The State of the Patriots

It's one game.

As a matter of fact, is anyone really surprised that the Pats lost to Denver? That's 3 in a row and 5 of the last 6. Denver is the team that has the Pats #. And as bad as it was to watch, had Gostkowski made his field goal, the Pats would have been driving to tie the game at the end. I almost wish my Tom freakin' Brady article was this week the way the media has been going on about his sulking, hanging his head, looking uncomfortable, making bad throws, throwing the ball away, lack of leadership, etc. As long as they continue to improve week by week they'll be fine. Isn't it better to play great in December than September? Let's look at some bright spots fromt his game shall we?

Who was the guy wearing #26 this week? He looked nothing like the guy who wore #26 the first 2 weeks of the season. He was awesome, making 13 tackles. He had one in particular with the fullback trying to block him, in which he ducked under the block and made a sure tackle on Tatum Bell.

How about the play of Ty Warren, AGAIN! Another solid performance leading the D-Line in tackles.

Wasn't it nice to see Doug Gabriel get some catches? I think he led the team with 6 receptions for 66 yards and a nice TD catch. (Caldwell wasn't great, but he is still showing signs of improvement.)

Did you see the perfect throw Brady made to Brown on the flea flicker? Brown's got to come up with that, Brady put it right in his hands- great throw!

I think that Maroney will learn from this game, though I don't think he was that bad. Many reports talk about him dancing instead of running. Where the F@&% was he supposed to run? Everytime he got the ball he was met in the backfield. He had the play of the game for the pats on that little dump pass when he bounced off the linebacker and ran for 30 yards.

There. I hope that helps everyone get back on the bandwagon. Yes, they'll probably get beat this week too, but let's hope for steady improvement. And PLEASE, don't blame Brady. What would Manning do with out Harrison and Wayne? What would Palmer do without Johnson and Whoseyourmomma? Give it time to develop, the offense will click by December, when they need it to. In the meantime, when you go to the games remind the powers that be that they are 10 million under the cap and that 30 year old McDaniels play calling sucks and that the O-Line has been over-rated by the local media. Cheer for Tom, he's the best player the Patriots have ever had.

I'm Tom freakin' Brady....

"I'm Tom freakin' Brady..." It was suggested by a sports radio caller that Brady should open his press conferences with that statement. It is in response to the media and those fans who have been critical of his performance in the first 2 games. People who, evidently have forgotten that Tom Brady is indeed human and in their own minds Tom Brady has a perfect QB rating and 4 TD's a game without missing one throw. Wrong. Tom Brady IS human. One of the post game TV shows actually ran a poll asking the fans to grade Brady's performance for the first two games and the 'experts' were giving him low grades! I refer you to the blog I posted on August 2nd where I asked you to give Brady some slack. For the reasons mentioned in that post, we need to give him a break. Yes he had 2 average performances, but the Pats ARE undefeated. Who can blame Brady for being noticeably upset by the departure of his favorite receiver and best friend on the team? To his credit though, he hasn't complained, rather he's gone to work with his new receivers-even when he really didn't want to.

A story was published after Sunday's game about how NFL players are creatures of habit, especially on game day where they go through the same routine almost to the minute. During Brady's pre game routine he was in the locker room when approached by Jackson who asked him to go out on the field and throw him some balls. Brady declined, but the reporter later noticed Brady out on the field throwing balls to Jackson. It speaks volumes for Brady, as if we'd ever doubt his work ethic. Some of the media actually get that.

Take Peter King for example in his review of the week 2 games:

The new Brady Bunch. This was just before 8 p.m. on Sunday
night, and Brady sounded like the man who'd just lost a game to the Jets, not won. "This was a long day,'' he told me, winding down after New England's survivalist 24-17 win over the Jets. "I'm very tired.'' New England almost blew a 24-0 lead, enduring a late blocked field goal by Jonathan Vilma and a frenzied Jets rally to hang on.

Brady is the guy who has to make everything right on the field after all of the Patriots' free-agency losses and contract-related crap, and it's an exhausting job. But you know what? He just does it. No wonder the Patriots' management and coaching staff thinks they'll always be OK with Brady behind center. He bails them out continuously. Look at what happened in the fourth quarter of this one. With 9:20 to go, New England was grimly trying to hold on to a 24-17 lead and took the ball at its 30. Bleed the clock. That was Brady's job. With 7:51 left, on third-and-five, he hit Reche Caldwell for six. With 6:00 left, from the shotgun, on third-and-five again, he dumped it to Kevin Faulk for six. Tick, tick, tick. With 4:08 left, from the shotgun again on third-and-seven, he threw to Troy Brown, who burrowed for eight.

