I consider myself an analytical sort, not prone to snap judgements one way or another. But there are occasions when I am pushed to my boundaries. This is one of those times.

The issue: the Boston Bruins. Their start has been underwhelming to say the least. So underwhelming, in fact, that B’s General Manager Peter Chiarelli felt compelled to send Chuck Kobasew packing for players and a pick. If you want to tell me that Chiarelli did it because of cap concerns, I wouldn’t be happy but could understand. The changing NHL and the possibility that the cap comes way down a year from now had to be addressed. But that doesn’t seem to be the primary reason. No, instead Kobasew has come the poster child for all that’s gone wrong in the first few weeks.

“My gut feeling tells me that [the trade] is a shot across the bow,” said goalie Tim Thomas. “Wake up or else changes will be made.”

Yeah, nothing says shape up or ship out like trading a 3rd liner. Please. If Chiarelli really wanted to put everyone on attention, he would have done something more drastic, not that I’m a proponent of that. Actually, what the B’s big boss should have done was found himself a big mirror and then read his reflection the riot act.

To me, the troubles the Bruins have faced early on go back to the decisions that were made at the tail end of last season and then in the offseason. Start with too much money paid to Tim Thomas, then follow that up by letting two of your best penalty killers go without so much as even a cursory attempt to bring them back. You think this team and their penalty kill don’t miss P.J. Axelsson and Stephane Yelle? Just take a look at the numbers: a 69 percent kill rate. That is abominable, and a sure sign of what their absence has done to the B’s. 

Now Kobasew and his grit and 20-goal hands are gone too, for a roster forward in Craig Weller and prospects. Kobasew was a nice fit in that locker room and an even nicer fit on the ice, but Chiarelli is now hoping that two kids – two cheaper kids – will be able to fill that void. Maybe they will. But if they don’t, chalk it up as another move that eroded a Stanley Cup contender into just another team. Not what anyone expected, and certainly not what anyone’s looking for. Unless you’re the G.M. of another team in the Eastern Conference.

59-0.

That’s not a misprint, not some number randomly generated by my crappy computer. That’s the final score of the Pats/Titans game today in Foxboro Sunday. The 59 points is a Pats single-game record. Tom Brady threw 5 touchdown passes in the second quarter alone. It was a clinic, exactly what the Pats needed to do.

Actually, this was more than anyone could have anticipated. We knew the Titans secondary was depleted and that – on paper- the Pats should be able to have their way with them. But we’ve expected big things of this group prior to this game and they haven’t hit the mark with any sort of consistency. That wasn’t an issue today, especially in that second quarter.

The Pats lead jumped from 10-0 after one to 45-0 at the half, with Brady carving up the Titans like I’m planning on carving up the Thanksgiving Day turkey. He was 18-of-19 at one point. Reminded me of 2007 all over again (sorry, they can’t escape it). I don’t think there was any secret to it. They just overwhelmed a Titans team with their talent and their will, and it was pretty clear as the game went on that Tennessee wanted to be anywhere but at Gillette Stadium. Good luck, Jeff Fisher. You’re going to need it.

In listening to the postgame press conference, one thing was pretty evident: the Pats offensive players were ticked off that they were being criticized this week for their inability to hit the big play. Brady made a crack about it, as did Wes Welker. Hey, use whatever you want as motivation, but the numbers weren’t lying. Not a single pass play over 40 yards. Bill Belichick hit on that as the team gathered to start this week, and Brady repeated that theme in his Wednesday media briefing. By halftime, that stat no longer existed. The big play returned to the playbook, at least for one week. With winless Tampa Bay on tap next weekend, it should stay there.

Tom Brady is not the guy you or I remember from all those years. He has yet to regain the form that made him the game’s most skilled decision maker. When will he get the touch back? How will he get it back? With practice…

“When you don’t play as well as you’d like, there’s no secret to it, ” said Brady at his press conference Wednesday in Foxboro. “You just gotta get out there and do it better, be more focused, more concentrated and go out there on the practice field with a greater sense of urgency. That’s the way to overcome it.”

I’ve heard Brady espouse a similar philosophy with regards to almost every problem he and the Patriots have encountered over the years. It’s usually worked. But it seems to me this time, the Pats quarterback is taking even more on his shoulders.

“Everyone counts on me to perform at a certain level. I count on them to do their job. When you’re not doing it, it’s very frustrating when you really feel in a way that you’re letting your teammates down. You also have the resiliency to go back out there and give it your best.” 

His best just hasn’t been consistently good enough to this point (strange to be typing those words). Of course, a couple more accurate throws over the course of this stretch, and maybe our perception of Brady’s performance has changed. But that’s the difference at this juncture. His trademark accuracy has been absent at times, especially on the deep ball.

“Ultimately we got to hit ‘em. That’s why you go out there and play quarterback. You got to go out there and complete the balls that are there, and when you have opportunities down the field – you don’t get them often -  you have to take advantage of them.”

