The Boston Globe - 02.09.2019

Sports

THE BOSTON GLOBE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 | BOSTONGLOBE.COM/SPORTS

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TVHIGHLIGHTS

Tennis: US Open, 11 a.m.; 7 p.m., ESPN
Baseball: Rangers-Yankees, 1:05 p.m., ESPN
Baseball: Astros-Brewers, 4:10 p.m., ESPN
Collegefootball: Notre Dame-Louisville, 8 p.m., ESPN
Listings,C

Verlander throws third no-hitter
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Djokovic is out at US Open
Top seed retires in third set as Wawrinka advances.C

INSIDE

HAN GUAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Christopher L. Gasper

Composition

oflineupis

everchanging

Taking a first look at newly formed

initial 53-man roster of the Patriots

Change is the only constant in life, and
nowhere is that truer than an NFL ros-
ter. Patriots coach Bill Belichick will be
doing a lot of roster maneuvering and
managing from here to Super Bowl Sun-
day. The tweaking of the S.S. Belichick
manifest never stops. But now that the
Patriots cleared their roster clutter Sat-
urday to form their initial 53-man roster,
it’s a good time to cut loose with some thoughts on the
post-cut-down day roster composition.
RBelichick left the door open Sunday to a return for
veteran backup quarterback Brian Hoyer this season, as-
suming Hoyer decides not to hook on with another team.
Given their roster crunch and the stars-in-the-eyes look
the organization has for rookie Jarrett Stidham, it wasn’t
surprising that the Patriots tabbed Stidham as Tom Bra-
dy’s sole backup. Still, it’s a bit dangerous when consider-
ing the rest of the win-now roster composition. In a Brady
emergency, the difference between Hoyer and Stidham
could be the difference between getting a first-round bye
or not. Hoyer could definitely keep the Patriots afloat for
GASPER,PageC

ChadFinn

Goahead,doubt

thePatriotsat

yourownperil

The Patriots dynasty is deep into its second decade,
and given the degree of difficulty in putting together even
two excellent seasons in a row in a modern NFL designed
for parity, it must be considered the singular team
achievement in professional football’s 100 years.
In fact, it’s not just one dynasty. It’s two bookend dy-
nasties welded together by a string of excellent near-miss
seasons from 2005-13. As you may recall, the Patriots won
three Super Bowls in four years from 2001-04, and own
three in the last five seasons. They’ve been so extraordi-
nary for so long that an 18-1 season in 2007 is regarded as
a crushing afterthought.
If you still believe another franchise has accomplished
anything like this in a similar span, well, your misguided
fandom of that particular franchise is showing. The ’60s
Packers, ’70s Steelers, and ’80s Niners were dominant in
their time, but all-time? They can bicker among them-
selves about who is the first runner-up.
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are, of course, the com-
mon threads in the dynasty, the greatest coach and quar-
terback of all-time individually and obviously in tandem.
But there have been other commonalities and recurrences
FINN,PageC

ADAM GLANZMAN/GETTY IMAGES

Gunner Olszewski is a great story, but keeping him
at the expense of Keion Crossen can be questioned.

THECARROLL

CONNECTION

A small Div. 3 school has delivered big-time to Patriots

By Ben Volin

GLOBE STAFF

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio —

Like many college buddies, Josh Mc-

Daniels, Nick Caserio, Dave Ziegler,

and Jerry Schuplinski wanted to go in-

to business together after graduation.

Their business just happened to be

professional football. And two decades

later, business is good. The quartet

now owns 18 Super Bowl rings.

“We thought that we would have a

chance to do something cool,” McDan-

iels said. “I don’t know if anyone envi-

sioned this.”

They are some of the most impor-

tant contributors to the Patriots dy-

nasty not named Tom Brady or Bill

Belichick: McDaniels the whiz-kid of-

fensive coordinator and quarterbacks

coach for 12 years; Caserio the No. 2

man in the front office since 2008;

Ziegler the director of pro personnel

since 2016; and Schuplinski, now with

the Dolphins, the assistant quarter-

backs coach from 2013-18.

But before they were winning Lom-

bardi Trophies with the Patriots, they

were Blue Streaks — teammates in the

late ’90s at John Carroll University, a

3,100-student, Division 3 Catholic

school on the outskirts of Cleveland.

Playing with no pretense of ever

reaching the NFL, the four future Pa-

triots forged close friendships while

grinding away on tape late at night

and preparing for big games against

MountUnionandBaldwin-Wallace.

“They were great teammates,” said

16-year NFL linebacker London

Fletcher, the star of those John Carroll

teams. “When you know the work eth-

ic and you know the smarts and how

those guys go about their business,

their success doesn’t surprise me.”

Caserio, who wore No. 18, was the

starting quarterback and team captain

JOHNCARROLL,PageC

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY

PeterAbraham

ON BASEBALL

Corahas

maintained

perspective

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A sense of per-

spective can be fleeting when you

manage a team like the Red Sox. Every

loss is a disaster and victories can feel

more like a reprieve than a reason to

celebrate.

That is particularly the case this

season as the Sox are following up a

championship season with a slow

march to 85 or 86 victories and a seat

on the couch for October barring a

team in front of them collapsing

The Sox were so desperate for

pitching on Sunday that three Septem-

ber call-ups were used for five innings

in a 4-3 victory against the Los Ange-

les Angels.

But through it all, manager Alex

Cora has maintained the same person-

ality he did when the Sox were storm-

ONBASEBALL,PageC

Sox cobble

together

series win

By Alex Speier

GLOBE STAFF

RedSox

Angels 3

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The

time for blueprints

passed long ago. The

2019 season departed from its antici-

pated form in the first days of the Red

Sox season and, through five months,

never resembled either the 2018 edi-

tion or expectations for this bunch.

If the Red Sox are to pull off an im-

probable September surge, it will have

to come through unexpected contribu-

tions with plenty of improvisation.

With stars performing to their fullest

abilities, but also with supporting cast

members who deliver performances

that no one anticipated.

And so, it seemed appropriate that

the Red Sox opened September with

precisely the sort of seat-of-their-pants

victory that they hope will character-

ize much of the season’s final month.

On a day when returning starter David

REDSOX,PageC

MARK J. TERRILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

J.D. Martinez rounds the bases after hitting a solo

HR off Angels starter Andrew Heaney in the third.

NICKCASERIO

DIRECTOROF

PLAYERPERSONNEL

||TOP GUY IN THE FRONT OFFICE NOT

NAMED BILL BELICHICK||

DAVEZIEGLER

DIRECTOROF

PROPERSONNEL

||SINCE 2016, SCOUTS PLAYERS

ALREADY IN THE NFL||

JOSHMcDANIELS

OFFENSIVECOORDINATOR

&QUARTERBACKSCOACH

||A POSITION HE

HAS HELD SINCE 2012||

JERRYSCHUPLINSKI

ASSISTANT

QUARTERBACKSCOACH

||WITH PATRIOTS FROM 2013-18,

NOW WITH DOLPHINS||

NICK CASERIO JOSH McDANIELS JERRY SCHUPLINSKI

DAVE ZIEGLER

US rolls past Czechs in World Cup
Jaylen Brown (above) and US dominated in opener.C