“First game of new, refurbished look of Patriots after an extremely busy midseason trade window. Some said the Pats are rebuilding, and are full of exposable holes, but this was NOT on display today.

Patriots broke down the offense of Thunder smashing bodies left and right, with a little help of spectators (who killed Tristam Draken). They did also something they rarely do, break offense of opposition, and score defensively.

Newly acquired Don Murocco was especially active, he was on LOS duty, fulfilling it admirably, then taking a handoff from Bortles and running away with it, scoring a TD in his debut. That act might have clouded the view of the MVP comittee, who awarded 5 more spps along the 3.

The game saw lot of fouling attempts on both sides, but the referee in charge, Dick Armstrong Cutsson, acted on almost all attempts. The skill discrepancy at fouling was visible between the teams. Pats had a dedicated, skilled fouler, who did some damage, while the Thunder could not even muster much armor break upon gangfouling. For the luck of Winston, who was the recipient of kicks and cuts most of the time. No idea why Thunder took exception on him, when they could have hurt more, but he has clearly drew their ire with something. Maybe a past encounter, i wonder....
...but then Winston was not even on the team. Anyway this is a mistery to be solved later.

All in all, great effort by the team, all fronts above average. Coaching staff is happy.

GM is smiling, while shaking his head, cant believe murker gave up on such a talent as Murocco...
...How is that possible he was unable to pick up the Unicorns playbook, but getting along with Pats instantly.

Anyway, on to the Sluggers!
”