One thing that I like to do when looking at a draft is look at who was selected. The next thing to look at is who was selected within the next 5 picks that would have been better. Finally the trades that were made.

The Patriots went into round one with a pick at number 22. The Patriots traded that pick away and dropped down to 24 before trading that pick away for pick 27. The Patriots selected CB Devin McCourty with the pick. McCourty had a pro bowl rookie year. Great selection for a player that not many of us knew about. McCourty’s first 3 seasons have shown a great first season followed by a down 2nd. His third season showed a swap of positions to safety a position he has manned quite well. No one picked in the 5 picks after Devin have done much.

Lets look at the trades. At 22 the Patriots could have selected Demaryius Thomas. Instead they traded back and received a first 24 overall and a 4th round pick. They traded 24 to Dallas who selected Dez Bryant. With the 4th rounder the Patriots selected Aaron Hernadez. The Trade from 24 to 27 netted the Pats a 3rd. With the third the Patriots Selected Taylor Price. While Price didn’t work out and Thomas and Bryant have turned into good players, the trade did net the Pats 2 solid players in McCourty and Hernandez.

One final note on the first round. I believe that the Patriots wanted tight end Jermaine Gresham that went to the Bengals at 21. Had he been there the Pats may have stayed at 21.

In the second round the Pats selected Rob Gronkowski 42 overall. The Patriots acquired this pick ultimately through Jacksonville. The pick they traded the year before was the Packers 3rd round pick. That pick was acquired for the Patriots 1st round draft pick they received by Baltimore then traded to the Greenbay Packers. The Pack selected Clay Mathews. In the trade the Pats got Gronk, Edelman, Tate and Darius Butler. Win win for both teams.

Gronk has become the best tight end in football. This is a homerun pick as the next 5 picks after Rob Gronkowski were Sergio Kindle, Lamarr Houston, Zane Beadles, Linval Joseph and Daryl Washington. None have meant to there team what Gronk has.

The second pick of the second round saw the Patriots choosing Jermaine Cunningham. The team missed on this pick. Cunningham has flashed but has not done what the team had hoped. The next pick college teammate Carlos Dunlap had a great rookie season with 9.5 sacks and has 20 sacks in his career. Cunningham has 3.5. MLB Sean Lee was also selected 2 picks later. Ben Tate the solid back up HB for the Houston Texans was also selected.

The third pick for the Patriots in the second round was Brandon Spikes. Spikes has become a solid run defense linebacker. While he can be a liability in pass coverage. The pick was acquire along with a 5th rounder for the 58th overall pick which was Ben Tate. The running back from Houston while good is not Spikes and the 5th rounder punter Zoltan Mesko.

In the third round the Patriots had picks 89 and 90. They traded 89 to the Panthers for the panthers 2011 2nd round pick. That pick was 33 overall and was used to select Ras-i Dowling. While Dowling cant stay on the field a move up of 56 picks the next year is a hit.

At 90 the pats selected Taylor Price. A head scratcher in my mind. This wide out came from a run oriented scheme at Ohio. He was cut by the Pats in 2011 and has 5 career catches. The following selection was linebacker Navorro Bowman for the 49ers. That would of been a great pick. Other good players selected within 5 picks were Tony Moeaki and Jimmy Graham.

In the 4th round the Patriots hit big time on Aaron Hernandez. While he can be a bit fragile he is a matchup nightmare. Dennis Pitta was selected right after. No other players selected within the next 5 picks would be worth what Aaron is to the Patriots. This finalized the first round trades. I would take McCourty and Hernandez any day over the players selected in the first round instead

The 5th round brought the Patriots punter Zoltan Mesko. Mesko’s big leg has been a good field position changer for the Patriots. This finalized the trade with Houston. This is another case of the Pats playing the draft board game and coming away for a solid two for one. No player of note was taken in the next 5 picks. This was a very solid 5th round selection for a position of need at the time.

The sixth and seventh round brought nothing much as the Pats selected Ted Larson, Thomas Welch, Kade Weston and Brandon Deaderick. Deaderick was a good 7th round pick. He has 5 career sacks including 2 last season with 2 forced fumbles.

No special players have turned into surprise all pros after the Patriots selection of Ted Larson. Larson was cut and has become a very solid offensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This draft was a complete success in my eyes. With starters McCourty, Gronkowski, Spikes, Hernadez and Mesko, the Pats added 5 quality players in a single draft. This draft looking back is an A or A- at worse. Hindsight ofcourse is 20/20. Mel Kiper on draft weekend gave this draft a B-. Pro football weekly was ahead of the curve giving the Pats an A. Todd McShay offered a B Grade.

The draft is a crap shoot. While sitting down this weekend and taking in the sites while enjoying your favorite adult beverage, remember post draft grades are worthless.

