A judge has postponed Christian Barmore’s arraignment in his domestic assault case, the Boston Globe reports.
The Patriots defensive tackle was scheduled for arraignment in a Massachusetts courtroom on Feb. 3, five days before Super Bowl LX.
Instead, on Friday, an Attleboro District Court judge allowed a motion to reschedule the proceedings until March 9.
Barmore faces a charge of assault and battery on a family/household member.
The charge stems from an incident in August when Barmore is accused of grabbing the phone out of the hand of his girlfriend and throwing her to the floor when she tried to leave the house. The incident allegedly began with an argument over the air conditioner setting and unfolded in front of the couple’s 2-year-old child.
No charges were filed until Sept. 9 after the woman told police she initially was worried Barmore would make her life difficult. A criminal complaint was issued Dec. 16.
Barmore’s attorney has denied the allegations, and Barmore remains eligible to play.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs faces charges of felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery in a separate case.
The status of Patriots quarterback Drake Maye’s shoulder has been a topic of conversation for head coach Mike Vrabel in multiple settings on Tuesday.
During an appearance on WEEI, Vrabel was asked about online speculation that Maye suffered an injury in the AFC Championship Game win over the Broncos. Vrabel did not answer that specifically, but said “there’s not a player on our team that’s 100 percent healthy” at this point in the year.
Vrabel moved on to a press conference later in the day and was asked if interest in Maye’s shoulder has been overblown. Vrabel said it “probably” has been while repeating that no one, including Maye, is in perfect condition right now before suggesting that there is not a particular concern stemming from anything that happened in Denver.
“I wouldn’t say anybody hurt anything,” Vrabel said. “This is a sport where there’s gonna be things that come up. We’ll talk about whatever status each player has for the game once we’re required to. We understand that. We were able to function offensively, throw the football, run the football so that’s kinda where everybody’s at.”
The Patriots will release an injury report on Wednesday, but next week’s practice and injury updates will be of greater import when setting the stage for Super Bowl LX.
After the Patriots beat the Texans in the divisional round of the playoffs, defensive tackle Milton Williams shared his feeling that the team’s defense has not gotten the respect it deserves this season.
Williams expressed similar sentiments to Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media after beating the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game and he got more fuel for his belief when the Seahawks were installed as favorites for Super Bowl LX. The days leading up to that game will likely feature discussion of the Patriots’ weak regular season schedule and the absence of quarterback Bo Nix in the Broncos’ lineup, but the question of disrespect isn’t of interest to head coach Mike Vrabel.
“It doesn’t matter,” Vrabel said during a Tuesday appearance on WEEI. “We’re in the Super Bowl. Like, we can pump this thing up for 10 days. I mean, we’re all compensated very well for what we do, so I don’t think there’s any disrespect from this building, or my appreciation for our football team. It doesn’t bother me.”
That’s the public response one would expect from Vrabel, but his view on how his players approach things is a little different. He said he’s fine with “however they have to get ready to play the football game” and one imagines that Williams’s feelings will get some more play around the team before they hit the field in Santa Clara.
Much of the talk coming out of the AFC Championship Game has centered on Broncos coach Sean Payton’s decision to eschew a a second quarter field goal and go for it on fourth down. That field goal would have given the Broncos a 10-0 lead — points it would have been nice to have in a game the Broncos eventually lost 10-7.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was asked today on The Greg Hill Show about fourth down decisions, and although he didn’t say anything critical about Payton’s decision, he did say that coaches need all have to consider all the factors in deciding whether to kick a field goal or go for it on fourth down, and that one of those factors is how important those points are likely to be at the end of the game.
“I don’t mind being aggressive,” Vrabel said. “The biggest thing is trying to predict the flow of the game and what that’s going to look like and how many points you think you’re eventually going to need to win the football game.”
For Payton, trying to predict the flow of the game might have included considering that he was playing his backup quarterback, and a blizzard was coming in the second half. That’s not a bad time to score whatever points you can, and a 10-point lead at that point in the game would have been huge for the Broncos.
It’s impossible to know how the rest of the game would have gone if the Broncos had taken a 10-point lead in the second quarter, but it’s safe to say Vrabel is glad Payton decided to be aggressive.
Say what you will about Sean Payton’s fateful decision to go for it on fourth down in the second quarter of Sunday’s AFC Championship, but you can’t say this: It was not a product of Payton being beholden to analytics.
Payton has been open about the ongoing influence of numbers in football. For Payton, they’re simply a piece of the puzzle. When he makes a move that seems to be driven by analytics, he’s not doing so at the behest of the Ivy League mathematician whispering in his ear. It’s Payton’s decision, influenced by all of the factors — including how he feels about the play he plans to call.
Indeed, and as reported by Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, Payton had a decidedly old-school reaction when Bears coach Ben Johnson passed on a field goal to cap the opening drive of the divisional game against the Rams.
“Kick it,” Payton said.
After the play failed (the Rams intercepted the Bears near the goal line), Payton added, “Why are coaches not kicking field goals?”
The ESPN-Analytics-Say-Go vibe has taken over the sport in recent years, with coaches clinging to slim differences in percentages to justify being “aggressive!” Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. (And for some teams, like the Lions, the commitment to going for it removes all unpredictability from the moment.)
On Sunday, Payton seemingly zigged when he otherwise would have been expected to zag. He told Wickersham the goal was to go up 14-0, even thought 10-0 (and two scores) may have been good enough. And Payton thought he had the right play.
But there was a problem. And this is a credit to Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. He had self-scouted. He broke a tendency. He gave the Broncos a look that made it appear the play would work. At the snap, the Patriots shifted into a defense that neutralized the play.
“The look they showed on film, and the look we saw, wasn’t the look we got,” Payton told Wickersham.
That’s a huge part of the go-for-it decision. Calling the right play. And thinking the play that was called will work. There are many factors that influence the outcome. And many factors that determine the decision to go for it.
For Payton, it’s never about blind adherence to math. He ultimately made a decision based on all factors. And the Patriots ultimately disguised the defense they’d use to make the Broncos think the play they’d called would work.
Which overlooks another key factor in the go-for-it decision. Will the defense ultimately have a strategy for stopping that play you think will deliver success? When facing the Patriots and Vrabel, it’s worth taking seriously the prospect that they’ll be ready.
Still, it’s fair to believe Payton should have taken the points. Going up by 10 points could have meant everything, especially given the dramatic turn in the weather. And especially since a two-score game may have prompted an inexperienced quarterback to try a little too hard and to make a mistake that could open the floodgates for the Broncos.
