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Latest Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 3:54 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - Gronkowski has surgery on ankle
TE Rob Gronkowski had surgery on his left ankle Friday, a league source confirmed. His expected recovery time is 10 weeks, which would put him on course to return for off-season practices. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 3:51 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Key Free Agents in 2012: No. 1 -- WR Welker
Wes Welker, the league’s leading receiver, is an unrestricted free agent and not close to a contract extension, according to league sources. The Patriots want Welker back, so the franchise tag will likely be applied. That could touch off a tense situation. If not enough progress is made, Welker could take the same route LG Logan Mankins did in 2010: not sign the tender until he has to at midseason. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 3:49 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Key Free Agents in 2012: No. 2 -- Cs Koppen/Connolly
Dan Koppen, 32, was lost to a leg injury in Week 1 and 29-year-old Dan Connolly ably took over for the rest of the season. Both are unrestricted free agents and likely seeking starting money. Only one will get it. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 3:45 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Key Free Agents in 2012: No. 3 -- DE Carter
Andre Carter had season-ending leg surgery on Dec. 20, so his health is unknown. But when he was healthy, Carter was one of the team’s best players -- he led the Patriots with 10 sacks before he got injured -- and was a key veteran presence. If Carter wants more money, he may have to go elsewhere. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 3:37 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Positions to Improve: No. 1 -- WR
Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Matthew Slater are all free agents, although Slater and Welker (franchise tag) should be back. Chad Ochocinco could be released after being a total non-factor in his first season. The Patriots need to find more speed to make teams defend them in the deep part of the field, which the Giants did not in the Super Bowl. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 3:35 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Positions to Improve: No. 2 -- S
The position opposite Patrick Chung was a disaster all season long against passing teams. There was a plethora of missed tackles and blown assignments. James Ihedigbo settled the position, but he’s not a space player. Patriots need another dynamic safety. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 3:29 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Positions to Improve: No. 3 -- CB
Things were so bad at CB that the Patriots were playing with a WR (Julian Edelman) and two street free agents (Sterling Moore and Antwaun Molden) for a long stretch in the AFC Championship game. If Devin McCourty can return to form, the Patriots should be OK with Kyle Arrington coming off a career year and second-round pick Ras-I Dowling healthy. But depth is needed. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 2:12 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Top Moments of 2011: No. 1 -- 'The Immaculate Deflection'
With the Patriots clinging to a 23-20 lead late in the AFC Championship game, the Ravens easily moved to the Patriots’ 14-yard line with about 40 seconds remaining. On second down, Ravens QB Joe Flacco hit an open Lee Evans for an apparent game-winning touchdown, but undrafted CB Sterling Moore helped to dislodge the ball at the last second for an incompletion. Two plays later, the Ravens missed a game-tying FG. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 2:11 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Top Moments of 2011: No. 2 -- 'The Drive'
The Patriots trailed the Cowboys 16-13 in Week 6 with 2:31 to play. QB Tom Brady led the team on a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive that was capped by an 8-yard TD pass from Brady to TE Aaron Hernandez with 27 seconds remaining. Brady was 8-of-9 for 78 yards on the drive. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 2:08 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Top Moments of 2011: No. 3 -- Mayo saves the day
A TD pass from Tom Brady to Wes Welker with 4:26 remaining gave the Patriots a 34-27 lead against the Redskins, but Washington drove right back down the field. On third-and-9 at the New England 9-yard line with 29 seconds left, LB Tracy White hit WR Santana Moss as the pass arrived, and the ball deflected to LB Jerod Mayo, who made a game-clinching INT. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 2:07 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Worst Moments of 2011: No. 1 -- The pass that got away
With 4:06 left and a 17-15 lead in the Super Bowl, the Patriots needed two more first downs to win the game. The Giants blew a coverage on second-and-11 at the New York 44-yard line, leaving WR Wes Welker wide open. QB Tom Brady threw high and backshoulder to Welker but he dropped the ball. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 2:06 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Worst Moments of 2011: No. 2 -- Pollard's hit
With 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter of the AFC Championship game, TE Rob Gronkowski, who set NFL TE single-season records for TDs and yards, caught a 23-yard pass and was tackled awkwardly by Ravens S Bernard Pollard. Gronkowski suffered a high ankle sprain that rendered him useless in the Super Bowl. A hit by Pollard also caused Tom Brady's season-ending injury in 2008. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 10, 2012 2:03 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - 3 Worst Moments of 2011: No. 3 -- Down goes Carter
DE Andre Carter, one of the Patriots’ best off-season acquisitions, went down with a leg injury against the Broncos in Week 15 and needed season-ending surgery. With him went his team-leading 10 sacks. Voted to the Pro Bowl, Carter was often the only good pass rusher, and was stellar against the run. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 09, 2012 2:14 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - Patriots RapidReports MVPs
