Scott Cordischi On Sports: Do The Right Thing, Bob!

Scott Cordischi On Sports: Do The Right Thing, Bob!

It’s time for Bob Kraft to do the right thing.

Not that he hasn’t done many great things as owner of the Patriots, but it’s time to do the right thing.

Yes, it is true that the New England Patriots franchise under the ownership of Bob Kraft has been an overwhelming success. Since 1996 there have been six Super Bowl appearances and three Super Bowl titles.

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The Patriots have won more games than any other franchise since the turn of the century and have become the model franchise not only in the NFL, but, quite possibly, in all of professional sports.

However, despite these accomplishments, there is something that Kraft and the Patriots have neglected to address and that is the status of wide receiver Wes Welker.

As we all know, Welker and the Patriots could not come to terms on a new contract for the NFL’s second-leading receiver during the offseason. Because of that, the team placed the 1-year franchise tag on their star player.

Their decision to franchise Welker was rationalized by many who cover the team as a sound business decision. Their reasons were that at the age of 31, there was likely little chance that he could maintain the type of production that made him the NFL’s top receiver from 2007 to this very day.

But, if that was the rationale behind not giving Welker a lucrative long-term deal, it was wrong.

Despite not starting the team’s first two games of the season and seeing a limited number of snaps in those games, Welker’s 48 receptions are second in the league only to Percy Harvin’s 49. Welker’s 622 receiving yards this year are second only to Cincinnati’s AJ Green who has 628.

And Sunday’s game in Seattle was another perfect example of not only how valuable Welker is to this Patriots franchise, but how hard he plays and how tough and durable he is.

Welker finished Sunday’s game with 10 catches for 138 yards and 1 TD. More importantly, he took two brutal hits that may have knocked most receivers out of the game. Not Welker.

Like a Timex watch, Welker takes a licking and keeps on ticking. And, like the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going and going and going.

New England likes to think of itself as a blue-collar region built on the principles of hard work. No one on the Patriots epitomizes that more than Wes Welker.

Is it too much to ask Kraft to open up his wallet and give Welker a 3-year deal worth $25-30 million?

Assuming that a third of that would be in the form of a signing bonus, what’s the harm in giving Welker such a contract?

The worst-case scenario would be an injury early on in the deal that would prevent him from being on the field for the team. If that were the case, the franchise would only be responsible for the signing bonus which would be spread out over the duration of the deal for salary cap purposes.

Wes Welker deserves a new deal. It would be nice if Bob Kraft and the Patriots would do the right thing and give it to him.

-Like they did in 2008 with the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, Saturday Night Live did a hilarious skit on this year’s vice presidential debate between Biden and Paul Ryan last week.

-Even though I’m a Red Sox fan, I was sad to see Derek Jeter injure himself in game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Even though the Yankees would have had a tough time beating the Detroit Tigers with a healthy Jeter.

-None of the Red Sox so-called managerial candidates really excite me. Then again, neither did Terry Francona back in 2003.

-Is it possible that we could not only have NHL hockey this winter but a complete 82-game regular season? Fingers crossed!

-Am I the only American who gets annoyed when both the vice presidential and presidential candidates constantly interrupt each other? Those interruptions aren’t buying this man’s vote.

-Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman can crow all he wants because his team beat the Patriots Sunday. However, something tells me that his career won’t amount to anything close to the quarterback who runs that “gimmick offense” he was chirping to.

-I’m glad that the Jets beat the Colts last weekend because a quiet and humble Rex Ryan leading up to this week’s game wouldn’t be very interesting, would it?

-Bill Belichick’s “bend but don’t break” defense has been bending and breaking on a regular basis for 5 years now. Either it’s time to change that philosophy or the personnel trying to execute it.

-Which reminds me of one of the all-time great quotes from an NFL coach. It came from John McKay who coached the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976-1984 when they were awful. When asked by a reporter what he thought about his team’s execution, McKay replied, “I’m all for it!”

-Get ready for Pat Patriot and the 1985-style red jersey throwback uniforms Pats fans. The team will be wearing them Sunday afternoon when they host the Jets.

-If Mark Sanchez and the Jets cast of hideous wide receivers exploit the Patriots secondary Sunday, what’s left?

-It used to be that the Patriots would make plays late in games to win close contests. Now it seems like that’s what their opponents are doing more often.

-As disappointed as I was with the outcome of Sunday’s game in Seattle, part of me was happy for Pete Carroll who was a gentleman and easy to root for while he was here from 1997-1999.

-Brown’s new men’s basketball coach Mike Martin is inviting all fans to attend an open practice at the Pizzitola Sports Center this Saturday at 9:30am to help kick-off the 2012-2013 season.

-If Detroit’s Justin Verlander isn’t the best pitcher in baseball, he’s right up there.

-It’s going to be an interesting 21 days leading up to the election.