NFL.com columnist Thomas George does some serious heavy lifting to come up with an angle for a draft-analysis article:

Tom Brady was drafted eight years ago at pick No. 199.

Andre Woodson went to the Giants on Sunday afternoon at pick No. 198.

Similarities exist in these sixth-round picks. Both are quarterbacks with big arms. Both possess superior football intelligence. Both found their college production relatively ignored.

And the major common element: Too many teams passed on these two snappy passers.

I am not saying that Woodson is Brady.

But I am saying George is a hack.

Brady does not have a big arm. Woodson does not “possess superior football intelligence.” And to suggest that “both found their college production relatively ignored” is to severely distort the issue: Brady competed for his starting job in college on a day-to-day, half-to-half basis. Woodson has been a celebrated starter since his sophomore year. The reason he was picked number 198 isn’t because he has been ignored but because he is well known. He’s a good college quarterback and that’s all he is, as Kentucky’s defensive coordinator Steve Brown seems to understand and probably tried to tell George:

“This is a very, very sharp, smart quarterback,” Brown said. “He has excellent touch. He reads coverages extremely well. He can get you into the right play. He is one of the better quarterbacks I’ve seen in the college game in the last couple of years. He compares in style to Jason Campbell of the Redskins. But Andre is going to make his own mark in that league.”

(Emphasis added)

It doesn’t strike me as unreasonable to believe that a college coach who goes on record about one of his school’s former players is going to lay it on thick. In other words, Woodson is not only not a Brady, he’s not even a Campbell.

Garda Inspector Kathleen O’Toole is recommending the deployment of “less than lethal weapons.”

Uniformed gardai could be using pepper spray devices within the next two months, and highly controversial “less than lethal” weapons… The recommendations for these weapons, which are widely used by other police forces, were made in the report by Garda Inspector Kathleen O’Toole last year.

Why do the gardai need these weapons?

the decision some years ago to remove height restrictions for entry into the Garda has meant there are a considerable number of gardai who just don’t have the physical capability to restrain many violent young men.

Couldn’t they just put the height restrictions back in place? I’m guessing Brussels would come down like a ton of bricks on Dublin for discriminating against members of a sex who tend to be shorter than members of another sex.

In my lifetime, upping the arsenal of police officers have been a total red herring, seemingly (and perhaps actually) necessary only because of failed policies in other areas. Arming gardai with pepper spray isn’t going to roll back Ireland’s growing gang culture or deter street thugs. A quarter century ago Swedish police officers carried pitiful little 7.65 mm handguns and in extreme situations they could turn to an out dated Swedish-made submachinegun. Nowadays they have 9 mm pistols, pepper spray, telescopic nightsticks, MP5 guns and high grade body armor. But the more heavily armed cops haven’t made much of a dent on the many more or less foreign gangs that have put down roots in the country over the past couple of decades, nor on free agent criminals like bank robbers.

The Patriots primary personnel needs entering the 2008 NFL draft were linebacker, cornerback, tight end, fullback, and backup quarterback (current back up Matt Cassel isn’t likely to be around for the 2008 season and I don’t think the Patriots are ready yet to bank on Matt Gutierrez as the number two, and even if they are they would still need a number three). Patriots drafted three linebackers, two cornerbacks, one quarterback and one kick returner.

New England Patriots had the following picks at their disposal in the 2008 draft (overall draft pick order in parenthesis):

Round 1, Pick 7 (7) Traded to Saints for overall picks 10 and 78.
Round 1, Pick 10 (10) Linebacker Jerod Mayo from Tennessee
Round 2, Pick 31 (62) Cornerback Terrence Wheatley from Colorado
Round 3, Pick 6 (69) Traded to Chargers for 160 in 08′ and 2nd round ‘09
Round 3, Pick 15 (78) Linebacker Shawn Crable from Michigan
Round 3, Pick 31 (94) Quarterback Kevin O’Connell from San Diego State
Round 4, Pick 30 (129) Cornerback Jonathan Wilhite from Auburn
Round 5, Pick 18 (153) Matt Slater from UCLA
Round 5, Pick 25 (160) Traded to Tampa Bay for 153
Round 5, Pick 29 (164) Traded to Saints
Round 6, Pick 31 (197) Linebacker Bo Ruud from Nebraska
Round 7, Pick 31 (238) Traded to Tampa Bay for 153

First Round: Linebacker Jerod Mayo

NFLDraftScout.com pegs Mayo as outside linebacker because of his lack of strength while other analysts see him as inside linebacker because of his lack of speed. I assume Patriots will try to play him inside first, since the team is a bit weaker there. Of course, the draft isn’t over yet. Patriots might get an inside linebacker later in the draft and bump Mayo outside.

