Facing the Mountain
Following on the heals of week 5’s mere 17 point victory, the team was drawn into what was being billed as the “Game of the Year” (at least to that point). By Wednesday we had all heard and grown tired of the hype. You could here the text in John Facenda’s baritone voice:
-Only 5th time in history that two undefeated teams have met this late in the season.
-Tony Romo is the next Brett Favre.
-The Dallas Offense is like nothing the Patriots have seen this season.
-Laurence Maroney was questionable with a groin injury.
-New England had NEVER won IN Dallas. Ever.

Yada yada yada. Haven’t we been through this before with a team from central Indiana?

The one thing about this game that was certain, was that YOUR New England Patriots would not be looking past THIS game. Their sights would be squarely on “America’s Team.” Before them stood an impressive mountain to be climbed. Higher than any that they had faces this season. Before them stood the massive star of Texas at the center of the field. When the flying Elvii jumped out to a 14 to nothing lead, it looked like all the media buildup had been for nothing. It looked like the game was going to be over before it had much begun. And then came…

Fear Factor
In the 3rd quarter when the Cowboys scored a TD to give Dallas the lead, if you were like me, there came a numbing feeling that this game was slipping away. More than that, that it could even be the season slipping away. Despite the teams penchant to show up in big games, those old feelings of pre-2001, of the entire team and the whole schedule seemed to hang in the balance, began to surface. At this moment all I could see was the visage of everything tipping over the edge into a chasm of doom. My mind recalled the point in Super Bowl 38 when the Patriots fell behind in the 4th quarter. Disbelief was the only way to define the sense that fell over the fans. Because it had been over 6 games since the Pats had trailed for even an instance in any game. This was a feeling that we were unfamiliar with. Now, in 2007, with the team leading from post to post in almost every game, it felt like a truck was suddenly parked on my chest. Don’t over react much, do I?

But at the moment, all that badness seemed to be valid. To be a possibility.

Consider this string of events to drain the blood from your face.
-Dallas scores on a TD with the first half winding down to close to 21-17. Poor tackling with Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs hitting each other and missing Terrell Owens. Is the defense fatiguing?
-With the opening kick-off of the second half, the Patriots offense looks anemic. Sammy Morris leaves the game and Brady is sacked because no one was able to get open. And all of that in a simple three and out. It was looking bleak.
-With the ball right back, the Cowboys march down the field. Julius Jones runs for huge chunks of yardage. In the end, 2 pass completions to No.84 Crayton cover the final 34 yards for the eventual TD. Suddenly the Pats have gone from being up 21-10 to being down 24-21. And everyone knew that Dallas scores much more freely in the 2nd half. Gut check time.
- Ensuing kick-off. Despite a Welker return to the 32, an illegal block moves the team back to the 22. Just great. We need a major league drive and we are moving backwards. This did look bad.

Memories came flooding back of lost games from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. But then again, this is not your father’s New England Patriots. It may not even be your Patriots. Because the team keeps improving and continues to answer the call. Week after week. And you have to begin to believe, to really believe, that there ain’t no Mountain High Enough, to hold them back from victory. Against anyone. Because right now this offense is…

Freaking Ridiculous
How insane is the start that Brady is off to? He has already thrown for 21 touchdowns. So yeah that is a lot, you say. But consider this. In his best season ever, over 16 games he threw 28 touchdowns. He is already three quarters of the way there after only SIX games. SIX!!. He still has over 60% of the season ahead of him. And the scary things is that he is not playing his best football right now. You still see where improvements could be made.

To quote Boomer Esiason at the half, “Am I the only one that thinks that New England is not playing their best football….it just doesn’t seem like it is the perfect game for them yet.” Heaven help the team that gets the Pats perfect game.

Fallen Warriors
An important but mostly unheralded option of Tom Brady’s passing attack is his tight end, number 84, Ben Watson. After fighting through 2006 with injuries which limited his production, Watson was once again terrorizing defensive backs in ’07. And then, during this game Watson went down on the sideline after catching a pass. A play that did not even end up counting as the Cowboys were off sides. Early prognosis, out 2 weeks. In a game where the Patriots would need every available weapon, they had just lost a big one. Following on to this was the fact that the Patriots had not been running the ball well on this day. Dallas had determined ahead of time that they could take away this half of the Patriots offense. And remember how the beginning of the second half was at that point in the game where the stress factor was beginning to move into the red zone? Well, at this point, on the second play of the second half, things got worse real fast. Sammy Morris lay on the floor of Texas Stadium on his back and was in obvious, serious pain.

Half of this game was going to have to be played with a third string running back and without an important cog of the passing game. And with Dallas having previously proven itself to be a stronger second half team, it makes the results of the second half all the more impressive.

