I've covered sports in Boston for almost 20 years, and have authored three books: "Baseball by the Beach," "The Blueprint" and "New England Patriots: The Complete Illustrated History."
FOXBORO - For the 2016 Patriots, there was no "On To Cincinnati" moment. There was no singular call to arms where the team and coaching staff drew a line in the sand like Bill Belichick did two years ago, marking the end of one stretch and the true start of their championship quest.
HOUSTON - On Monday night, Tom Brady was asked who his hero was. The Patriots quarterback teared up a bit before saying it was his father, Tom Brady Sr. "He was just a great example for me, and he was always someone who supported me in everything I did, to come home at night and bring me out, hit me ground balls and fly balls," Brady said.
Twenty-one years ago this month, a young Tom Brady was at a crossroads. The two-sport high school star had a decision. Commit to playing football at the University of Michigan? Or make baseball a career? Brady had a scholarship offer from Lloyd Carr at Michigan.
Milt Plum will be watching Sunday night from his North Carolina home to see whether or not Tom Brady and the Patriots' quarterbacks will take down one of his old records. The former Browns quarterback was one of the most accurate passers in the league in 1960, when he went the first nine games of the season without throwing an interception.
The picture at the right? That was taken in 2011 when our son joined me for an afternoon at Patriots camp. He's helping me take attendance. During the pre-adoption process, he was described to us as an active 4-year-old "with lots of energy," and that was pretty apparent the first time we saw him racing around a park in Western Massachusetts.
FOXBORO -- Rest easy, younglings: Yoda has returned. After a two-year hiatus, Dante Scarnecchia -- the occasionally off-color Jedi master of offensive line play who turned undrafted free agents into world champions on an annual basis -- has returned. And after a couple of months back on the job, its like the 68-year-old never left.
Someone had to take the fall. That's the initial reaction that NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger had after watching the performance of the Patriots offensive line in Sunday's AFC title game against the Broncos.
FOXBORO -- Those of you who believe in karma, pay attention. The Patriots lost their MVP quarterback for four games and a 2016 first-round draft pick because of Deflategate. In Tom Brady 's absence, they've been forced to turn to a pair of backups in Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett.
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who has watched more of Cyrus Jones while also understanding the thought process of Bill Belichick than Phil Savage. Savage, the radio analyst for the Crimson Tide, has had a front-row seat for Jones' career at Alabama, and he has no shortage of thoughts on the Patriots' first pick (60th overall) in last month's draft.
If you were the coroner, you'd put the time of death somewhere around 3 p.m. last Sunday. That was about the time Tom Brady completed his fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon on the Patriots' first drive of the second half against the Bills.
Do your job. It's a three-word phrase that was borne out of the language Bill Belichick used when he would deliver a semi-profane tongue-lashing in the early days of his Patriots coaching career, but since has evolved into a brand philosophy that's come to define the Patriots and the way they do business.
Earlier in the week, we took a look at the 20 best free agent signings of the Bill Belichick era. Now, we look at the flip side. As was the case with the first one, in putting together who was ranked where, we included contract, value and overall impact on the franchise (in this case, it was negative instead of positive), both on and off the field.
With free agency pretty much in the books, it's a good a time as any to update our list of the 20 finest free agent moments of the Bill Belichick era in New England.