SZ705

BY JIM DAWSON

OCTOBER 7, 2019

1ST HALF BAD, 2ND HALF GOOD: PATRIOTS WHACK WASHINGTON 33-7

The Patriots got off to an inauspicious and worrisome start against the Redskins, but regrouped at half, making the necessary adjustments to relegate Washington to 0-5 and help to get their coach Jay Gruden fired.

On the Pats first possession of the game, Tom Brady was almost sacked as RT Marcus Cannon was beaten. Brady threw it away, something that he did a few times in the 1^st half. Cannon was beaten again by Ryan Kerrigan but Brady hit James White for a 1^st down. Then on 3^rd and 10, Brady was sacked by Kerrigan and Matt Ioannidis. It would be the first of 4 sacks by Washington, 3 in the 1^st half.

Then the unexpected occurred as RB Steven Sims, Jr. broke the tackles of JC Jackson, Devin McCourty and Jonathan Jones as he raced 65 yards for a TD and the Pats were behind for the 1^st time all year.

NE immediately bounced back, even without Phillip Dorsett, who went out with a hamstring. Tom Brady threw to TE Ryan Izzo (great catch on a ball behind him) and Sony Michel (good YAC), and then hit Julian Edelman with a 6 yard TD pass. Of course, new kicker Mike Nugent did his best Stephen Gostkowski impression missing the extra point wide right so that NE was still down 7-6.

For the rest of the half, the following occurred: the Pats would get stopped on 4^th down, and then Kerrigan almost intercepted a pass. When he didn’t, Nugent kicked a 37 yard field goal (yay Nooge!) to give NE a 9-7 lead.

Jonathan Jones punched a ball loose from WR Trey Quinn, but Brady under extreme pressure threw an interception to Montae Nicholson. Not to be denied, the defense rose up again with 58 seconds left in the half as Jason McCourty intercepted a Colt McCoy pass. That led to a Nooge 23 yard FG and 12-7 Pats lead at the half. Oh and I almost left out Brady running (more like ambling) for a 1^st down only to have it negated by a Ted Karras hold. Brady had an awkward slide as his knee brace got stuck in the turf. It was a reminder of what might happen if Tom Brady got hurt.

Half time stats (via Game Book) show that the Pats only ran the ball 7 times for 19 yards in the 1^st half. They would run the ball 20 times in the 2^nd half. Brady was only 19 of 31 in the half and the Pats were 2 for 9 on 3^rd down. They would be 3 of 6 in the 2^nd half.

The 2^nd half was a different story as the Offensive Line protected Brady better and started opening holes for Sony Michel who had a rushing TD (91 yards with only 10 in the 1^st half). What was noticeable was that FB Jakob Johnson blocked better for Sony as did the TE’s Izzo and LaCosse.

The Pats would score a TD on the opening possession of that 2^nd half (a Bolden 29 yard pass as Brady lofted the ball to him), and followed it up with another TD on their 2^nd possession (Michel on a 14 yard scamper). At 26-7, the Redskins were meat. What was left was Izzo’s first ever TD, a 10 yard pass which he forgot to keep as a souvenir, and the Defense hounding McCoy who would be sacked 2 more times (6 total).

LEFTOVERS

Game Book shows that Edelman was targeted 9 times and caught 8. His one miss was a drop! The catches went for 110 yards and a TD.

Sony Michel, who has been used primarily as a runner, showed he may have more to offer with 3 targets and 3 catches (32 yards). Even newcomer Jakob Johnson, the FB replacement for James Develin, had a catch on 2 targets. If Dorsett is out with the hamstring and Ben Watson isn’t activated (he won’t be per Mike Reiss just now), then Brady will have to throw to his backs (Sony, White, Burkhead, Bolden) and tight ends (Izzo and LaCosse) more. And rely on their Defense.

Defensive stats show that Dont’a Hightower had a monster game with 1.5 sacks, 5 tackles and 3 assists (8 combo) and 4 of those tackles for a loss. Right behind him was Jason McCourty with 6/1 (7) and the INT. Jaime Collins 3/1 (4) had a sack, a forced fumble and a recovery of that fumble. The other sacks were by Shelton, Winovich and Bennett (.5) and 1 sack listed as a team sack.

Stats don’t always tell the whole story though. Van Noy is listed as having only a QB hit and a pass defended. However looking at my game notes, Van Noy was right there with Winovich on the 1^st sack of the game. McCoy just eluded Van Noy but was then sacked by Shelton. On the next play, Van Noy just missed hitting McCoy’s arm as he threw incomplete. Under pressure from Van Noy, McCoy was forced to run. Those plays were all in the 1^st Half!

