Competitive, but in a PG-13 kind of way

Tom Brady was asked today if he will play on Sunday. His answer was adorably cute and fiercely competitive, all at once:

"My dad said 'Are you guys going to this play this week?' Of course I want to play. I don't want to lose a game. You don't just forfeit these games. Playing Houston, I don't want to see one of them in the offseason and them saying 'Hey, we beat you guys.' Screw that. You have to go out there and play."

Did you see that? Tom Brady said, 'Screw that.' Almost strong words. I do like the idea that he would be bothered about losing on purpose to Houston, that is kind of funny (and you, Peyton Manning, can go suck an egg on this issue).

Pats win! Pats win! AFC East!!!

If everything was coming up Patriots last week, this week we are in full bloom. Great victory over Jacksonville today (35-7), which was marred only by the return of 'Who dropped the ball?' The answer: Maroney. But he was severely benched for it, as in he did not show up for the rest of the game, and this happened on the very first drive.

I liked Sammy Morris's post-game comment:

'“Regardless of stats, regardless of everything, getting the (AFC East championship) hat and T-shirt is what we’re out here for,” running back Sammy Morris said.'

As a runner, I kind of joke sometimes that it's really all about getting hats and t-shirts. Good to know that this is also a priority for professionals.

I'm feeling much better about our chances today

For some reason, I all of a sudden don't feel like we are doomed. A few possible hypotheses as to this sudden optimism:

1) We've been playing injured. (for instance, Tom's rib, shoulder, finger combo). Hopefully there is some time between now and the playoffs to recover.

2) Our record is now a respectable 9-5. So is Cincinnati's. And that seems like a good place to be.

3) While we thought Carolina would be an easy game, they then went and upset the Vikings this week. Now, you could point to the Vikings and say that there were some issues there (such as Favre refusing to be benched...classy), but the point is that they were capable of more than we allowed them.

4) Remaining games for Miami: Houston and Pittsburgh. Remaining games for the Jets: Colts and Cincinnati. I feel good about the possibility that both teams will lose at least one of these games.

Wouldn't it be great if the Colts made it to 15-0 then lost to Buffalo? Can you imagine? Ouch.

Everything comes up Patriots

Life is good as a Pats fan today:

1) We won. On the road. And not one single running back dropped a ball!

2) The Jets lost. Now this makes me happy any week, but particularly now since one more loss and they are out of the playoff race.

3) The Dolphins lost. It was a particularly painful loss, no less, with Henne getting intercepted in OT. Again, that puts them another game away from the playoffs.

4) We only have to win one more game to advance to the playoffs.

5) Randy played a great game. I LOVE YOU RANDY MOSS!

(Tom and Wes...not so much. But don't worry. My love for both of you is unconditional).

Hopefully we don't blow it and some of the major injuries (especially Warren and Wilfork) are back next week.

Richie Incognito kisses some butt

I was at the game yesterday, and let me tell you, Richie Incognito, the most recent acquisition for the Bills, was not shy. He walked out like he owned the place, stomping around not unlike Ogre in Revenge of the Nerds. However, he didn't actually have much of an impact on the game, then went and praised the Patriots like they were the second coming of defensive schemes in the NFL or something.

For instance:

"Some teams try to do a variation of it, but no one does it like the Patriots," he said. "The whole front is fluid, the whole front is moving. With other teams, you might see two or three guys floating, but you won't see a whole floating front. It's definitely tough to protect against."

Someone wants to be a Patriot...

Close, but...

The Saints will not be perfect this year. They just lost to the Dallas Cowboys.

(I'm not sure exactly why, but I don't care for Tony Romo. Just saying).

The final score was 24-17. I do have to say that Dallas brought some good pressure at the end -- mind you, I only saw the last 2ish minutes, so that's all I can really comment on.

And then there was one...I really hope someone can beat the Colts! Although I know logically that it was better for them to beat Jacksonville from a playoff perspective. But still.

Incognito. Richie Incognito.

The Bills signed Richie Incognito today after he was released from the Rams. He had two personal foul penalties during last week's game and then yelled at his coach.

But mostly it's about the name.

Richie Incognito.

He was also voted the seventh most dirty player in the league in that poll that they do annually. Should be interesting!

Who dropped the ball?

I am starting a new feature called 'Who dropped the ball?' It could be part of a song dedicated to the Patriots. All together now:

'Who dropped the ball?
You dropped the ball!
Who dropped the ball?
You dropped the ball!'

Well, or something like that.

Anyway, this feature is not meant to be metaphoric or a profound analysis of the previous game. It's just documenting which running back managed to drop the ball. I hope that by recording this, it will end.

November 15 (Colts): Maroney
November 22 (Jets): Maroney
November 30 (Saints): Maroney*
December 6 (Dolphins): Morris
December 13 (Panthers): Morris

*I know that they got it back right away, but that is not relevant. He still dropped the freaking ball.

UPDATE: It's the week of December 20 and no one dropped the ball this week. Fabulous.

Except Bill. Bill does not go after Moss.

From today's press conference:

"I have a lot of respect for Randy, I think he's one of our best players and I think if you watch other teams defend him and watch other teams play against him, they think the same way -- other than these two guys from Carolina after they lost another game. I guess they don't think that way. They haven't won a lot of games now."

Everyone starts going after Moss

I don't think that this needs to be said, but I love you, Randy Moss. You bring joy and happiness to my Sundays. You can run ahead of almost anyone and catch absolutely unbelievable passes. Your contribution to the Patriots has been nothing short of astounding.

That being said, yesterday was not your day. First, Brady was intercepted when he was throwing to Moss, which most of us interpreted as 'Moss didn't run the route correctly.' Tom's radio interview today provided a different interpretation. I may stick with mine, though. Then, on his one catch of the day for 16 yards, he turned it over. Seriously. Patriots need some freaking remedial 'how to hold the football' drills or something. Even Wes let one drop this week, which is unusual (but he made up for it with 105 yards on 10 catches. You're doing just fine there).

But then Yahoo picked up on this story (as they are wont to do) and turned it into 'Moss about to screw Patriots over and leave weakened, pathetic franchise in his wake (if you don't think he's capable, consider Minnesota and Oakland)'. I am exaggerating, but not by much. Furthermore, apparently Tony Dungy called Moss 'fragile' on SNF last night and said that in all of his years of coaching, he had never once sent a player home for anything under any circumstances at all, no sirree.

Dungy, when you have three Superbowl rings -- or for that matter, three Superbowl appearances -- you can offer advice to Bill Belichick on how to coach. Until then, you don't get to say anything.

Moss may have had a bad day (and he did), but that's okay. Everyone has bad days sometimes. I still love you.

Number crunching: we show up for the second half for once

2009 (ytd)
1st quarter: +49
2nd quarter: +60
3rd quarter: +3
4th quarter: +11
[OT: -3, 1 game]

The good news is that these are (almost) all positive numbers again. Also, we actually showed up and played the second half, even if the first half was a mess.

It wasn't great, but...

It was a win, 20-10. This was especially important since both the Jets and Dolphins won this week as well, meaning that we are still one game up on them.

There were a lot of mistakes and the first half was especially bad (there were 5 dropped balls in the first half alone). Something seemed to click in the second half, though.

We were helped by the fact that Carolina's offense is not very strong; however, I thought that the defense was more encouraging today. Burgess, of all people, came up with a big play at the end with the sack. Looks like someone made the most of his Wednesday off.

Adalius Thomas was a healthy scratch, which was, like, the least surprising news ever.

All Hell starting to Break Loose in Foxborough

You remember last season when the Habs starting choking to a serious degree and I posted that story about how some of our players were linked to organized crime? Then I said something about how the whole thing was falling apart? Well, it isn't quite that bad at Foxborough, but things are not all that great:

1) Moss, Guyton, Burgess, and Thomas all were sent home yesterday because they were late for practice. The weather was bad, so they may have had an excuse, but none of that from Bill. I admire the hardassedness of this decision because I think it's the right one. Hopefully it will turn people around and provide the much-needed kick in the butt that this team requires right now. Or it fails horribly, particularly because...

2) Tom Brady did not practice and was on the injury report today and yesterday. Yesterday was for his finger (which was injured prior to the last game) and -- as always -- right shoulder. Today, they added 'ribs.' Not good. Not good at all. I missed this, but apparently he was taken down pretty hard during last Sunday's game.

Oh, and some woman gave birth to my future stepchild this past week. Congratulations to Tom and whoever that is.

Number cruching: point differential to start December

We are losing some battles here

2009 (ytd)
1st quarter: +56
2nd quarter: +53
3rd quarter: -4
4th quarter: +8
[OT: -3, 1 game]

The numbers speak for themselves. Not a second half team? That's an enormous understatement.

Do you know who I blame? The coaches

If there was any game where our defense should have stood up and made a statement, it was the Miami game this past weekend. Why? Because the D had just been embarrassed by the Saints on Monday night. There was no good to be taken from that game; everything was a mess and on D, there were no bright points.

But what happened instead? The Dolphins -- at several points -- marched down the field with no one stopping them. That is not the statement that should be made. Or maybe it is, and we have to accept that far from being a Superbowl competitor, this team may not even be bound for the playoffs.