The Pats have yet to hit on a pass over 40 yards. That’s a touchy subject for everyone involved, especially Bill Belichick, who hammered that point home to his team this morning. Eventually, you’d expect that to change. Until it does, the Pats will be an offense that’s yet to live up to its potential, and Brady won’t rest until he has that unit – and himself – up to par.

Well I never saw that coming, did you? The Red Sox season is over, just like that. I was about as stunned as the 36 or 37-thousand who nervously watched those final two innings at Fenway Sunday.

The previously perfect Jonathan Papelbon failed to do what he had done so many times in the postseason: finish off the opposition. His scoreless innings streak, cobbled together over previous Octobers, ended in ugly fashion. Three times, Papelbon was just a single strike from packing the park for today’s scheduled Game 4. But he couldn’t get number 9 hitter Erick Aybar, then lost Chone Figgins on a 3-2 pitch. Bobby Abreu also got a 2-hit base knock, using a defensive swing to somehow find the Green Monster. That was the first run – and sadly not the last –  Papelbon surrendered.

After an intentional walk to Torii Hunter, the sacks were packed and Papelbon had no room for error. His first pitch fastball was exactly what Vlad Guerrero was looking for, and Vlad laced it into centerfield . Two more runs scored, and the Fenway crowd, so apprehenesive for much of the day, went eerily silent, save for the few hearty souls who booed Papelbon. The closer’s line: 1 IP, 4 H’s, 3 ER. An utter disaster when the Sox could least afford it.

Quite frankly, the Sox deserved to get swept. They couldn’t touch John Lackey or Jered Weaver out in Anaheim, which nullified their big edge coming in: Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. Then their bulletproof bullpen crumbled in a deciding game, at Fenway no less. Just stunning, but fitting. Everything we thought we knew about this team, that we favored about them heading into the ALDS, proved false. Now the Angels move on, while the Sox brass ponders how to build a better team for next year. Just 4 more months until spring training.

So who had the Red Sox winning this series in four games? A show of hands? Anyone?? Hey, I’ll confess. I have no problem admitting I was wrong. It happens often. Just ask my wife. 

I guess the biggest surprise during those first two games in Anaheim was the Angels pitching. Who knew that John Lackey and Jered Weaver were the 2009 version of R.J. and Schilling? Not I said the fly. That was the main reason I picked the Sox to roll. To me, Lackey, Weaver and the rest of that staff is minus a clear numero uno. In fact, I think I went so far as to call them a bunch of 3’s and 4’s. How’s that working out for me? Better yet, for the Sox. One run and 10 hits total. That’s butt ugly. But it will get better…

Fenway Park

That says it all, doesn’t it? The Sox are a different team at the friendly confines. No team in baseball scored more runs in their own ballpark and no team had better slugging or OPS numbers. No, not even the Yankees in the House that George built. I fully expect we’ll see that same kind of production from the Sox in Games 3 and 4 tomorrow and Monday, and that this series will end up back in Anaheim. If they don’t want to do it for themselves, they need to do it for me! I don’t know if my ego can take any more failed predictions, at least for this series.

I think we saw by Peter Chiarelli’s easy dismissal of “that player” – Phil Kessel – that the Bruins GM has a certain vision for what his team should look like. You must be committed to all three zones, be tough and be willing to put in the time. Chiarelli didn’t see that with his team’s top goal scorer a season ago, and that’s one of many reasons why Kessel is now wearing a Maple Leaf sweater. I say that’s a mistake. I’ll guess we see here with time.

Won’t have to worry about where Milan Lucic will spend his next few seasons – barring a trade. Looch has just inked a three-year contract extension that will take him through the 2012-13 season. You knew once Kessel was out of the picture, Chiarelli’s first order of business with his current roster was taking care of his power forward, the absolute embodiment of what Chiarelli wants, and amazingly, someone who has become one of the new faces of this franchise.

Lucic is one of those self-made players, a kid who’s come a long way in a short time since entering the professional ranks. His work ethic truly is second to none. I think that’s one of the reasons why some unnamed Bruins teammates took shots at Kessel as that drama played out, because they saw what Looch was willing to do every day to make himself a better player. They didn’t always see that with Kessel. There’s definitely some validity to the players and management’s concerns, but I will once again remind you all of this one critical stat: 36 goals. That’s Kessel’s number from a season ago, 19 more than Lucic, 9 more than the B’s second-leading goal scorer (Michael Ryder). So while the Black and Gold were wise to get Lucic under agreement for seasons to come, the deal would look a lot better if Kessel was alongside.

One of the big challenges facing the Patriots this week is how they’ll deal with Ravens safety Ed Reed. The 8-year NFL vet is the rarest of rare breeds, with the ability to freelance and not get burned.

“That’s what makes him such a great player,” says Tom Brady. “It’s things where its not really his responsibility, but he makes a play on the ball. And then when you think, okay, he’s really undisciplined back there and try to take advantage of it, he’s right where he should be, playing his responsibilities

Reed has 44 interceptions since entering the league in 2002. No player in football has more. With some players, those results can be directly related to luck, a bad quarterback or a bad route. But Brady knows better than that.

