January book reviews, part 1

I've been able to do some reading lately, and although I won't offer my take on Strunk and White's Elements of Style (aside from saying it's one of the best books ever for writers), I am going to give my opinion on some other books I've recently read. Most of them have been in the sports genre.

Today: Then Belichick Said to Brady by Jim Donaldson.

Then Belichick Said to Brady is cast as an insider's take (Donaldson worked for the Providence Journal covering the Pats for years) of New England Patriots history, with dust cover advertisements promising scoops about the stories all New England fans know.

Unfortunately, the book does exactly opposite of that: It tells, in the most bland form, the stories everyone already knows, just in a more boring way.

Rambling at best, this poor retelling of basics Patriots history is mundane, repetitive, and dull.

The long-winded accounts, which are placed in no particular order and are often revisited several times within the book (just in different chapters), are bolstered only by the occasional verbatim quotes that the dustcover promised would power the book. And these quotes are so dull that they could have easily been pulled from the Patriots' Monday press conferences throughout the years.

Now, I understand that a sportswriter moves at his own peril when he tries to cover the tight-lipped Pats, but this isn't sparse...it's shoddy. It was one of those books that makes you wonder how this sportswriter ever got paid to do what he did. There are stories here, but he doesn't find them, much less tell them, and he lacks even basic writing skills at points.

His lack of excellence is even seen on the back cover, where he runs one of the great Belichick quotes, but it's misattributed to when Belichick took over the Patriots, not the Browns (which is the actual circumstance, once you suffer through the book). If Donaldson can get even that right, don't count on good storytelling or inspiring quotes.

Furthermore, nowhere in the book does it ever recount an instance where Belichick actually said something to Brady.

For someone with no clue about the history of the Patriots, this book may help, but read it with a knowledgeable friend at your side, for you will have more questions than answers after going through it.

Questions such as, "What was this guy thinking?"

There you go, Pats

The pocket crumbled. Tom Brady was hurried. Receivers dropped passes. Brady overthrew passes. The secondary missed big plays. The defense lost key players.

Yes, this has been the storyline for the Patriots this year, and it was the storyline for them again today. Except they won this time.

Gell-headed analysts and Beantown naysayers, mark my words: The great Patriots teams that won in 2001, 2003, and 2004 were not the 2007, light-up-the-sky Patriots. They were a New England team with suspect defense, simple-screen-pass Brady, and wins that weren't gaudy, just wins.

The Patriots still had some issues to work out today, but they got enough working to notch a 26-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

During the game, it was obvious that Brady is still Brady, and all the offense needs is a little more time to get on the same page. Brady was able to stand up in the pocket and make sharp passes. There were still overthrows, and there were still drops, but an improvement over last week's debacle could be seen.

It was a tight contest in the first half, marked by the Falcons' high-powered offense having its way on a couple of drives, and New England's offense looking like no one was on the same page once again. In fact, Brady left the final drive in the first half (a downfield four-minute drive with plenty of time for a touchdown) screaming at several receivers: ones who didn't catch the ball, ones who weren't in the right spot, ones who neglected to run inbounds when looking for the ball, etc., etc.

Well, whether Captain Happy's methods worked or not, the Patriots were able to outscore Atlanta 13-0 in the second half. They had to settle for two more field goals, but Brady finally got a touchdown in there, too, and the team looked one step closer to finally clicking.

Lost in the muddle of all the Patriots who weren't making plays (including Randy Moss at times) was the fact that the defense was outstanding for a third-straight week. (This is a defense that has shed more veterans than an AARP program under audit.)

The Falcons were held to a mere 257 yards, including just 58 on the ground (Atlanta had 219 in two games so far this season). There were no big interceptions, no sacks, and just one fumble (that only accounted for three points). But the defense did its job enough to let the Patriots have the ball for almost 40 minutes, a nice time-of-possession edge.

The Patriots also got a fine performance from running back Fred Taylor, who's been waiting to bust out and give Brady some relief. Taylor lopped off several long yardage runs, including a 17-hash-mark scamper that swung the momentum toward the Patriots getting their first touchdown, which he also scored, in the second quarter.

Taylor ended the day with 21 rushes for 105 yards and a touchdown, which is a pretty good day for any NFL back, let alone a washed-up one from Jacksonville playing for a pass-happy New England team that has five other backs in its queue.

Brady ended up going 25-for-42 with 277 yards and a score. His completion rate was only 59.5%, but that's decent for a guy that started out 10-for-18 (55%).

Moss had 10 catches for 116 yards.

The rest of the receiving and rushing was spread out amongst eight guys.

Leigh Bodden and Brandon McGowan both had a team-high five tackles on defense, and McGowan forced the lone fumble.

The Patriots host Baltimore (3-0) next week at 1 p.m. The Ravens just shut down the Browns 34-3 this week and have also beat the Chargers (31-26) and the Chiefs (38-24) in a year that has been as surprising for Baltimore's huge amount of offense as it has been for the up-and-down nature of its defense.

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