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Anyway, McCourty underwent a minor shoulder injury, and it seems like there needed to be some cleaning up there. He injured that shoulder in the 2011 season and had to miss a brief period time because of it, but McCourty was not injured last season. There were rumblings that he still had a slightly separated shoulder last season, but McCourty’s injury has been categorized as minor.

Here is what McCourty said about the current state of his shoulder, via the Boston Herald, ”It’s coming along. It’s a day-by-day process, just trying to do things, whatever they tell me to do in rehab and try to get it better. It’s moving along.”

He also took some time to continue to praise new Patriots safety Adrian Wilson, and it sounds like they will have great chemistry at the position. When you have a pair of safeties with excellent chemistry, then that can be something special. That’s especially true when one of them is a budding elite safety, whereas the other is a veteran who once was one of the game’s best at the position.

It’s great to hear that McCourty is progressing well, and there is no doubt in my mind that he will be ready for training camp and won’t suffer any setbacks heading into the 2013 season on his shoulder.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

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The Patriots blew the game- and the Jets- out in one of the greatest second quarters you will ever see a team play. It started with a three-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker right off the bat that got the ball rolling. Then, the magic was set up.

Bill Belichick couldn’t have been happier with how his 200th win came about. The Patriots were in New York, blew out a bitter rival, and they did so on Thanksgiving Day in total annihilation. Not only did the Patriots score a whopping 35 points in the second quarter to take a 35-3 lead into the half, but it was the way in which they did it that makes it special. This is a Thanksgiving game that I will never forgot.

In 52 seconds, the New England Patriots put 21 points on the board, and Rex Ryan looked like he was about to barf, crap himself, and cry at the same time. If you didn’t see his face, then you should have. It was even more priceless than the butt fumble. Anyway, let’s run through each of the three beautiful touchdowns.

1. Shane Vereen, 83-yard touchdown pass

Pretty much all of those yards came from Vereen and his ridiculous speed. He caught the screen pass and just blew by absolutely everyone on the Jets, and that defense looked about fifty gears too slow for Vereen. Bart Scott looked like he was frozen in time, the way Clark Kent froze everyone in Smallville. Vereen is just so explosive, and he showed it by making the Jets defense look utterly foolish. I know that’s not hard to do, but what is hard to do is run so fast for 83-yards that somebody watching on TV will miss that player score if they turn for even a split second.

2. Steve Gregory, 32-yard fumble return

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. It’s really hard to scoop up a bouncing football while running, but Steve Gregory’s path to the end zone was threat. No, no, the credit for the butt fumble touchdown goes to Vince Wilfork; Mark Sanchez had no idea what hit him. Then, he realized, it was his own guard Brandon Moore. So Sanchez tries to scramble, and he ends up falling a little bit and smashes his helmet right into Brandon Moore’s butt (I feel for him). Part of the reason why this play happened is because Wilfork was strong enough to push Moore backwards into Sanchez’s direction. At the end of the play, Wilfork just pushed Moore to the ground.

3. Julian Edelman, 22 yard fumble return

Ah, another miscue from the Jets. Joe McKnight returned the kick-off and was promptly clocked by Devin McCourty on what was a terrific play by the Pats star safety on special teams. Julian Edelman scooped the ball up and ran it into the end zone to cap off the 21 points in 52 seconds.

The final touchdown of the half from the New England Patriots is also notable, and it was also notched by Julian Edelman. The current free agent wide receiver took advantage of some shoddy coverage by the Jets, and he got past the last man in the Jets secondary deep down the middle of the field. Tom Brady hit him up with a pinpoint pass (who said he can’t throw it deep?), and it ended up in a beautiful 56-yard touchdown pass that was probably my favorite touchdown of them all. I’m a huge fan of good ol’ offensive execution.

Speaking of execution, the Jets probably felt like a Thanksgiving Day turkey in that game. Heck, even Tom Brady got into the act with a fourth quarter rushing touchdown. The Jets tried to rack up some garbage yards in the passing game, but the damage was already done in 52 seconds. 49-19 was the final score, but the game was over with 8:51 left in the second quarter when Julian Edelman crossed the end zone for the first time that game.

Was this the best game the Pats played last year, or was it that blowout win on Monday Night Football over the Houston Texans?

The Patriots “Look Back” series strives to look back on the most notable (good or bad) moments of the 2012 NFL season. This is mostly based on viewer input, and today’s moment was provided by Foxboro Blog writer @vaidyeah33 via Twitter. You can send in your suggestions in the comments section, via email, on Facebook, or you can reach me on Twitter.

Previous “Look Back” articles on Chandler Jones‘s debut and the loss to the Arizona Cardinals can be read here in the links provided.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.