Pats figure out how to get Branch to negotiating table

	Deion Branch has until Friday to negotiate a contract with another team. Bob Rosato/SI
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Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we head into the final weekend of the NFL's preseason....

• Here's how we read the Deion Branch holdout situation at the moment: In giving their unhappy No. 1 receiver until Friday to explore trade possibilities, the Patriots' always-a-step-ahead front office made a move to break the stalemate that has existed for the past month or more, allowing Branch's camp to find its way back to the negotiating table, where it should have been all along.

The overture was a subtle and nuanced way to move both sides out of the trenches they've dug and get them communicating again. The Patriots are hoping that Branch and his agent, Jason Chayut, shop around and then come to the realization that his value is greater in New England -- with Tom Brady as his quarterback -- than it would be anywhere else in the NFL.

Remember Alvin Harper? The former Cowboys receiver had a beautiful thing going in Dallas in the early 1990s with quarterback Troy Aikman and fellow receiver Michael Irvin. Harper did get paid by jumping from Dallas to Tampa Bay in free agency in 1995, but in essence he was never heard from again once he took the bucks and became a Buc.

Branch has a great situation in New England. He's Brady's favorite target, and he's well positioned to have a long shelf life in the Boston area, as the logical heir to replace beloved veteran receiver and local icon Troy Brown once Brown's career finally concludes. And there's always a shot at securing a third Super Bowl ring, which would move him into pretty elite territory.

Although there are receiver-needy teams out there, most NFL observers don't seem to think Branch's trade prospects look good. He's not likely to find a team willing to pay a first- or second-round pick and give him the contract he seeks, and odds are the Patriots knew that before they made their one-week offer of freedom.

So what's the endgame of this sticky situation? It would appear that it's up to Branch and his agent to wisely recognize the path back to the negotiating table that New England has been nice enough to provide, with both sides crafting a deal that saves face all around and avoids designating either camp as a winner or loser in this unexpectedly long standoff. The Patriots have at least created the context for such a scenario to unfold in the coming days.

This much should be clear to Branch by now: The Patriots aren't going to be the first ones to crack. They never have in the past, and head coach Bill Belichick and VP of player personnel Scott Pioli aren't likely to start caving now. They will find a way to move on without Branch in 2006 if that's the only recourse they feel has been left to them. They hold most of the cards in this one, and they know it.

For Branch, the grass is greener in New England than it will be anywhere else. The tricky question is whether he'll learn that lesson without having to leave town.

• Maybe the most surprising story in the league this preseason has been the degree to which Washington has struggled, both offensively and defensively. Teams seem to be catching on to what the Redskins do schematically on defense. Washington assistant head coach/defense Gregg Williams likes to either blitz or play a cover-two formation, with very little man coverage employed. It's an aggressive but rather simplistic approach, and New England seemed to pick up Washington's blitzes without breaking a sweat in its 41-0 rout of the Redskins on Saturday night.

Washington is giving up 29 points per game this preseason, and the Jets and the Patriots ran the ball down the Redskins' throats for a combined 386 yards. That ain't going to cut it in the NFC East, where the Eagles, Giants and Cowboys all will run right at the Redskins until they prove they can stop them. Your move, Gregg Williams.