Read More: Andre Carter (DE – NEP), New England Patriots

The New England Patriots officially  placed defensive end and team sack leader Andre Carter on injured reserve on Tuesday.

The obvious question about his replacement was posed to head coach Bill Belichick. He was not giving anything away in his response.

“Whatever 11 guys are out there, they’re going to have to get the job done, whoever it is,” said Belichick. “We don’t know what plays they’re going to run, so whoever we put out there will have to defend whatever plays they choose to call.” (via CSNNE.com)

Belichick was also asked about Carter returning to the Patriots next year because of his play this year. The New England coach thought it was too early for any talk about next season.

“We’ll deal with next year, next year. Right now, we’re just trying to get ready for Miami.”    

For more New England Patriots coverage, visit our team page and blog, Pats Pulpit.

The Washington Redskins take on the New England Patriots this week, and it makes Santana Moss a must-start in fantasy football leagues. I wrote earlier this week that I feel Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman is going to have a big game, and I also think that his top receivers will benefit a lot. Some might view starting Grossman or Moss as a risk, but sometimes risks are necessary if you are a fantasy football owner trying to make it into the playoffs.

Moss is only owned in 64 percent of all Yahoo! fantasy leagues, and it’s hard to argue the point that he h as been a huge disappointment for the Redskins this year. He may have also burned a high number of fantasy owners that were counting on him to put up better statistics. Through 8 games this year, he has just 34 catches for 372 yards and 2 touchdowns. Those numbers are well below what he should have been able to achieve in 2011, and not even close to making him a dependable wide receiver in the world of fantasy football.

This week he goes up against the worst passing defense in the NFL though, possibly giving Moss a really good chance to get in the end zone. The Patriots will have to work hard at keeping Roy Helu under control, and that could give Grossman ample opportunities to find his receivers downfield. The Patriots give up an average of 310 yards per game in passing alone, showing that multiple 100-yard receivers could emerge from the Sunday game. I think that Moss is ready to reach that 100-yard plateau and that he will definitely put up nice numbers against the Patriots.

Moss is ready to have his best game of the season, and it would not surprise me at all if he got in the end zone twice. No, I don’t really think that the Redskins are going to win this game, but a 41-28 loss is still going to give fantasy owners a great weekend. Look for the tandem of Grossman and Moss to finally get together on the field on Dec. 11, and for Moss to have his best week of the fantasy football season when it counts the most.

More From YCN:

Start_Tim_Tebow_In_Week_14

Start_Rex_Grossman_Against_Patriots

Week 13 Top Defenses

2011 Best Fantasy Defenses

5 Best Fantasy Players of 2011

Sources:

Week 14 NFL Scores

Defensive Team Leaders

Yahoo! Fantasy Football

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

FOXBORO — Hanging from the steel framework at the home of the New England Patriots is a banner unlike any other in the NFL, one that commemorates their 16-0 record in the 2007 regular season.

Perfection.

Almost.

The Patriots won every game that season and the first two in the playoffs as well, giving them a chance to be the first NFL team to finish the year 19-0. But their quest for perfection disintegrated — along with their hopes for a fourth title in seven years — when they ran into the New York Giants in the Super Bowl .

“We’ve won them, we’ve lost them, but they’re all in the past; they’re in the books,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “Whatever happened or didn’t happen, can’t change it, it’s part of history. Right now I’m focused on getting ready for this week’s game. That’s the way it is every week: focus on the week that we’re playing, not what happened in the past.”

The Giants and Patriots will play again Sunday — the first time they’ve met in a game that counts since New York won the Super Bowl 17-14 with two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the one by Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left set up by David Tyree’s acrobatic catch. Although the teams have different emotions about that game, they agree the 2007 season and the ’08 Super Bowl are too far in the past to help them plan for this weekend.

“If we were still living in the shadow of 2007, then that’s one of our greatest downfalls,” defensive lineman Justin Tuck

said. “We have to move on. … Obviously, 2007 was a great year in all of our careers, but that’s not going to help us going there this year. A lot of guys are back from those two teams and a lot of guys are gone.

“The better team this year is going to win the football game, not the better team in ’07.”

There are only 14 players left from the Super Bowl on the Giants now; for New England, it’s just seven. But some of the big names remain, including quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning.

“That’s a distant memory,” Brady said. “This is an entirely different team that we have and that they have. … We’ve played them in the preseason this year and that probably gives us a little more of an understanding of what they do then the game a few years ago.”

