Patriots vs. Steelers Recap

     The Patriots lost a really exciting game to Pittsburgh.  I really thought we had it at the end, but as was the story all game long, the pocket collapsed around Brady and he coughed up the ball.  The offensive line was overmatched by a big Pittsburgh defensive line.
     Ben Roethlisberger executed his game plan brilliantly and broke down the Patriots secondary immediately.  He was spreading the ball to all of his weapons and have success with quick hits as well as 10-15 yard passes to Wallace, Miller, and even hitting his backs.  Pittsburgh maintained a steady ground game that took pressure off of their quarterback and kept the Patriots defense on their toes.  Pittsburgh looked better on both sides of the ball compared to New England.  Pittsburgh's defense shut down Wes Welker by holding to 39 yards and did not allow the Pats to run the ball.  The Patriots were outmatched today and hopefully they can recover and play Patriots football against the New York Football Giants next week.

Saw this on Yahoo and thought it was worthwhile to share.

Helpful Banking Tips For 20-Somethings

• by SavvySugar, on Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:30am PDT

I remember receiving my first paycheck postcollege – along with my first checking account fee. While you're a student, many banks will prompt you to sign up with a free checking account, but things change when you graduate. I was startled and annoyed at this fee, but little did I know the few years preceding college, I would rack up several others. Here are five important things you should be aware of when banking in your 20s.

• Know the fees associated with your account. Ask what types of fees to expect and how you can avoid them. They creep up, and your bank might not prepare you for new fees either. For instance, large banks like Bank of America are instating monthly fees for debit card usage. While charges are between $3-$5, it's still a pretty significant fee for debit card users.
• Your purchasing habits are stored. In the ever-connected modern day world, purchases made by debit and credit cards are stored and analyzed. This might not mean a whole lot to you in terms of your debit card usage, but companies could use the data to determine your interest rates for credit cards. Keep that in mind if you tend to make not-so responsible choices like purchasing huge items spontaneously or blowing your paycheck in a 24-hour period. Otherwise, opt to make more cash purchases.

Dallas Follow-Up

    The Patriots did not play great football today, but they were able to win in typical Tom Brady fashion yet again.  Brady led a last minute scoring drive to take a 20-16 lead over the Cowboys to secure the win.  Surprising, it was a defensive battle on both sides, as each defense shut down potent offenses, and held receiver like Dez Bryant and Wes Welker to minimal yardage.  Tom Brady continued to find his tight ends and Gronk and Hernandez were major parts of the offense this afternoon.
    Turnovers were the headline today, as each team surrendered the ball numerous times, with Romo and Brady combining for several picks on the day.  It was up to the defenses to keep their teams in the hunt and not let the game get away.  Brandon Spikes had a solid game, and he seems to be making up for what we lost when Mayo went down.  In the middle, Haynesworth and Wilfork did damage all day, putting pressure  on Romo, and slowing down and stopping the run.  It was a highly physical effort on both sides of the ball and the bye has come at a great time in the season.

Patriots vs. Jets Preview

      The New York Jets are coming off of an embarrassing loss to Baltimore Ravens.  The Jets surrendered three defensive touchdowns to the deadly Ravens defense.  Mark Sanchez looked lost and scarred behind a weak offensive line that could do little to slow down, let alone contain, a highly formidable and dominant Ravens defense.  The Jets were playing without their All-Pro center Nick Mangold, and many of their offensive struggles began with bad snaps.  Nick Mangold is likely to play on Sunday, which is very fortunate for New York, but if he doesn't, it will be a very long afternoon in Foxborough for Mark Sanchez and his offense.
     The Patriots are currently riding an 18 game home winning streak, and Vegas has them favored by double digits on Sunday.  Let us not forget though that it was the Jets that ended the Patriots season last year at Foxborough in the playoffs.  Last week rookie running back Stevan Ridley looked very impressive, rushing for over 100 yards, and Wes Welker continues to wreak havoc all over the field.  On the other side of the ball however, the Pats took a hit by losing Jerod Mayo, and our defensive backs continue to struggle and give up big plays.
    The keys for both teams will be establishing the run gam early on, as Rex Ryan likes to so eloquently put it, "ground and pound."  Shonne Greene has not shown that he is a dominant back by any means, and the Patriots should be able to clog the middle with Wilfork and shut down the Jets running game.  If the Patriots can get good yardage out of the backfield from Ridley and Green-Ellis, this will open up the field for Welker and Rob Gronkowski. As long as Bill Belichick reads this and incorporates these ideas into the game plan, Sunday should be a blow out for the Pats.

Bluefish in Southie

     I spend half the week in Dorchester during the school year and I often miss fishing while I am in the city.  I am fortunate enough to be able to fish every day while school is not in session, and even found a way to get paid to do it.  I have heard of guys catching bass and blues in Boston harbor but have never seen anyone doing it, assuming these guys were fishing from boats, not from the beaches or docks.  While living in Harbor Point between 2008-2010, I often saw people fishing along the Harbor Walk, but never saw guys landing fish.  Yesterday however, I accidentally found the fish.

     While walking around Castle Island last night, I saw about a dozen guys fishing off the pier behind Sully's.  To my surprise, they were getting tight left and right.  I dragged my girlfriend over to them and excitedly watched them land good-sized bluefish.  There was a large group of Vietnamese guys fishing together, and they already had half a dozen fish between them, and the bite was far from over, and it was only 3 o'clock.  Everyone was there was using chunks of herring or mackerel, and casting it out as far as they could and letting it sit on the bottom.  It was only a few minutes before someone would get tight, and everyone else would reel in so they didn't get tangled.  The pier is probably fifteen feet high so they had long nets to haul their catch up.  

     The bluefish will most likely continue to be there and bite for at least another few weeks.  I am definitely going to bring a few rods and some bait back to Dorchester with me next time I go home.  I hope to have some pictures of Southie bluefish up here within the next week.