Pierre Woods

FOXBOROUGH - Around noon yesterday, Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio reiterated the confidence he had in the team’s candidates to replace Mike Vrabel at outside linebacker. Both the team’s confidence and patience expired six hours later when New England traded for Oakland Raiders defensive end Derrick Burgess. The 6-foot-2-inch Burgess, who is in the final year of his contract and will carry a $2 million base salary, projects as an outside linebacker and situational pass rusher in the Patriots’ 3-4 defense and gives a much needed boost to an outside linebacker...

The first day of training camp in the NFL isn’t completely unlike the first day back at school: There are some new people to meet, some new teachers, new lessons to learn, new accomplishments to achieve. Only this isn’t the new girl from out of town trying to get the hang of Algebra I while accumulating new Facebook friends and figuring out how much she can get away with in Ms. Jones’s class. This is Damione Lewis figuring out how to two-gap after a career of playing in a one-gap system.

Ben Roethlisberger zipped passes to his receivers, exchanged jokes with teammates, and smiled throughout his first workout since the Pittsburgh Steelers missed out on the playoffs. Business as usual for one of the NFL’s most-accomplished quarterbacks? Hardly. At the same time Roethlisberger was practicing for the first time this spring, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was telling a radio audience yesterday that the quarterback violated the NFL’s personal-conduct policy with his “pattern of behavior’’ and “bad judgments.’’ Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting a...

Ben Roethlisberger zipped passes to his receivers, exchanged jokes with teammates, and smiled throughout his first workout since the Pittsburgh Steelers missed out on the playoffs. Business as usual for one of the NFL’s most-accomplished quarterbacks? Hardly. At the same time Roethlisberger was practicing for the first time this spring, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was telling a radio audience yesterday that the quarterback violated the NFL’s personal-conduct policy with his “pattern of behavior’’ and “bad judgments.’’ Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting a...

The mystery behind Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas and his being on the inactive list for Sunday’s game didn’t get any clearer yesterday. Thomas was a healthy scratch for the first time since his rookie season with the Ravens in 2000, missing the 59-0 beating of the Titans at Gillette Stadium. He wasn’t on the injury report all week leading to the game and was not at the stadium Sunday, according to a league source. Thomas is in the third year of a five-year, $35 million deal and the inactive listing for a player who started the first five games of the season caught many by surprise.

FOXBOROUGH - The rash of injuries that has ravaged the Patriots this season has spread to the linebacking corps, as the team lost yet another key player, outside linebacker Adalius Thomas, for the foreseeable future. According to an NFL source, Thomas suffered a broken forearm during Sunday's 20-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills and will have surgery tomorrow. Thomas will not play Thursday night against the New York Jets and is likely done for the season, according to the source.

FOXBOROUGH - Sometimes the pieces fall into place. Other times they fall apart. When it comes to the Patriots' linebacker corps, it's the latter. In the last three days, the club re-signed veterans Rosevelt Colvin (Wednesday) and Junior Seau (yesterday), moves that an optimist might say are designed to help the team make a final playoff push, injecting some energy and veteran know-how at a critical time. But really, this is about survival. Survival, because as the Patriots' coaching staff looked at the depth chart this week, it found not...

As the owner of two UPS stores, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin takes pride in running successful businesses and striking lucrative deals. He had even suggested to Patriots owner Robert Kraft that perhaps he'd open his own store in Patriot Place, the development surrounding Gillette Stadium. Colvin also knows when a business deal is on shaky ground, which is why he knew his return to the Patriots for the final year of his contract was anything but guaranteed. Colvin was set to carry a $7.6 million salary cap charge into the season, the second richest on the club behind...

FOXBOROUGH - Rosevelt Colvin received the phone call Monday from the Patriots. They offered him a return to the NFL, an opportunity he was not seeking. He waited to give his answer. Colvin was happy living in Houston. He did his daughter's hair every morning before he took her to school. He tended to his business interests in UPS Stores. He became a more doting husband than he had been during his nine seasons in the NFL. "Was I retired? No," Colvin said. "But stepping away from the game was something I was open to. " Colvin, 31, contemplated his decision.

It's been five years, but Rob Ryan still remembers. Ryan, then the Patriots' linebacker coach, was sent to the University of Maine to work out a prospect head coach Bill Belichick had identified as a possible fit for his 3-4 defense, the rare player the team might be able to plug in at the position. Belichick asked Ryan, who had to put the prospect through his paces on an indoor soccer field because the ground was covered with snow, for his evaluation. "I was like, 'Nah, forget it. I don't think he's very good,' " recalled Ryan, now the Oakland Raiders' defensive coordinator.