“We always say there’s guys that guess, but he’s a guy that guesses but always gets it right. So to me, he’s not guessing, its knowing.”

The Ravens secondary had struggled a couple of weekends ago against San Diego, but instead of backing off their usual aggressive stance, they remained in attack mode against the Browns. 4 interceptions and just 3 points allowed. Now on their worst day, the Pats are offensively superior to Eric Mangini’s team, but thus Sunday’s game is just as big a test as that Jets loss two weeks ago, probably more so because Gang Green has no one who even remotely resembles Ed Reed.

Tom Brady is not himself yet. That much remains true after the Pats 26-10 win over the Falcons. But I refuse to heap it all on his shoulders. Wes Welker is Brady’s binky and not having him for a second straight week is huge. In Welker’s place, Edelman, Aiken and Galloway did nothing to distinguish themselves. In fact, they damn near drove Brady into madness with their play in the first half, as evident by Tom Terrific’s near Vesuvius-like eruption just prior to the break. I don’t blame the guy for getting agitated. Brady’s still rounding into form, so when he makes good throws, he has every right to expect his guys to be where the ball is. They weren’t, and that was one of the main reasons why the Pats had to settle for 4 field goals in 5 trips to the red zone. That won’t do against good teams, at least not on most weekends.

Offense sells tickets, but thus far, the best part of the Pats team has been their defense. Never thought I’d be typing that here during the final weekend of September, but they’ve come along faster than anyone anticipated.

Today the Pats managed to take both Michael Turner and Tony Gonzalez out of the Falcons offense. That’s how the old school Pats defense rolled, the championship Pats defense. Do you realize Gonzalez caught just one pass, and that came in the 4th quarter. That’s mind-boggling. Certainly, the Pats concentrated their game plan around making Gonzo a non-factor, but they were able to do it using Brandon McGowan and help. McGowan was an under the radar signing in the offseason, but he’s been more visible than any of the Pats safeties. A real surprise.

Now on paper, this group doesn’t measure up to the Bruschi/Harrison/Seymour crews, but they continue to make plays and hold opponents down. 17 points versus the Bills, 16 against the Jets and 10 today. You promise Belichick that right now and I suspect he’d sign on the dotted line. With continued good health, these guys should only get better. Brady and his receiving crew should too. That will make the Pats as one of the teams to beat, just like we thought…just not how we thought it.

At the trade deadline, I gave the Red Sox a thumbs up for getting Victor Martinez for a couple of low minor leaguers. In retrospect, I wasn’t nearly as effusive with my praise as that deal warranted. What a bargain. In fact, I doubt that any GM made as good a pickup as Theo did. It has transformed the Sox lineup.

Martinez has been the Sox’s best everyday player since July 31st. Consistent at bats, clutch hits and a solid job behind the plate. Plus, there’s that intangible, that something that we heard about Martinez from the first time he was rumored to be available: he’s a helluva of a teammate. That’s been readily evident, from the way the players and staff responds to his every big play, to what’s happened with David Ortiz. Yes, I believe these two are related.

Ortiz had his corner of the room disappear, with the trade of Manny, then the release of Lugo. Martinez has eased that burden. I can’t put a number on it, but I know its helped. Ortiz is once again an important piece of the lineup again, and Martinez has helped make it possible. I can’t imagine what else he’s got up his sleeve, but I’m looking forward to watching it happen now that October is upon us. We’ve seen Big Papi grow his legend. I suspect we might see Martinez do the same.

If the Bruins came out and told me that the reason they traded Phil Kessel was strictly financial, I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I could live with that. Of course, had they not given Tim Thomas that megabucks deal, perhaps the B’s would be a little less snug to the salary cap. I mean, its not like they have a goalie of the future (Wait, what’s that you’re telling me? They do have a goalie of the future? Huh. I would have never guessed). But all this other stuff that has been leaked out is just weak. As someone tweeted in the last week or so, it’s an old-style Red Sox hit, plain and simple. Kinda like what they did to Nomar only not as vicious. But close.

Now as much as I believe the B’s should have found a way to make this work and fit a 36-goal scorer into their structure, I also believe Toronto may be a tough spot for him. Hockey isn’t the 4th sport in town. It is the National Pastime. Kessel is not a quote machine, and someone who’s getting paid the kind of dough he is now will have to be more accountable in that locker room. That’s a hard transition. Ask Nomar (him again?). He couldn’t do it when Mo left. Just wasn’t his style. Maybe Kessel will grow into that role, but I’ve seen no indication thus far.

Kessel’s also got more issues. No Marc Savard to set him up and – quite frankly – a team that’s not nearly as talented as the one he left. But the youngster and his agent played the cards beautifully. They got a market-value contract, worth an average of 5.4 million a season for the next five. And they also succeeded in weakening a division rival, at least in the short term. That can cure a lot of Kessel’s worries, at least until a 6′9″ Norris Trophy winner by the name of Zdeno Chara stalks him in the corner. Then all the money in the world won’t save Kessel, but it will buy one heck of a massage therapist to work out the kinks.