One of the things I’ve heard as I’ve been tracking the Scott Pioli sightings is that the Cleveland Browns job offer just isn’t sitting right with Patriots VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli. Actually, it never started off right, but that’s a different story.

After conflicting reports of the Browns setting a deadline on Thursday emerged, the probability that Pioli would – or even could – get a deal done with Browns owner Randy Lerner seemed remote. From everything I was told, both sides were at an impasse over the amount of control the position would hold. While the sides continued to try to hammer out a deal, the Kansas City Chiefs became a viable option.

Pioli reportedly met with Clark Hunt, son of the late Lamar Hunt, longtime owner of the Kansas City franchise.  That meeting concluded and the status of those negotiations are unknown.  Unlike Cleveland, the Kansas City owner appears to be well versed in how to keep negotiations confidential.

I’ve been told that a Pioli decision – one way or the other for Cleveland — will be coming soon, possibly even tonight.

The three options for Pioli as I wrote here (members link), are: Pioli returns to New England, he takes a lesser role (GM or president) with the Chiefs or he comes to a compromise with the Browns.

It’s unclear what direction the Patriots exec is leaning.  

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is drawing interest from a number of teams looking for a new head coach.  The Patriots assistant coach was widely considered one of the top young coaching prospects last year after directing an offense which outscored every team in NFL history.  

When the Patriots lost Tom Brady, many thought they’d flounder, but between Brady’s replacement Matt Cassel and McDaniels, the team not only survived the loss of Brady, they became dangerous.  

Cassel obviously deserves most of the credit for managing the offense, but league insiders have credited the job McDaniels has done to get his quarterback ready.  Few believed the Patriots had someone capable of running last season’s offense, but McDaniels and Bill Belichick proved those assumptions were wrong.

McDaniels met with the Cleveland Browns today according to team insiders. Cleveland papers have since documented the meeting.  

Here is the latest AP report on the meeting.

McDaniels is also a candidate for the Broncos and  Lions openings.   

Contrary to popular reports here in Boston, McDaniels is NOT a shoe-in should Scott Pioli land the job in either Cleveland or Kansas City.

Pioli Update coming tonight. A source close to the situation tells me the decision is about to happen one way or the other.
 

Patriots VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli hasn’t found a new employer just yet, and the New Year is nearly upon us. Negotiations between the Cleveland Browns and  Pioli were ongoing as of this afternoon according to numerous reports, but both sides had yet to reach an agreement as of this evening.  Browns owner Randy Lerner was believed to be very interested in having Pioli sign a deal with Cleveland to become their next GM, and worked at putting forward an offer to land the Patriots executive.  Reports indicating that talks were progressing continued through Wednesday afternoon, then took a a sudden turn tonight.

While I’m not at liberty to divulge the exact nature of the events, the move will directly impact other teams looking to make their pitch to the Patriots personnel guru. The discussions may not be completely closed as of tonight, and if not, that’s good news for the Browns. 

According to NFL Network’s Adam Schefter, the Browns want an answer from Pioli as of today (Wed.) What I’ve been told is that’s probably not going to happen.
 
While Cleveland was in discussions with Pioli, they also interviewed former New York Jets coach Eric Mangini. Cleveland’s handling of the process is leading Pioli to pause before making his decision.  Word from a league insider is that Pioli isn’t pleased with the entire situation and may meet with another team before making a final decision.

Pioli Interviewing In Cleveland

Patriots VP of Player Personnel is in Cleveland for an interview today according to a source familiar with the situation and confirmed through report from the Associated Press.  That’s good news for Browns fans, and not so good news for Patriots fans. 

Considered one of the top talent evaluators in the league, Pioli is high on Cleveland owner Randy Lerner’s wish list. Pioli is also gathering attention from other teams in the league, which he’s likely to explore if Lerner is lets him leave town without a contract in hand.  The Chiefs are looking for new man after the resignation of Carl Petersen, and what I’m hearing from sources close to the situation in Kansas City is if Cleveland doesn’t get it done, Clark Hunt will be more than happy to swoop in to land Pioli.

Still, the major obstacle for organizations willing to pony up the cash to pry Pioli out of New England is the subject of total control.  It’s a vague term used to reference the authority to make decisions on personnel and management matters as they relate to the football operations of the organization.  The Patriots haven’t given that control to Pioli, and he hasn’t needed it.  Working with Bill Belichick has enabled Pioli to focus on what he’s good at – evaluating talent. 

