Do we have a chance?

Funny, but maybe New England’s somewhat weakness (read not as strong as the passing) in running the ball can be blamed for the perceived “running up of the scores.” Because when you are not able to run the ball down the throats of the opponent like Steelers do, then you really only have 2 choices left.

You can keep the ball on the ground for 3 plays and keep on punting the ball back to the other team, giving them more and more chances to score and close the gap.

Or you can pass to eat up the clock. And THAT of course can result in scores.
(cue British accent) “Um, so sorry. Did I just score on your defense again? I just cant control it recently.”
Too often in the past this team and other teams chose the former and kept giving the ball back to the opponent. And sometimes those teams came back. And won. Well, not any more. Not with this team. This is not Nebraska in 1980 playing in Lincoln and there is no 6th string on the Patriots. NFL teams can only go so deep into their roster before they hit the bottom of the depth chart. And the Patriots are not playing Central Kansas A&M.

Hydra for Hire
The story of this game was supposed to be that the team from the Potomac Drainage Basin’s secondary was to put the clamps on Brady and his pass happy antics. Wall to wall their entire secondary consists of first round picks. Owner Dan Snyder has at least done one thing right in his time with the team. He loaded up his defensive secondary with a lot of flight players. So it looked as though this unit, in this game would be able to go to to toe with the New England pass catchers. Snyder has created a hydra in his secondary with each head capable of delivering a deadly hit. But a funny thing happened on the way to the battle.

Hercules
As you know, despite the fact that the Hydra had many heads Hercules was able to defeat it and move down the road to his next challenge where a fiery colt waited. (OK, so I pushed the analogy a bit far.) And in the same way Hercules adapted to the Hydra growing new heads and kept coming at him, Tom Brady and Co. adapted to what Joe Gibbs team presented. Once again the Patriots offense adapted to take what the defense left them. Sure the defense took away the deep routes and the middle of the field. But you cannot take away everything. The Cowboys and Browns took away the run. Miami took away the flats. And the Jets took away the video camera. But again, there is always a weakness in each defense. And No.12 just carved up the defense with short passes just in front of linebackers and with a running game to the outside. And the Patriots carved up the defense, moving with silky precision down the field again and again. And with the way things are going with this offense, I am confident that no matter what Tony Dungy has in his bag of tricks, that Brady and his boys will adapt, improvise and overcome.

Half Done
At this moment the season is half over. That is if you are referring only to the regular season. The season, that we know the schedule for. And never before has the team kept a season beginning winning streak alive this long. As 8-0 to start the season, they have done things that many Patriot teams could previously not done in a season.

Harrasment
Is it just me or was Mike Vrabel playing in his own world on Sunday? He had 3 sacks, all of which resulted in a fumble and a turnover, one of which became a defensive TD. I have not been seeing or hearing much the past few weeks about Adalius Thomas. But it seems as if his presence has opened up a whole avenue of options with regard to turning number 50 loose to chase down opposing QBs. Vrabel is getting to the outside, and just turning the corner no matter who they put in to stop him. In the second quarter with Washington in a 3rd and 4 at the NE 23 the Redskins assigned 2 people to block Vrabel coming from the right hand side. It still did no good as he out raced the first and pushed through the second to get to the QB and force kill a drive. Oh yeah, and he had 13 tackles as well. The man was possessed.

Holding the ball
Interesting stat. Time of possession in the game favored the Patriots 37 to 22. That means that they held the ball for 15 minutes more than Washington, or for the equivalent of a whole quarter more.

Hanging on
I think that while Brandon Meriweather did a decent job of covering Washington TE Cooley, it was like watching a 4 year old trying to tackle his father. Meriweather just did not have enough mass to prevent, much less slow down the player from getting to the endzone. Brandon, in the off season time to hit the weight room. And for the mean time, lets keep Rodney in there when we need the tackler and weight to stop running plays.

Hot under the collar
Thinking that Tom Brady is not taking this game and each play and drive seriously? Consider when he had the team at the Washington 7, up 38-0. When an offsides/false start penalty on Dan Koppen more than doubled their chance for a 1st down, No. 12 became a volcano of rage. I can’t print the actual words that he said, but part of his message was “Are you _____ kidding me?” He knows that the team needs to be able to play at or near a perfect level for its most skilled opponents. And that skill is a way of life. If you get into the habit of making careless mistakes they will become part of your weekly expectations. Just ask the Raiders.

