Goofy
Admit it. You are going around each day with a smile on your face so insanely euphoric that everyone around must think you have escaped from a mental institution and are overdosing on thorazine. If winning 3 super bowls in 4 years was not enough now we have this. A team on course to set the record for points in a season & looking like it could go 19-0. Sure, the players can’t talk about it but we the fans can dream. Just like we dreamed of that day when we would first win a Super Bowl, and then when it came about it was magical. It was beyond description. It was apocalyptic. Imagine the feeling if we get it all this season?

The problem is that this offense is doing things that are impossible to comprehend. Like understanding a billion. Sure you see the numerals. You recognize the value, but in all truth your brain is incapable of appreciating the actual scope of what is being talked about with a number of that size. It is that way with this team in 2007. People have been talking about Brady breaking the record for TD in a season for weeks. And we have become numb to the numbers. It took Manning the best season ever to break the record of 48 by 1. BY ONE! An increase of 2%.

With Brady, the projected numbers have not just been maintained, they have continued to grow. After week 4 he was on pace to break the record with a total just over 50. After week 5 that number grew to 54. Now he is on pace to throw over 60. Breaking this record by an increase of 25% is just …unthinkable. As I see the numbers each week I become numb to the fact of what is really happening. The finite limits of our understanding of the game and ITS limits have dulled us to the impossibility of a 60 TD season. At this point they are just numbers to my mind.

I know that I have come to now expect that this will continue. And that is dangerous. I have become greedy and want more, more, more. Were you like me during the Miami game? Sitting in your living room, tavern or barn and thinking, “Holy cow! 5 touchdowns and there are still 7 minute left in the first half! 70! yeah 70 points. No! Wait! 80, we could hit 80 if we tried.” And that alone tells me that I for one have lost sight of how incredible it is that this team is one point on the season away from averaging 40 points per game. We have gone through entire seasons (plural) when we did not even come close to scoring 40 points in one single game. And now I am looking for 60’s 70’s and 80’s? I mist be insane. And I bet I have some good company in this.

And I know that it has begun to pour over into the fans of other teams too. I have friends from Pittsburgh and Philly saying, man, I will be happy if we can hold them to 30. I bet this is really beginning to adversely effect the whole business of……

Gambling
In the past the Patriots would so often fail to cover the Las Vegas betting spread in games. I never bet, but it chaffed me to think that they would barely win games. But of course part of the way betting lines are set is that the odds makers try to create a situation that will ensure that there is some betting action on each side of the line. This season, the Patriots made life miserable for the casinos. And you have to think no one is betting on the team that they play. So each week Vegas increases the line to where someone has to bet on the other team. This reminds me of the horse Man of War. He was so dominant that after each race the racing authorities would increase the amount of weight that he had to carry in the next race in an attempt to give the other horse a fighting chance.

Gun Offense
Is it just me, or was it as if every single play of the game the Patriots were operating out of the shotgun. Which to some degree is odd because Brady’s completion percentage, in his career, on play action is much higher than from the shotgun. The upside to this is that teams might forget about the play action and just begin scheming for the gun. And then BAM out comes the play action again. But then again, it ain’t lookin’ too shabby out of the shotgun now that I think about it. And while I am on it, has anyone else looked at the offense and wondered where have all the screens have gone? This is such an effective play. Certainly with Brady passing as well downfield as he has been, this would be a highly effective counterpoint to a strong pass rush. And then of course there is the fake screen which left Vince Wilfork….

Ground up and spit out
179. One Hundred and seventy nine yards. For a defense that supposedly prides itself on stopping opponents, and their run, to give up that kind of real estate on the ground in a single game, well, it is embarrassing. In the first half Ronnie Brown had over 60 yards. Even in garbage time, the defense needs to have some semblance of pride. I know that Miami’s 0-6 record was not an indication that they could not score, but still.

Groin
I was wondering if Laurence Maroney was all the way back and ready to go. He was hitting the corner and getting to the second level of the defense. But he only had 6 carries in the game despite averaging over 5 yards per carry. Why didn’t we run more? The offense seemed to be seriously imbalanced towards the pass. The freaky thing that I realized in checking the game stats was that the Patriots ran the ball 22 times. And threw it 28 times. I think the reason for this must be that most of the scoring drives only lasted 4 or 5 plays and covered a lot of yards, most coming from the pass.

Gutierrez
Admit it, when Brady came back in you were thinking, man Belichick is really hacked off at Cassel. And then a few moments later the newspaper headline came to your mind “Patriots cut Cassel.” And I saw this coming in training camp back in August.

Gaffney
You know how you can tell that the world has moved on? When one of your leading, starters at wide receiver from the previous season just disappears. Oh, he is still on the team, but he just disappears. And when he disappears, you forget that he even exists, still on the active roster. Well this is what is going on with Jabbar Gaffney. Because I have become so amazed and aware of Welker, Stallworth and Moss that there is that moment in every game where No, 10 catches a pass I find myself remarking, “Oh! Who is that guy?”

Groove
Brady was back into that magical zone. His passes were once again hitting the mark. No need to repeat the numbers here.

Grousing
ESPN ran this story on the Sunday/Monday Sports Center. BB was so upset after the defense allowed the Fins to make it 14-7 at the start of the 2nd quarter, that he spent the next several minutes “having a go” at his defense. He went on so long that he missed the ensuing kickoff. So he also missed Willie Andrew’s, an up back on the return team, 77 yard return for a touch down. Ironic as this was, that one group of players picked it up for another, the fact remained that the defense gave up too many big plays in allowing Miami to march 79 yards in 9 plays. On the first 2 plays of the drive, they gained 12 and 11 yards. Later on 4th and 1 at the NE 46, Miami was able to run the ball up the middle for 19 yards. On the next play at the twenty eight Lemon hit Booker on the left sideline for 21 to give Miami a 1st and goal. At this stage in the game it was the kind of soft defensive play that allows other teams to come back and win games.

Up next? Washington and the best secondary in the free world. Will Brady be able to pass against such a stodgy group of defenders. Can we possible win this game? Surely we can’t cover the spread. Well, to leave you with a quote from Roseanne Roseannadanna,
“Well it just goes to show you, its always something.” There will always be some kind of challenge to face and reason to actually play the game. I would also not be surprised to see the NFL try to find a way throw another undefeated team in our path just to freak us out.

Have a good one.

Please be sure to read part II.
Erdoboy
PatriotsArchive.com