Model Franchise; Act like you've been there before?
 

From what I've heard Ellis Hobbs has been one of the main guys involved in the "taunting" after the game. Well, why should he act like he's been there before when he was a rookie last year and this is the farthest he has gone in the playoffs? Hobbs has 0 rings. Michael Smith on Around the Horn basically got owned by the others when he said the Patriots should follow certain guidelines as a model franchise. Why should they have to follow guidelines when all players aren't even champions and have rings. So if the Browns win in the playoffs, they have to act like they've been there before since McGinnest is a a 3 time Super Bowl champ? All teams have certain guys who have won at the big level. If those teams can celebrate and taunt so can the Patriots.

Re: Model Franchise; Act like you've been there before?
 

No offense, but let's start talking about the teams not sitting at home.

Re: Model Franchise; Act like you've been there before?
 

The Chargers should have expected it after what they acted like at Gillette.

POSTED 11:40 a.m. EST, January 15, 2007

CHARGERS HAVE A SHORT MEMORY

Amid complaints from running back LaDainian Tomlinson and other members of the San Diego Chargers that the New England Patriots celebrated too fervently their unlikely victory over the 14-2 Bolts on Sunday, we've been reminded of the Chargers reaction to a similarly unlikely win from a year ago.

In New England.

After thumping the Pats by the score of 41-17 and shattering the team's 21-game home winning streak, the Chargers were not exactly humble.

"That's a [butt]-whipping," said defensive coordinator Wade Phillips in an article penned by Tom Curran, who at the time wrote for the Providence Journal and who now works for NBCSports.com.

Cornerback Drayton Florence (or is it Florence Drayton?) was less tactful: "F--k New England and their team," he said, before turning to a "collection of onlookers" and adding: "Get the look of shock off your faces. Don't be shocked. We beat your [butt]."

So, you know, maybe a few of the Pats were remembering the way that the Chargers handled themselves in 2005.

And if L.T. is going to get bent out of shape because his opponents do this kind of stuff, we'd like to hear what he's been doing to persuade his teammates not to act that way, either.

Frankly, there aren't many NFL teams that can claim to be, top to bottom, the modern-day equivalent of Fred Blassie. So none of them should ever be *****ing when another squad does what they've surely done themselves at some point in the not-so-distant past.

Re: Model Franchise; Act like you've been there before?
 

I thought the same thing about Ellis, since he's the one that LT was supposedly so pissed about.

Ellis isn't a three time champ. His only past experience in the playoffs was a win over Jacksonville in the WC and a loss to Denver in the Divisional.

LT needs to (Please be quiet - edited), and the media needs to drop this crap story.

Re: Model Franchise; Act like you've been there before?
 

Ellis Hobbs should also tone it down and act like a Patriot.

Honestly, I'm saddened by all the posters here who are giving him a free pass. Like a bad parent who backs his/her kid for vandalizing the school and says it's all the teachers' faults.

No, let's own up here. Hobbs acted like a jerk. Doing during the heat of the game is one thing. Doing it at midfield when the teams come together after the game is an entirely different thing.

Count me as one New England fan who roots for this team because of WHO they are and HOW they have acted instead of just What Name is on their jersey.

That being said, LT was mad at one guy's actions. He is a deceitful liar for painting the whole team and its coach for it.

Re: Model Franchise; Act like you've been there before?
 

I'm giving him a 'free pass' because I have no idea when exactly he did it. I mean, the Pats players ran out on the field with time still on the clock. Did he run straight to midfield then, in all the Chaos, and do it out of emotion? Or did he walk up to Merriman at midfield and do it instead of a handshake? We'll never know, but come on, that was an emotional victory.

We know Ellis is an emotional player. We know that Colvin was also doing some taunting WELL after the final gun. If you watched the videos posted here which had video of the Patriots coming to their locker room then you know that even TROY BROWN did the 'shotgun' dance as he went into the tunnel. This was obviously a team-wide feeling and a team-wide emotion.

Something internal sparked it and I'm not going to blame a single player for acting that way. I feel like the Chargers deserved every bit of what they got. They were arrogant and c0cky, and the Patriots put them in their place.

This team has often been called dirty. This team mocked TO's celebration in SB 39. This team is often one that goes on the 'disrespect card'. Many have said that the celebration was classless because it occured 'off the field' and I find that stupid. If it happened at mid-field, during the emotion of a win as seconds still ticked off the clock, then that isn't 'off the field'.

That term, to me, is used to describe how a player acts when the emotions of the game have left him. The emotions of that game hadn't left the players involved. LT standing by his comments about BB a day after the game speak more to him than anything a Pats player did in the heat of an emotional victory.

And then standing by those words a day later after the emotion had left. Yes.