I’ve watched a Mayo highlight reel and it looked like it could have been Volunteers defensive end Robert Ayers’. I hope Mayo paved the way for Ayers and not the other way around.

Having watched an extended highlight reel I’m having some doubts about Mayo’s ability to play inside linebacker for the Patriots. He really does seem to lack the kind of upper body strength you need to shed blocks inside and most of the plays he makes seems to be either when he’s in a swarm or at or from the edge. On the other hand, Tedy Bruschi was a pass rushing defensive end in college who became an inside run stuffing linebacker in NFL. Perhaps the Patriots plan on getting an inside linebacker later in the draft and shuffle Mayo outside, as I speculate above.

Second Round: Cornerback Terrence Wheatley

Patriots selected Colorado cornerback Terrence Wheatley with their second round pick. NFLDraftScout.com calls him a “shutdown cornerback.” A highlight reel on YouTube suggests that he has good on-field speed (he ran a blazing 4.37 40 at the Combine) and that he can handle himself on the proverbial island against wide receivers. The boys at Patriots Football Weekly thought the Patriots would pick Reggie Smith from Oklahoma. Smith’s highlight tape is certainly more impressive than Wheatley’s, but I’m guessing the Patriots think Wheatley has more athletic ability and thus a better chance of sustained success in the league.

Third Round: Linebacker Shawn Crable

Shawn Crable’s highlight reel is pretty unspectacular but he has the size to play outside linebacker in the Patriots 3-4 scheme and he’ll have a couple of seasons as back-up before having to become starting-grade material. Seems like a good, need-based pick.

Third Round: Quarterback Kevin O’Connell

Quarterback Kevin O’Connell from San Diego State has nice size, arm strength, accuracy, speed and zip on the passes. The offense he directed at SDSU was a bit more complex and varied than the typical college scheme and he took snaps both in the shotgun and under the center. It will be fun to see how he does in training camp. Having watched some Aztecs highlight I have to say that O’Connell plays a bit like Cassel. A lot of running around. He needs to curtail that and develop a strong pocket presence.

Fourth Round: Cornerback Jonathan Wilhite

Cornerback Jonathan Wilhite from Auburn was one of the strongest cornerback at the Combine. Seems like a pretty marginal pick but adds to the competition and depth at cornerback.

Fifth Round: Kick returner Matt Slater

Matt Slater from UCLA is a strange pick. He’s a raw athlete with a reported 4.4 40. He was recruited as a wide receiver but switched to defensive back but is listed as wide receiver in the draft. Was reportedly mostly a special team’s gunner for the Bruins. And a good kick returner. And they traded up seven spots to get him. Odd. I’m speculating that the Patriots want to reduce or eliminate the kick-off return workload for Maroney and Willis. If Slater can handle kick-off returns he’ll probably get a shot at playing wide receiver, but that’s really looking way beyond the corner, I think.

Sixth Round: Linebacker Bo Ruud

Patriots picked Bo Ruud, an outside linebacker from Nebraska in the sixth round. I’m guessing his best chance to earn a roster spot is through special teams play. Ruud is tall (6′4″) but not particularly big (234 lbs).

The First Round: Countdown to trade down

Miami Dolphins used their first overall pick to snag offensive tackle from Michigan while Saint Louis Rams picked defensive lineman Chris Long from Virginia. Patriots is playing AFC Division East opponent Miami twice and the Rams once in the 2008 season, so it seems like a positive for the Patriots that neither team picked a runningback, wide receiver or other high-impact player. Long term, Jake Long could become an anchor for a steadily improving offensive line for Miami.

Who do you think will win the battle in the trenches between Long and Patriots’ left defensive end Ty Warren? My vote’s on Tiny. Anyway, Long v. Warren could be a heck of match-up over the next five years. I hope they develop a strong personal dislike for each other. I have it on no authority whatsoever that Warren refers to Long as Mandy, after spectacular draft bust Tony Mandarich. Spread the word.

Atlanta Falcons picked Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan with the third pick. Good move by the Falcons to get a franchise quarterback. Not that I think he is one.

Three white players were selected with the three first picks. That can’t have happened too many times over the past three decades.

Patriots also play Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, who draft fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, in the first round.

Raiders chose Darren McFadden, a runningback from Arkansas. Patriots play the Raiders in week 15 and by that time the Raiders will have quit on the season and McFadden will be busy fathering babies out of wedlock.