The coaches sure aren't helping. If they did devise a game plan to try and contain the Saints on defense, you could have fooled me. But more worrisome is the calls that were made in the Dolphins game. There was essentially no pressure on Henne. Sure, there was one interception, but that was about the only bright spot of the game.

This story, which talks about Mayo and his frustration for not being able to figure out what is wrong with the defense, is in my opinion an indictment of the coaching staff. It's the coach who should be able to dissect what is happening and pinpoint the problem. That did not happen yesterday and instead of making a statement about the strength of this team, they unveiled its myriad of weaknesses.

Also, the play calling on offense, particularly late in the game, was hideous. When the Patriots still had the lead in the fourth, they should have worked to burn the clock and move the chains. Instead, they opined for long passes (none of which worked), which did the opposite: missed passes stopped the clock and stalled the drives. And the last sequence, with an attempted long pass on second down then handing it to Faulk on third and long (6, I believe), was atrocious. Think about it: Maroney (and the team) averages 4.1 yards per carry, or something like that. So if you give the ball to him, he should be able to get a first down with that average -- and when he doesn't, throw a short play to get the necessary yardage. It may not be that every single carry is four yards, but it will average out over all. Maybe this is the issue: our coaching staff does not comprehend the law of averages.

The Patriot Way

I have a lot to say about yesterday's game, although I feel like much of it was subsumed by the lengthy car ride I had afterward (I was actually in attendance, then had to drive back from Miami, which takes about 5 hours). However, I will start here. I'm slightly plagiarizing, because I'm pretty sure I read a column about this last week.

As you likely know, the Patriot Way was a term used to described the work ethic and overall philosophy of the Patriots back in the early winning years (2001-2003). Each person had a job and was committed to it. Everyone knew his place in the organization and worked together to achieve success. It was about the team and not the individual. And clearly, it worked, as 2001, 2003, and 2004 show.

Now whatever I was reading last week pointed out that while the Patriot way may still exist in the upper levels, it could be eroded for most because of all the new players in the organization. I'm starting to think too that while the concept makes sense, the execution isn't there. Just look at our secondary (yes, I am bringing back the 'We need corners' tag, it has come to that). They are consistently missing plays or making costly errors, such as the pass interference penalty yesterday. That is not the Patriot way.

Another thing that I would not characterize as the Patriot way is the number of times stupid errors are committed, such as fumbling the ball. Our running backs have now fumbled in four consecutive games. Seriously. This is not the Patriot way, which requires that everyone do his job. If your job is to hold on to the football, then do that!

I think that there is a larger issue right now with the organization, which I will talk about in another post. But the Patriot way, for now, has proven elusive.

I spoke too soon, clearly

This week's Belichick of the Week needs to be reassigned. From the master's mouth:

“That’s the way it is every week,” Belichick said. “The game is over, it’s over. Move on to the next one. We’ve had big wins. We’ve had tough losses. We haven’t had any ties, but it would be the same on that, too. We move pass that game and move on to the next one, and this is the most important one.”

Number crunching: point differential

Since I went to the trouble of getting this data, I might as well keep it up to date:

2009 (ytd)
1st quarter: +48
2nd quarter: +56 (-17 in one game!)
3rd quarter: -2
4th quarter: +11
[OT: -3, 1 game]

In Bill I Trust (aka, it's all gonna be okay...just maybe not this season)

I got thinking about the embarrassment that was Monday night's game and while this is probably not our year, I suddenly had some insights that made me feel better. As we all know, Belichick is a smart guy, so anything that I'm seeing I would think he is seeing even more acutely. And I was reminded of a trauma moment in Patriots' history (I feel like 'trauma moment' should have its own German word, which would be something like 'Traumaaugenblick'). There have been three Traumaaugenblicken to me in the past three years: 1) We blow a 21-3 lead to the Colts for the AFC Championship in 2006; 2) The FREAKING HELMET CATCH (not to mention Eli dodging the sack) during Superbowl in 2007; 3) Tom Brady takes the helmet to the knee and ends his season in 2008. What is more important, though, is how we handled those moments. Belichick learns, fixes, and tries to improve the problems. For instance, after 2006, with the understanding that maybe we need real receivers, he signs Moss and Welker. There is another important theme in this story that emerges here: Belichick's willingness to take risks (Moss certainly was one), and having a back-up plan in case it doesn't pan out (Welker being the back-up plan in case Moss didn't work). As we all know, that went pretty well, right up until Traumaaugenblick #2. I think that last season we didn't get much of a chance to understand how the team had changed after the 2007 SB because the first couple of months were spent evaluating Cassel. In the end, things turned out okay, and had Brady been our QB, we almost certainly would have been a playoff team.

However, where we got beat last year was on defense (think about the Miami game we lost, the Chargers game, and the Jets game as moments when our defense broke down). So this year, Belichick took another risk and revamped the defense. For the first 10 weeks of the season, that risk seemed to have paid off pretty well; we were 2nd overall in points allowed and even after the past few weeks, we are still 7th. Consider that we have played the leading team for offensive points scored (the Saints), and the third-leading team (the Colts) -- if you're wondering, we're the second-best team for points scored. That's not too shabby considering the changes. And I can't stress enough that the changes needed to happen. I still believe that aside from the aging LBs (Eli dodges the sack, remember?), the other flaw that needed correction was the secondary, which was a freaking mess last season. That appeared to be mostly fixed until this past game, where suddenly there were major gaps. Something tells me that another attempt will be made to fix it this year. One of the qualities I most admire about Belichick is his ability to stop a bad situation from getting worse: he's not too proud (or arrogant) to admit his mistakes in the roster.

One of the key factors in this season which I think is overlooked is the Joey Galloway one (dammit, I need to revive that tag!). He was supposed to be our third receiver and would not have been a shabby one. But that didn't turn out...who knew that he couldn't keep his feet inbounds? So we gambled (by getting rid of Gaffney) and that did not pay off. There isn't anything anyone can do about it now, and it doesn't help that a lot of the other potentials, such as Edelman and Tate, have been injured.

Why am I saying this now? Because I can promise you that no one watched last week's game more acutely than Belichick and he sees those weaknesses. More importantly, he will try to correct them. While it might not be possible this late in the season -- and let's not forget that barring a complete meltdown of Bucc-ish proportions, this team is still going to the playoffs -- he will try to change it for next year. It may not work: consider that our secondary is not where it should be. More continuity in the coaching staff would help, I think, since there has been a lot of turnover during the past few seasons. The situation at running back would benefit from more stability; again, it was a gamble signing Fred Taylor and it appeared to be a good one right up until the point when he got injured (imagine if we had Maroney and Taylor, our running game might be pretty solid). So did this season turn out the way we had hoped? No, it's not 2007, and it never will be again. However, 2007 also ended in one of the most painful Traumaaugenblicken imaginable, so we should be happy it's a new team. It may not be perfect, but it's ours, and as always, in Bill I trust.

Not really Belichick-worthy, but still good

Randy Moss did a postgame interview, which surprises and gladdens me. I thought he looked pretty frustrated during the game and it's nice to see him come out and say the right things. Here is one thing he said that I really liked:

'We're up for a bit, then down for a bit, then up for a bit...things are pretty wavy right now.'

He also pointed out that one of the nice things about football is that by Wednesday, it's a new week. I hope they can keep that feeling as they prepare for the next game (and that they beat the Dolphins because I will be in attendance for that game!).

Maybe Tom gets Belichick of the Week this time around?

Okay, I have heard his answer to the first question and the first question only, but this line jumped out at me:

'The game wasn't as competitive as we would have liked, but that's what happens when you don't play very well.'

Two words

Tully Banta-Cain.

He had to go out of today's game too with an injury. Note that when we was there, we were still getting pressure on Brees. Dude is our most valuable defensive player right now and it's not just because of his awesome name that I say this.

Current Belichick of the Week

I'm awarding it early seeing as he is not even done with the press conference yet:

'They were just the better team tonight. You had to see that, you were there.'

Bill is sad :( If I could, I would give him a hug.

Saints 38, Patriots 17

We got beat. And how. Our secondary was chewed up, we didn't put together much of anything on offense, and it was a general mess. Even Gostkowski missed a field goal, which is pretty abnormal (admittedly, it was from the 50, so it was challenging).

So time to assess. We are a half hour from December and I've had my epiphany moment, like I did last year after the Steelers game. Here is my assessment. I think that we can beat almost anyone in the AFC this year. We did almost beat the Colts. The only other surging team I really see right now are the Chargers (sorry, Tennessee, I think it's going to be too little, too late). And so, were it to come down to it, I think that we would have a shot.

At the same time, I think that the NFC may have everyone in the AFC beat this year. There are the Saints. There are also the Vikings, who have come out of nowhere with Favre to be a dominant team. If the Saints or Vikings played the Colts, I have a feeling the NFC team would win. And so -- and you can read it here right now -- I think this is an NFC year.

At the same time, I'm not ready to discount the Patriots quite yet. Sure, elements of the secondary are weak, but not a disaster like last year (I am not bringing back the 'We need corners' tag quite yet). I am reminded of Arizona's game against us last year when we blew them out and we turned it around. It's not over, of course, until it is over, so there is still time to go. But right now, it sure seems to be more of an NFC year than an AFC one.

Eli Manning's foot still bugging him

Yeah, and this is exactly why you shouldn't play when you have plantar fasciitis. It's a nasty foot injury. Rest and let it heal!

