Wednesday was the first day of media access at the team hotel. Like Media Day, every player and coach is available but in a much more professional atmosphere. Bill Belichick seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Maybe it's that the questions he's fielding are about football and for the most part thoughtful and ones he can answer without giving away any strategy. Tom Brady sounds like he's still stuffed up. I'd say he's about a day or two behind me in recovering from the flu. He'll be fine for Sunday. I know I could go right now if called upon.

It was the same scene over at that Seahawks hotel. Oh, as an aside, the Patriots facility is much better and also has the distinction of never hosting a pro or college loser. Every team that stayed there has won, including the Giants in 2007.

Back to the Seahawks. Pete Carroll has the unenviable task of defending Marshawn Lynch's encounters with the media. He did his best on this day, starting off with, "I think what you're seeing is a demonstration of a guy being true to himself..." It reminded me of that Jacksonville playoff game in the 1998 season with Carroll as head coach. The Patriots played, to be kind, lackluster football for three quarters. Going into the fourth they were down 14-0. Suddenly they seemed to catch a little fire. A touchdown closed the gap to seven and then a defensive stop and a field goal made it 14-10. That was the extent of the comeback, however, as New England fell apart, eventually losing 25-10. After the game Carroll started out his presser saying, "What you saw today was an explosion of will and heart." Actually what we're seeing and saw in both cases was a team and a player not getting the job done. In the case of Lynch, I get he doesn't like talking. Most players don't. Imagine if they all took Lynch's tact, though? As much as we like to dump on the media, most of them are simply human beings trying to get their job done. Lynch should get all the help he needs to deal with the media but disrespect shouldn't be in the playbook.

Another edition of PFW in Progress in the afternoon. I love our listeners. They are so passionate about their team. This week, in particular, the common cry of everyone hates us hasn't been more evident. The Patriots are the heroes in the action movie fighting back to back against the forces of evil. In this case the forces are a combined army of bad guys. Sort of like when Joker's gang teams up with Riddler's against their mutual foe, Batman. The Dark Knight is all that's keeping them from having their way with Gotham. Just like bringing down the Patriots would make competitive life easier for everyone in the NFL. Stay strong Patriots Nation, good will prevail.