One area of concern was that both LT Marshall Newhouse and RT Marcus Cannon were beaten by Redskin rushers, resulting in either sacks or Brady throwing the ball away. Neither Belichick nor Scarnecchia will be happy with that. More work to be done.

E-MAIL

Hey James, you are putting out some mighty fine Zines! Believe the answer to your trivia question is Gram Parsons. Many years ago, it was you who introduced me to the huge impact Parsons has had on music. Peace amigo.

Mike Curtis

Yup, Mike, it's Ingram 'Gram' Parsons though that was his adopted name. He was actually Ingram Cecil Connor III. Parsons was the name of his stepfather. He was a trust fund baby who was making $30,000 a year once he came of age. That's back when $30,000 was a chunk of change. You are the first to get it right.

Yesterday I played a 'Bad Boys' compilation of Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parsons and Steve Earle. - Z

Jim,

Gotta go with Gram Parsons for the trivia answer as he was too much of everything to be catalogued into country or rock.

He left us our Emmylou upon his unceremonious departure from the globe.

"Young Will" LaPlante

Right you are, Bucko. It's Ingram 'Gram' Parsons. His duets with Emmylou Harris are great. The tribute album Return of the Grievous Angel is also quite fine.

Yes, he departed this world too early. He fell prey to booze and drugs.

Plus there's that crazy story about his manager driving a hearse to LAX and taking Parsons’ coffin to Joshua Tree National Park and setting the body on fire.

Young Will has the answer. - Z

Jim,

Looked up the movie "Grand Theft Parsons" that was made about the post mortem shenanigans with his corpse.

I saw it once and it is pretty good with a kinda dark humor about the whole situation (even a little Pythonesque) if you dwell on it after the movie ends.

The answer just came to me in about 40 seconds or so after rolling the question around in my memories of those who were on the bubble of country/rock/blues/folk.

Will LaPlante

I have a documentary about Gram Parsons. His kin were not amused by the incident. His manager Phil Kaufman (not to be confused with the director of the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers) was out there. But he said that's what Gram wanted (under the influence?).

Anyway, Gram left us with some great music and the subsequent work of Emmylou Harris. He met up with the Stones in the South of France when they were working on Exile on Main Street, but he and his girlfriend were asked to leave. Wish that he had stayed with us longer. - Z

Sportzine is available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz

THE HOT CLUB

Both Special K and Captain Jack have dachshunds. Special K said that dachshunds are good at ferreting out rabbits and honey badgers. They also have ‘wiener’ races for dachshunds.

Told Dr. John, the Bear and Fleet Feet Pete that I’ve been watching a lot of the AXS

channel now that I have Verizon. Recently they showed an Eagles concert (Glenn Frey was still alive) from Melbourne, Australia. Don Henley introduced Dirty Laundry by dedicating it to Rupert Murdoch.

Special K knows Luke of Luke’s Record Exchange, the long time fixture on Broadway in Pawtucket. She said that she went there looking for suitable songs to play at her wedding.

After a while of getting nowhere, Luke asked Special K for her thoughts. She said ‘How about Highway to Hell?’

Kelley asked me if I’d heard of the amphibious car that stopped at the Hot Club so the passengers could get a beverage. I had not. Kelley had some pix of the vehicle in the water. It had 4 or 5 occupants. A close up showed that the vehicle was a 1967 Amphicar 770. The 770 had to do with the speed on land and in the water. A Wikipedia search shows that the car could go 7 knots in the water and 70 mph on land. It was powered originally by a Triumph Herald 1200 engine. Of it, one wag said: “We like to think of it as the fastest car on the water and fastest boat on the road.” It was made until 1968.

ANSWER TO LAST ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION

Last week I asked you to identify the singer/songwriter/guitarist who had a huge influence on country rock and alternative country music, and who played a pivotal role in a band’s seminal country album and even affected a British band. Mike Curtis and Bill LaPlante as well as Peter of the Professors (at the Hot Club) had the answer – Gram Parsons. While with the Byrds, Parsons was largely responsible for their Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Parsons is considered to have influenced Rolling Stones songs like Country Honk and Dead Flowers, though there’s a YouTube video with Keith Richards indicating they were both into country at the time. Wikipedia states that Parsons died at the Joshua Tree Inn after injecting himself with liquid morphine on September 18, 1973 at age 26.

THIS ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION

This female artist has 25 #1 songs, 41 top 10 albums and is in a Hall of Fame. Name?