The New England Patriots are not wasting a lot of time letting talent slip through the cracks as the potential departure of their VP of Player Personnel looms large.  The Patriots announced the signing of five players to future contracts on Tuesday. Terms of the agreements were not announced.

The five players are:
DL Titus Adams, LB Angelo Craig, P Tom Malone, LB Darrell Robertson and OL Ryan Wendell.

Here is more on each player from the team’s press release:

 Adams, 25, spent the entire 2008 regular season on the Patriots practice squad. He was originally selected by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft out of Nebraska. The 6-foot-4-inch, 305-pound defensive lineman has not played in an NFL game, but has been signed by the New York Jets (2006 training camp), New York Giants (2007 offseason), San Diego Chargers (2007 training camp) and Cincinnati Bengals (2007 practice squad). He was released by the Bengals on July 7, 2008 and was signed by the Patriots on July 24, 2008.

        Craig, 23, was a member of the Patriots practice squad from Dec. 3 through the end of the 2008 season. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft out of the University of Cincinnati. The 6-foot-5-inch, 242-pound linebacker was released by the Bengals in the final preseason roster cutdown on Aug. 31, 2008. He was signed to the Carolina Panthers practice squad on Sept. 3, 2008 and was released the following day.

After a number of contradicting reports surfaced regarding the condition of Tom Brady’s recovery from knee injury, we had to ask who really knows what’s going on and who is just speculating?  According to the latest Brady update from Tom Curran over at NBCSports.com, his story on Brady’sd return being behind schedule is accurate and the efforts of one newspaper to get to the bottom of the mystery only served to confirm his original report.

Reading Peter King’s MMQB article at SportsIllustrated.com, I wasn’t surprised to find that King supported Curran’s report that Brady is behind schedule and may require another surgery possibly jeopardizing his 2009 season.  King went on to say he was hearing from other sources that Brady was on track with his rehab.Here’s a snipped from King’s MMQB piece:

I think there are two sides to the Tom Brady slow-knee-recovery story. Tom Curran’s well-researched piece on nbcsports.com Sunday implied Brady was behind schedule in his recovery and would probably need another surgery to feel right for the 2009 season. I have been told by those close to the story that Brady is actually ahead of schedule. We’ll find out which it is when the Patriots have to put the franchise tag on Matt Cassel come free-agency time in late February.

 
Word out of certain circles is that Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will receive a lot of attention this offseason for some of the current job openings for head coach around the league.  When asked if Cleveland was one of those, Browns owner Randy Lerner admitted the Patriots assistant was.  "Yes, he’s on the list."

Should Patriots VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli accept an offer to join the Browns, McDaniels is believed to be the coach most likely to be tabbed by the Patriots front office exec to head things up in Cleveland.  Ironically, fired head coach Romeo Crennel might even remain in Cleveland as a member of the organization in some capacity due to the level of respect Browns owner Randy Lerner has for the man.

McDaniels and Crennel worked together as members of the Patriots coaching staff until Crennel took the job in Cleveland.  McDaniels was the QB coach and Crennel was New England’s defensive coordinator.

What isn’t likely is for recently fired head coach Eric Mangini to join Pioli and McDaniels in Cleveland if they land the job. Some reports in Cleveland speculate that Mangini could be the defensive coordinator for McDaniel’s staff should Pioli land the GM position

What kind of Kool-Aid are they serving in C-Town now?

I’ve been waiting to report the Scott Pioli to Cleveland rumor here on the Comcast blog due to obligations to another outlet, but the rumor surrounding the possible opening in Cleveland for a new GM came to fruition Sunday when the Browns let GM Phil Savage go.  The hot rumor is that Cleveland wants Scott Pioli as their new GM, and if they can’t get Steelers coach Bill Cowher, then they’re going to make an offer too good to refuse to Pioli.

Scout.com first reported Cleveland’s impending conversation with Patriots VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli.  According to numerous reports, Pioli was targeted by both the Browns and the Chiefs.  A source close to the situation in Cleveland said to expect a conversation between the Browns and Pioli to occur as soon as the Patriots were eliminated from the playoffs, possibly even on Sunday night.

With the dismissal of Browns head coach Romeo Crennel this morning, the time for a conversation about a new leader has arrived.

Other Cleveland media outlets have since confirmed the Browns interest in Pioli, including a Cleveland Plain Dealer report that the Browns will ask for permission to speak with Pioli.

Stay tuned.  From what I’m hearing in the back channel, the Browns are deadly serious about fixing their woes and they see Pioli as the man who can help them get there.

