NFL Notes

The Patriots game wasn't very memorable last weekend, so it was a good time to think about their Super Bowl run.

• Ted Johnson was honored at halftime -- there was an article about how he punished blockers and once split another guy's helmet. This could help explain why the Patriots' run defense hasn't been as good and why Johnson retired because of concussions.
  
• Against the Chiefs, Troy Brown had his 500th reception. After the game he was asked about this accomplishment. He replied it was "irrelevant" because they lost. I'm sure T.O. would have said the same thing.
• Adam Vinatieri became the Patriots all time scoring leader passing Gino Cappelletti, who is the grandfatherly color commentator for Patriots' radio. From Dan Shaughnessy:

Gino applauded madly when Vinatieri's second field goal of the day bounced Cappelletti from the top of the Patriots' scoring leaderboard. And he found Vinatieri in the locker room immediately after the game and kiddingly said, ''What took you so long?" That's just the kind of guy Gino is. Records are made to be broken and Vinatieri is a worthy successor. Gino wouldn't make for a very good 1972 Miami Dolphin.

I didn't write about the rest of the NFL, so here's a link to some very good notes about the rest of the league from DJ Gallo. An example:

• Jamal Lewis' horrible season continued yesterday when he registered his fifth lost fumble of the season. I seriously hope, for his sake, that he didn't drop things this often in prison.