Define success

Page 7 of 17 -- A: If he was cut and signed by NE, he'd have to renegotiate a new deal. The pro-rated signing bonus and his new salary would count on NE's salary cap. If the Bills cut him, his pro-rated SB on his Bill contract would count against the Bills cap.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sir, The guys seem to have found a way to win this season much different then the unusual way the last Super Bowl drive went. No overturned calls, tucked footballs (yet), or unconscious receivers in or out of bounds. They score enough to win and stop enough to fight another day. The rookie wall hasn't hit yet. The best thing is that they flown under the national spotlight since the Milloy mess in weak one.
Cpt. Jim Bono, Columbus, Ohio

A: That's right, Captain. And that's the way they like it. Patriots fans hoot and holler about a lack of respect for their team. I'm telling you, the team doesn't want the attention. I wish fans would realize that.

Nick, Thanks for answering all the questions. I confess I grow tired of those who write in and want to settle scores. My question is how do the Patriots' defensive coaches get the various defensive packages on to the field so seamlessly?
David Grimes, Bedford, N.H.

A: Romeo Crennel is on the sidelines and he has a good system of getting the play called to Ted Johnson or Tedy Bruschi pretty quickly. I must admit that it was tougher with the Colts in the no huddle. I think that's one way to foil the Patriots defense because they don't have time to get into their blitz coverages.

Hi, Nick, Love the mailbag. Question about Sunday's game: Why did the Colts get four timeouts in the second half? If you go back and watch the tape, you'll see what I mean. They took their first time out when they were down 31-10, on a fourth and 9 (or something like that); they went for it and scored a TD. Then, when they took their second time-out, the announcers said, "well they still have two more time-outs," which was completely false. And then when they took a third time-out, they were still listed as having 1 more TO. I think the Refs are getting worse and worse at managing football games. Was I the only one who noticed this egregious error? Luckily it didn't end up costing the Pats!
Kurt Gundersen, Berkeley, Calif.

A: Kurt, one of them was an injury timeout because Willie McGinest allegedly hurt his knee. The officials have to call timeout if a player is on the field in pain even if the team is out of timeouts. If it was an act, then McGinest and Patriots got away with one.   Continued...