Results tagged “billbelichick”

Nothing lasts forever, certainly not an unbeaten NBA season. The Boston Celtics lost for the first time this season on Friday, dropping a 110-103 decision to the Phoenix Suns, who lost their first game on Wednesday. For a close game, the Suns were in control most of the way. The NBA's top two shooting teams didn't disappoint the crowd. The Celtics shot 51.7% from the field. Phoenix finished 13-24, or 54.2%, on three-pointers.

It's hard not to experience a letdown after a 59-0 thrashing like the one the Pats put on Tennessee last night. The schedule makers, though, were kind enough to put another winless patsy in the Patriots' path, and the boys responded, delighting Londoners (well, we like to think so, anyway) with a 35-7 mauling of the Buccaneers.

"It’s the only team that has the word ‘England’ in it," joked Alastair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK. Ah, so that's why the Patriots had to spend last night flying across the Atlantic to get ready for Sunday's game against the Bucs in London.

The Patriots made a lot of roster moves yesterday. A LOT. To the point where we wonder if (a) Bill Belichick wasn't happy with the 59-0 win on Sunday, or (b) they were worried about jettisoning some extra weight for the team flight to London this week. Officially gone are TE Michael Matthews and WR Joey Galloway, who was handed his walking papers and promptly dropped them. Not gone long enough to be forgotten were linebackers Eric Alexander and Tully Banta-Cain, who were released and then promptly resigned, possibly for paperwork reasons. "There’s a lot of different procedures and rules, and I don’t even know if I understand them all," said Belichick, who's a lot more concerned right now with puffing up the 0-6 Buccaneers in his players' minds to make them think the Bucs are the second coming of the '66 Packers.

Some time this winter, you'll no doubt read about a storm that dumps an inch of snow on some Southern locale and sends the entire town to hell in a handbasket. It happens every year; when you don't see it much, you don't know what to do with it, and it's good night, Charlotte. Or Little Rock. Or Nashville.

Technically, the Patriots aren't playing the Tennessee Titans today. In honor of the 50th season of the old AFL teams, the Titans are dubbing themselves the Houston Oilers today in Foxboro. But whatever they call themselves, they're a good (or so we thought) team that's somehow 0-5, and the Patriots are a good (or so we thought) team that's 3-2 and hasn't really looked like itself. Something's got to give.

Nobody can say anything official, but everyone in Foxboro is unofficially saying that Junior Seau, who never strayed far from the phone, will be back with the Patriots sometime soon. Maybe. The amount of information runs from Seau's optimistic "I want to thank the management of both for making my return to the NFL with the New England Patriots a reality", to Bob Kraft's gushing "I’d love to have him part of our team for as long as he wants to be", to Bill Belichick's terse "we don’t have anything to say about it."

“The season doesn’t wind down. It just comes to a crashing halt,” Boston manager Terry Francona. That quote wraps up the entire sports day as the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots were on the losing end of comebacks today.

With the Red Sox in the insignificant final series of 2009, the most interesting topic today for Bostonist is, you guessed it, the notoriously enigmatic Patriots injury report! Jerod Mayo and Vince Wilfork generated a lot of interest as Bill Belichick listed them as "doubtful" and "questionable," respectively.

It might have been even worse if Kerry Rhodes had played (wait, he did?). Anyway, the Patriots did a fine job of embarrassing themselves yesterday in New Jersey, playing a listless and mistake-prone game and coming out of it the proud and deserving owners of a 16-9 loss to the Jets.

Paul Byrd comes back from a year on the shelf and throws a gem. Tim Wakefield comes back from the DL and gets a W. And now Daisuke Matsuzaka comes back from three months away and beats the Angels. Clearly, some of these guys need weeks and weeks off between starts. Let's seriously look into the 75-man rotation next year.

It's been a tough few weeks (months) for the Red Sox. That's always a good time to see the Baltimore Orioles appear on the schedule.

With the Sox traveling down to Florida, Tedy Bruschi was given a place squarely in the spotlight on Monday.

Tedy Bruschi, the beloved New England Patriots linebacker who has served as the team's heart and backbone over the course of 13 seasons, announced his retirement from football during a Gillette Stadium press conference a short time ago.

