Dojji

Literally won on a goal-line stand by Thomas. Great, exciting game.

That's about where I am too. Manny Fernandez should start the next game. Thomas is showing signs of wearing down a bit and losing that legendary hot streak of his. When he isn't on one of his runs Tim Thomas is a pretty average goaltender, so here's a chance for Manny to show what he's got to sort of stabilize the pendulum and keep it from swinging too far the other way before we have to rest TT

I'd rather pay a little more $ and sign Derek Lowe to a 3 year deal than move anything of value for Willis. We are not in a position where we really need to take on low-risk gambles, although you always do if the reward is high. We've got a stable roster now and good depth as insurance, so high-risk, high-reward moves make sense

Penny's likely to be a relatively inexpensive 1 year deal with incentives and/or an option. I sincerely doubt Penny and Lowe is an either/or question, especially with legitimate injury concerns outstanding on each of Matsuzaka (shoulder), Beckett (arm tingling), Lester (blew through his innings cap) and Wakefield (back).

Cora?

Derek Lowe is probably the best pitcher on the free agent market not named CC Sabathia when you combine level of talent with durability, and he's the only one of the bunch who has proven in the past that he can pitch here. Our infield defense is significantly upgraded from the '03-'04 campaigns where Lowe struggled with BABIP above his career averages, that should help Lowe's numbers tremendously. Lowe has failed to manage 200 innings twice in the years he was a fulltime starter: THe first time during his weak 2004 campaign, the second, in 2007 when he pitched 199 1/3 innings. As long as you're satisfied with the quality, you'll get plenty of quantity. THis is a peripheral interest, but we should also pursue Lowe out of the available starters because he's similar enough to provide mentorship to one of our top young arms. Lowe and Masterson are not identical, but they are quite similar, and if Lowe is willing to take Masterson under his wing, and not afraid to learn something from the kid, I think that would only be a good thing.

Forced into an overtime by the Milwaukee BUcks. At least they won I guess. If this Celtics team can't show that it can put teams away then everyone's going to be playing their A game in the 4th quarter knowing they have a good chance to catch up, which will have a real draining effect on our big players since we can't bring in the junktime guys -- because there is no junktime.

... This is begining to look like a team that can't get separation.

Check this out about those 3 year struggles in A ball Brown OBP by year: 2003 (Augusta) .358 (.263 AVG .095 IsoD) 2004 (Sarasota) .321 (.229 AVG, .092 IsoD) 2005 (Wilmington) .348 (.256 AVG, .092 IsoD) Looks like a fellow who struggled with average but took his share of walks in those "poor" seasons. Couple that with his defensive reputation and I really don't think those numbers are a problem. My point is that the issue with Brown isn't his ability to get on base, per se. Power was a much bigger issue. Brown's hardly the first catcher to spend a lot of time in A-ball. The real problem with Brown's minor league career as a whole is the lost year in 2006 in Portland. If he'd hit then, he'd probably have been our heir to Mirabelli.

Here they go again with the stupid turnovers in the first half. This is rapidly becoming a coaching issue or even a roster issue.

What I said is fairly clear. The NFL season is a short season and one win or one loss makes a huge difference, and as well, a very good or very bad performance in one game makes a huge difference. In baseball or hockey or basketball a bad day at the office is a bad day at the office, in football being individually responsible for a single loss is a very big thing. So is carrying the team to a single win.

BUt one game in the NFL isn't just one game. You know that probably better than I do.

Fact: Matt Cassel finished up with dang near 500 yards combined rushing and passing tonight. Fact: Cassel was our lead rusher as well as our lead passer Conclusion: Cassel was the reason we were even in the game in the first place. Cassel looked like an elite QB out there, at least for this one game, and since we know the Jets defense is actually pretty good this game should be a huge credit for him. Even ESPN took a few microseconds away from their 24/7 ballwashing of Favre to notice that Cassel had been pretty good. This game really increased the chances that some QB-depleted squad is going to take a flier on him as a starting QB next year. I haven't seen a Patriots' QB use his feet to make plays the way Cassel did, not just rushing for gains but also running around in the pocket and throwing accurately on the move, in a long, long time. Brady makes great quick decisions so that he doesn't really have to escape, but since Cassel's a bit slower it's great to know that he can extend the play with his feet and get things done on a good night.

Yer nuts. The schedule looked weak in the preseason but that was before the Dolphins remembered that they were an NFL football team and the Jets got their feet under them. Recognizing the turnaround of those two teams really spikes the strength of schedule argument Only gimmes on our entire schedule were KC, St. Louis, and coming up, Seattle and Oakland.

Not until Maroney, Morris, and Jordan get back into the game he doesn't. He has an undrafted rookie back with more names than games played, and he has Welker, Faulk and Moss. That reciever trio atones for a multitude of sins but it's not legendary or all-world. It's a fact that there's 4 or 5 offenses in this league, at least, that are more talented on paper than the Patriots are without Tom Brady.

Defense screwed over Matt Cassel. If they'd held on the drive in the 4th and in overtime, Cassel would have been the decisive MVP of the game.

Where was this defensive toughness on third and fifteen on the Jets 20?

Take a good hard look at the team Cassel has a winning record with. Take a good hard look at his numbers tonight. Let go what Cassel used to be. He is not what he used to be. There are not a lot of QB's I would take over Cassel as he's played over the last 3 games, even if we lose tonight.

I HATE losing to New York teams. Losing is the only thing that makes New York fans barely tolerable.

I donno about him, but I do. Matt Cassel has met or exceeded every expectation we've had on him and if you take the blinders and look at what he's actually DONE, rather than what he was before this year, he's been really really solid.