Kansas City selected Glenn Dorsey from LSU. Very good pick by the Chiefs, but he shouldn’t be much of factor in the opening regular-season game against the Patriots.

New York Jets snagged Vernon Gholston, a speedy defensive end pass rusher who could very well create problems for Patriots’ tackles Matt Light and Nick Kaczur. However, he will have to have more than just outside speed because if he doesn’t have inside moves they’ll just ride him out. Interesting match-ups ahead. Also: Gholston v. Long when Jets meet Dolphins. Good stuff.

Patriots traded down to ten. Saints used the seventh pick to take defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. Good move by both teams. Pats got 10 and 78. That leaves New England with three picks in the third round in a pretty deep draft.

Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to pick defensive end Derrick Harvey at eight and Cincinnati Bengals took USC linebacker Keith Rivers at nine.

Finally, the New England Patriots picked inside linebacker Jerod Mayo from Tennessee. I know just about nothing about Mayo, but the team is in dire need of fresh blood at inside linebacker, so the pick addresses that need.

Draft Punditry

ESPN pencil neck John Clayton rates the Patriots as first day losers because they ended up with a linebacker whom they could have had at 21. Clayton says the Patriots “hated” their original seventh spot since they are big on team, not on stars (you’d think ESPN analysts would know better than speaking of Patriots and hate, but apparently they don’t), yet rumors had it that the Patriots tried to trade up, presumably to get Gholston or Dorsey at five.

I heard Scott Zolak lament on a show on WEEI that the Patriots didn’t draft an offensive lineman in the fist four rounds. I really don’t understand what that would have done for the Patriots. His reasoning was the offensive line’s breakdown in Super Bowl against the New York Giants, but since it was a collective failure for the line the rational response would have been to get five new linemen, if one were to follow Zolak’s thought process. The offensive line is simply not an area the Patriots need to worry about this year.

Besides, Patriots drafted three offensive linemen last year, all three were let go and all three were picked up by other teams, which tells me that they were pretty promising players but not better than any of linemen already on the roster. In hindsight, perhaps they should have kept Clint Oldenburg of the three, but there is no way he would have done better against the Giants pass rush than guards Logan Mankins, Stephen Neal, Russ Hochstein did.

Seattle Seahawks picked Notre Dame tight end John Carlson with the 7th pick in the second round (38). I had hoped the Patriots would pick him but there are other tight ends on the board. No worries. Jets taking Jordy Nelson with the 36th overall pick seems like a serious reach. Picking tight end Fred Davis from USC at 48 strikes me as a good move by Washington Redskins. Very odd draft by the Chicago Bears. They could have snagged runningback Rashard Mendenhall (Illinois) and either of quarterbacks Chad Henne (Michigan) or Brian Brohm (Louisville) (I think the latter is vastly better), but they went with offensive tackle Chris Williams and runningback Matt Forte instead.

The 2008 NFL draft is this weekend.

New England Patriots needs are, in order: Linebacker, cornerback, tight end, fullback, and quarterback (backup quarterback, to be specific).

Ideally, the Patriots would send their first-round pick (the seventh overall) and a 2009 second-round pick to Cincinnati Bengals for malcontent wide receiver Chad Johnson. Then they would use their second round pick this year to draft tight end John Carlson from Notre Dame. You might ask how getting a wide receiver and a tight end addresses the need at linebacker and cornerback? It doesn’t, but it would make the offense even more potent than it was last year and it hopefully add punch to the run blocking (and to avoid breakdowns like this one against Indianapolis Colts last year).

Since that isn’t likely to happen, I hope the Patriots draft USC linebacker Keith Rivers at seventh. If LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey is available at that spot, which is highly unlikely, they should get him. If Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan is available they should take him. Since neither of those three players likely to be available, the Patriots should pick the highest rated linebacker available. Some people have more or less fallen in love with Vernon Gholston, but he strikes me as a one-note player, a poor man’s Dwight Freeney, if you will (here’s a Gholston highlight reel). It is true that the Patriots could use a speed-rusher to complement the plodding Adalius Thomas and Mike Vrabel, but I think the defense overall would gain more from getting a versatile linebacker, preferably a versatile inside linebacker.

The one pick that would be somewhat disappointing would be drafting a cornerback with the first round pick.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board is very strongly in favor of expanded immigration and a full and complete amnesty for all illegal aliens. In fact, the board is in favor of open borders, that is, unlimited and unrestricted immigration.