*sigh*

This data needs to be preserved

So I spent most of my day putting this together: it's the point differential, by quarter, of the Patriots since 2001. Don't even ask.

(Yes, I have other things I should be spending my time doing, and in fact, I am not allowed to leave the house until I finish one of them. Then I shall leave the house to watch the FSU/UF game with a friend; however, until I have finished my work, I am not allowed to go! No more football or football-related activities for at least 3 whole hours!).

2001
1st quarter: +24
2nd quarter: +93
3rd quarter: -6
4th quarter: +33
[OT: +9. three games]

2002
1st quarter: +8
2nd quarter: -21
3rd quarter: +22
4th quarter: +40
[OT: +6, two games]

2003
1st quarter: +45
2nd quarter: +32
3rd quarter: +20
4th quarter: +23

2004
1st quarter: +40
2nd quarter: +82
3rd quarter: +57
4th quarter: +33

2005
1st quarter: +35
2nd quarter: -18*
3rd quarter: +57
4th quarter: +4
*What's interesting here is that the numbers get better as the season goes on, so clearly this was an area of focus

2006
1st quarter: +53
2nd quarter: +61
3rd quarter: -1
4th quarter: +63

2007
1st quarter: +87
2nd quarter: +118 (!)
3rd quarter: +40
4th quarter: +73
I think that these numbers are skewed because if you have a 35-7 lead at the half, maybe you don't score so much in the 2nd half.

2008
1st quarter: +23
2nd quarter: +44
3rd quarter: +40
4th quarter: +6

2009 (ytd)
1st quarter: +44
2nd quarter: +73
3rd quarter: -2
4th quarter: +18
[OT: -3, 1 game]

Randy Moss delivers turkeys, good cheer, Belichickisms

Randy Moss went back to his home state of West Virginia to help out with distributing food on Thanksgiving. Notice the use of the Belichickism, 'It is what it is.' I know that Bill didn't coin that one, but it certainly shows up a lot in his press conferences.

And for the 80 billionth time, to all of the haters, maybe this will convince you that the Patriots are not 'classless'? Incidentally, I'm still pretty sure that classless is not a word.

Apparently, it runs in the family

Do you remember how Peyton often takes a defeatist attitude after losing in the playoffs? Seems like he taught brother Eli well. Here are Eli's comments after losing last night to the Broncos:

“We can deal with being 6-5, but we need to play better football.”

Well, you shouldn't deal with being 6-5. There is still a chance that they could make the playoffs, I guess, if they win their remaining games. But that seems unlikely. You shouldn't be dealing with it at all, you should be ready to go and start winning.

How much money are you earning again?

And the Belichick of the Week goes to...

I don't even know why I'm pretending to hand this out to anyone else anymore:

'But from a standpoint of production, what you produce, that’s what you’ve produced.'

Congratulations are in order to Coach Belichick, as usual. Here's the original.

We beat the Jets

My feelings on this game: meh.

It wasn't much of a game, but I'm glad that we won. Welker had a phenomenal day, catching 15 throws for 192 yards (!). Moss didn't have such a day, but did a great job keeping Revis covered. Remember crazy Revis? Yeah, he was still pretty good.

Mazz had the following anecdote in his column today:


'Slightly more than two years ago, when Welker first joined the Pats, Brady playfully described Welker as being like a "puppy’’ during training camp, Welker returning the huddle each time as if playing a game of fetch. The playful jabs have since come as regularly as the 12-yard receptions. Yesterday, Brady took note of Welker gesturing for the quarterback’s attention on what was a 43-yard pass play - ``He mailboxed his hand,’’ said the quarterback -- and didn’t miss the opportunity to deliver the ball to the Jets’ 3-yard line, setting up a touchdown that gave the Pats a 21-0 edge.

"It’s hard to see because he’s about 5-foot-7,’’ Brady cracked.'

My favorite response:

'mw383 wrote:

i mailbox my hand sometimes twice a day.'


Okay, I'm over this game. Time to play the 10-0 Saints.

Iraqi detainees taunt Wisconsin soldiers; Favre as ammo

Apparently, some plucky lads from Wisconsin who are serving in Iraq decided to deck out the camp in Packer colors. This opened the door, of course, for the detainees to start heckling them about Favre's desertion to the Vikings. I have many questions:

1) How do they know about that?
2) How much detail do they know about that?
3) Did the soldiers allow the detainees to see either of the Packers/Vikings games this season? Let's hope not.
4) Do they make Aaron Rogers jokes too?
5) How did they react when the Packers lost to the Buccaneers?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Running backs about to go all Voltron

Here is Reiss to explain:

'Maroney compares running backs to “Voltron” cartoon. Drawing a large media crowd at his locker, running back Laurence Maroney talked about the team’s running back corps returning to full health. He compared the situation to Voltron, the cartoon character in which five pieces connect together to form one large robot. Sammy Morris went through a full week of practice for the first time since injuring his knee Oct. 18, and Fred Taylor is apparently making progress in his recovery from ankle surgery on Oct. 8.'

Things actually look relatively promising from the injury standpoint. TBC was seen back today (he was taken out in the Colts' game with a rib/groin injury) and apparently, we may have some running back(s) this week. Here's hoping.

Belichick has run the gamut

Upon being asked in a press conference today whether he had ever cried, here was Belichick's response:

“I’ve coached 35 years, so I’ve probably covered most all the bases," Belichick said. "I think I swore once, too.”

So now we all agree: it was the right call

Article from Wetzel on Yahoo about how Bill was not only right, but that the play was complete. Also includes some of the statistical analysis that shows he made the right decision, even if it didn't turn up. And a 'Leave Bill Alone!' plea as well.

Okay, now I am moving on, I promise.

Greinke wins AL Cy Young Award

Nice to see that his fewer wins were taken into consideration. Greinke, of the Kansas City Royals, won the Cy Young Award, which he unquestionably deserved. As a starting pitcher, his ERA was 2.16 and while his record (16-8) was not particularly impressive, those losses were, for the most part, not accountable to him but to his team. Congratulations, and I'm glad no one fell for voting in a Yankee.

They are moving on

I have it *on authority* that the Patriots have moved on from Sunday, so I vow to do the same. In Bill I Trust. Still. Yes, I do have something bordering on unconditional love for this team, so I will overlook the times that they don't quite execute as well as I would like. They have still given me more joy and entertainment over the past years than anything else I can think of. And for that, my Pats, I love you still.

As you may recall (or not), the last time that the Pats lost two games in a row was in 2006 against the Colts and the Jets. That cannot happen this year. We need to stay strong through the rest of the season, lock up the playoff spot, and be able to focus on January early. So we need to stay on top of the division. So far, Miami has lost one divisional game, so we're okay in that department. But it behooves us to beat the Jets this weekend...okay, maybe not 'behooves,' but sure would make things easier down the stretch.

One of my friends unearthed this week's Belichick of the Week. As usual, no one can top the master:

Interviewer: "Did you disagree with that spot [on the Faulk catch]?"

Belichick: "It doesn’t really matter."

And he is right. Remember: you can't change penalties or injuries, so just let it go.

If the Jets call and offer you a coaching job, just say no

Apparently, Jets coaches (past and present) can't get anything right this week

1) Present coach Rex Ryan apparently cried in a meeting with his team, pleading with them to beat the Pats this week. Huh? Wasn't this the guy who urged them to beat each other up during training camp? Good management style there, Michael Scott.

2) Past coach Eric Mangini is apparently being investigated by the NFLPA for running practices that are too hard. Yeah. That's the 2000 Patriots, all right.

Good move on that 'going to ESPN to be a commentator,' Herm Edwards.

Upon further review

Here is the 4th down attempt from last night.

What this tells us:

[It was a first down]

This is how close this game really was. Sure, the 35-34 final score might hint at that. But the game essentially came down to this play right here. The Colts won by inches.

[In fact, not even inches, since it was a first down]

I mean, sure, maybe we stop them on the next drive. Maybe we could have stopped them if we'd punted. Maybe if Bruschi sacks Eli in SB 42, the Pats win. But this game? This game was about as close as it possibly could have been, and it really came down to this precise play.

[Which should have been given to the Pats, thereby rendering the final drive null and void]

In other words: leave Bill Belichick alone! You don't like his risky style, find another team to cheer for. He's shown that he knows what he's doing and while he's willing to take big chances, he often reaps big rewards. Yesterday was not one of those days.

[Although it actually really was a 1st down]

They say that time heals all wounds

I am actually starting to feel better about what happened yesterday. Still irked, but not quite as much. Perhaps my earlier assessment via Facebook that Belichick's decision was 'Manginiesque' is somewhat overstated. I mean, it was risky, and clearly it didn't work, but let's get some perspective. This wasn't the playoffs. And sure, we may have just lost home field advantage, but I'll worry about that more once we are in the playoffs and everything is settled.

That being said, I really wish that there had been a different call on that last (relevant) play. I feel as though we did the same thing three times in a row. No wonder the Colts were on to us.

To cite the classic press conference-isms, it's time to move forward and think about the Jets. And really, we simply must beat them.

It really doesn't even need to be said

4th and 2 at your own 28 yard line.














*sigh*

Mangini possibly on something

Apparently he feels that the Browns this season are not so far removed from the 2000 Patriots.

