The Big Ten Network program Campus Eats featured One of our Business partners- Pizza House- last Spring. They interviewed former PH employee and the co-owner of Beav's World Jay Flannelly aka the Beav about his friend Tom Brady. #LetsGo 

 
                                The Game of Football American’s know, and love is under attack and changing before our eyes. Hits and tackles we have seen and celebrated in video collections are now penalties and suspend able offenses. The rules of the sport already severely favor the offense as you can no longer put your hands-on receivers after 5 yards and our hit skill guys. But this new emphasis on targeting (NCAA) and roughing the passer (NFL) and it is ruining the sport. This is happening for many reasons and is why New Football Rules are visiting Beav’s Penalty Box.
                                First the NCAA and the silly targeting issue. Simply put this is INTENDED to protect offensive players from hits where the defender is not trying to tackle perfectly form wise. Head shots, blindsides. What has happened is you have legit dirty hits being called- fans know what these looks like- but now you have college kids having to react at .5 a second when a guy lowers his head or makes a sudden move. The Human element is gone, and you have silliness in almost every college game. Michigan’s captain in 2015 was ejected when a blocker put him on a ground and he landed on an offensive player. SMH. LOL.
                                The problem is the officials follow the letter of the law. This is not an exact science. You can count to see 11 guys, 4 downs or 10 yards. You have kids moving at incredible speeds making split second decisions. And you cannot measure intent. This is a hitting; collision sport and players have never been bigger or stronger. And the size and dimensions of the field have not changed. These are facts people need to consider.
                                Now the NFL. The lowering or striking your opponent with your helmet rule has not been a big news item. But the crazy amount of Roughing the Passer calls is awful. After week 3 last season, we had seen 9 RTP calls. In 2018? 34 in the same time. This craziness was on full display in Sunday’s games. Green Bay Packers star OLB Clay Matthews was called on a perfectly clean play. His sin? He tackled a QB and his body weight helped. LOL. Miami Dolphins DE William Hayes tried to avoid hitting a QB too hard and tore his ACL. SMH.
                                These changes have nothing to do with real player safety. They are about concussions, CTE and lawsuits. And fantasy sports and gambling. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told the NFL Comish 4,5 years ago how much better the league is with healthy QBs and better offense. But the weird thing is this fact: star QBs such as Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger hate these rules. Players know what is dirty and not. The hit two weeks ago on Cam Newton was cheap, what Matthews did was not.
                                Here is the other issue: players like to hit and understand the consequences of what this is. WITHIN REASON! Players know what is dirty and illegal. They have played this game one way for most of their lives. You are also making it MUCH harder for both the players and officials. How can a defender tackle a QB and not use his weight? The entire situation is the wrong execution of the right idea. And these rules need to change, or they will remain in Beav’s Penalty Box.
                                               
 

​Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my hometown of Andover, Massachusetts. Without so many great people helping me along the way, I would not be 1/10th the man I am today. A little bit of Andover is in everything I do. I check in daily with AHS special teams coach Peter Reilly, Sr. and the internet. Facebook keeps me up to date on news. I am on two Andover-based Facebook pages. Therefore, the awful gas leak-fire event of last week was a such a scare for me.
                                                Late Thursday afternoon, local gas company lines caused several dangerous fires in three towns in the Merrimack Valley: Lawrence (the hardest hit), North Andover, and my hometown. With gas involved, this was very dangerous, and the entire region was basically shutdown. No power, no hot water, most evacuated their homes. No work, no school, no games, no fun. National grid cut the power to avoid a bigger incident. The Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera and Governor Charlie Baker took control after the gas company did not have an appropriate response in the initial 24 hours. An exploding chimney claimed the life of an 18 yr old young  man from Lawrence Thursday. It was a very, very scary situation.
                                                When you play sports in a small town, a lot of your ex-teammates become firemen and police officers. My old AHS football and baseball buddy Peter Reming is a detective with the Andover police. He and his guys kicked ass from day one to today.  Bob Stabile is in a leadership position with our fire department and was one of my position coaches at AHS. This small group fought 38 fires. And had assistance from fire departments all over the state.  Supermarket and school parking lots became command centers and senior citizens’ homes doubled as shelters. Everyone stuck together in this tough time; I was both incredibly scared and proud at the same time.
                                                I kept tabs on as many friends as I could back home. Social media helps tremendously, and both the town of Andover home page and police department did an amazing job here.  Awesome, awesome job. I kept tabs on The Reillys, Perrys, Comeaus, Gillettes, Kerry Lynch and my new friends Krystal, Nancy, Johanna, Betsy,  Laura and Sam. One of our freshmen on the Michigan Baseball team is from North Andover and was dealing with many of the same emotions I was. It was horrible to watch and not be able to do anything. Different neighborhoods had different damage and/or situations. But everyone worked together. And my remaining hair fell out. And suddenly selecting my fantasy team’s starting tight end was not priority one. Or 23.
                                                I don’t have much of a family life, but I do have tremendous roots, support and love from my hometown. Lots of my old buddies would be here at 3:05 if I called them at 3. Peter Comeau gave me my nickname that still lives on today and is on this site. Coach Reilly always had an ear at practice and today. Whether I was benched, suspended or wanted to chat TB12. The Perrys always have my back, I had my old quarterback (Matty) and our current coach (E.J. III) at my film event this August. My angel -Laura- came out and volunteered that night. SHE HAD NEVER MET ME.Life is strange sometimes—it can change FAST. Fire, gas and power are terms and strong ones, but people are what matter. And last week drove that fact home. I love my town but without people, its just a piece of land. And the PEOPLE of Andover stepped up. BIG TIME.  #BlueAndGoldForever
 

​Leave it to the New England Patriots to turn the page on week 2 disappointment into Christmas in September. A team that was in dire need of a #1 Wide Receiver dialed up Dire Straits—aka the Cleveland Browns—and took troubled star Josh Gordon in a trade Tuesday. Gordon is a tremendous talent whose substance abuse has derailed his once promising career. He is now doing the Walk of Life- going from the basement to penthouse. It’s on Josh now. The Browns tried and tried but this was not working out. The Patriots are banking on the structure, winning environment and leadership of Brady, Belichick and Kraft will bring out the best in Gordon, who if he is right, gives this team a bona fide show stopper to back off NFL defenses.
                                                The Patriots have a mixed bag of success with “bad” characters. Corey Dillon, Bryon Cox, Rodney Harrison, Randy Moss and Marty Bennett all worked out. Albert Haynesworth was an embarrassment to the uniform. Chad Johnson was Ocho-stinco with New England. How much Gordon wants it will be a huge part in determining how this works out. Many of you think TB could have me lineup as a slot and throw for 4K yards and 35 TDs. That is BS and playing for the Patriots is hard mentally and physically. This is on Josh and if Flash wants to be great, he can and will be.
                                                The Moss comparisons are insane. First, Randy is a 1st ballot, Planet level player. He is on the Mount Rushmore of Receivers. Josh has 180 catches in 41 career games. Moss has 982 grabs in 218 games. With 156 TDs. If Josh can replicate the production of Brandin Cooks, I would take it. Be steady, reliable and make the defense account for you on every down. Make them double you or… Rob Gronkowski. Or… Julian Edelman. Make them take one less rusher to cover… Josh Gordon.
                                                We all do it... we play Monday Morning QB and play caller. We are both Brady and McDaniels. Can you imagine a week 5 lineup with Gordon, Edelman, Hogan/Dorsett and Gronk with James White on pass downs? How about running Rex Burkhead or Sony Michel out of that look. An offense that was in reverse can now be full go. It is up to Flash and Josh Gordon. They are the same and the key for Josh heading forward is what he does now. His future is brighter than his past and he can have a huge role in bringing Championship #6 to New England. #WelcomeJosh #LetsGo