32-year old DE Andre Carter is having a solid season for the Patriots.  He has played in 9 games for the Patriots so far this year and he has 38 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 9 sacks and 1 forced fumble.  Carter has now played in 158 games in his first 11 years in the NFL and he has 480 tackles, 75 sacks, 44 tackles for a loss, 16 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries and 22 passes defensed.  Carter has been a underrated player his whole career as he is pretty good at getting after the opposing QB.

59-year old head coach Bill Belichick is known as a defensive coach, so it comes as a surprise to see his Patriots giving up 416.3 yards per game so far this year.  The secondary is giving up 314.0 yards passing per game, which is almost as much as the Patriots’ and Tom Brady are averaging offensively (325.6 yards passing per game).  Even though the Patriots are 5-3 on the year, you have to think that they will get back on the right track soon.  Belichick is now an amazing 131-53 (71.2%) in his first twelve years during the regular season for the Patriots.

Wes Welker has been amazing once again this year for the Patriots.  Welker has caught 51 passes for 785 yards (15.4 avg) with 6 TD grabs so far this year.  Deion Branch has proven that he has a lot left in the gas tank so far this year.  He has caught 26 passes for 369 yards (14.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Chad Ocho Cinco has been a huge disappointment so far this year for the Patriots as he still hasn’t learned the whole playbook yet.  Ocho Cinco has caught 9 passes for 136 yards (15.1 avg) so far this year, and that’s not good enough to get on the field much for the Patriots.  Julian Edelman (3 rec, 25 yards) and Matthew Slater (1 rec, 46 yards) have talent but they have not gotten much of a chance to show what they can do so far this year.

The New England Patriots are starting to get really solid ground support lately from the RBs.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis is the leader of the pack for the Patriots’ RBs.  He has played in all six games for the Patriots so far this year and he has carried the ball 91 times for 391 yards (4.3 ypc) with 5 TD runs.  He has also caught 4 passes for 38 yards (9.5 avg) so far this year.  Rookie Stevan Ridley is no longer really pushing Green-Ellis for carries, but he is playing well so far this year.  Ridley has played in all six games for the Patriots so far this year and he has carried the ball 28 times for 180 yards (6.4 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 2 passes for 11 yards (5.5 avg) so far this year.  Danny Woodhead has been dinged up lately.  He has played in five games for the Patriots so far this year and he has carried the ball 30 times for 122 yards (4.1 ypc).  He has also caught 8 passes for 63 yards (7.9 avg) so far in 2011.  The Patriots are now averaging 124.0 yards rushing per game and 4.6 yards per carry, as they are starting to make teams pay for using extra DBs.

34-year old QB Tom Brady continues to roll for the New England Patriots.  He has played in all 5 games for the Patriots so far this year and he has completed 133 of 196 passes (67.9%) for 1,874 yards with 14 TD passes and 6 INTs (109.5 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 6 times for 13 yards (2.2 ypc) so far this year.  Brady has been even more deadly lately now that the Patriots are running the ball more.  Look for that to continue.

22-year old rookie RB Stevan Ridley is starting to push 26-year old BenJarvus Green-Ellis for carries.  Ridley has played in all four games for the Patriots so far this year and he has 18 carries for 148 yards (8.2 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also has caught 2 passes for 11 yards (5.5 avg) so far this year.  BenJarvus Green-Ellis has played in all four games for the Patriots so far this year and he has carried the ball 50 times for 197 yards (3.9 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Green-Ellis has also caught 2 passes for 14 yards (7.0 avg).  With Danny Woodhead out tomorrow against the Jets, both Ridley and Green-Ellis should get decent workloads.

25-year old cornerback Kyle Arrington has really gotten off to a good start in 2011 for the Patriots.  He has played in all 3 games so far this year for the Patriots and he has 14 tackles, 5 passes defensed and 3 interceptions.  In his first two years with the Patriots, Arrington played in 24 games in which he had 89 tackles, 5 passes defensed and 1 interception (he returned it 36 yards for a TD).  The Patriots need Arrington to keep making big plays as they are giving up a shocking 377 yards passing per game so far this year.

The more I watch 34-year old QB Tom Brady, the more I think that he is the best QB I have ever seen and I have been watching Pro Football for over 30 years!   Brady has played in both of the Patriots games so far this year and he has completed 63 of 88 passes (71.6%) for 940 yards with 7 TD passes and 1 INT (128.0 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 3 times for 6 yards (2.0 ypc) so far this year.  The Patriots are going to need Tom Brady to keep playing at a very high level to cover for the porous defense they have.

32-year old WR Deion Branch is off to a good start for the Patriots in 2011.  He had 7 catches for 93 yards (13.3 avg) in the season opener against the Dolphins last Monday Night.  Branch has now played in 64 games (53 starts) in his first six years with the Patriots and he has caught 268 passes for 3,543 yards (13.2 avg) with 19 TD grabs.  Branch’s play was good enough to keep Chad Ocho Cinco on the bench for the most part.  That’s bad news for Ocho Cinco as Tom Brady has always liked throwing the ball to Branch.  NFL betting odds on the Patriots look good.

24-year old RB Richard Medlin is playing pretty well in the preseason for the Patriots.  He came into camp as a huge longshot to make the roster out of tiny Fayetteville State as an undrafted free agent.  Medlin has played in 2 preseason games for the Patriots and he has carried the ball 15 times for 55 yards (3.7 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also has caught 5 passes for 27 yards (5.4 avg) so far in the preseason.  I have a feeling that the Patriots are going to try to sneak Medlin onto the practice squad as they are pretty deep at RB heading into the 2011 season.