Nothing has been going right for the Patriots since losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII; their only and most painful loss of the season. Since then, the Patriots just can't avoid the headlines.
Arguably, the biggest move thus far in the offseason was the Philadelphia Eagles' signing of Asante Samuel to a six-year, $57 million contract. That, coupled with an aging defense, doesn't bode well for the defending AFC Champions.
But that doesn't even match the biggest headline of the offseason for the Patriots: Spygate. Becoming hot topic news in Week Two of the NFL regular season, Spygate brought accusations, investigations, and the stiffest fines imposed on a NFL team to date.
The NFL fined coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000, and they took away a first-round draft pick for violating the league's rules on videotaping on the sidelines during games. Now that Spygate has finally started to fizzle out, more problems have arisen for New England.
Offensive tackle Nick Kaczur was arrested in April for illegally purchasing the prescription painkiller OxyContin. Kaczur, who started 15 games for the Patriots last season, did make the news softer by cooperating with DEA agents to help build a case against the alleged supplier, Daniel Ekasala.
This, paired with running back Kevin Faulk being cited for possession of marijuana, and defensive back Willie Andrews being arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and driving an unregistered motor vehicle, just ices the cake for the Patriot's off and onfield issues.
The biggest fear now is if these problems will affect New England's level of play this upcoming season like it did the Cincinnati Bengals through the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
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4 months ago
oh no... two of the patriots smoke marijuana... ohhh nooooo...
yeah hopefully these non-criminal charges won't spill out onto the field... hopefully...
give me a break the only real story here is asante samuel...
4 months ago
Actually, Kevin Faulk was cleared of those charges by the cops. Also, the Pats were due to lose the services of Rany Moss, but they kept him even though the Eagles offered more money and a longer contract to Moss. I also think the addition of three very fast linebackers Jerod Mayo (1st round, 4.5 40 yard dash), Shawn Crabble (3rd round, 4.6 40 yard dash), and Gary Guyton (free agent, 4.4 40 yard dash) is good news for a New England defense which suffered from a lack of speed at linebacker. Samuel developed into a great corner, but remember he was rated pretty low when he came out in the draft. Hopefully, New England will develop one of the corners they drafted to be as good as Samuel turned out to be.
It's better to deal with the Kazur issue now then to get blind sided by it in the middle of a season.
Scott
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