Not too, too long ago, a coaching job with the great Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots was a Rolls-Royce position for an assistant. The only reason anyone would leave voluntarily would be for a head job. Witness Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, and Josh McDaniels. So should we be reading anything into the news that defensive coordinator Dean Pees has chosen to leave their employ with no specific landing place in mind? I mean, you must ask. “I enjoyed my time in New England but feel this is the right time to pursue other opportunities,’’ said Pees, whose contract is expiring...

The mystery behind Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas and his being on the inactive list for Sunday’s game didn’t get any clearer yesterday. Thomas was a healthy scratch for the first time since his rookie season with the Ravens in 2000, missing the 59-0 beating of the Titans at Gillette Stadium. He wasn’t on the injury report all week leading to the game and was not at the stadium Sunday, according to a league source. Thomas is in the third year of a five-year, $35 million deal and the inactive listing for a player who started the first five games of the season caught...

FOXBOROUGH - I lost my bet. I said we would get the Great Stone Face, and only the Great Stone Face. “That was an exciting game,’’ declared Bill Belichick, temporarily flashing that Mona Lisa grin of his. It wasn’t exactly Ed McMahon guffawing at Johnny Carson, but for Coach Bill, for whom football games are solemn affairs, it was pretty good. And why not? What we had just seen was a dramatic way to inaugurate the second half-century of Boston/New England Patriots football.

FOXBOROUGH - Around noon yesterday, Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio reiterated the confidence he had in the team’s candidates to replace Mike Vrabel at outside linebacker. Both the team’s confidence and patience expired six hours later when New England traded for Oakland Raiders defensive end Derrick Burgess. The 6-foot-2-inch Burgess, who is in the final year of his contract and will carry a $2 million base salary, projects as an outside linebacker and situational pass rusher in the Patriots’ 3-4 defense and gives a much needed boost...

FOXBOROUGH - Sometimes the pieces fall into place. Other times they fall apart. When it comes to the Patriots' linebacker corps, it's the latter. In the last three days, the club re-signed veterans Rosevelt Colvin (Wednesday) and Junior Seau (yesterday), moves that an optimist might say are designed to help the team make a final playoff push, injecting some energy and veteran know-how at a critical time. But really, this is about survival. Survival, because as the Patriots' coaching staff looked at the depth chart this week, it found not just a hole at...

FOXBOROUGH - Rosevelt Colvin received the phone call Monday from the Patriots. They offered him a return to the NFL, an opportunity he was not seeking. He waited to give his answer. Colvin was happy living in Houston. He did his daughter's hair every morning before he took her to school. He tended to his business interests in UPS Stores. He became a more doting husband than he had been during his nine seasons in the NFL. "Was I retired? No," Colvin said. "But stepping away from the game was something I was open to. " Colvin, 31, contemplated...

FOXBOROUGH - When the Patriots drew up their master plan for the season, it's doubtful it contained any scenario in which quarterback Matt Cassel handed off to running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, other than in practice or the preseason, certainly not with first place in the division was at stake. But when the Patriots face the New York Jets tonight at Gillette Stadium in just such a game, Cassel and Green-Ellis will likely be the starting backfield. In this season of seemingly unending injuries, the Patriots have plowed ahead by plugging in players like Cassel, a seventh-round draft choice in 2005, and...

The first day of training camp in the NFL isn’t completely unlike the first day back at school: There are some new people to meet, some new teachers, new lessons to learn, new accomplishments to achieve. Only this isn’t the new girl from out of town trying to get the hang of Algebra I while accumulating new Facebook friends and figuring out how much she can get away with in Ms. Jones’s class. This is Damione Lewis figuring out how to two-gap after a career of playing in a one-gap system.

FOXBOROUGH - When the Patriots drew up their master plan for the season, it's doubtful it contained any scenario in which quarterback Matt Cassel handed off to running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, other than in practice or the preseason, certainly not with first place in the division was at stake. But when the Patriots face the New York Jets tonight at Gillette Stadium in just such a game, Cassel and Green-Ellis will likely be the starting backfield. In this season of seemingly unending injuries, the Patriots have plowed ahead by plugging in players like Cassel, a seventh-round draft choice in 2005, and...

FOXBOROUGH - The rash of injuries that has ravaged the Patriots this season has spread to the linebacking corps, as the team lost yet another key player, outside linebacker Adalius Thomas, for the foreseeable future. According to an NFL source, Thomas suffered a broken forearm during Sunday's 20-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills and will have surgery tomorrow. Thomas will not play Thursday night against the New York Jets and is likely done for the season, according to the source.