So many good quotes. Where to begin:

1) ravensos: 'i dont think mangini did very well in the analogies section of the SAT.'

2) bearsrule: 'The Patriots have good coaches, good players and a good front office. Other than those things, they are very similar.'

3) raiders177: 'They both have 53 man rosters.

...I can't think of anything else.'

I'll leave it at that.

Why is there so much football when there shouldn't be football?

There were two football games last night. Yes, I was surprised. I always forget that there could be Thursday games (except last year, when the Thursday night schedule I believe began with the Pats vs. the Jets...at any rate, that game I was aware of):

1) SF beats Chicago 10-6: I would say Chicago is down and out. McDaniels looks like a genius for unloading Culter, who threw 5 interceptions yesterday. Looks like Kyle Orton was definitely the way to go there.

Yahoo commentator Tony G has a few suggestions for the Bears:

'1. Get Jay cutler an eye exam.2 .make greg olsen a wide reciever.3. Get a real tight end that can block and protect the quarterback.4.Get the defence to play like they did tonight. 5.Get a front line that can block and creat opportunities for forte. 6.Lovie need to go coach a high school team. Where a dissapointment !!!'

2) USF gets schooled by Rutgers 31-0: that is an ouchie score and only the second time that USF has been shut out. Apparently also an error-ridden game. USF will get a bowl game because they are still 6-3 overall, but should be glad that they had so many gimme games at the start of the season. They may beat Miami, but who knows (since Miami has also been somewhat unpredictable this year).

On the sidelines

The NFL Network attached a mic to Bill Belichick during last weekend's Miami game and recorded the results. This is very cool!

Classy quotes from the Colts

Reggie Wayne on ugly victories:

"I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss every [expletive] time,” the Pro Bowl receiver said after Indy improved to 8-0. “I ain’t trippin’ at all, high standards or not. Hey, you’ve got high standards for the female you choose, too – but sometimes, you know, you just end up making a choice.”

That is a classy sentiment there, Reggie. Especially since you won by the skin of your teeth when the Texas kicker missed a 42-yard field goal (earlier in the game, he made a 56-yard one).

[Sorry about the font shift, blog did not like original quotation from Yahoo].

You thought I was kidding

Apparently, we haven't had enough of the 'J' shortstop:

'Before you ask the obvious question, here’s the answer: yes, the Red Sox were in on discussions for shortstop J.J. Hardy, who was traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Minnesota Twins earlier today.'

This explains a great deal about our interest in Julio Lugo, as well.

And so it begins: Colts vs. Pats, Indy coverage

The IndyStar ran a story today about who is the better QB, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. How this is even a contest, I don't know (also, how Tom Brady is only getting 13% of the vote, I don't know, but just wait until crazed New England fans uncover this story). They included lots of pretty stats, which are given in the attached photo. Here is my favorite comment so far:

'I'd MUCH rather have Brady and I'm a Colts fan! Did you catch Peyton's scared act yesterday? Two times it showed me he wouldn't do the little extras that a multiple super bowl winning QB needs to do. So many times over the years he could scramble and get the extra yards we need, but he's scared to take a hit. He looks like a scared kid when someone is about to touch him. Cases in point in the game against Houston: 1) He throws an interception and has a chance to get in front of a player and at least slow him down, if not make the tackle. Payton does his best impression of a matador and jumps out of the way at the last second. That could have cost. Second point - key drive late in the game, Peyton is flushed out of the pocket and gets scared and goes down rather than cut the ball up field and get us the crucial 2 yards we needed tha could have salted away the game. There is a reason Manning has only one Super Bowl ring and Brady has multiples and you saw why yesterday.'

(14-3 record in the playoffs....that is insane)

There was one stat missing:

SUPERBOWL RINGS: Brady 3, Manning 1.

Also, I know I'm biased and all, but is Peyton looking especially ugly in that graphic?

Raheem Morris makes another idiotic statement

'Stats are for losers.' From his press conference. This might explain your 1-7 record.

Today was a good day for Maroney

Yes, he dances. Yes, he could get more yards. But today, he averaged 4.1 and that is just peachy keen. In fact, his average yards per carry is 4.3 on the season, which is certainly decent.

There were certainly some plays where I felt he could have gotten more (then you would watch those Miami RBs and want to cry from their ability to move the ball). But 4.1 is not bad. It is respectable. I'm still surprised that we only gave it to Faulk twice, though.

Next week: the Colts

Yes, it is time for that annual epic battle yet again. I feel like we always play the Colts -- sometimes twice -- and that somehow we always play them in Indianapolis (I can recall playing them in Foxborough in 2005 and getting destroyed, so maybe I just prefer to forget. However, that was also the game with the Deion Branch Contradance against the goalpost which I cannot believe has not been preserved on YouTube).

Us against the Colts since 2002, when they went to the AFC South, meaning that theoretically, we should play them only once every three years but never seem to:

2002: we did not play them

2003: we beat them in Indy, then beat them again in the playoffs in Foxborough

2004: we beat them in Foxborough, then beat them again in the playoffs in Foxborough

2005: we lost to them in Foxborough. It was painful.

2006: we lost to them in Foxborough. Also painful because the week before we had lost to Mangini's Jets (this is the last time that we lost two games in a row as of this posting). We then lost the most painful playoff game ever -- with the possible exception of the 2007 Superbowl -- when we blew the 24-3 lead we had at the half and lost to them 38-34 in the AFC Championship game. OH THE AGONY. Note that this was the game where our aging defense was already falling apart, a problem we failed to correct until (I hope) 2009.

2007: we beat them in Indy

2008: we lost to them in Indy. Again, painful, though nothing like those 2006 games.

So yes. Despite the fact that they are not in our division, we have played them an average of 1.5 times per year since 2003. Weird, isn't it?

And then there was none...

The Bucs won a game against Green Bay. Who would have guessed that? And a decisive win too with an interception for a TD in the last minute of play for a 38-28 victory. The Bucs were in their hawt throwback uniforms, so maybe they should stick with that creamsicle look. And with that, I can retire the 'Winless Bucs' tag.

Green Bay fans, I am sorry. That is a lousy two weeks. First you lose at home to Favre's Vikings, now this. But I have a tip for you: an offensive line would be of great benefit to the team as a whole, and Aaron Rogers in particular.

But you know what we do still have? Undefeated Colts. Today they eked out a victory against Houston with a missed field goal in the final seconds to win 20-17. How many times can this happen? How many times can things go their way in the last seconds? It's like they took the Patriots' 2007 mojo or something. I truly, truly hope that next week it will stop.

Incidentally, Carolina is currently up on the Saints 17-3. We did see the Saints come back big time against Miami a few weeks ago, so I'm not counting them out. But I am still surprised.

Randy Moss, I love you

The play that basically turned the whole game around.

What a thing of beauty. Beauty!

DUMB PENALTIES

We've not done well in the penalty department this year, especially considering that last year we were the least penalized team in the NFL. But today's game had just too many stupid penalties. Bodden cost us big-time; I feel like he got about 380 yards in penalties, although I'm sure that I exaggerate that number seeing as we actually took 5 penalties for 59 yards. However, they were pretty big ones, including the Bodden pass interference and the last-minute false start on Stephen Neal, who is a veteran (that might have been okay for one of the new guys...although not really).

Thinking back to last year, there was a pretty conspicuous penalty called against the Pats in when we played the Colts. Please do not let that happen again!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My fact checking just got a compliment from MIKE REISS.

I have no words!

Canadians like hockey. But maybe not as much as flu vaccinations

One of the weird sports stories today concerns a health clinic employee who let members of the Calgary Flames and their relatives to get flu vaccinations before the general public. To whit:

'Senior health officials in the Canadian province of Alberta said on Wednesday they had fired an unidentified worker for giving National Hockey League players preferential access to the H1N1 flu vaccine.

The controversy boiled over this week when it was revealed that players for the NHL's Calgary Flames and their families received shots on an exclusive basis one day before the province closed public flu clinics due to a shortage of the vaccine.

"Our policies on vaccine distribution are designed to ensure an equitable distribution of the vaccine to all Albertans," Alberta Health Services Chief Executive Stephen Duckett said in a statement.

"The special treatment for the Flames and their families is unacceptable to us and contrary to all of our existing protocols and processes. I apologize for this breach of our duty to Albertans."'

To me, a very Canadian story. Canadians are really into equality and get miffed when unfairness is perceived. However, my favorite line is undoubtedly the next one:

'Public outrage over the revelations showed that Canadians' love for a hockey team, even when it includes such franchise stars as forward Jarome Iginla and goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff, only goes so far during a pandemic.'

Um, yes. I think that public health does go before hockey, even in Canada.

Everyone Hates Mangini, pt. 2

Even more Mangini vitriol on Yahoo today. Although this column doesn't suggest that he was the Worst. Hire. Ever., it does question what the owner of the Browns, Randy Lerner, was thinking when he hired Mangini and let Mangini choose his own GM. Which is definitely fair enough.

I think I stand for many when I say that we were all wondering what Lerner was doing when he hired Mangini. We don't need to elaborate any further on that point.

Belichick vs. AFC East teams

In Tedy Bruschi's weekly interview on ESPN today, he included a rather fascinating statistic:

'Since Belichick came to New England, he is 40-12 against the AFC East, and eight of those losses have come against Miami.'