The Giants (5-2) and Pats (5-2) both have impressive records — and still plenty of reason to doubt they are on the right track.

The Patriots lost to Pittsburgh last week in a game that further exposed their NFL-worst defense, and showed what happens when the offense isn’t able to carry the team.

Brady threw for a season-low 198 yards against a team he had dominated, and he was strip-sacked at the end of the game for a safety that cost the Patriots their remote chance at a comeback.

New York barely slipped by winless Miami last week, getting a touchdown pass from Manning to Victor Cruz with just under 6 minutes left to take the lead. Two key offensive players, running back Ahmad Bradshaw and wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, are banged-up and might not play.

Next up for New York after New England: San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Green Bay, a stretch that is likely to determine whether the Giants make the playoffs for the second time since their Super Bowl win.

“It’s been a few years, so obviously now we’re more focused on trying to get back to those circumstances,” Manning said. “Our focus is on this week’s game and getting ready for the Patriots.”

The Giants may have been the ones that stood in New England’s way four years ago, but they were also the ones that made the 16-0 banner possible by losing to the Patriots on the final weekend of the regular season, 38-35.

They made up for it in the title game.

Coach Tom Coughlin doesn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about it — not even this week.

“It seems like a long time ago,” he said. “I certainly was very proud of our players and very happy for our team and our franchise and our ownership, and I’ll always cherish those memories. There isn’t any a question about that.

“The New England Patriots were a team that had gone through the regular season undefeated, which is a feat that is very, very, very rare indeed, and they deserve credit for that. That’s the extent of it for me. I’m trying to live in the moment.”

Posted: 12:00 AM

BY JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Hanging from the steel framework at the home of the New England Patriots is a banner unlike any other in the NFL, one that commemorates their 16-0 record in the 2007 regular season.

Perfection.

Almost.

The Patriots won every game that season and the first two in the playoffs as well, giving them a chance to be the first NFL team to finish the year 19-0. But their quest for perfection disintegrated — along with their hopes for a fourth title in seven years — when they ran into the New York Giants in the Super Bowl .

“We’ve won them, we’ve lost them, but they’re all in the past; they’re in the books,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “Whatever happened or didn’t happen, can’t change it, it’s part of history. Right now I’m focused on getting ready for this week’s game. That’s the way it is every week: focus on the week that we’re playing, not what happened in the past.”

The Giants and Patriots will play again Sunday — the first time they’ve met in a game that counts since New York won the Super Bowl 17-14 with two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the one by Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left set up by David Tyree’s acrobatic catch. Although the teams have different emotions about that game, they agree the 2007 season and the ’08 Super Bowl are too far in the past to help them plan for this weekend.

“If we were still living in the shadow of 2007, then that’s one of our greatest downfalls,” defensive lineman Justin Tuck said. “We have to move on. … Obviously, 2007 was a great year in all of our careers, but that’s not going to help us going there this year. A lot of guys are back from those two teams and a lot of guys are gone.

“The better team this year is going to win the football game, not the better team in ’07.”

There are only 14 players left from the Super Bowl on the Giants now; for New England, it’s just seven. But some of the big names remain, including quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning.

“That’s a distant memory,” Brady said. “This is an entirely different team that we have and that they have. … We’ve played them in the preseason this year and that probably gives us a little more of an understanding of what they do then the game a few years ago.”

The Giants (5-2) and Patriots (5-2) both have impressive records — and still plenty of reason to doubt they are on the right track.

The Patriots lost to Pittsburgh on Sunday in a game that further exposed their NFL-worst defense, and showed what happens when the offense isn’t able to carry the team. Brady threw for a season-low 198 yards against a team he had dominated, and he was strip-sacked at the end of the game for a safety that cost the Patriots their remote chance at a comeback.

New York barely slipped by winless Miami last week, getting a touchdown pass from Manning to Victor Cruz with just under 6 minutes left to take the lead. Two key offensive players, running back Ahmad Bradshaw and wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, are banged-up and might not play.

Next up for New York after New England: San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Green Bay, a stretch that is likely to determine whether the Giants make the playoffs for the second time since their Super Bowl win.

“It’s been a few years, so obviously now we’re more focused on trying to get back to those circumstances,” Manning said. “Our focus is on this week’s game and getting ready for the Patriots.”

