Well, he better be if the Pats ever want to get back in the title picture after two disappointing seasons.

Luckily, according to sources, New England Patriots’ wide receiver Wes Welker will indeed be fully cleared to participate in all training camp activities before the 2010 NFL football season starts.

WR Wes Welker has looked good in individual drills for the Patriots in offseason workouts though he still has a long way to go in his recovery. He still is not competing in team work during non-contact scrimmages, but Welker is encouraged with his rehab.

“It’s going good so far,” Welker said recently. “It’s a long process, but I feel like we’re making a lot of strides.” But even though Welker is making strides — he had surgery Feb. 2 but has been running at practice without a limp —reports said there’s still a possibility he’ll miss the first six weeks of the season.

The New England Patriots aren’t going to take any chances by rushing his recovery to get him back for the first week of the season. “My plan is to keep working hard, keep doing the things I’ve been doing to get to where I am right now,” said Welker.

This news would mean that Welker would not be able to begin the season on the reserve/PUP list, and would mean that he is extremely likely to play within the first few weeks, if not right away in Week One.

A player on the active PUP is ineligible to practice, but can be removed from the list at any time during camp. If Welker is not put on the list, the Patriots would not have the option of placing Welker on the reserve PUP (where players aren’t eligible to play for the first six weeks of the season) come Week 1.

The bottom line here is that Welker has evidently made…

Wild card weekend continues this Sunday.

That’s right, the 2010 NFL playoffs continue this Sunday with a huge AFC wild card round match between the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots. In case you didn’t know, the Patriots lost Wes Welker for the playoffs last week, setting the stage for the Ravens D to take advantage.

This playoff matchup between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens is the only playoff game that won’t be a rematch of last week as the Jets and the Bengals, the Eagles and the Cowboys and the Packers and the Cardinals have all played each other last Sunday heading to their wild card matchup.

The first meeting between the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens back in Week 4 was as exciting as ever as the Patriots barely edged Baltimore, 27-21. That game left both teams at 3-1 and provided an exciting quarterback battle that might have gone the other way had Derrick Mason not dropped a pass that would have led to a fourth-down conversion.

Joe Flacco threw for 264 yards, but needed nearly 50 completions to get there, numbers indicative of Baltimore’s mark of 7.1 yards per completion. Ray Rice eclipsed the 100-yard mark on the ground in just 11 carries, a number that helped bolster an impressive rushing mark of nearly five yards per carry.

The Ravens will likely have to use that ground game against…

This is why coaches should rest their starters during the week before the playoffs.

The 2010 NFL playoffs are here and the New England Patriots are coming in without the guy who just broke his own franchise record for receptions with 123 catches this season. And for a guy who just racked up 1,348 receiving yards, his loss could be devastating for the Patriots’ hopes of another Super Bowl title.

We’re referring to Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker who was carted off the field in their 34-27 loss to the Houston Texans. He was injured when he tried to plant his foot after making a catch, tearing both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament.

The New England Patriots were suppose to be the team nobody want to face in the postseason but with Welker out, I’m no longer certain if that adage is still true. Welker is Tom Brady’s safety net whenever things go bad inside the pocket. With him out, Brady would have to heave it downfield more often than usual to Randy Moss and we all know how much opposing corners like that.

You want more bad news? Tom Brady is banged up, as he’s always been the last few years.

”It’s football and guys go down all the time, on our team, on other teams, and it sucks, it’s unfortunate,” Patriots tight end Benjamin Watson said. ”When you are a team, you have 10 other guys and when one goes down, the other guy fills in and the train keeps on moving. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Well, it’ll be a little harder to fill the shoes of a…

And that my friends is a new NFL record.

Any questions about Brady on whether he can be the same playmaker he once was this 2009 NFL football season after coming back from his injury last year have been answered with a resounding yes following the way he humiliated the Titans last Sunday.

For those of you who missed it, Tom Brady had arguably the best game of his career, setting a new NFL record after scoring 5 touchdowns, all in the second quarter of their 59-0 annihilation of the struggling Tennessee Titans.

The passing game was working for the New England Patriots early as Tom Brady took advantage of a Titans secondary that was missing two of its starting corners. Brady scored two touchdowns with Randy Moss, scored another with running back Kevin Faulk and then scored two more with Wes Welker to put his Patriots ahead 45-0 before halftime.

It sure has been one long Sunday afternoon for the team with the best record in the NFL last…

Well, they have to protect the ass of their prized quarterback first.

New England’s campaign last season was ruined after the loss of Tom Brady for the rest of the year. It was a huge disappointment to their fans as the Patriots were coming off a perfect regular season and came close to winning it all in Glendale, Arizona. Witnessing all that momentum shattered in the very first game of the 2008 season with Brady limping off the field, was disheartening to say the least.

Coming to the 2009 NFL football season, Brady is at least, back throwing footballs again and it is in the Patriots’ best interest to keep their guy healthy this time. Brady returns to the same offense that helped the franchise go undefeated, finishing the regular season at 16-0.

Sure, it was two years ago and last season’s run wasn’t as dominant as their unbeatable 2007 regular season campaign. But the fact of the matter is, the New England Patriots only had Tom Brady for just a single quarter last season and he should have no problems making that West Coast offense work wonders again this year.