Sometimes being in the proverbial loop is an interesting place to be.  This morning emails started hitting my inbox with news about the former Patriots coordinators Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini.  I knew about Crennel from the boys over at TheOBR (Disclaimer: I’ve worked for the OBR previously), but when I received Jay Glazer stories in my inbox as they went to press, I was surprised to learn Eric Mangini would be joining Crennel in the unemployment line.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.  Mangini presided over another epic late season Jets collapse, displaying the emotion of a cabbage patch doll. With their ever stoic leader on the sideline, Mangni’s Jets couldn’t get into the rhythm they needed to keep former Jets QB Chad Pennington at bay.  Pennington, aided with an opportunistic defense, managed to hold off the Jets after New York QB Brett Favre made mistake after mistake. 

Leave it to Favre to let down Patriots fans once again.  The last time it was Favre and the Packers who fell to the Jets which knocked the Patriots out of the playoffs.  This time, Favre did the same thing playing for the Jets.  

Go ahead and hate on Brett Favre if you must, but I’m one of those who believe the fall came from insufficient coaching or game planning.  You could clearly see Mangini saying, "Why did we do that?" along the sideline as Brett Favre launched a deep pass intended for Leon Washington but falling into the hands of a Miami defender.

The New England Patriots used all of their resources and all of their efforts to get into the postseason with one of the grittiest performances by a team decimated by injury.  But even with a win 13-0 win over the Buffalo Bills in their final game, it wasn’t enough. New England was officially eliminated when the Jets lost to the Dolphins Sunday afternoon.

The Patriots headed to Buffalo with the season no longer in their hands.  Winning against the Bills would improve their chances, but they needed an improbable win from the slumping Jaguars over the surging Ravens or a Brett Favre victory over a vengeful Chad Pennington.  Unfortunately none of those scenarios came to pass.  Despite shutting out the Bills at home, New England will miss the 2008 playoffs.

"As disappointed as we are that the season is over, I remain very proud of this team," head coach Bill Belichick said via statement. 

Belichick wasn’t the only one pleased with the team’s results, but sad to miss the playoffs.  First year running back LaMont Jordan who had 64 yards and a touchdown Sunday, reinforced the coaches words.

“We finished strong. After our last loss, we knew that we needed to win the rest of our games to even have a shot,” said Jordan. “I think it showed the focus of the team. I think it showed how committed we were to winning.”

Jordan appreciated being a part of something special despite not making the postseason.

A strange thing happened during the last Sunday of the 2008 NFL Season—and no, I’m not talking about Dan Dierdorf becoming fully aroused (on national TV) by the motion of Fred Jackson’s legs.

For one afternoon, we all became Jets fans.

To say it was like kissing your sister wouldn’t do it justice. It was like kissing your sister, and then realizing it was your mom. But still, for three-and-a-half hours, we bled green and white. And when it was all over, I had a weird sensation—and it had nothing to do with those pills I bought from Nick Kaczur. What I felt was compassion, compassion for Jets fans.

It’s been a while since I’ve rooted for another team like I did yesterday with the Jets. Sure, I cheer on other guys for gambling reasons or fantasy reasons or gambling reasons, but none of that ever matches my love for the Patriots. Yesterday did. I was rooting for the Jets like Rajon Rondo’s life depended on it. I was a Jets fan in every sense of the word…

And it was absolutely awful. 

We’ve been pretty lucky in New England to cheer for a team that—at least over the last 10 years, and not counting one game last February which never actually happened—has always excelled under pressure. I can’t even remember the last time I was truly nervous during a Patriots game. I’ll get on edge, but deep down, no matter what the situation, I’m always calm and grounded. They’ve earned that.

New England faces the prospect of becoming the first team in over 20 years to win 11 games and not make the postseason.  The last team to win 11 games in a 16 game season and not make the postsplayoffs eason was the Denver Broncos who suffered that fate in 1985.

The Patriots’ best hope ironically rest with division rival New York as the Jets hope to knock off the Miami Dolphins at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford NY. With a Jets victory, the Dolphins will drop to 10-6 and one game behind the Patriots, giving New England the division title.  Should Miami pull off the win, they will take the division at 11-5, winning the tiebreakers with the Patriots.

The Patriots only other hope is a win by the Jacksonville Jaguars who are in Baltimore trying to upset the Ravens at home.  If Jacksonville wins, the Ravens will fall one game out of the wildcard hunt giving New England the final wildcard and the No. 6 seed into the playoffs.

