Nolan's Notebook: October 2 print



October 02, 2008



RE: Fundamentally, how different are the Patriots without [Tom] Brady
after looking at them all week?
“They’re good. Tom Brady is a Hall of Fame quarterback and he’s a
great quarterback so naturally it’s a disappointment to lose him as is
the case with every player Tom Brady included; the surrounding cast
has a lot to do with his success also. But as everyone else who gets
the ball from Tom they enjoy that as well. So it’s a two way street
the same way with [Matt] Casell the quarterback he’s going in there
[and] the surrounding cast is the same: [Wes] Welker, [Randy] Moss,
the tight ends they have, [Laurence] Maroney the back, their
[offensive] line, everything is intact. They’ve got a very supporting
cast so it’s just a case of him getting up to speed with everybody
else that’s all. Obviously, about six years ago it was the same case
for Tom Brady.”
[Wes who? Somebody get me the New England depth chart!]

RE: Do you think the New York Giants offered a template on how to
defeat the Patriots in the Super Bowl?
“No, but we look at every film. I will say this: the template meaning
their entire package being the winning edge, no. But, there were
things that they did that teams had tried prior to that game [and]
maybe were unsuccessful, and the Giants did them a little better –
whether it was personnel or just better execution. They did a few new
things as well. It’s a two-way street also. I’m sure New England would
say they would have liked to have done a few different things that
they did in the game to combat some of the Giants stuff. Like I said,
the important thing is we look at the Giants, we look at the Cowboy
game, we look at the San Diego Chargers games – Miami’s [game].
There’s a bunch of good games from last year’s season and this year
that kind of give you a flavor, at least, of what they do.”
[Screw you I'm using the "Big Sub" again!]

RE: Coming off of a bye week, do you expect Bill Belichick to use
stuff they haven’t shown up to this point to specifically zero-in on
Frank Gore?
“From a defensive standpoint, Belichick and I probably come from a
similar school. He’s very much in a game-plan mode with his team and
who they play. Week-to-week you can get different looks. So, there is
no telling with two weeks to prepare for us what they might do. One
thing is for certain, they have good players and they’ve done the
things they’ve done for a long time. So, their base stuff will be the
same but there probably will be some wrinkles in there. I would expect
that. Otherwise, it would be out of character for what they do.”
[You got wax in your ears? Big Sub!]

RE: So, you kind of expect the unexpected?
“Yeah. You’re trying to anticipate where he would go, because,
obviously, when you play as many games as they’ve played over the
years, you can’t have 100 different game plans. There’s just things
that fit with different teams. Obviously he’s gone against Mike as
well on a number of occasions, so there will be some carry-over there.
Both he and Mike, both when they go against each other will try to
figure out some little wrinkles to show one another.”

RE: That would be an intriguing match-up in that respect:
“Yeah. I think even from an overall game standpoint it will be, all
the way down to the special teams. I think it will be the same.”
[Good thing we have Michael Robinson on special teams!]
[He's still our man on 3rd and short!]

RE: Any injury updates?
“No. Frank practiced today. He didn’t [practice] yesterday. Manny
[Lawson] did not practice. Everyone else did. Jonas [Jennings] and
Shawntae [Spencer] are out.”
[[Forget that slip of the tongue on Jennings]
[He's Tully Banta-Cain, only larger]

RE: You mentioned early this week that Tully Banta-Cain might be
active for this game. Thoughts on that?
“Yeah.”

RE: For public consumption?
“Yeah.”
[In other words, I don't have a choice, I have to play him]

RE: He’ll be active for this game?
“He might be active for the game, yeah. [It] looks better than
favorable.”
[He might be active? What the hell did you just say about Manny?]

RE: Based on what he did this week?
“The fact that Manny [Lawson’s] down, and he (Tully Banta-Cain) has
been doing a good job.”
[Trying to pin me down again, huh?]

RE: Parys Haralson would start at outside linebacker?
(Nods)
[[Someone get me throat spray! Where the trainer?]

RE: So does that mean Parys Haralson would be a three-down player?
“Could very well be.”
[Figure it out ... my throat's getting tired from all this talking]

RE: What kind of role would Tully Banta-Cain fill?
“Parys and Tully are probably a little bit closer type of players than
Parys and Manny. So, you could see either one of them at different
times.”
[Duh ... Belicheat, you are my idol!]