Hello, and welcome to another edition of ‘The Patriot Way’, your number one source to New England Patriots news and analysis from around the web.
Benjamin Watson sees similarities with how Patriots, Saints have handled NFL sanctions
"One of the obvious storylines of the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints holding joint practices at the Greenbrier on Wednesday and Thursday is how the organizations are linked with recent NFL sanctions.In 2012, it was the Saints and “Bountygate.” In 2007 and 2015, it’s the Patriots and “Spygate/Deflategate.”Tight end Benjamin Watson has an inside perspective on how the organizations handled those distractions, as he was a member of the Patriots in 2007 and joined the Saints in 2013 as they were attempting to rebound from a 7-9 season in 2012, with head coach Sean Payton returning to the team after a year absence."
Notes and observations from Wednesday’s practice with the Patriots
"Notes and observations from Wednesday’s practice with the New England Patriots:I’ll be updating this post, but here are Drew Brees’ passes to get you started. The rest will be a while. I have 108 one-on-ones to chart, all kinds of passes, etc.Drew Brees passing1. Incomplete to Marques Colston (Malcolm Butler in coverage)2. Complete to Ben Watson (seam route; Jerod Mayo in coverage)3. Complete to Ben Watson (Tim Lelito recovers to save a sack)4. Complete to Marques Colston (Tarell Brown in coverage)5. Complete to Brandon Coleman (2.34 to throw; slant, Devin McCourty in coverage)6. Sacked by Patrick Chung7. Complete to Joe Morgan (in route, 3.41 to throw)8. Incomplete to Brandin Cooks (thrown behind; Tarell Brown PBU)9. Incomplete to Austin Johnson (drop)10. Complete to Ben Watson (2.13 to throw)11. Incomplete to Brandon Coleman (1.56 to throw, Tarell Brown, thrown high)"
Deflate-gate judge hammers NFL’s case against Tom Brady; ‘Your Honor is spot-on,’ defense crows
"Daniel Nash stood behind a courtroom lectern on the 17th floor of a federal court house here and tried to argue the NFL’s case in suspending Tom Brady for four games in the deflate-gate saga.Yet as the attorney made his presentation he kept getting interrupted by Judge Richard M. Berman, who repeatedly engaged in direct counterarguments against Nash, sometimes even warning that legal precedent suggested the NFL could lose its case."