I think we were all pleasantly surprised when Tarpinian made the Patriots roster as an undrafted free agent.  Last night he got his first start thanks to Brandon Spikes being hurt, and New England had what was probably their best defensive performance of the season.  Coincidence?

Worth noting that the start caught NBC by surprise, as Tarp was one of two Pats who had a mute still photo when he should have been saying "Jeff Tarpinian, University of the United State of Iowa."  Here's that video:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Two-Patriots-defenders-were-so-new-they-didn-82?urn=nfl-wp11788

But it's worth noting that Tarpinian has a real shot to stick around with the Pats.  They actually *started* ten undrafted free agents last night, from Welker to Woodhead.

And here's a recent interview with Tarpinian on his journey that I thought was interesting.  All the more reason to stop hating on Adam Shada--he apparently has been a pretty good recruiter for Iowa:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4708250/football-journey-jeff-tarpinian