Two of Boston's best pro athletes were on display on Friday with mixed results. Preseason 2009 for the New England Patriots can be summed up in two words: Tom Brady. Is he ready to play after missing the entire 2008 season? Is he risking injury by playing too much in games that don't count? We'll get back to the injurry question.

The bats are alive, they've figured out how to win on the road, and the Red Sox are heading into the Yankee series this weekend playing a completely different brand of ball than they did over the previous two weeks. Oh, Dryer of Emotion, you've tumbled us out of the lint trap.

Professional sports is loaded with people who have a lot to say. They talk about what they've done, or will do, usually in glowing terms. It worked well for Joe Namath. Rafael Palmeiro? Not so much. Two more big mouths decided to flap their gums on Tuesday in Boston's general direction: Jack Cust - stop laughing - of the Oakland A's and Rex Ryan, current HC of the NYJ.

When Josh Beckett stomped off the mound after the fourth inning, he sure looked mad about something. Perhaps Beckett was realizing that he is done pitching against Atlanta for the balance of the 2009 season. Beckett (9-3) stopped the Braves cold, again, this time with seven shutout innings, six hits and six strikeouts as the Red Sox beat the Braves, 8-2. Beckett pitched 16 scoreless innings against Atlanta this year. Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Paplebon closed the game out. Both were adequate, at best, as Paplebon served up a home run to someone named David Ross, who exists and played eight games for Boston in 2008.

Why is Derek Jeter making this face? Is it just because the Yankees have now lost all seven games to the Red Sox this year? Is it because first place in the AL East just changed hands? Or is he just going loco after having to stand in the field for long inning after long inning while his pitching staff lets the Sox run around the bases?

Has everyone recovered from either or both of the humbling playoff losses inflicted upon us by the Bruins and Celtics? Well, if you have, or haven't, it's time to prepare for Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.

J.R. Giddens may not contribute a lot to the Celtics this season. The first-round pick is doing fine in the D-League, but isn't really ready to contribute at an NBA level. But on the bench in Philly last night, he provided us a worthy candidate for Quote of the Year: "He got game! He got game! I think Jesus did it again!"

-- Boston police have arrested two men in connection with yesterday's daylight murder in Jamaica Plain. 23-year-old Christopher Jamison of Roxbury was arraigned today for the murder of Anthony Perry, a 22-year-old Roslindale man. Shaba Olukaga, an 18-year-old from Roxbury, was booked as Jamison's accomplice. The victim was allegedly a gang member, and his murder may have marked the end of a truce between two rival gangs. If so, the murder recalls the 2008 daylight killing of Luis Troncoso, who died blocks from where Perry was shot, and the spree of retributive murders that it sparked. [BPDNews; Globe]

There was playoff intensity at the Garden last night. Sure, the playoffs are months and months away, but when the Canadiens come to town, it's always lively, especially when the home team is playing the way the Bruins are playing now. (Which is kind of hypothetical, since the Bruins have never played this well in our fanlifetimes.)

What were Boston sports fans thankful for yesterday?

Three Patriot losses this season. One, to Miami, we can chalk up to inexperience and a tricky Miami team. One, to San Diego...just awful. Last night was the first time this year, and the first time in years, that the Pats went out and truly beat themselves. And spoiled what was mostly a fantastic football game.

Hey. If Daisuke Matsuzaka can be the shakiest, scariest 18-3 pitcher in baseball history, why can't the Patriots be the craziest, weakest 5-2 team in football? Maybe being the worst 12-4 team ever is a realistic goal. And why not?

With all the practice the Bruins have gotten in shootouts this young season, you have to believe they're going to win one at some point. For the third time, they had to accept one point from the OTL while their opponent (in this case, Buffalo) got the extra. "You almost feel like Groundhog Day here," said coach Claude Julien, which makes us realize we haven't seen that in a while.

Is history going to repeat itself? Can the button-down boys of '08 remember what happened last year, and four years ago? Is Kevin Millar available for an inspirational speech/booze luge?

We were worried? Remember, last season the Bruins were 0-37-1 against Montreal in the regular season, and still managed to force the Habs to seven games in the playoffs. 1-8 against the Angels in the regular season? Pfffft.

Nobody's going to be boxing this one up and sending it to Canton. It was slow, grinding, methodical and (objectively, let's be honest) kind of boring. But it was also quiet and efficient. Coach Belichick doesn't want style points - not right now, anyway - and he got exactly what he wanted, which was a W at New York.