Okay, that's kind of crazy. And I'm not sure that it is quite right.

Now, let's consider when those were: 2008 (1), 2006 (1), 2005 (1), 2004 (1), 2002 (1), 2001 (1), 2000 (2).

2000 and 2003 we lost to the Bills (2003 in the opener after we cut Malloy and everyone thought Belichick had lost his mind). 2008 and 2009 we lost to the Jets. But we also lost twice to the Jets in 2000, then once in 2001, 2002, and in 2006 (I spit on you, loss to Mangini's Jets!), so that's a total of 7. So I think that total is more like some number of wins - 17 against the AFC East. Which is still pretty good, but not quite 40-12.

However, if we add them up as Belichick + Brady, then we do get a record that is better than 40-12 because that omits 2000 (4); of course, we also need to take out 2008 (2). So now we have 40-10. Which is a damned fine record, I must say (80% win rate). Sure, our division has been kind of lousy at times during the 2000s, but still, not bad --> adopting my Bill tone, there is still a lot of work to do, and of course we could do better.

Mangini hatred ramping up

So you might think you hate Mangini, but I will bet that you come nowhere close to this article. It doesn't just claim that Mangini is bad. It doesn't just question the logic of Cleveland hiring him. It puts forth the argument that Mangini is the worst hire in the entire history of the league. I mean, that is a bold claim!

In other Browns-related news, the GM that Mangini hired was fired yesterday.

Browns fans: just remember, the worse he is, the faster he leaves. I promise.

('BILL BELICHICK IS HIS OWN DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR' - classic).

My question gets chosen for the mailbag and Best Mailbag Answer Ever

Mike Reiss, now over at ESPN Boston, has a column each Tuesday in which he answers questions from the Patriots' rabid fan base. I need to preserve the fact that my question was chosen this week!

'Q: Playing Miami this week, of course, brings up the possibility of the Wildcat. Last year, we did terribly in our first game against it and pretty much contained it in the second. What surprises me this year is that it appears teams are still having problems containing it. I assumed that after having seen it for a season, defenses would be able to shut it down. Have the Dolphins made adjustments that are difficult to cope with this year? -- Zoë (Tampa, Fla.)

A: The Dolphins have modified some things, Zoë, building on the success of the Wildcat last season. One change has been running it more without a quarterback on the field. But I think the foundation of the Wildcat remains the same, and part of what makes it tough to stop is the talent of the players with the ball in their hands (e.g. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are dangerous), and the execution of a tough-to-master system. The Dolphins work hard at it, as it's a big part of their identity.'

Excitement! But not the best answer for this week, which was the final one:

'Q: Mike, what's going on in the NFL right now? For a league that touts its competitive balance there certainly are a lot of powerhouses and a lot of real stinkers. What do you attribute the disparity to? -- Stacy (Portland, Maine)

A: Stacy, let's end on this one. My first thought is that I'd attribute it to the high number of coaching changes, and with those changes have come some dramatic philosophical shifts that have led to major roster turnover. Teams like the Rams, Lions and Chiefs come to mind. I also think some of the head coaching hires seemed a bit curious (Browns, Buccaneers). That's probably only part of it, but it is where I would start.'

Tom hearts his arm

In a somewhat bizarre radio interview today, Tom Brady came up with the following quote: 'I really understand my arm.'

He was saying that this season he feels great when he is playing and hopes to keep it up until he is collecting social security (in other words, he wants to be Favral).

Don't get me wrong: I'm thrilled that Tom is thrilled. The quote just sounds weird.

And then there was one. . .

It's bye week for the Patriots. Boo!!! I hate bye week.

However, exciting things happened in other games today, including:

1) Miami beat the Jets again. This means that the Patriots stand alone at the top of the AFC East with a 5-2 record. Jets are now 4-4. Sweet!

1.5) What is kind of unfortunate, though, is that Miami is undefeated in the division. This gives the Pats just a wee bit more motivation to win, then. As you may recall, the reason we didn't make the playoffs last year was that our divisional record was worse than the Dolphins'.

2) Tennessee beat Jacksonville, so they are no longer winless. Also, they are clearly not the worst. football. team. ever. So let's all take a moment to savor that 59-0 win just a little bit more.

3) The Rams won too, beating the Lions. I forget the score. But at least the Rams will not be the 2009 equivalent of the 2008 Lions now (if that reference made any sense).

4) Giants lost their third straight. Heh. Eli is sure earning that ridiculously huge salary.

5) Some guy who used to be a Packer went back to Green Bay and played. Game was completely overhyped.

And the remaining winless team is (drumroll please): the Bucs!

'Hater Nation' picks Patriots

Now, I am probably going to like any article entitled, 'Gomer Manning is a Piece of Crap,' in which the gents over at 'The Hater Nation' point out that Peyton Manning is the true score-runner-upper. But keep reading, because they also predict that the Superbowl will come down to Saints versus Patriots. This is not an impossible match-up and we will see what happens. But it's nice to see that we're still in contention near the half-way point of the season.

Indianapolis Colts' Schedule

Here it is:

Jacksonville
Miami
Arizona
Seattle
Tennessee
St. Louis
San Francisco
Houston
New England
Baltimore
Houston
Tennessee
Denver
Jacksonville
NY Jets
Buffalo

How many challenging games do you see there? The Pats, Broncos, and maybe Baltimore? Now I realize that they are in an easy division this year (with Tennessee and Jacksonville being messes), but apart from that, they are playing two of the three teams that are currently winless (and we are going into Week 8 here). In fact, they are playing one of those two teams twice, because it's Tennessee.

Before you say something crazy like, 'Oh yeah? The Pats have played two of the three winless teams too,' let me counter with the fact that we spent the first five weeks playing teams that were undefeated when we met them. Which the Colts have had to do never this year, apart from Week 1 when everyone is undefeated.

Now, I also know that we had the benefit of playing the NFC West last year, so we also had an easy schedule. But we were playing our back-up QB and I don't think we fully understood the full awfulness of the Rams until this year.

So I think - despite the fact that typing this is making my skin crawl - that they could possibly go undefeated. I don't want them to, because I want us to shut them down (and as ever many others who want in on that action), but I fear that they could pull it off. Unless....maybe Houston will step up? They almost beat the Colts last year, right up until one of those very Schaubisch moments when he throws an interception in the last few minutes.

Brandon Meriweather named AFC Defensive Player of the Week

Brandon Meriweather has received the honor (or is it honour when you play in England?) of being this week's AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Tom has already won Offensive Player of the Week twice this year, but he's just Tom, so we expect that.

Meriweather had a very good game against the Bucs, with two interceptions in the first half, one returned for a TD. He's shown glimpses of this before, but it's nice that it seems to be coming together for him. Also, since he plays in the secondary, this marks a considerable improvement from last season (he's a safety, not a corner, but still, what a change from last year).

What I remember was last season, Belichick turned to him during one of their games and gave him a run-down of what to do. The next play, Meriweather went out and made an interception. It was great, and also great to see that he's continuing this level of play.

Oh, and in case there are any lingering doubts about the overhaul of the D, check out this stat:

Points allowed
3rd (14.0 per game)
Last week: 3rd (15.1 per game)

Bear in mind that the two teams ahead of us, Denver and Indianapolis, have played one less game, and that Indy has the most ridiculous easy schedule, like, EVER (no, I'm not whiny/bitter).

Who was worried about our defense again?

I've cracked Theo Epstein's Strategic Plan

So I've found a crucial pattern in this year's Red Sox leaders. See graphic. Note first letter of 87.5% of the guys there. Note that remaining 12.5% has an adjacent letter in the alphabet. Clearly we need more people whose names start with 'J.'

When I started thinking this through, though, I realized that maybe this was no co-incidence, since it seems that we have been accumulating numerous players whose name starts with 'J.' Think about it. Our entire outfield comprises of J-guys: JD Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jason Bay. We almost have an entire starting rotation made up of J-guys: Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Junichi Tazawa (what do you want to bet that Epstein gets Johan Santana in the off-season? Not very much, right, because now you see his plan!). Who do we keep putting in at shortstop? Jeb Lowry (even though I do not understand this since I think Alex Gonzalez has done very well....but now I've hit upon the answer). Of course, our closer is Jonathan Papelbon. Daniel Bard taking over that spot? Yeah, right!

This makes our trade of Justin Masterson all the more baffling. But I'm sure Theo has a plan to get him back.

Also, I hope that we aren't planning to re-sign Johnny Damon anytime soon.

Pats beat Bucs 35-7. Meh.

I mean, I'm not complaining or anything. It wasn't a bad game. But it wasn't a great game by any means. Sure, the Pats won 35-7, but it just didn't feel like they quite had it together. And I know, I should just be happy with the win. Maybe because there were some weaknesses that emerged against a pretty lousy team, I am now more worried.

Points that need addressing:

1) Brady didn't seem to have it again on the long passes. I had hoped, after last week, that this was no longer an issue.
2) Penalties. There were far too many.
3) Stopping the run. I felt we gave up too many yards. And sure, Cadillac Williams is a good RB, but we're facing the Dolphins next and they have a crazy run game that we need to stop (the Dolphins are - inexplicably - up 24-3 against the Saints right now. I thought last week was backward week).
4) The Bucs were getting around the O-line too easily at times. Tom had better movement in the pocket and dodged some hits. But still, more support might have been good.
5) Tom threw for two interceptions. One of them, the one in the end zone, he really should have known better.

