New England Patriots To Change Turf At Gillette Stadium After Loss To Kansas City Chiefs

The New England Patriots are mixing thing up at Gillette Stadium. And no it isn’t a player or personnel move. Instead, it is the replacement of the artificial turf on the field.

According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the surface did not meet team standards and players complained it was too soft of late. The Patriots made the initial switch to the turf in the middle of the 2006 season. The interesting thing about this turf they are ripping up is it had been replaced back in May.

And at the time had passed all MLS and NFL tests.

With the change, the Patriots would have only played three games on this turf. Two came in the preseason and the other this past week against the Chiefs. A game in which they lost in an embarrassing fashion.

On Dale & Holley with Rich Keefe, Bill Belichick was asked of the change and he didn’t have much to say, which isn’t anything new.

“I would say the field is being replaced because it needs to be replaced, and it’s probably something you should talk to the field experts on,” he said.

With this change, one can only wonder how Jay Heaps and the New England Revolution feel about the change in the turf. Once again it is clear that football will always come ahead of the soccer team for Robert Kraft.

The Revs have an impressive 10-2-2 record on their home turf this season in MLS play.

New England Revolution Get Vital 1-0 Win Against Impact

Saturday’s match against the Montreal Impact was billed as the most important game of the year, and a must win. The Impact are one of two teams ahead of the Revolution in the standings and tied on points for the last playoff spot. After winning 4 in a row, Montreal went into Saturday’s match losing their previous 2. The Revs went in having not lost a match at home in September since 2013. The last team they lost to, the Montreal Impact.

The match almost had a disastrous start when there was a communication issue between Claude Dielna and Chris Tierney. But Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti failed to capitalize on the opportunity. The Revolution created many chances in the first half out shooting the Impact 5-2 in shots on target. Both goalkeepers were active and performing well by the end of a scoreless first half.

Because of the open first half, both teams went in to the second half with momentum. Montreal almost capitalized on that momentum in the 48th minute. Chris Duvall was able to find Anthony Jackson-Hamel in front of goal. Fortunately for the Revolution he was unable to get his shot on target.

Finally at the end of the 68th minute, Lee Nguyen was able to weave through defenders and get the first goal of the match. Less than two minutes later, both Diego Fagundez and Kei Kamara hit the crossbar and almost put the game away in the 70th minute.

The revolution almost went down to 10 men in the 86th minute when Claude Dielna went down with a non contact injury. Miraculously  though, Dielna was back on the field in the 88th minute and continued to play the rest of the match and help the Revolution and goalkeeper Cody Cropper get their fourth straight clean sheet at home.

This was the most important win of the Revs season so far. Though the Revolution will not have long before their next match which may be an even more important at the end of the season. The Revolution will face off Wednesday with the other major contender for the last playoff spot, Atlanta United. Atlanta is one point above the Revs in the standings and have two games in hand. This will be the first of two games this month against Atlanta. But the Revs are one of the most lethal teams in the month of September. If the Revolution want to make the playoffs, they will need to triumph in their second must win game this week. As Revolution coach Jay Heaps said in the postgame press conference “Now everything’s on to Atlanta.”

Taylor Twellman’s Lasting Legacy In New England

When Taylor Twellman was drafted 2nd overall by the New England Revolution in the 2002 MLS SuperDraft. He was worried he wouldn’t see much playing time because of New England’s depth at the striker position. But, not only did he become the most prolific goal scorer in Revolution history. He became one of the most prolific goalscorers in MLS history. Twellman was a 5 time all star, won MLS MVP in 2005 and became the fastest and youngest player to score 100 goals. Then, after nine seasons in MLS and ongoing symptoms from a concussion, he retired in 2010.

Twellman’s post-concussion syndrome, like many athletes with the same condition, was very difficult to him.

“I’ve had a three-year headache,” Twellman said in an interview with ‘Outside The Lines’ in 2011.”I miss my life. My normal life.”

During that segment, he heard former Baltimore Orioles 2nd baseman Brian Roberts talk about his struggles to do simple things without getting massive headaches. Twellman also told host Bob Ley that at the time he had recently had his first dream since 2008.

Since his retirement, aside from being active in the media, Twellman has been one of the strongest activists for concussion awareness in sports. In 2011 he started ThinkTayor, a charity that seeks to educate people involved in youth sports like kids, parents, and coaches, about concussions and how to properly respond to and treat them. For the past 3 years, the Revolution and ThinkTaylor have combined to have Concussion Awareness Night. Last Saturday was the third annual event at the Revolutions match against Orlando City SC.

In the week leading up to the game, Twellman was interviewed by revolutionsoccer.net’s Jeff Lemieux. In the interview, he talks about a “void” left after his career with the revolution didn’t end the way he had hoped. But, now with his foundation and voice in the sporting community, he is grateful that he has this platform to educate youth sports. It appears that Taylor Twellman’s legacy may have seemed to have been as a world class goal scorer. But in fact, his legacy will be as a pioneer in the education and safety of the young athletes of America.