Mike Reiss has posted a column on ESPNBoston.com (linked through ESPN.com) about a charity event at which Brady appeared.  It's a positive story that briefly discusses Tom's demeanor and plans for the off-season:

"Watching Brady in this environment, even with the corporate twist, it's hard not to appreciate his polish and come to the conclusion that however long he continues in his role as franchise quarterback of the New England Patriots, the time should be appreciated because he's about as unique as they come."

SOURCE:
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nfl/columns/story?columnist=reiss_mike&id=4858246

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According to ESPN.com (Boston), a "source close to the situation" told Adam Schefter that Welker has torn both the ACL and MCL in his knee.  More testing and an MRI has been scheduled for Monday.

Source:
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nfl/news/story?id=4792582

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NFL videos have posted a 5 minute "highlights" clip of the Dolphins/Patriots game from this past weekend.  Listeners can hear Bill's demeanor throughout the game, and the coaching he gives individual players on the sideline.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-sound-efx/09000d5d8141e444/Sound-FX-Bill-Belichick-mic-d-up

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Over on ESPN.com, Pierre LeBrun's NHL blog cited that a number of GMs inquired with Forsberg's agent Don Baizley about the availability of the 36-year-old forward.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4642932&name=lebrun_pierre

"I've had some discussions with Don Baizley on him and we had people scouting him last week," Chiarelli told ESPN.com, confirming his interest in Forsberg. "It's something that we certainly would look at exploring."

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Multiple on-line sites, including ESPN.com, NESN, are citing a report from the Boston Herald that WR Julian Edelman suffered a broken arm in New England's win over the Titans.

http://www.nesn.com/2009/10/report-julian-edelman-has-broken-arm.html

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Posting this on a hometown board is too easy, but I can't resist.  Joe Posanski has a column up on SI.com about whether or not our "beloved" ex-Patriots' coordinator Mangini is the worst hire the Browns could have made.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/09/29/mangini/index.html?bcnn=yes

I cannot stand what Eric Mangini has done to the Browns, the team of my childhood. I cannot stand the lack of respect he has shown for the team's history, the Mickey Mouse game he plays with quarterbacks, the amazing knack he has for getting his players to not play hard for him or the stupid fines he hands out like he's Principal Vernon from "The Breakfast Club."

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According to ESPN.com (citing insider sources), Chad Pennington has suffered a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder and is expected to miss the rest of the 2009 NFL season:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4512011

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According to ESPN.com, Marc Savard is probable for Game 7 of the Bruins/Hurricanes series this Thursday night.

From source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2009/news?id=4162348

"Coach Claude Julien said afterward that Savard is fine and it was his decision to send Savard back to the locker room. Boston led 4-1 when Savard was hurt."

Glad to see this.  It looked like one of those unfortunate hockey collisions where legs get tangled up, and hopefully it was just a bad charley horse.

 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft09/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=4102721

John Clayton has posted his "10 things we learned from Day 2 of the 2009 NFL draft" writeup on ESPN.com.  In it, he has high praise for the Patriots' ability to look to the future and build strength for upcoming draft years.

Key quotes:

• "Although the New England Patriots lost executive Scott Pioli, coach Bill Belichick still runs one of the most efficient drafts in football."
• "To be honest, I thought the Patriots won the day."
• Even after the Patriots' trade of Hobbs, they remain overloaded at cornerback with Shawn Springs, Leigh Bodden, Terrence Wheatley, Jonathan Wilhite and second-round choice Darius Butler.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnicplayoff/2009/04/bruins_could_be_without_lucic.html

According to this site (and several others), Lucic's penalty against Maxim Lapierre at the end of Game 2 vs. the Canadiens was changed from a game misconduct to a match penalty, which triggers an automatic suspension until the commissioner rules on the action.

From my viewpoint, certainly not the best of outcomes for the Bruins.  After the Habs got away suspension-free for their Game 1 cheap shots (Lapierre going after Kessel after a goal, Kostopoulos swinging an elbow at Hunwick in the closing seconds), there seems to be some injustice to it all, but it's the rule.  I'm sorry that we'll miss his physical presence if he is indeed suspended, but we still have guys like Stuart and Kobasew who are really stepping up the gritty play this series.

 From ESPN.com:  http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3988198

Apparently the Carolina Panthers have gone on record saying Peppers trade talks have not yet occurred with the Patriots or any other NFL team.  Because Peppers has not yet signed his one-year franchise tender or gotten an official offer from another team, the Panthers are technically prohibited from shopping him by the rules of the existing collective bargaining agreement.

Peppers himself (with his agent) is allowed to negotiate with other teams, but Carolina may not do so.