Okay, as Coach will undoubtedly say in his press conference, there is a lot of work to be done. I just hope that they can correct some of these problems before facing Miami, because I fear that they can exploit several of these weaknesses.

(I know, I know, stop whining and enjoy the win).

Habs being Habs

I know, I don't usually acknowledge that hockey exists until post-NFL (by which I mean, when the Patriots are out). But I wanted to note that already the Habs are continuing in their tradition from last season of being streaky. Consider that the team had a 5-game losing skid, and have now won their past 3. Hopefully the season will be in reverse this year, though: we start streaky, then get good for the second half.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I hope that he doesn't live to regret this comment, but here is Tom Brady on tomorrow's game against the Bucs:

'During a conference call with British reporters earlier this week, Brady provided this frightening scenario for the Bucs: "There's nothing I would rather do than go out there and have our best game of the year."

Apparently, he wasn't satisfied with what happened against Tennessee.'

Tom is never satisfied! He is a competitor! As Junior said, he probably is competitive while brushing his teeth (as photo with story bears witness to)!

Edelman breaks arm

Apparently at the end of the game Sunday, Julius Edelman broke his arm. This is clearly a problem because we just released Joey Galloway yesterday (which tells you how bad this is). However, Belichick seemed to hint in a press conference yesterday that they would fill the position from within. Could be a promotion from the practice squad. Stay tuned.

Julius Edelman is the one who does the semi-Wes Welker plays.

Patriots re-sign TBC

Well, that mystery is solved: TBC was re-signed this morning.

New question: why the hell is Sir Elton John the honorary captain for the Patriots this week? And shouldn't it be 'honourary'?

Fun on ESPN last night

And I am not being sarcastic.

One of my favorite parts came during the halftime show, when they showed results of a poll asking which QB was better on Sunday: Drew Brees or Tom Brady. The results? Forty-seven states voted for Drew Brees, and three for Tom Brady. I'll leave you to guess which three those were (Maine, Connecticut, and Vermont were the turncoats).

Also, I enjoyed Josh McDaniels' post-game interview, when he almost pulled a Belichick, but didn't quite have the monotone delivery. Keep working at it, kiddo.

Things are going down in Foxborough

1) Last night, the team announced that it had cut Tully Banta-Cain, which surprised the hell out of just about everyone. Tully Banta-Cain, besides having one of the best names in the league, was leading the team in sacks and had played relatively well. However, then everyone speculated that either Belichick was certifiable or perhaps TBC (as he is now known) would be re-signed soon. TBC confirmed that when he talked to a radio station yesterday (not that Belichick is certifiable, that he expects to be re-signed soon).

2) No one knows what the deal is with Adalius Thomas (also defense). He was a healthy scratch for Sunday's game, which was weird. He also missed several practices earlier this season for non-health issues, which I thought was weird at the time, but I forgot to post on that.

3) Today, the Patriots released Galloway, Michael Matthews, and Eric Alexander. Galloway is gone, no re-signing there. It appears that Matthews is also gone. Who knows with Alexander. There is still no word on the Thomas situation.

4) Rumors are flying about a potential trade for the Patriots. Maybe a WR to replace Galloway? One rumor is Deion Branch, because, let's face it, who doesn't love Deion Branch? I mean, one of my favorite things in playing my old Madden is that I can throw Brady to Branch for ridiculous yards. But that doesn't mean that he's still the same old guy (he's had injuries). Others speculate about Julius Peppers (DB for Carolina), a speculation that has been going on for quite a while and started last off-season. Trading deadline is today at 4pm.

Let's give them credit: they were not boring in the past few days.

Also, I am unbelievably grateful to be able to retire the 'Joey Galloway' tag. I had such high hopes. Just goes to show that not everyone can be fit into the Belichick system and win, you need quality players to execute on this level.

Crazy theory as to why Brady stayed in

Some wiseacres have already gone on the 'they ran up the score' rant, to which I respond that the total number of points actually can determine your playoff chances. So nyeah.

However, I want to address the 'Brady was left in too late' argument instead. Here's my crazy theory: the back-up QB Brian Hoyer (how many people could have named him yesterday?) was standing out in the snow, freezing, for the entire first half. So he's probably cold. Then they went into the warm locker room at halftime. They came back out, and he was still not ready to come in because when would he have warmed up? In a pinch situation, he could have been ready more quickly, but why not allow him the time to warm up properly? Instead, they put Brady in for the first drive since he was acclimatized, then put in Hoyer for the rest of the game after he had a chance to adapt.

But of course, for some, this was a vanity move by Brady, because his whole goal yesterday was to tie the all-time TD in one game record, then back off before he actually set a new high. Because that's practically the same thing, right?

Again, you can't beat the master

This week's Belichick of the Week goes to the man himself, again:

"I thought it was a real good effort by our team today all through the fourth quarter. I'm real proud of them. I thought we executed pretty well, made some big plays in both the running game and the passing game, from all of our defense, good solid all-around effort."

'Executed pretty well.' Not 'well' or 'very well.' Pretty well. Clearly there is still work to be done, according to Coach Belichick.

Best. Football. Weekend. Ever.

1) Clearly, Pats winning 59-0 over Tennessee was a highlight (I will never get sick of these).

2) Saints destroyed the Giants 48-27, and it was partially Eli's fault.

3) Bills came up with an overtime win against the Jets. That means the Jets are on a 3-game skid, and clearly suck.

4) Notre Dame lost on a goal line stand with seconds to go in the 4th quarter, missing 4 opportunities to score against rival USC (what does this have to do with me? It's petty and stupid, but I'm feeling very anti-Notre Dame these days).

5) Did I mention the Pats? Because they were FREAKING AWESOME.

Boston blog: Red Sox need to pull a Patriots D

The word right now in Boston (at least one version of it) is that massive change needs to happen for the team to stay competitive.

I think that this assessment is valid and that there do need to be some changes. While I don't want to point fingers at Francona, it is tempting because I felt like he had the wrong attitude into September. Things got very sloppy and that was exactly what I saw from most players in the series against the Angels. But then again, there was a real problem in production. So let's think that over...if I were Theo Epstein:

Staying: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youk, Martinez, Gonzalez (you can unload a few of the other 82 shortstops we have in my opinion, Gonzalez stepped in and did a great job). I think we still have Drew too.

Go: Varitek (sniff), Bay looks like he will be gone, is Lowell done with his contract this year?

Can Varitek shift to coaching in some capacity?

Pitching: keep Lester, Buchholz, Beckett, Dice-K. Wakefield, although he had a great season and has contributed immensely, is not a reliable option considering his age. I would rather have him as the Red Sox equivalent of Junior Seau: someone who can come in later if we need him. Look for another starter just in case. Also, we do have Tazawa.

Bullpen: this gets tricky. I would keep Papelbon, I'm still not convinced Bard has it to be the closer (give it a season or two). Re-evaluate some of the middle relievers. Figure out what happened to Delcarmen and if that can be corrected. I'm not sure how I feel about the rest of them right now. Billy Wagner is probably done.

[Speaking of Junior Seau, apparently he is coming back with the Patriots. Already!]

Crazy ending in Miami

The Dolphins pulled it off against the Jets with a 31-27 win. They scored a touchdown in the last seconds of the game. Exciting! And so much for that vaunted Jets defense.

This is good on several levels. We are now tied with the Jets in the AFC East at 3-2. The other good thing is that the Jets lost. And clearly because it is an odd-numbered year, the Patriots will not lose to Miami.

Congratulations, Josh McDaniels

And no, that's not sarcasm...he won the Belichick of the Week in the post-game interview:

"It was a big win for the football team, a great team we played today. They were very well prepared and we knew that it would be a 60-minute game, or longer in this case.'

Another bright spot

Our red zone efficiency versus the Broncos was 100%! We were 2-2!

Now admittedly, it probably would have helped us immeasurably if we had reached the red zone more often, but still. That is improvement!

Who I'm not annoyed with

WE HAVE CORNERS!

Leigh Bodden led the team in tackles today. Second place went to Shawn Springs, also a corner.

Play Calling

Okay, we have a new offensive coordinator (of course, because our previous one beat us this afternoon). And I know that at times, we complained and griped about him. Too many fancy-pant plays. Not enough rushing. But he did get us the 18-1 season and kept the team going when we had Matt Cassel step in. I know that I complained too, and I stand by that.

But...

What on earth happened today? Why were we running with the clock tick-tocking away at the end of the 4th quarter? I mean sure, Denver has a good defense and Watson was off the field with an injury, but did we not have one single new play to throw out there that could confuse the Broncos? I mean, they figured out the 'pass to Welker' thing (even though not all of those passes were on). I will be forced to assume that Moss was covered for most of the game because he didn't show up much. But still, we should have tried to run it more in the 3rd, when we wanted to run out the clock, not in the fourth when we needed big plays?

Also, the only way for Moss and Brady to start connecting is practice, practice, practice. You may not remember when the Pats were merely scoring 34 points at the start of the 2007 season, but I do. And what I also remember is that Moss and Brady did not connect on every play. In fact, I'd give them about a 50% chance. Remember the last regular season game against the Giants? Brady passed long down the field, Moss missed. Next play, Brady did it again (it was his 50th TD) of the season on the exact same play and they did it. So let them try on some of those 2nd and whatevers.