What to expect:

The Jets have struggled lately, with Brett Favre throwing more interceptions (6) than touchdowns (1) in the last four games. If the Jets can’t win at home, they will drop to 9-7 and miss the playoffs. Though New York is playing at home, the Dolphisn seem to have the upper hand in this matchup.  The game is full of subplots: Brett Favre’s last game, Chad Pennington’s chance ot konw the Jets out of the playoffs, The end of Eric Mangini if he loses, the Dolphins beomeing the first team in history to go from 1-15 to the playoffs.

Trent Edwards under pressure from Jarvis Green and Mike Vrabel (Getty)

The New England Patriots survived wind gusts of up to 40mph at Ralph Wilson Stadium to outlast the Buffalo Bills in a battle between running backs New England won 13-0 pitching their first shutout since 2006, 

The win puts the patriots at 11-5 on the season and one game ahead of the Dolphins and the Ravens who can still secure the final two spots in the 2008 AFC playoffs.

Now New ENgland sits in the position of playing the waiting game hoping that either Jets or the Jaguars can pull off a win to put the Patriots into the postseason.

Here are some notes from the game courtesy of the team’s media relations staff: 

PATRIOTS TIE FIFTH-HIGHEST REGULAR-SEASON VICTORY TOTAL IN FRANCHISE HISTORY
The Patriots finished the 2008 regular season with an 11-5 record, tying the fifth highest regular-season win total in the team’s 49-season history. The Patriots have finished with more than 11 regular-season wins on just four occasions - 2007 (16), 2003 (14), 2004 (14) and 2006 (12). New England also won 11 games in 1976, 1978, 1985, 1986, 1996 and 2001.

PATRIOTS RECORD FIRST SHUTOUT SINCE 2006
The Patriots shut out the Bills today, recording their first shutout since downing the Green Bay Packers 35-0 on Nov. 19, 2006. Today’s shutout was the sixth for the Patriots since Bill Belichick became head coach in 2000. New England had three shutouts in 2003, one in 2005 and one in 2006.

The Buffalo Bills hope to avoid a losing season and achieving the dubious honor of losing to the Patriots 11 times in a row — tying a Patriots franchise record.  However, the Bills are reeling after losing 3 of their last 4 and 7 of the past 9.  Head coach Dick Jauron received a contract extension in what would appear to be a vote of confidence but that hardly makes him safe for a possible year-end purge.  Bills owner Ralph Wilson has expressed a desire to see the team win in the near future as he deals with being one of the oldest owners in the league.  

At 7-9, Buffalo could salvage it’s disappointing season by finishing strong.  In order to do that, here’s what they must do against the Patriots on Sunday.

What to watch

Buffalo’s running game vs banged up defense

The Patriots will have to find a way to fight through injuries on the defensive side of the ball to contain the Buffalo Bills’ running attack.  Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson make for a formidable pair of runners. Although the Bills are ranked 16th overall averaging just over 112 yards per game, expect a more concerted effort to run the ball. Lynch is out, so the Bills will use Xavier Oman to spell Jackson. Richard Seymour and Tedy Bruschi are out for Sunday’s game, meaning Jarvis Green, junior Seau and Rosevelt Colvin will need to step up the run defense.  Seau and Colvin weren’t on the roster the last time these two teams met – a 20-12 Patriots win in week 10. Lynch has three 100-yard games since that loss.

As the Patriots head to Buffalo to take on the Bills in week 17’s final game.  Here are some comments from the Buffalo side.  Head coach Dick Jauron and receiver Lee Evans shared their thoughts with the New England media.

Buffalo Bills Coach Dick Jauron

Q: Congratulations on the win last week and how did it bolster spirits on your team?

DJ: It was a tremendous win for us because things had not been going very well at all. To go out there and beat a pretty good team that could have sealed a playoff spot… they were very into it and it certainly didn’t start well for us, so give our guys a lot of credit. They just kept battling and hung in there and made enough plays in the end to win the football game. It made for a very nice flight back. We actually had to spend the night there after the game because we could not get back into Buffalo. So it made that whole thing a whole lot better for everybody.

Q: So you didn’t get back home until Tuesday?

DJ: Until Monday. We couldn’t get out Sunday night, or we could get out but we couldn’t get into Buffalo, so we spent the night in Denver and flew out the next morning. We got back here around 3:00 or 3:30, around 3:00 [p.m.] our time in Buffalo.

Q: How much sweeter would it make the season to put the nail in the coffin of the Patriots on Sunday?