Jim Nantz of CBS on WFAN

[PatsFaninAZ]

That may all be true but he sure came across like a Bolts cheer leader, along with his side-car, Phil Simms, last weekend. Their voices went up two full chords when they were talking about the Chargers, then down to a dull bored tone when referring to the Pats. Guess that's the price for success; everybody wants to see you knocked off.

I didn't hear that at all. I think sometimes we all listen with a fan's ear -- one of the ESPN columnists wrote about it, about how the ESPN guys will get hate mail after pretty much every game, broken down 50/50 from fans of each team criticizing the announcers for favoring the other guys.

I mean, just to take a minor example, think about the last drive the chargers had where Simms mentioned that Rivers had taken his second flop of the game. That's the kind of comment that as a patriots fan you gloss right over, but if he'd said it about Brady, we'd all be up in arms about favoritism.

 

[mgcolby]

That may all be true but he sure came across like a Bolts cheer leader, along with his side-car, Phil Simms, last weekend. Their voices went up two full chords when they were talking about the Chargers, then down to a dull bored tone when referring to the Pats. Guess that's the price for success; everybody wants to see you knocked off.

Simms has been the Patriots biggest Pom-Pom waver in the media, followed closely by Boomer.

 

[mgcolby]

Nantz isn't saying anything new. Belichick has a reputation of holding things back against opponents in the regular season that he thinks he might face in the playoffs. He got that reputation starting way back in the 2001 season with the Rams. This is why Belichick has such a great record the second time he plays a team in a season. Most of the time it is in the playoffs.

He may have received that reputation based on that but the truth is he realized his mistakes from the first game and corrected them in the SuperBowl. He realized that getting pressure on Warner was not the key to winning the game, it was taking Faulk out of the rhythm of the offense.

 

[PatsFan-NH]

Besides I think we all know that BB tends to never show his entire hand in a regular season game if he can avoid it, particularly against a team he believes he will likely see again in the post season. So it's not unlikely Nantz just knows that same thing and that makes it something he can comment on pre game.

Two things.

I think that is what makes BB so far above anyone else. I was on another site and a Jets fan was complaining that the refs gave the playoff game away. I said the Jets were outplayed. That the second game when they beat us, Mangini came up with a new plan. We didn't expect it, and didn't adapt and we lost. BUT BB never plays the same game twice and he has adjusted for the playoff game. I also think if the situations were reversed. BB would have held onto the plan and not used it until the playoffs. If Mangini had done that the Jets might have won, and we would have gone home. The difference between having a genius HC, and only having one who plays one on TV.

Also in terms of the broadcast teams knowing stuff. They do they know just about everything. There was a big controversy this year - maybe in college basketball. An announcer used some of the inside info during the broadcast, and there was all kinds of hoopla. The team complained to the NCAA, and I think the guy got fired, or demoted, cause he blew his credibility. The network had to make all kinds of apologies and promises.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Believe it or not the broadcast teams are a lot more than talking heads. Some are better at the job than others, but all are granted mandatory access to practice and hold a pre-production meeting with the HC and QB usually on the Friday of game week. I've seen clips from some of these sessions, including one with Dan Deirdorf earlier in the season, and BB seemed very open with them in discussing personnel performance and usage (Dan was asking if you know who had been a disappointment at WR).

Besides I think we all know that BB tends to never show his entire hand in a regular season game if he can avoid it, particularly against a team he believes he will likely see again in the post season. So it's not unlikely Nantz just knows that same thing and that makes it something he can comment on pre game.

Belichick always seems to hint at things or say things during these prep chats with Simms in particular that you never hear him mention in the regular media interrogation sessions. In fact, a lot of what Simms mentions about BB on the air would be an outright scoop for the Boston media to get their soiled hands on.