Notice the pattern? They need five, they get six. They need seven, they get eight. They converted another first down, bled the clock some more, then got into position for the clinching field goal. It was blocked, but Brady had done his job. He'd taken new England 63 yards downfield, but more importantly, he'd taken eight minutes and 15 seconds off the clock ... and he'd done it, amazingly, with the Jets burning all three timeouts and the two-minute warning stopping the clock another time.
The numbers say Brady had a pedestrian game (15 of 29, 220 yards, one touchdown, one pick), but he led his team to a 24-0 lead on the road,
then helped the Pats survive with that drive. "We're a long way from being where we need to be,'' he said. "A long way. There're times we don't look so good. We've got to be able to put the nail in the coffin. But that's what happens with a new team.'' That's what this group feels like, a new team.

Remember when Brady was "just a game manager"? Remember how excited we would have been 3 years ago if Brady did what he did last Sunday? They beat the Jets on the road, they are 2-0 and more imprtantly 2-0 IN THE DIVISION. This week he gets his chance for revenge. You don't think he's forgotten about the one and only playoff loss of his career do you? No matter if he throws 3 picks or 3 TD's this weekend, you can bet that Tom Brady will find a way to win this one. He is, afterall, Tom freakin' Brady.

Rich Bitch

The Deion Branch saga has finally come to a close, he is the rich bitch. But don't blame the Pats for this, blame the NFL system. When Branch was drafted, the NFL rules allowd 2nd round picks to sign deals as long as 5 years and that's what BOTH parties agreed to. In today's NFL a 2nd rounder can only sign up to 4 yrs but that doesn't matter in this case. What does matter is that the rich bitch was under contract, the one that has HIS signature on it and he should be starting for the Pats this Sunday. It sets a bad precident for the likes of Ben Watson who has a 6 year rookie deal. He must be thinking that if he has a good season this year he won't come to camp, the Pats will trade him and he'll be a rich bitch too!

I personally do not think Bill and Scott would have traded Branch so quickly unless they know what they've got will work. That means Gabriel and Jackson must be doing something right in practice. Neither of them will catch 78 balls for 900+ yards, but it is quite conceivable that one of them will have more than 4 TD's isn't it.

The Pats will tell you that, on paper, they got great value. A 65th pick overall that they got four years of good production from and helped them win superbowls has translated into a 1st rounder, no worse than 32nd overall. That's twice the value on draft day, I don't think any team would trade any first round pick for the 65th pick.

As far as the trade's impact on this team, I expect a loss this week. A bad loss. The comments coming out of the locker room are all supportive of Branch. The wind is out of their sails. Do you remember a guy named Lawyer Milloy? Of course you do and you remember how badly this team got beaten by Buffalo the next game. I completely expect that to happen this week at the hands of the Jets.

I for one am happy that this is over, one way or the other, but we shouldn't be to quck to judge this trade. Let's wait to see what happens this season, in the playoffs and superbowl before we judge this. Or maybe we should wait even longer, until we see who the Pats select with the number one pick and how he performs over the first 3 or 4 years of his career. In the meantime say good bye, rich bitch.

Ever the Optomist

Since I will be unable to post next week, I'm doing two this week including looking into the crystal ball.....


Call me an optomist or call me a homer, I don't care. My prediction is that the Patriots will win the super bowl this year. What kind of fan would I be if I didn't truly believe the Pats will win it all? After my in-depth look at the schedules, it's safe to say that you don't even have to watch football this season - it's a foregone conclusion. (please note the sarcasm) So here goes:


IN THE AFC

The Pats Win the AFC East with a 13-3 record. One loss each to the Bengals and Dolphins for sure, and one loss to a team to be determined but not Denver or Indy.

Indy wins the AFC South with a 13-3 record. Because the Pats win the regular season meeting, the Pats will have home field for the playoffs.

Pitt wins the AFC North via tie-breaker with Cincy. Both finish with 11-5 records.

The meager AFC West is won handily by Denver at 12-4.

The wild card teams are the Bengals and Dolphins at 11-5.

Pats and Indy have a bye week for the first week in the playoffs.
Denver at home beats Miami
Bengals upset Pitt in Pitt

Pats home winners over Cincy
Denver wins at Indy, lack of a running game undoes Manning.

Pats get playoff revenge on Denver and win handily at home.


IN THE NFC

In the NFC East the Cowboys survive and win the division on tie breakers at 9-7.

In the NFC South Carolina edges out Atlanta for division with an 11-5 record.

The NFC North is a tie, with the Bears and Lions at 10-6, Bears get the division on coin toss.

Seattle once again easily wins the AFC West at 13-3.

Wildcards are Detriot and Atlanta.

Seattle and Carolina have first week playoff byes
Cowboys upset Bears in Chicago
Atlanta wins easily at Detroit

Seattle at home dismantles Atlanta
Cowboys' use Parcells magic and upset Carolina on the road.

Bledsoe to T.O. in the final seconds lifts the 'Boys over Seattle to win the NFC Title.


Thus begins the most over-hyped superbowl ever:

Pats v. 'Boys
Brady v. Bledsoe
Bill v. Bill
Harrison v. T.O. again

The Cowboys keep it interesting in the first half, but Super bowl MVP Laurence Maroney dominates the second half and the Pats win easily, 41-20.