Also, was Edelman even on the field in the second half? They didn't seem to throw to him. Try a double Wes Welker, I'll bet McDaniels wouldn't know what hit him.

Incidentally, Kevin Faulk (who has never been my favorite but did pretty well last year so I laid off on him) averaged - ready for it - 2 yards a carry (4 attempts, 8 yards). That is wretched.

Contrary to what you might believe from earlier posts, nobody gets any nickels

The Red Sox lost today, meaning that they are done for the season, losing in 3 straight games. My loyalties now fall to the Twins (beat the Yankees!) and failing that, the Angels (beat the Yankees!).

My no-win World Series would be the Yankees vs. the Phillies. Not as bad as a Manningbowl. But still not great.

Oh, and Papelbon was the one who blew it, which seems like a great description of our unpredictability and streakiness (in a bad way) this season. Even our (usually) dependable guys just didn't seem to have it.

What we learned this week

A lot!

1) Buffalo and Cleveland fought to a 6-3 conclusion in favor of the Browns. Both of these teams are officially disaster zones.

2) Brady needs to throw to people apart from only Welker (actually I was not happy with the second half game-calling at all, but I may save that for another post).

3) The Cowboys ain't what they used to be. Or what they should be. They almost lost to the winless Kansas City Chiefs. Kudos to the Chiefs, Cowboys....really?

4) Jacksonville may be the most unpredictable team out there. Last week they destroyed the Titans. This week they were smunched (yes, I invented a word) 41-0 by Seattle. This is not exactly a powerhouse team. Now, I understand when the Raiders get smunched 44-7 by the Giants, even though inwardly it may make me confused (Eli? Was he kidnapped and replaced with a clone who doesn't make stupid plays and throw interceptions?). But not Seattle destroying you. That's just wrong.

5) Matt Schaub has apparently still not learned that the way to win football games is to not (repeat, not) throw interceptions right near the end.

6) Josh McDaniels can look really evil when he's mad at special teams.

7) The Ravens are a team that gets penalized a lot, and not only when they play the Pats.

8) The Patriot tuques are the best (something else I just learned: if you Google 'Patriot tuque,' this blog is the second hit).

I think it's over

Mind you, if you had a nickel for every time I thought it was over....okay, you wouldn't have that much, but you would have more than a nickel.

I think the Red Sox are done. They are down by 2 games in a best-of-5, they are not looking great and they have hit 1 run in two games. Mind you, they are coming back to Fenway now, which could help. But their effort to date has been pretty lackluster, as it was for a lot of September. I said it before: the problem is that they are streaky. The hitters have been drastically up and down all season and it seems like everyone follows the trend. Baseball is a fascinating game since the season is so long and people will not play the same way throughout. However, I think that the last couple weeks of the season did not bode well - as many Red Sox fans feared - and now we are in a pinch.

I was watching the game on Gameday, but thought Beckett did well. And really, we should be able to generate more offense than 1 run for him. He may have 'unraveled' in the 7th, but allowing 4 runs is not exactly a complete meltdown.

Also, I don't think TBS wants us to win since they have that dramatic Adenhart commercial for the Angels and we have nothing (not that it wouldn't be great for the Angels to win in dedication to him. Or at least beat the Yankees should it come to that). But Joba Chamberlain has one, the Cardinals have one, the Angels have one...what about us? How about 'The Saga of J.D. Drew'? Or Alex Gonzalez seeks to make himself seem worthy? Or Francona recovers from food poisoning? Surely these are also compelling narratives.

It's like some weird game

One goes out, one comes in, etc....

Fred Taylor underwent surgery today for his ankle, which he injured in Sunday's game. This is unfortunate because he is currently our leading RB and has played quite well. This means that BenJarvus Ellis-Green now gets to play. So yeah, apparently we needed those 84 running backs.

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy

Red Sox are going to have to pick it up if they want a chance in this series. There have been some sloppy defensive plays so far. I certainly feel that the SS and 3rd baseman should be able to throw to 1st without incident.

5-0 at the end of 7. They are definitely going to need to play better.

What is with the umpires?

I feel like the 1st base umpire must be a Ravens fan or something. That is two plays now where the Red Sox made the out but the runner was safe (also the same runner, Kendrick). Maybe baseball does need an instant replay?

I would have thrown the red flag on that one.

Stupid Yankees

The Yankees made the Twins wish that they had just lost on Tuesday night (crazy game!) by kicking their butts yesterday. The final score was something like 7-1, I am too lazy to look it up.

Philly and the Dodgers also won.

As someone who is cheering against the Yankees and Phillies, it was maybe not my day. But something deep inside me also wants the Yankees to win round one so that we can play them in round two....although the Yankees this year are a ridiculous powerhouse, so maybe that is a bad idea.

Red Sox play tonight. I fear I won't make it through the whole game because I have to be up too early tomorrow. Boo.

Wes Welker doing better

We can all sigh with relief that Wes Welker is doing better. Let's hope he doesn't have any problems (Moss wasn't at practice yesterday, but that was apparently not an injury scratch).

This was my favorite part from the Welker interview (if you didn't see it, Josh McDaniels was sporting the Belichick last weekend during the Denver game):

'How does Denver coach (and former Patriots offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels look in a hoodie compared to Patriots coach Bill Belichick?: "I don't know -- once there's an original, you can't stray from that. Me, personally, I kinda like to set the trend."

Asked if that's what he did Sunday when he was spotted with a plaid scally cap: "Exactly, a little edgy hat. Some people wouldn't be comfortable enough with themselves to do that."'

Ravens will not be fined, league sucks

So those Ravens who were complaining about the calls? The ones who would have been fined in a split second last season (see previous comments on 'fines,' particularly those from the Indianapolis Colts game last year)? They are not being fined this time around. That is total crap. The league needs a consistent policy here. And let's not forget, this is the same league that charged Wes Welker last year for making a snowman.

In case you're curious, here is the infamous Suggs hit. Did Brady signal for a penalty? Yes. What is a penalty? Yes! Dude was charging straight for his knee! He could have avoided the direct helmet going toward it, he wasn't being pushed by another player.

In an even stupider move by the league, Mike Wright (Patriots) did get fined for hitting the Ravens' QB on the helmet. Because that's consistent.

Reiss provided a nice analysis of who has been fined for what in regards to QB penalties. Baltimore is leading with 4 calls against, and the Patriots are second with 3. Because the refs are biased for us, obviously.

Argh. Whatever, it's time to let this go. Championship teams don't lose because of 'bad' calls, they win in spite of them.

How you know your team is in trouble: coach may be arrested for assult

Tom Cable, coach of the Raiders, may be arrested, some rumor mills are reporting.

Now, this already wasn't the Raiders season. But something tells me that having the coach arrested wouldn't help. Not to mention that I feel as though Goodell would frown upon such an action and probably bar him from coaching (at least if Goodell is at all consistent, he would).

I feel like Mangini and Oakland are destined someday. Who knows? That day could come sooner than I thought (he sure isn't going to be in Cleveland very long at this rate).

That's a fine

Ed Reed, of the Baltimore Ravens, sort of insinuated that the Patriots only won because they had calls go their way.

*sigh*

Sometimes calls go your way, sometimes they go the other way.

PS - Your catch downfield late in the 3rd should have been overturned. So quit whining.

PPS - I do agree that Brady got a freebie on the 'roughing the passer' one. But that is football. We had the same problems in the game against the Bills. Again, sometimes calls go your way, sometimes they go the other way.

PPPS - Dumb: when your coach complains enough to the referee to get a penalty, then keeps complaining.

PPPPS - No seriously, quit whining.

Fan commentary

This was posted by richard f on Yahoo following a summary of the Pats vs. Ravens:

'Nerds; Don't be mad because the three time world champion New England Patriots either spanked your team in the Super bowl, or beats your team on a regular basis. The Patriots are just better than your team. The Patriot fans are better than your team's fans, and the Patriot's owner is better than your team's owner. Just get over it. It will always be this way. Your Nerd rage fuels the Patriots.

Go Pats!'

Defense wins championships

Before anyone leaps on the 'Brady is washed up and done' wagon, let's recall that the Pats were playing one of the strongest defenses in the league today and still came up on top. They won 27-21. Now ideally, it would have been nice to do better, of course, particularly on the last drive. But we did enough to win.

And it's important to bear in mind that the reason we did enough to win is that the defense came up with a giant stop on the last drive, stopping the Ravens four times when they started at 1st and goal. We had the people in place ot make these crucial plays. This team is definitely our strongest in years - forget about 2007, that was precisely when we needed our defense to come up big and they didn't make the needed plays.

Also, Brandon Meriweather was fabulous today. He got one interception and almost came up with two more. Great job by the D all around.

Junior Seau has interview

Junior Seau is shilling his new show (which premieres in December?) and giving press interviews. He was asked if he would be returning to the Patriots this year, which would give him an almost Favre-esque status of three straight years coming out of retirement. His answer was sure, but later in the season, since he is a rusty old man.

However, the best answer he gave in the interview pertained to his answer when asked about Tom Brady losing his temper on the field last week:

"Tom always has the fire. He walks around, even when he probably brushes his teeth, and he's thinking of facing a challenge."

Tom Brady, plaque fighter par excellence.