As some fellow Pulpit readers saw, yesterday a spammer appeared on the board and claimed to represent Patriots fans when he wrote that we were all just waiting for Tom Brady's return. Turns out it was just a ploy to link to an external "sports news" site.

As I'm sure it did with any real New England fan, the essay got me pretty fired up when I read it. Below is the response I wrote on behalf of the Pulpit and Patriots fans everywhere, which we'd like to move out of the comments and into its own post so we can erase the spam. I'll even leave it my mistake of using the word "media" too often in the same paragraph when talking about Bill...

The silver lining, in as much as one can be found in the injury to a franchise player and the public face of your team, is that the burden of expectation is gone from the punditry and fans. We know the players in the Patriots locker room still expect to win every week and leave everything on the field. As dedicated fans, we still expect and cheer for solid effort regardless of the final score.

Though I would much rather have Brady leading our team into championship contention, I do confess to finding a bit of relief this season as well. With the Patriots dynastic period, the burdens of winning grew heavy on the franchise and its fans in many ways. Here’s a few reasons why I can still enjoy this season:

A Win is a Win
No one is going to confuse Cassel this year with Brady last year. But with Tom Terrific at the helm, and the huge blowouts we had early on, winning was no longer the measure of success. Those of us who follow football know how improbable and difficult the Patriots’ win streaks and scoring proficiency were to achieve.

But the rest of the football world piled on. The whispers of a record setting offense spread like wildfire throughout the coverage last year, and any game where there weren’t three touchdown passes or more were perceived by many as disappointing, or worse, failures. When they did light people up, they were called poor sports. When they eeked out close games, they were lucky, a house of cards ready to collapse.

This year, every win is hard fought, a hardscrabble victory from an injury depleted roster. I can savor the downing of every opponent whether the margin of victory is large or small. And the only stat I obsess over is the win column, which is how it should be in a team game.

The Redemption of Bill
Depending on who you talk to, last year’s Spygate was the most horrible and invalidating instance of cheating ever discovered in professional sports, or an overblown incident that was taken out of proportion by fans and media alike. No matter the perspective, few would argue that Bill Belichick’s reputation as a great coach suffered. Cooler heads dissected how much impact the illegal videotapes really assisted his coaching, but to thousands of fans in other cities Bill wasn’t a genius anymore, he was a farce.

Even before the story broke, people were eager to hate him. His success was often attributed to having lucked out in the drafting of Brady when everyone else passed on him for 6 rounds in 2000. His press demeanor won him few allies in the press. It speaks volumes that someone who’s loss of his father was very public was still reviled by so much of the football world.

This year, with star players on his roster dropping left and right, Bill is still winning. Not at a record setting pace, not with offensive domination like last year, but he has the team in position for the playoffs after 9 games and still in control of their own destiny. The Bill we’ve always had faith in is still here and never left. But this year, with no videotape scandal and no star quarterback for his critics to lean on, Bill is earning back the respect his football acumen deserves. The genius is back.

Unquestioned Loyalty
As a fan who grew up in Milford MA, the Patriots were always the “local” team for me. I loved the Red Sox and Bruins and cheered for the Celtics, but the gridiron warriors were the guys right in my backyard. I was in elementary school when the Bears steamrolled us in the Super Bowl. Green Bay blew past Drew and Parcells when I was a junior in college. In between, there were many losing seasons. When Scott Zolak winning two games in a season at QB is the highlight of your year, you know you have it rough.

I’ve got nothing on the fans who are twice my age and have followed the team since it was in the AFL. Still, for the vast majority of my life, for decades, I’ve followed this team and known many others who did the same. I remember how crowded 495 and Route 1 got. I’ve got a Bledsoe jersey, a Curtis Martin jersey, a Deion Branch jersey. I still have the Pat Patriot nightlight I used as a kid. But after three Super Bowl wins and last year’s oh-so-close season, football fans of other teams would regard us as “fair weather” or “bandwagon” fans.

Those other fans didn’t know us and they never spoke to us. But they impugned our loyalty, for no reason other than the team we loved had finally become successful. They questioned our heart, questioned our honesty, and held us personally responsible for Spygate. They wanted to see us fall off what they called the bandwagon when Tom got hurt and were sure that we would.

We didn’t. We’re still here, we’ll always be here, and we aren’t going anywhere. Yeah, there’s a bandwagon for the Pats, just like there is for any other team. But me and the other loyal fans, we’re not hanging off the back of it, scrambling for room when the team wins and jumping off when it loses.

We’re the ones driving it.

According to ESPN.com, looks like Adalius broke his left arm and is done for the season, or at least a significant number of games going forward.  We can't get any good luck at all this year on the injury front, but it seems like that's the case every year.

The sources cited in the story are unnamed and I haven't found any links or stories that are officially confirmed from the Pats, but a few other new sources are also reporting this as well (including the Herald).