The Giants may have been the ones that stood in New England’s way four years ago, but they were also the ones that made the 16-0 banner possible by losing to the Patriots on the final weekend of the regular season, 38-35.

They made up for it in the title game.

Coach Tom Coughlin doesn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about it — not even this week.

“It seems like a long time ago,” he said. “I certainly was very proud of our players and very happy for our team and our franchise and our ownership, and I’ll always cherish those memories. There isn’t any a question about that.

“The New England Patriots were a team that had gone through the regular season undefeated, which is a feat that is very, very, very rare indeed, and they deserve credit for that. That’s the extent of it for me. I’m trying to live in the moment.”

——

AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J., contributed to this story.

 

Home > Sports

Patriots hope ’08 Super Bowl loss to giants behind them

By Jimmy Golen / Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH – Hanging from the steel framework at the home of the New England Patriots is a banner unlike any other in the NFL, one that commemorates their 16-0 record in the 2007 regular season.

Perfection.

Almost.

The Patriots won every game that season and the first two in the playoffs as well, giving them a chance to be the first NFL team to finish the year 19-0. But their quest for perfection disintegrated — along with their hopes for a fourth title in seven years — when they ran into the New York Giants in the Super Bowl .

“We’ve won them, we’ve lost them, but they’re all in the past; they’re in the books,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “Whatever happened or didn’t happen, can’t change it, it’s part of history. Right now I’m focused on getting ready for this week’s game. That’s the way it is every week: focus on the week that we’re playing, not what happened in the past.”

The Giants and Patriots will play again Sunday — the first time they’ve met in a game that counts since New York won the Super Bowl 17-14 with two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including the one by Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left set up by David Tyree’s acrobatic catch. Although the teams have different emotions about that game, they agree the 2007 season and the ’08 Super Bowl are too far in the past to help them plan for this weekend.

“If we were still living in the shadow of 2007, then that’s one of our greatest downfalls,” defensive lineman Justin Tuck said. “We have to move on. … Obviously, 2007 was a great year in all of our careers, but that’s not going to help us going there this year. A lot of guys are back from those two teams and a lot of guys are gone.

“The better team this year is going to win the football game, not the better team in “07.”

There are only 14 players left from the Super Bowl on the Giants now; for New England, it’s just seven. But some of the big names remain, including quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning.

“That’s a distant memory,” Brady said. “This is an entirely different team that we have and that they have. … We’ve played them in the preseason this year and that probably gives us a little more of an understanding of what they do then the game a few years ago.”

The Giants (5-2) and Patriots (5-2) both have impressive records — and still plenty of reason to doubt they are on the right track.

The Patriots lost to Pittsburgh on Sunday in a game that further exposed their NFL-worst defense, and showed what happens when the offense isn’t able to carry the team. Brady threw for a season-low 198 yards against a team he had dominated, and he was strip-sacked at the end of the game for a safety that cost the Patriots their remote chance at a comeback.

New York barely slipped by winless Miami last week, getting a touchdown pass from Manning to Victor Cruz with just under 6 minutes left to take the lead. Two key offensive players, running back Ahmad Bradshaw and wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, are banged-up and might not play.

Next up for New York after New England: San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Green Bay, a stretch that is likely to determine whether the Giants make the playoffs for the second time since their Super Bowl win.

“It’s been a few years, so obviously now we’re more focused on trying to get back to those circumstances,” Manning said. “Our focus is on this week’s game and getting ready for the Patriots.”

The Giants may have been the ones that stood in New England’s way four years ago, but they were also the ones that made the 16-0 banner possible by losing to the Patriots on the final weekend of the regular season, 38-35.

They made up for it in the title game.

Coach Tom Coughlin doesn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about it — not even this week.

“It seems like a long time ago,” he said. “I certainly was very proud of our players and very happy for our team and our franchise and our ownership, and I’ll always cherish those memories. There isn’t any a question about that.

“The New England Patriots were a team that had gone through the regular season undefeated, which is a feat that is very, very, very rare indeed, and they deserve credit for that. That’s the extent of it for me. I’m trying to live in the moment.”

ShareThis

 

Reader Comments Feedback Rules Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will be posted automatically but may not load immediately. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. Do not issue threats of any kind. Do not use profanity or attempt to disguise profanity. Do not post messages using profane or crude names and identities. Do not disguise or confuse identities by using the names of others. We reserve the right to remove comments for any reason. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator. Add Your Comments Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. blog comments powered by