See what happens when you lose your perfect season in the Super Bowl?  Everything comes crumbling down.  Since February 3rd, the Patriots have endured some bad luck, bad decisions and above all else, their Teflon shield has lost some of its power. 

During the last 3 and a half weeks, Belichick and the organization have been put under more scrutiny for allegedly videotaping Rams practices.  They've been sued by Willie Gary, the former Rams DB who finished his career with 7 tackles, for their "illegal" efforts in Super Bowl XXXVI and along the way, Matt Walsh has become a household name.

As far as the players go, 2nd year cornerback Willie Andrews was arrested 3 days after the Super Bowl in Arizona for possessing a half-pound of marijuana.  As MJD notes, a 1/2 pound isn't an amount you intend on smoking, it's evidence of intent to distribute.  That's what Willie was charged with, along with driving an unregistered motor vehicle.  Prosecutors noted Andrews had $6800 in cash along with no marijuana smoking devices.  Naturally, Andrews pleaded "not guilty" to the intent to distribute charges and awaits a court appearance March 18th. 



Early this week it was revealed that one of the faces of the Patriots, Kevin Faulk, was cited for possession of some greenover the weekend, which officials noted came in the form of 4 "hand-rolled cigars".  The kicker is that Faulk was arrested at a Lil Wayne concert in Louisiana as part of a comprehensive search of all concert-goers which I find terribly unfair.  Searching people for pot at a concert is the equivalent of searching for Easter eggs, only the eggs are in a basket right in front of you (or something like that).   

Then yesterday, the Pats said good bye to linebacker Roosevelt Colvin, who, in his first season with the Pats in 2003, missed 14 games with a hip injury, and missed the remainder of the '07 season from November 26th onward.  Also released was linebacker Oscar Lua, who missed all of 2007 with a knee injury.  It's notable because a) it proves that if you're injury-prone, the Patriots (and many other NFL teams) will treat you like dirt and b) picturing Bill Belichick speaking to a man named "Oscar" in his office is humorous.  The transactions followed Zach Thomas' shunning of the Patriots.

Early last week, the Pats let Donte Stallworth go, nullifying any validity to long term contracts in the NFL.  Stallworth signed a 6 year $33 million deal last offseason, with an option for year 2 and beyond.  Essentially, the Pats could have signed Stallworth to a 6 year, $45 billion deal with the same options and all would have been fine.  I guess the Patriots really didn't care THATmuch for Stallworth's abilities, even though all season long he was portrayed as "the most dangerous of the Patriots receivers in the open field", which is code for "we don't have any descriptive role for him because he doesn't understand plays and isn't as good as Moss and Welker".

And rumors suggest Randy Moss will sign with Dallas, which I hope happens just to see all of Dallas implode.  What's next?  Will Tedy Bruschi retire?  Will Rodney Harrison tackle a police officer when he isn't looking?  Will Tom Brady come out of the closet?  

To put the cap on the fantastic February in Foxborough, the sportswriter of the year, Bob Ryan, has openly chastised Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick and the rest of the team.  Ryan even thinks Belichick might retire.



I promise all of you, this will be the last time you see a "Sports Reporters" clip on this site.  Unless of course Bill Belichick gets busted for pot.