Hommages
In this game the team scored a very rare total of points, 52. I view this as a tribute to retired linebacker Ted Johnson. What did you really expect from me? Can I get some love for Steve Nelson? How about John Hannah? Let it Ride!!

Then later in the game, QB Matt Cassel was so moved by the way that Brady was able to deliver the ball to pay-dirt on foot that he himself found a way to turn a scramble to elude a pass rush into a rushing TD of his own. Now if he could only learn to pass with the poise of the starting QB. One step at a time. One step at a time.

Hallucination
I know I need to go and get my eyes checked. Because at the end of the game I thought that I saw Brady talking to …this is just crazy…Mark Brunell. I know, I know, this is just nuts.

High-Fives
In the last 2 minutes of the game Rodney Harrison was on the sideline talking to Bruschi and Asante Samuel? Rodney was sitting on the bench with Bru and ??? standing in front of him. At one point Rodney says something to the 2 linebackers and they become incredibly excited and start giving each other high-fives while the strong safety sits there with a mellow smile on his face. What was that all about, I wonder?

Hall of Famers
It was certainly a special event on this day when you had 2 head coaches facing each other, when each has won 3 super bowls. Despite this there was no equality in the level of play between the two teams and this lead to an apparent tiff at the end of the game when it was time for ....

Hands to be shaken.
Although I did not see it, there are reports almost everywhere about how Joe Gibbs walked off the field without shaking hands with BB. Whether or not these are true, to a certain degree I can understand how Gibbs was feeling. Giving up 52 points is bad enough. Being down 52-0 is even more painful for a HOF coach. Certainly it must seem to Gibbs that Belichick was not acting in a sportsman ship manner by keeping Brady in the game until the 4th quarter. But the Redskins could not stop the second string allowing Matt Cassel to drive the team for the score that put the Pats in the 50’s. And I have a question to those in the NFL and around the country who see them as running up the score. If you are sending some of your players out onto the field and asking them to play at anything other than their best, are you not taking the chance that they will lose their rhythm? And also why is it that when other teams score 50+ points with 20 to 30 point wins that you don’t hear comments on them running up the score? And on one hand while I worry about the team scoring too much and running out of points and not being able to score when they need to I want to see the team maintain the pace. And I personally cannot ever remember complaining of other teams running up the score on the Patriots in years when they were not this good. So it annoys me that other teams now seem somehow slighted that the Pats are pasting them. Ya know what? New England has not won anything yet. They have won a few games and they are far from clinching home field in the playoffs or even getting into the playoffs. Everyone has it in their mind that the Patriots are a given to get in, but you are not in until you are in. So I don’t let up. If you can score, score.

Note: In his post-game press conference Joe Gibbs stated that he had no problem with anything the Patriots did on the field. The man is a class act. No matter what he might have been feeling, he knew that the shoe can easily be on the other foot someday. I respect him for his style.

Hatter Be Mad
Of all the things that Brady is doing so well this season it stands to reason that there should be one phase of his life that is messed up. I mean he was dating a hot Hollywood actress, now is dating THE super model of the universe (as long as you don’t include Rygil 7) and on the field he is winning every game and is on pace to shatter the season TD record. So for balance to all this wonderfulness is the hat that he has taken to wearing after the games. It looks like something he would wear if he was selling fish & chips on the street in old London town. How sad. But the again, if that is the Yang to his Yin of everything else, keep the hat Tom.

Help is on the way
Now that we are beyond the 6th week we can begin to get back the PUPpies. And this week the Patriots welcomed back Richard Seymour. He did not start the game, deferring to Jarvis Green whom had started every game this year. But on the second drive #93 was in and then played off and on throughout the game. The hope is that this game is a step to getting him back on the field in full stride for the game next week, which just might be important.

Heading for a Hyperbole showdown
Finally we come to the wrap up point of the week. And it is the fact that NFL and CBS have gotten their wildest dream to come to fruition. New England will travel to Indianapolis with a combined 15-0 record. Both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, on Sunday won a victory over their 31st team. But you better take sedative because you are about to be inundated with more hype and headlines than you could ever imagine. They are going to do anything to get you to spend money and read about this match-up. Hopefully, I will be able to get inside the RCA dome with a ticket to this game.

House Dog
Oh, yeah and this last thing. This is the first time in the 43 home games that Tony Dungy has been head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts that they have been the betting line underdog. Just thought you might like to know.

Well that is all for this week. No doubt there we will all explode before Sunday's game from the overload of information that is coming our way.

As always thanks for reading, and

Go Pats

Erdoboy from the
New England PatriotsArchive.com