Morning sports update: Kyle Van Noy initially wasn’t happy about being traded to the Patriots
"It ended up being a huge blessing."
The Red Sox lost to the Royals on Tuesday night, 6-2. Boston is 6.5 games behind the final American League wild card spot.
The Patriots are still in Detroit for the third day of joint practices with the Lions. The two teams meet in a preseason game on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Kyle Van Noy was originally upset over the Patriots trade: In October of 2016, the Patriots sent a sixth-round pick to the Lions for a seventh-round pick and linebacker Kyle Van Noy. It was tough for Van Noy to process, as he recently noted in an interview on “Fair Game” with Kristine Leahy:
I was pissed. I was mad because I felt like finally I’d got a breakthrough. I’d been injured early in Detroit. I’m finally starting. I had my chance. I was doing good things. I wasn’t doing amazing, but I felt like I was progressing and then I got traded to a team that had, you know, at the time, [Rob] Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheard, Jamie Collins, [Dont’a] Hightower, Shea McClellin. Where am I going to fit? I felt like I was going back to the bench and I worked so hard to get healthy and finally be a starter in the NFL. But things didn’t work out there [Detroit] and it ended up being a huge blessing. Thank the man upstairs for making that happen.
A second-round pick by the Lions in 2014, Van Noy had talent that the Patriots detected. He’s since gone on to become a major force in the team’s Super Bowl-winning defense.
For Van Noy, it was only after he began to understand the Patriots’ playbook and started contributing that he felt at home.
“When I learned the playbook and I began making plays and getting to know guys on the team and showing that I could help, I think that was when it started like, ‘OK, this is where I’m supposed to be. I like it here,'” Van Noy explained. “It’s business, it’s football and we win. That makes everything right.”
Trivia: What player did the Red Sox get in return for trading Dennis Eckersley and Mike Brumley to the Cubs in 1984?
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: He won the 1980 National League batting title, and would drive in more than 100 runs for the Red Sox in both 1985 and 1986.
More from Boston.com:
- 5 things to know about Jakobi Meyers, the undrafted Patriots rookie who’s getting first-team reps
- 12 things we learned from the ‘Men’s Health’ Tom Brady profile
- Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s Brookline home listed for sale
- Jenny Dell and Will Middlebrooks are expecting their second child
- Celtics rookies Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards throw out the first pitch at Red Sox game
- Here’s how much money other teams would supposedly offer Tom Brady in free agency
- Breaking down the 12-man Team USA roster, which could feature multiple Celtics
- Ex-Lion Kyle Van Noy is enjoying his return
Ed Reed on Tom Brady and Bill Belichick
:
Hall of Famer Ed Reed [@TwentyER] told @dpshow that he talked to #Patriots coach Bill Belichick about taking the DB coaching job and Belichick was “Blown away by that.”
In an earlier part of the interview Reed mentioned that he and @TomBrady have been talking via Instagram DMs. pic.twitter.com/BucKGTRseN
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 7, 2019
Trending upward? The Patriots’ 2018 first-round pick Isaiah Wynn is still working his way back from a ruptured Achilles tendon that kept him from playing in his rookie season. Yet the offensive lineman — who is expected to compete for the starting left tackle position — is possibly feeling good about his progression. He tweeted an upward chart emoji on Tuesday afternoon:
📈
— I. Wynn (@iwynn77) August 6, 2019
The latest prognostication of doom regarding the Patriots:
On this day: In 1932, the United States women’s 400-meter relay team won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The first leg was run by Mary Carew (later Mary Carew Armstrong). Armstrong, who was born and raised in Medford, helped the U.S. team out to an early lead and an eventual world record.
She was just a teenager at the time, but had overcome difficult circumstances in her youth. At the age of six, Armstrong lost both of her parents within months of each other. After being sent to live with a maternal aunt, she endured physical abuse. Finally, she was rescued by another family uncle, who brought her back to Medford.
Competing against six different cousins and siblings, Armstrong began displaying the athleticism that would one day make her an Olympian. Since there was no girls track team in her school, it was only because the local boy’s football and track coach, Eddie Pigeon, launched the Medford Girls Club that Armstrong was able to begin competing seriously.
After setting U.S. high school records, the 5-foot-2 Armstrong won a place on the U.S. relay team. In the gold medal race, the U.S. combined effort was just enough to beat the Canadians for the win:
Armstrong used her Olympic win to help get a scholarship to Boston University, settling down in the area and working for years afterward as a Malden kindergarten teacher.
Daily highlight: Michael Chavis made a leaping over-the-shoulder catch against the Royals on Tuesday.
Chief Chavis, you are cleared for takeoff. pic.twitter.com/TQOZQpg5ff
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 7, 2019
Trivia answer: Bill Buckner
