With RB Sammy Morris out right now with what's being called a chest injury, and Laurence Maroney still nursing a groin injury, who will carry the load for the New England Patriots? That's the focus of a feature in today's Boston Globe.
"One thing that I thought was great was the way that Kevin Faulk stepped in there and played against the regular defense, running a bunch of runs that he probably hasn't run in a few years since Corey [Dillon] got here [in 2004]," QB Tom Brady said Wednesday.
"We're going to need more of that."
Heath Evans and Kyle Eckel are the only other backs on the Pats roster at the moment.
"We have confidence with whichever guy is in there," head coach Bill Belichick said. "We've used all of them and we'll continue to do that."
The Boston Herald cites league sources who say Morris could miss a month of action. In the story, it's noted that veteran RB Kevan Barlow was given a tryout by New England this week.
Elsewhere, it's no surprise that there are some surprises in the 2007 NFL season. Every year brings unexpected developments.
But what is a bit surprising is that CBS Sports has compiled a lits of the top surprises thus far, and the Patriots top the list. In fact, they occupy the first two slots.
Meantime, when you're on top of the sports world, as the Patriots are in the NFL at the moment, it's easy for many to be jealous of your success. But on ESPN.com's Page 2 section, one writer just can't find it in himself to hate New England. Here's a sample of his reasoning:
*From a purely aesthetic standpoint, previous Pats iterations were far more abhorrent: running the pro equivalent of a college spread offense, Brady dinking and dunking with five-yard hitch passes, the defense doing just enough to win through clever, incomprehensible scheming, forever lacking a destructive, eye-catching, force-of-nature type like Ray Lewis or Lawrence Taylor. *
*Effective, efficient, yes, yes, but also ... yawn. *
And now? Now the Pats are exciting, explosive, a turf show to match the Kurt Warner Rams or the Colts of Peyton Manning's MVP season. Seriously, who hates points? As Cameron Diaz put it in "Any Given Sunday," "People want passes. They want touchdowns."
But not everyone is so enamored with New England. Take FOXSports.com, for instance. They lay out an argument today for why they think the defending Super Bowl champs are still the team to beat in the NFL.
QUICK HITS
It appears QB Tom Brady has been fined for a "uniform violation" during a recent game.
Meanwhile, Brady's hometown newspaper is calling him "the greatest quarterback of all time."