The big improvements for the Patriots came on defense, particularly in the secondary. Cornerbacks Terrence Wheatley and Jonathon Wilhite return, and are joined by rookie corner Darius Butler and veteran corners Leigh Bodden and Shawn Springs.

PLUS, the Patriots added Patrick Chung to an already deep…

It’s Week 11 in the NFL and in case you haven’t felt it yet, the playoffs are just around the corner.

Week 11 of the 2008-09 NFL football season starts this Thursday night as teams continue to jockey for position with the playoffs only less than two months away. And after ten weeks into the season, we learned that the Titans continue to surprise themselves, the Bills continue to disappoint their fans, the Giants like to toy with their prey and an old fart like Kurt Warner could be the MVP at the end of the year.

Crazy huh? Guess what, it only gets crazier because Week 11 starts with the New England Patriots. What has been crazy about this team is the fact that they have been able to stay on top of their division playing without starting quarterback Tom Brady and starting running back Laurence Maroney. They have Brett Favre and the surging New York Jets this Thursday night and since the Jets are tied with the Pats for the AFC East lead, this Eric Mangini – Bill Belichick rivalry will resume with the division lead at stake.

The 6-3 New England Patriots earned a key division win Sunday, controlling the clock for nearly 38 minutes and outgaining Buffalo 370-168 en route to a 20-10 victory. Matt Cassel continued to show improvement as Tom Brady’s replacement, completing 23 of 34 passes for 234 yards and running for a touchdown for the second straight week for head coach Bill Belichick. The New York Jets, also at 6-3, have virtually no time to bask in the most-lopsided victory in their history, as they take the field again four days after a 47-3 drubbing of St. Louis. This game against their bitter rivals promises to be much tougher, especially with the winner taking sole possession of the division lead. Of course…

Because the start of football season means it’s time to live out your fantasies.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t include a seven-hour ”humping” marathon with Anne Hathaway. The 2008-09 NFL football season is upon us people and when full grown men talk about their fantasies, they’re not talking about tits and ass but their own fantasy football teams.

Who should you pick in the first round of your fantasy draft? Did you win it all with your Tom Brady – Randy Moss combo? Or did you suffered a tragic loss playing for the championship when Brady and Moss both had terribly bad performances when the Patriots ALMOST lost to the Giants in their last game of the regular season? (Remember that? I almost did…)

Of course, the hot pick in this year’s NFL fantasy draft is last season’s rookie of the year Adrian Peterson. He has singlehandedly carried the Minnesota Vikings back from obscurity. They ALMOST made the playoffs to boot too.

I won’t be surprised to see the young runningback beat LaDanian Tomlinson for the top spot in fantasy ratings this season.

However, as impressive as Peterson has become in fantasy football, there’s this one guy that has done better, Philadelphia Eagles runningback…

The Road to Super Bowl XLIII Begins

Another season of NFL football is upon us.

In case you missed it, Super Bowl XLII was won by the New York Giants, stunning the New England Patriots 17-14 to become probably the most unlikely world champions in NFL history. (Puh-lease, don’t give me that ‘’I knew Eli Manning would [...]

FUCK. If these guys don’t sign Randy Moss soon, the Giants won’t be the only team beating them next season.

The 2008-09 NFL football season is still, well, a LIFETIME away from here. But just because we love football so much up in here, we’ll be talking, breathing and of course, writing about football, until the brand new season kicks off in August.

And as far as the New England Patriots are concerned, they haven’t signed any big names to add to their powerhouse roster yet, unlike last offseason when they got Randy Moss, Wes Welker and a whole lot more to carry them all the way to Super Bowl XLII.

Instead, the Pats are going to the opposite direction. They are technically leaving Randy Moss, the Pro Bowl wide receiver who just broke the single season record for most touchdowns by a wideout held by Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice.

Yep, Moss sure had one huge year for the New England Patriots. Despite that, the Pats are not putting the ”franchise tag” on him just yet, technically leaving the guy to the free agency market.

Apparently, the New England Patriots are gambling that they could come to terms with Randy Moss on a new contract so he can remain with the team. Was this a good move? Well, if Moss receives a better offer from…

Of course, that is STILL a long long LOOONG way from here but hey, since we love football so much, we’re already giving you the odds.

In case you missed it, Super Bowl XLII was won by the New York Giants, stunning the New England Patriots 17-14 to become probably the most unlikely world champions in NFL history. (Puh-lease, don’t give me that ”I knew Eli Manning would win it since day one” bullshit…)

The biggest game in American sports now returns to Florida with Super Bowl XLIII to be held in Tampa. The last time the Super Bowl was here, the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears to give Peyton Manning his first championship ring at Super Bowl XLI.

Both Peyton and Eli Manning have their Super Bowl championship rings now. So, is it safe to say that the New England Patriots could finally win it again? Oh I’m really hoping for that people. I really do.

The New England Patriots should do no worse than a 14-2 season. Hell, they went 18-0 last season before that horrific tragedy at Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona. Sure, losing to the New York Giants was one HUGE mishap, but if they keep their receiving corps of Randy Moss and Wes Welker next season, they should still be the heavy favorites to win the 2009…