the only Pro Bowl season of his career.
In 2010, Lloyd set a career highs in receptions (77), yards (1,448), and touchdowns (11). He led the NFL in receiving and was named to the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams.
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Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer added another staff member today: Everett Withers, the current interim head coach at the University of North Carolina.
Withers has been a collegiate coach for 17 years and has also worked seven seasons in the National Football League: six years (2001-06) as defensive backs coach with the Tennessee Titans under Jeff Fisher, and a year (1994) as a defensive quality control coach for the New Orleans Saints. In Columbus, he’ll serve as co-defensive coordinator with this year’s interim Head Coach Luke Fickell.
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He has only four tweets, the first of which was less than an hour ago, yet he’s got close to 20,000 followers already. New England Patriots star receiver Wes Welker, the NFL leader in receptions, receiving yards and longest reception is now on Twitter (@weswelker). Yes the account is verified.
His ultra-colorful teammate Chad Johnson persuaded him into doing so.
Welker tweeted:
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Here we go- two 5-2 NFL clubs with eyes on winning their respective East divisions. And of course New England Patriots vs. New York Giants is a rematch of Super Bowl XL. Most people remember that game from the moment above, when an obscure loser named David Tyree- who never again caught a NFL pass, was the unlikeliest of heroes.
I don’t blame James Sanders and Rodney Harrison. I blame that vaunted offense for putting up a whopping 14 points. I blame the OL for refusing to show up in the game that mattered most and ruin a perfect season. But let’s just stop talking about it. [Read more…]
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There’s something very extraordinary about New England Patriots offensive lineman Marcus Cannon, who practiced Tuesday for the first time this season.
Cannon, a fifth-round pick out of TCU, found out he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (strains of which are some of the deadliest cancers out there) just days before the NFL Draft last April. He was considered a second-round prospect prior to the news of his illness. So the situation caused his draft stock to drop a few rounds, and for him to lose out on some money.
I know the feeling of having something like that derail your life right when you’re trying to establish it. I battled and defeated Hodgkin’s disease (a very similar form of lymphoma) twice between the age of 22 and 25; close to Cannon’s age.
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How much longer are the New England Patriots going to go with the Law Firm and Woodhead approach at tailback? Don’t get me wrong, it’s working for them, both BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead are serviceable to solid, but I wonder if they’ll ever bring back a feature back mentality.
The last bulk carrier was Corey Dillon and that was over three years ago. Many draftniks thought they were going to take Trent Richardson’s predecessor in Alabama- Mark Ingram, but it didn’t happen. Instead Ingram went to the Miami Dolphins.
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English
Ravens’ Terrell Suggs mocks Patriots with expletives, insults
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs was anything but a gracious winner as his team defeated the New England Patriots to advance to the Super Bowl. Suggs looked like a jackass with these postgame comments: “These are the most arrogant pricks in the world, starting with [coach Bill] Belichick on down. Tell them to have fun at the Pro Bowl. Arrogant fuckers.”
Oh wait, there’s more
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