In a column in Thursday’s paper editorial board member Mr. Jason Riley argues that

Immigrants help keep our labor markets flexible. And flexible labor markets – the kind that minimize the costs to a business of hiring and firing employees – enable workers and employers alike to find the employment situation that suits them best. Flexible labor markets make it easier for an employee who doesn’t like his job to find another position somewhere else. And flexible labor markets make it more likely that an employer will expand his workforce or take a chance on a less experienced job-seeker.

The idea that immigrants help keep labor markets flexible is nonsense. The number of immigrants in a labor market has nothing to do with that market’s flexibility. As Mr. Riley correctly points out, labor market flexibility is primarily about an employer’s right to hire and fire workers. One can have very flexible labor markets and no immigration whatsoever, and vice versa. Most European countries have plenty of immigrants and relatively rigid labor markets. What immigration policy can change is the size of the labor pool, but even then only in terms of raw numbers. There is certainly no guarantee that the share of emplyed immigrants will be higher than the share of employed natives.

Absurdly, Mr. Riley writes:

Social conservatives fret that too many immigrants will have America slouching toward Guatemala. The bigger concern is that too few immigrants will have us slouching toward France.

How would having “too few” immigrants make America slouch towards France? How can one even have too few immigrants? Assuming that having too few immigrants somehow would make Americans slouch towards France, how would that be a bigger concern than America slouching towards Guatemala? Say what you will about France, America’s first ally, it is a very affluent country that many foreigners are willing to risk their lives to reach. Guatemala is a spectacularly poor country that many Guatemalans are willing to risk their lives to leave. Also, according to right-wing think-tank Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, France’s economy is more free than Guatemala’s. So why exactly would America’s slouching toward France be a bigger concern?

Are we still far away enough from the presidential election to be allowed to criticize a politician without violating McCain-Feingold? Probably not, so let me say this: I hope Hillary Clinton is the next President of the United States of America.

The other day I watched a rerun of Baltimore Colts at Buffalo Bills from last season on the NFL Network. The sight of two mediocre teams trying to find a way a to win served as a harsh reminder of the fact that the New England Patriots one day will return to mediocrity. It’s unavoidable. Here’s how it could happen:

1) Quarterback Tom Brady retires after the end of the 2010 season, his right shoulder shot, tired of chasing that elusive fourth Super Bowl victory.

2) Head Coach Bill Belichick decides to follow suit when he realizes his personnel cupboard is empty, his roster stocked with aging veterans and young players with little promise, and his budgets ever stingier because of unexpectedly weak profits generated by the Patriots Place shopping center. “Belicheat Beliquits!” blares NY Post’s front page.

3) The Krafts realize the gravity of the situation but fail to re-staff the football and personnel operations with adequately competent leaders. Instead of coveting a chance to play for the Patriots, veteran free agents shun the franchise for being cheap and in disarray. In 2013, the Patriots go 5-11. The Revolution’s 2014 home opener draws a bigger crowd than the Patriots’ 2013 season finale.

Well, such a development would still be better than those dreadful pre-Kraft years, that’s for sure, but I really hope the franchise finds a way to rejuvenate once the Belichick/Brady era comes to an end.

We don’t have enough jobs!

We don’t have enough workers!

2007 edition.

2006 edition.

It’s almost surprising that there still are businesses on the Cape that caters to tourists, isn’t it? Other than for the area’s enormous popularity with tourists.

Dan Kennedy has a write-up on Adam Gaffin and his site Universal Hub in the latest issue of MassINC’s magazine Commonwealth. Universal Hub is a bit of a big deal for many of us bloggers in Boston and people who cover or influence the city for profit should probably follow it on a regular basis. As Kennedy mentions in his article, Gaffin is a pretty old-school journalist who won’t serve you any silly bloggers-shall-rule-the-Earth rhetoric.

Kennedy and Gaffin were both members of a panel at a MassINC sponsored event last year that discussed young adults and their news consumption.

Tom Casale claimed on PFW In Progress today that Comcast in New England used a generic show description in its program guide for the episode of South Park last week that called New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick a cheater. According to Casale, an unnamed source at Comcast believed an episode-specific description wasn’t “appropriate for this area.” (You can listen to the show here (South Park is discussed in the last five minutes or so)).

The episode, “Eek,a Penis,” was, in my opinion, hit-and-miss, as is often the case with South Park. What probably annoyed me the most was that Eric Cartman (posing as Cartmenez, a Chicano-nationalist teacher) said the Patriots violated league rules by videotaping opposing defenses. In reality, they violated the rules by video taping opposing teams’ coaches on the sideline. However, the line How do I reach these kiiids? is a definite keeper.