Falling Down
During the game there were several places where the Patriots were preparing some serious ingredients for Belichick’s now famous Humble Pie. In the second quarter with Dallas driving, 3rd and 5 at the NE12 Terrell Owens cuts across the field from right to left, in front of the defensive backs. After he catches a pass from Romo and continues to the left in search of the end zone at least 3 players have a shot at him. Most noteworthy are Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs. But do they lay even so much as a finger on him? No. Because they were too busy running into each other with both falling to the ground. The “original” 81 runs in for the score. All of this begs the question, what are the 2 starting Cornerbacks doing in the middle of the field 2 yards from each other? Certainly one of them was out of position and must have been in the wrong coverage scheme.

Further on there were a number of cases where the DBs, failed to cover their man. Rodney Harrison was having a brutal time covering the Tight Ends in the shallow middle routes. Also he was covering , with Asante Samuel, on the TD pass to Crayton that purt Dallas up 24-21. Clearly in this game No. 37 was most effective when used to blitz for added pressure on Tony Romo. He had a sack, he cause the hurry that became Seau's interception and he started the chain of events almost lead to a safety. Yes he can hit. But can he still cover? His play is impressive at the line, but has he lost a step in the secondary?

Firsts
This game was just riddled with firsts and tying of firsts. Some predicted and some that took your breath away.
- Tom Brady became the first QB ever to throw for 3+ TDs in each of his first 6 games, breaking a tie at 5 with Steve Young.
-Tom Brady won his 76th game in his first 100 starts. This tied the best “start” ever by a QB with one Roger Staubach. Interesting that the win comes over the Cowboys.
- The first time that Tom Brady threw for 5 TDs in one game.
- First time ever that a QB has thrown for 21 TDs in the first 6 games.
- First win ever for New England in the Big D.
- First time Wes Welker has had 100+ yards receiving in a game.

False Starts and Flags
It has always confused me as to how when playing at home that hearing the snap count should ever be an issue. Matt Light seems to do this a lot in Gillette Stadium. And supposedly the Dallas fans are educated and know when to make noise and when not to. Yet on the last drive of the first half, the Dallas offense got called for two false starts. What is going on here? You are driving for an important score and you are making the cause more difficult with 1st-15s?

Later, with 2:14 left in the 3rd quarter and New England up 31-24 Dallas had the ball on their own 46 in a 4th and 1 situation. Given the time remaining they decide that they will go for it. Barber takes the hand-off, picks up about 5 yards and easily has a first down. The patriots defense is having trouble stopping the run. But wait! Dallas was called for holding, the run is negated and they are now facing 4th and 11 and end up punting. From this point on, the game was all Patriots.

Faux Clockworks
On the second of the 2 false starts the clock stood at 0:59. The referee, Mike Carey, made the announcement that inside the final minute that this also means that 10 seconds needs to be run off the clock.

Now here was the thing. They never took the 10 seconds off the clock. When the next play ensued, the clock remained at 0:59. Now it can be noted that Dallas did call a time out. And I later realized that using a TO waives the loss of the 10 seconds. However, if that is the case, should the ref not make an announcement on this. This is not the kind of situation that is seen very often. The Public should be told.

Flu
Coming into this game left tackle Matt Light was suffering from a case of influenza. Given his oft problematic dealings with a speed rush, you had to wonder if he was even able to start, would he be up to the task of stopping the likes of Demarcus Ware and Co.

Well, major props to Light for even being able to walk onto the field. He did start the game but in the first quarter did have to leave for 3 plays, quite possibly for re-hydration. Nick Kaczur moved from RT to left and Ryan O’Callaghan came in to play RT. Certainly the duration of Lights time out of the game must have been set to be longer than 3 plays, say, the entire drive. But the sack that was given up by O’Callaghan ended the drive in a timely, for Dallas, 3 plays. You can argue that Light’s playing through the flu was brave. Yet, Light was the offending party in letting the Dallas left end come around to sack Brady for what became the first Cowboys touchdown.

Feeling Too Safe
Patriots take the lead 28-24 and really need to prevent momentum form switching back to Dallas. What I can explain is how on 1st and 20 Rodney Harrison attacked the line at the right offensive tackle position. His power and momentum actually negated any line push and created a huge pile of humanity at the intended point of attack. This left Marion Barber no place to go and as he bounced off the pile he began to loop backwards to wards the end zone. What I cannot explain is how three quarters of the Patriots defense was in the end zone with Barber and some how repeatedly failed to tackle him or push him out of bounds. James Sanders had him dead to rights behind the letter W, but somehow Barber cut his way around him and regained the lost yardage and even ended up with net gain of 2 yards. As Jim Nantz noted, Barber came within a move of breaking it down the sideline. On this play the tackling was abhorrent. Rodney Harrison, Junior Seau, Ty Warren, Sames Sanders, Asante Samuel Jarvis Green(twice), Mike Vrabel and finally Eugene Wilson all had hands on him for a loss or the safety and could not stop the runner from the U of Minnesota. And speaking of abhorrent…

