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| A Word from The Writer: The Monday Analysis - 5 September 2005 One more week of preseason until the live show. And the Patriots look ready. But first, the GOAT calls it a day. The Great of All-Time Calls it a Career Jerry Rice is on his way to Canton in 2010. Rice retired today from the Broncos, rather than taking a lesser role on the team as the fourth or fifth wide receiver. "I never thought I would see this day," Rice said during the press conference at the Broncos' facility. "I feel pretty good about it." Rice knew head coach Mike Shanahan would have assign him a role on the team that might not get Rice on the playing field. He decided to hang up the cleats instead. "A lot of guys here were 3 when I started playing. I think those guys are pretty much amazed that I can still run the way I can run." Rice goes out as the GOAT - Great of All-Time. His resume is as follows:
Patriots Seconds and Thirds Get Trounced by Giants Firsts Head coach Bill Belichick knows who is making his team. He held out so many starters for the fourth and final preseason game that only 40 players suited - five less than a typical regular season game. The result was an unhappy 27-3 loss at home. The Patriots have yet to win at home in 2005. Doug Flutie started at quarterback, tossing an interception in the endzone when Andre Davis was out of position. Matt Cassell finished in the second half, turning the ball over for a touchdown. The defense played ok in the first half, keeping the score 6-0, but fell apart in the second half. All any of us can say is thank God preseason is over. That's it. Let's move on to the regular season. Bruschi Vows 2006 Return Tedy Bruschi ended all speculation this week about his future. "I'm definitely playing next year." Bruschi conducted a phone interview with the
Boston
Globe Thursday from his home in North Attleboro, Bruschi went on to say he is using 2005 to get in shape, rest his body, and increase stroke awareness. He admitted that the day he suffered a stroke in February, he woke at 4am, felt pain in his neck, and numbness on his left side, but ignored it and went back to sleep. At 10am, he felt the same discomfort. But by ignoring the symptoms, doctors could not attempt to break up the clot. ''The thing that people don't understand is you have three hours once you think you are experiencing a stroke to do something about it," Bruschi said. ''If you can get to the hospital right away, you can get a clot-busting drug that could save your life. ''Don't do what I did. Don't go back to sleep. Get to the hospital as quickly as possible." Bruschi states the cause of the stroke was a clot that traveled from a hole in his heart. He also admitted that he had a procedure to correct the hole in March. ''I'm definitely playing next year. That's my ace in the hole. It's a little hard to sit back and watch the guys [this season], but it's easier knowing I've got something to look forward to." Bruschi also denied any reports of returning to the Patriots in 2005. ''I'm telling you right now that's not going to happen," he said. Patriots Notes The Patriots cut the following players to get to the first set of 53 players:
* Denotes player signed to the practice Squad. Also on the practice squad are the following:
League Notes Atlanta cut WR Peerless Price, and then later signed with Dallas, reuniting him with Drew Bledsoe. The Price had his best year catching passes from Bledsoe in Buffalo...Hugh Douglas was released by Philly...Jerome McDougle rejoined Philly one month after being shot in Miami...Due to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, the Saints is not likely play a game in the Superdome in 2005...The Steelers signed WR Hines Ward to a four-year deal...Gus Frerotte was named the starting QB in Miami... The Monday Analysis Predictions As I do every year, here are the predictions for the 2005 season.
AFC Playoffs: 1. New England Wild Card Weekend: San Diego over Kansas City, Cincinnati over New Jersey Divisional Playoffs: New England over Cincinnati, San Diego over Indy AFC Championship: New England over San Diego at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA NFC Playoffs: 1. Atlanta Wild Card Weekend: Philadelphia over Dallas, Carolina over Seattle Divisional Playoffs: Atlanta over Carolina, Minnesota over Philadelphia NFC Championship: Atlanta over Philadelphia at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Super Bowl XL in Detroit: New England over Atlanta, 38-17 DISCLAIMER: I have no idea whether the records are mathematically correct or not. I went by each team, not by the overall picture involving schedules and records. If anyone would like to tell me how far off I am (mathematically, but I welcome opinionated feedback as well), drop me a line! Signs of the Apocalypse The gas prices. This is outrageous, and I still see no logic reason for prices to be this high. The Apocalypse is here. Oil is the only retail product sold by volume at a premium price. When will automakers ever build us a car that doesn't need oil? Top Ten List of the Week 1. The devastation in New Orleans is pretty incredible. In the Far East during the tsunami, at least there was high ground to escape to. High ground does not exist in the Big Easy.2. Best wishes, Jerry Rice. Thanks for the memories. You live on on NFL Network. See you in Canton in 2010. 3. Approximately 324 days until the start of the 2006 Training Camp -- and the Return of Tedy Bruschi. Full Tilt. Full Time. 4. The fact that Pittsburgh has yet to score a touchdown on offense this preseason is not surprising, but certainly not good news. Ben Roethlisberger might be side stepped for Charlie Batch if he isn't careful. 5. Goodbye, Rohan Davey. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya. 6. Peerless Price give Drew Bledsoe another receiver to wait to get into the perfect spot for him to finally, maybe, not quite yet, almost throw it - ouch! Sack! Drew, just chuck the thing this season, will ya? 7. New Orleans might have their best team in years, but not having a home field to take advantage of will cost them games in 2005. 8. Peter King of Sports Illustrated has finally gotten on the band wagon. He is "sick of picking against" the Patriots, and picks them to win it all in this week's column. I just hope he doesn't jinx them. 9. I'll probably catch flack for picking New England again to win it all, but why argue with the odds? 10. Bring on the 2005 Season! 5 September 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Writer
saying he definitely would not return to the field in 2005, but he had the
blessing of his family and doctors. "My goal is to play football again, but it
wouldn't have been my goal if my doctors weren't on board and my family wasn't
on board. They are."