Leodis McKelvin is not having a great year

Remember Leodis McKelvin? He was the guy who muffed the return in the game against the Patriots, putting the ball back in their hands and leading to the game-winning TD. Then his lawn was vandalized by angry Bills fans.

As it turns out, he broke his leg in Sunday's game against the Saints and has now been put on injury reserve. That is a bad season. Even worse than being traded to the Raiders. Poor guy.

Probably the stupidest column I have ever read

Finally, someone has topped the idiocy of the 'good vs. evil = Colts vs. Pats' column from 2007.

Apparently, Randy Moss didn't put any effort into Sunday's game.

Really? Because he looked pretty good to me. Made a few good plays, caught a few necessary balls, at no time put his feet out of the end zone, thus nullifying the play.

I feel like the reporter, Mike Freeman, meant to write 'Joey Galloway,' then erred.

Chad Pennington out for the season

Chad Pennington is out for the season after a shoulder injury in Sunday's game. This poor guy. At least he had a good season last year when he showed his former team right up in the last game of the season. Even though that win cost the Patriots their shot at the playoffs, the way that the Jets got rid of him was pretty bad, so I'm pleased that he got his payback. The situation doesn't look great right now, but here's hoping that he turns out okay.

Incidentally, the Dolphins signed Tyler Thigpen from the KC Chiefs to replace him. Apparently, they are still grooming Chad Henne, their new QB, and the league was out of QBs named Chad.

Belichick of the Week

This week's Belichick of the Week goes to the man himself. When asked why he decided to go for it on 4th and 1 on his own 24 yard line (at the time, I said that was crazy), his answer was, "I thought we could get a yard."

Nobody does it better than the master.

About that 'back-up QB' thing...

The 'career back-up QB' for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just got an upgrade.

He is now the starting quarterback after the Bucs suffered through an incredibly bad effort yesterday. They got their first down with five minutes to go in the third quarter and had a total of 86 yards. Fifteen of those came from Johnson (the back-up QB) when he ran on a play. That is a bad, bad day.

Interesting fact: Florida teams, right now, are 1-8 combined.

By the numbers

Pats are still third in passing yards after yesterday.

We are also first in field goals. Not so great. But red zone offense is clearly an area that needs work, so that's stating the obvious. Anyway, it could be worse...the Giants missed some 20-yarder or something. I believe that Gostkowski has only missed one so far this season in the first game against Buffalo.

Congratulations, Detroit Lions

It's time to retire the 'Winless Detroit Lions' tag. Congratulations to them. They won their first game since the 2007 season today. And they tried to blow it, they really did at the end, allowing the Redskins the opportunity to come back. But they held on and won the game.

So congratulations, and here is the last use of that tag.

You can place bets on which team will be next to earn it, though (*cough* *cough* Bucs *cough*).

Dramatic ending for Vikes and a what if?

The Vikings won today on an extremely dramatic pass to the end zone from Favre. It was a long one. It was one of those ones you assume will get intercepted when you see Favre throwing it. Yet it wasn't, and Greg Lewis came up with it (if that name sounds familiar, the reason will be clear soon enough), barely managing to keep his feet in bounds and winning the game for the Vikings. It was exciting. Trust me. Rusty Old Man looked like he was going to need a nap immediately following.

Meanwhile, over in Foxborough, the Patriots came up with a great drive in the first quarter only to get it to the end zone, then have the touchdown nullified because Joey Galloway couldn't keep his feet in bounds on what seemed like a pretty routine play.

Greg Lewis is the WR the Patriots cut prior to the start of the season in favor of Galloway.

I shall say no more on this matter. Although I think that Galloway pretty much lost Tom Brady's trust today with some genuinely bad plays on what should have been easy completions. Tom seemed kind of upset (especially with a classic moment, shown in slow motion, where he yelled 'HOW F–––ING HARD IS THAT?!?' right at him after a particularly frustrating play).

Much, much better

The Pats looked like the Pats again today. Although sadly they carried some traces of the 2008 Pats, in that their red zone conversion was not great. But much was good:

1) If that's Randy Moss with a back injury, then everything is going to be o-k. He played a great game, running for over 100 yards and coming up with the big plays when he needed to.

2) Tom's precision is coming back. Sure, there were some plays where he was off. But overall he kept things together.

3) The running game -- while not spectacular -- was still pretty good. Fred Taylor came through with some key plays, picking up big yards (105 total).

4) Overall, I thought the defense played very well, allowing only 10 points. This was without Wilhite, Mayo, and Wilfork, who went out during the game. Now I would prefer not to have to play the rest of the season without these guys, but considering who was left, I thought that they did a great job. Also, Gonzalez was allowed no big plays and our corners played like corners. Yay!

5) I believe we were penalized twice for 5 yards. Much better than the past two weeks and more in line with what we expect from the Belichick-run Patriots.

There is one player who I still have issues with, but I will save that for a separate post. Followers of this blog can probably take a wild stab as to who that is.

As usual, though, the sky has not fallen and all was not over last week. I wonder too if part of the problem was that last week, we had expected Welker to play and designed routes involving him. This week, his absence was less noticeable. Edelman, while no Wes Welker, came up with a few nice plays, one of which was rather Welkeresque.

Contusion!

It's just a big bruise (or contusion).

Phew.

Could be much worse.

(Obviously I'm talking about Jon Lester).

Oh no

Lester went on the cart.

That cannot be good.

They keep a cart back there, apparently. He is about to get x-rayed.

Or maybe we should go into 'panic mode'

Jon Lester just got hit on the knee by a sharp hit straight back to him.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

Yankees are up 4-0. Also bad. But the Lester situation could potentially be much worse.

PS - Thank you Yankee fans for clapping out of respect. Bet you at Tropicana they would boo and ring cowbells.

PPS - He's walking off the field but then again, no one ever takes the damned cart.

PPPS - Papi went in with him. Best Red Sox ever.

I don't want to go into 'panic mode' or anything, but...

Apparently both Welker and Moss are listed as questionable for Sunday's game. Now, don't get me wrong. I'd much rather see them sit now than not have them in a couple of months. But I'd rather have those two playing with Brady than pretty much anyone else in the entire universe!

Rusty old man retires (no, not that one), plans to drive for NASCAR (no, not that one)

Patrice Brisebois, aka Rusty Old Man of the Canadiens' defense, has retired. He even thanked Jacques Demers (or something) for coaching him to his only Stanley Cup in 1993. Remember back then? That seems like so long ago when you write the numbers '1993' out. And I guess it was long ago (although clearly not as long as, say, to pick a year at random, 1967).

I remember in 1995 when Demers was fired. I was living in Montreal and every single newspaper had this as the front page story. Those were good days, we thought, because Les Canadiens were not playing very well. In came Mario Tremblay and Les Canadiens started well under him. Then Tremblay left Roy in for too long in a game and poof. He was off to Colorado the next day after vowing never to play for Les Canadiens again. Quel désastre! I remember it as if it were yesterday. Although the tragedy of that incident has since been supplanted by other moments in sports, such as the 2003 ACLS ending and leading the pack, Tom Brady on the ground, clutching his knee.

Random fact: Mario Tremblay's nickname during his hockey-playing career was 'le bleuet bionique,' which translates to 'the bionic blueberry.' Trust me, I'm trying to find the origin for that and so far turning up nil.

Back to Brisebois: he plans to drive for NASCAR Canada. I didn't even know that there was a NASCAR Canada. What's more, I think that we need to rethink classifying something as a 'sport' if you can retire as a rusty old man from one professional league, then go compete in another.

Fabulously structured sentence

Reiss no longer writing for the Boston Globe (he's with ESPN Boston where he maintains a Patriots blog), so this is from 'Extra Points,' which is the Globe replacement. This quote comes from an article today about Tom Brady addressing the media. The way this sentence is structured cleverly reveals the writer's point of view:

'Brady didn't throw Galloway, who has been targeted 14 times in two games and only had five receptions, under the bus.'

Ha ha ha ha. Not quite as good as Mr. Cowboy Hater earlier this week. But still good.

Tazawa done for the year

Tazawa has been put on the 60-day DL for a groin injury. The speculation is that this is maybe not so much of a 'groin injury' that it couldn't be played through. But because they needed to free up roster space and (I am hoping) because we must have reliable starting pitching without him, he is done for the year.

So it would look like our starters are as follows:

1) Beckett (I'm nervous because he's been sketchy as of late)
2) Dice-K (seems fine so far)
3) Lester (I'm good with that)
4) Buchholz (He's been picking it up as of late)
5) Wakefield (As long as he stays healthy. And doesn't pitch like he did last night).
6) Byrd? That's my question mark. You've seen it. It's official.

Ask and ye shall be informed

Here's a summary of what has happened to Delcarmen.

Apparently his technique is off but they have identified the problem. Actually fixing the problem is another question.

And his ERA as of late? 21.60. Yikes.

Delcarmen, what happened?

Manny just gave up another four runs tonight. That effectively blew the lead, although Bard was useful in finishing that off. The Red Sox had a 6-0 lead after the top of the third. They are now in the 7th, and the Royals are ahead 11-9.

I'm still not convinced that Bard is ready for prime time.

And Manny, I was on your side before! What happened?

PS - To ESPN: a big old EW for that Peyton Manning montage I just had to watch.