Flipping Ugly
Patriots go ahead 41-27 with 4 minutes remaining. Dallas begins their drive on their own 19. Enter the ugliest drive and the ugliest pass of the day. This was the ugliest drive of the game because it lasted for all of one play. It was the ugliest play because Tony Romo, flips the ball, side armed, in a very odd manner to Terrell Owens, who was moving from left to right just beyond the skirmish of linemen. Because the pocket was collapsing, thanks to a blitz by Rodney Harrison where he drove the left tackle back to the QB, Romo stepped up and made a half hearted release to just get rid of the ball. Problem was that with the side-arm release the pass had no power and was so far behind Owens that the only player in frame was Junior Seau who caught his 3rd interception of the season (& the last 2 weeks). My favorite part of the play was the deceptive alignment of the defense. It was a microcosm of what makes this defense so hard to read and dangerous. On this play Seau began as a down lineman over the right offensive tackle. When the ball was snapped he took a step forward and then dropped back 4 yards into coverage. He was there, but he was also almost invisible to the Dallas gunslinger. At the same time, Rodney Harrison was lined up about 3 yards off the ball, over a tight slot receiver to the outside of the left tackle. When the play began, he took a step back as if going into coverage and then drove in towards Romo. How a safety can drive, DRIVE a NFL tackle backwards 5 yards is beyond me. But he did it.

Fake, Fake, Double Take
You just knew that the gloves were off when on the first play from scrimmage New England executed a double fake leading into a deep shot into the end-zone. First Brady faked a draw to Morris, then faked a hand off to Stallworth on a reverse to the left. Even as pressure was coming from a deep push on the right hand side from the defensive tackle, No. 12 held the ball in a place where it was apparently hard for most of the defense to see. I say this because on the TV screen the ball was clearly visible. Then Brady launched a missile to Randy Moss who was a good 2 steps behind both of the defenders who were to be covering him. Alas, the pass was too deep and was incomplete. And while it might have seemed like a frivolous place to make that big strike, it made so much sense. Why not try and take break the other teams psyche right away. And if you miss, you still have 2 more downs to get the 10 yards needed to keep moving the chains. For all the respect I had for the Patriots in the 70’s and 80’s there was one thing that repeatedly drove me crazy. In a 3rd and 3 situation, Grogan or Eason would put up a 30 yard bomb to a wide out. And in almost every case the ball would flutter to earth, killing the drive. Yes, you are trying something that the other team might not expect. Because who on earth would shoot for 40 yards when you only need 3. But failing to complete that pass removes chances to make that 40 yard play as the drive continues. It makes life harder on the defense who has to go back on the field too quickly.

No, this new style of offense was much better. Now, if we can just remember how to call and run screen passes.

Four and Twenty
A big indicator of the Patriots balance and consistency is that of the twenty-four quarters in the games this season, they have scored in twenty-three. The sole omission being the 3rd quarter of the week 5 game with Cleveland. What this means to me is that out of 360 minutes of football, the closest the team has come to a slump was a period of about 15 minutes in a game when the out come was pretty much decided. It is not that the team is so explosive, as much as it is machine like, an assembly line of constant production.

Flying Along
I have one more thing to say about the amount of points this team is coring. After a mere 6 games, with 230 points scored, we have already posted more points than we did in our 7 worst SEASONS. Yes, in 7 seasons of 14 or 16 games we scored fewer than the total that this team has done before mid October. Not only are the 2007 Patriots on pace to break the team record for scoring but they are on pace to score 613 points by seasons end. I know that we will face a few more staunch defenses so the team needs to really pour it on this week when they take on the…

Fish
Next week, the team goes on the road again, this time to the sauna that is Miami. Now I know that the Dolphins are appalling, and are right now 0-6. And that Zach Thomas has said that he has never played on a defense as bad as this one and that the Fins might not win a game this season. But there are some facts that should temper the casual fans unbridled expectations for this game. -New England is 1-7 in Miami in October. They are 1-3 in all games in Miami before November.
-Last season, with the Pats on the way to a 12 win season and Miami heading into the toilet, the then lowly Fins pasted the Pats 21-0.
-As a division opponent you never know what is going to happen. These teams know each other better than anyone, and have the ability to defeat each other, even when they themselves are having an off season.
-When the other team to score crazy numbers of points and win their first six games of the season, the 1999 Rams, lost it was their 7th game.
-Oh, one other thing, the only team to go through a season without a loss is the Miami Dolphins. 1972. So I think the guys in teal and orange have a reason to rise up and play well.

For me, this is the one team that I want to beat, each time, each and every season. No team has such an advantage over us in number of wins. If I were ever to get a tattoo I would get a dolphin. And I would put it on the bottom of my foot so that with every step, I would be crushing the dolphins.

So, yes, I want this one really badly.
Because this next game is a mountain every bit as big and important as the last one.

Squish the Fish.

Go Pats.

Erdoboy
Please visit PatriotsArchive.com