Offense -- QB Tom Brady. At no time in franchise history have the Patriots thrown more. It all runs through Brady, and he was stellar once again. Brady completed 65.6 percent of his passes for a 5,235 yards (second-most in NFL history) and 39 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. And he did it without a legitimate deep threat.  Defense -- DT Vince Wilfork. Led the defensive line with 74 tackles. His 3.5 sacks. two interceptions and two fumble recoveries (one for a touchdown) were career highs. Wilfork did that while playing 86.6 percent of the snaps -- by far the most in his career and extremely rare at his position.  Special teams -- P Zoltan Mesko. Led the AFC and finished third in the NFL with a 41.5 net average. His 46.5 overall average broke Tom Tupa’s franchise record of 45.8 set in 1997. Of his 57 punts, 42.1 percent were inside the 20 and he only had three touchbacks.  Newcomer -- RG Brian Waters. Went from competing for the right guard spot with Dan Connolly to being the full-timer when Connolly switched to center shortly into the season opener in Miami. Waters only allowed two sacks all season. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 08, 2012 10:59 a.m. - by Greg Bedard - Grading the 2011 Patriots: Coaching
Grade: A-minus. Bill Belichick the general manager didn’t leave Belichick the coach much to work with in the secondary, but to get that unit to within basically one play of winning the Super Bowl was astounding. Some positions were weak technically (cornerbacks, receivers, safety), but overall the units were well prepared and ready to play. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 08, 2012 10:58 a.m. - by Greg Bedard - Grading the 2011 Patriots: Special teams
Grade: B. Outside of one Julian Edelman punt return for a touchdown, both kick return units proved to be no threat to the opposition. However, the coverage units were terrific all season, and punter Zoltan Mesko performed near a Pro-Bowl level. K Stephen Gostkowski was solid all season, especially on kickoffs. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 08, 2012 10:57 a.m. - by Greg Bedard - Grading the 2011 Patriots: Defense
Grade: C. After getting off to a terrible start, the Patriots ended as an average unit at 15.4 points allowed per game once S Patrick Chung and ILB Brandon Spikes returned from injury. The secondary had a rough go of it the entire season but was steadied when Devin McCourty, after failing at CB, was moved to S. Andre Carter (IR) and Mark Anderson each had 10 sacks. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 08, 2012 10:55 a.m. - by Greg Bedard - Grading the 2011 Patriots: Offense
Grade: A. Tom Brady once again paced the offense (second in yards, third in scoring) with his first 5,000-yard season (5,235, second-most in league history) and this time the offense was centered around standout second-year TEs Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Gronkowski was first-team All-Pro at age 22 and set all-time positional marks in several categories. The running game (20th overall) took a step back, and the lack of a true vertical threat hurt at times as WR Chad Ochocinco did nothing after being traded for. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 06, 2012 6:10 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - Ihedigbo says Welker not to blame
S James Ihedigbo said not to point fingers at Wes Welker for not making a tough catch in the fourth quarter. "You look at the plays that he made all year long, how hard he played that game, and how hard he prepared for that game," Ihedigbo said. "We wanted it just as bad as [the Giants] did. They just made some key plays at the end and came out on top, so hats off to them.” Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 06, 2012 6:09 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - It's official -- McDaniels to become Pats OC
Bill Belichick confirmed that Josh McDaniels will succeed Bill O'Brien, who left for Penn State, as offensive coordinator. McDaniels has been serving as an offensive assistant since joining the team during the bye week after the regular season. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 06, 2012 6:08 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - Letting Giants score 'our best chance' Belichick says
Bill Belichick on allowing the Giants to score the final touchdown: "We felt like that was our best chance with the field position they had, to try to get the ball back and give ourselves an opportunity to have the last possession rather than have the game end on a kick that (had) well over 90 percent success rate from the field position they were in." Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 06, 2012 6:07 p.m. - by Knox Bardeen - Belichick: 'I really, really enjoyed coaching this team'
Bill Belichick made clear what he had intimated during the season: he enjoyed this team. "I have all the respect in the world for the team," he said. "It’s not about one game or one play or anything, it’s the whole body of work. I really, really enjoyed coaching this team." Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 06, 2012 6:05 p.m. - by Greg Bedard - Belichick not ready to make roster decisions
Bill Belichick said he won't make an immediate determination on some older players, like RB Kevin Faulk and RG Brian Waters, who are thinking about retirement. "I think after the game is not the time to make any long-term decisions," he said. Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 06, 2012 6:04 p.m. - by Paul Dehner Jr. - Pats owner optimistic after loss
Owner Robert Kraft looked back and to the future today once the team returned to Foxborough. "I’m actually very excited about the core group of players we have on this team, about the young players that have come in," he said. "I’m also excited that we have two [first-round draft picks] and two [second-round draft picks] in this upcoming draft." Patriots RapidReports
 Feb. 06, 2012 12:31 a.m. - by Paul Dehner Jr. - TE Gronkowski on desperation pass: 'I was close'
TE Rob Gronkowski on the final pass that landed just inches outside of his grasp to end the game: "I saw it. I was close, but that doesn't matter at all." Patriots RapidReports
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