Lou Saban, one of the first coaches of the Boston Patriots passed away over the weekend. He was a coach in the 60s, when the sport was more rough and tumble in a more basic way. It wasn’t a business in quite the same way as it is nowadays and he had to rubber cement a team together out of nothing much. When other teams poached their players, he had to bring the team up to snuff. This was back when the Patriots were in the AFL and were battling to look good to the NFL teams. He was a beloved figure, and actually managed the New York Yankees for protege George Steinbrenner for a couple years. He will be missed in Boston and around the football league as a real pioneer of the sport.

New England has been working hard on certain parts of the their team, infusing it with new energy, while still trying to keep enough of a core to give them the chance to be real contenders again in the coming years. There is a good question as to how their defense is doing. They sent Vrabel away and there are several other veterans who have left. What they perhaps need is even more youth to be brought into the lineup there. That’s what Bleacherreport seems to be thinking right now. The defense has often been one of their best, and they made some big changes after the 07 season, but the defense would’ve given them many troubles during the playoffs, had they been able to get into the playoffs this year.

Mike Vrabel is one of the most interesting players. He works hard. The problem now is that he will be playing elsewhere. In fact, he will be playing with KC against our beloved Patriots next year. So we should be hoping that he doesn’t work so hard. Anyway, he gave an interview with the KC media next time and it was an interesting one. The question that caught my attention was “will you play with a chip on your shoulder?” First of all, I’m not sure there would be a space on the shoulder for a chip, with all that padding and such. But he responded that football is all about production and you don’t need to worry about him. His time with the Patriots has passed and he will need to produce in KC just as much as he did in Foxborough.