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OK, here are some thoughts on the Pats, kind of fashioned after PatFanKen's great stuff, but don't expect me to be in his league ...
Basically, I'm sick of all the negativity about the Pats...here's a list of 10 good things or observations about the Pats!! Sometimes we need this perspective.
1. The Pats are LEADING their division with three games to go. Win the next two against the mighty powerhouses of the Bills, and at home against the Jags, and we are certain to at least be in the playoffs. (See another thread on this one for the reasoning).
2. Think back to just last year and just how much better it is to be in control of our own destiny at this late stage of the season.
3. I think the Randy Moss crap is basically that--overblown crap. It was a bad game when he was being doubled constantly and was out of synch. When it happens to a basketball player or a baseball player for 2-3 games in a row in a much longer season, they call it a shooting or hitting slump. I'm not saying Randy had a good game at all, but "he quit on the team" is totally unjustified IMO given his total production and body of work. It would not surprise me in the least the see the pendulum swing a little more back to Welker, Watson, defending the run now, and see Moss go off for 7-120-2tds!
4. Likewise, I beleive the media is also overreacting to the Adalius Thomas issue. Was there a rift with BB and the team? Sure. . His production hasn't been horrible in my view, it just hasn't lived up to the expectations given the large FA contract. Kind of like JD Drew for the Sox. AD got called out by Ty Warren yesterday and today went to a Pats charity event. And we may never see him play another down, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this slowly get better over the next few weeks, hopefully leading to big plays in the post-season. Do you remember the Brandon Marshall/Josh McD explosion pre-season? Look how that's worked itself out as they won games. We could use Adalius on D as much as Randy on O for game changing plays.
5. This is a big one for me: There is just an undeniable amount of luck and weird streaks that happen in football. I believe there is more inherent parity among teams; some are clearly better and some are worse, but not as much as their records indicate. It's not chess where the better player wins 100% of the time. There chance to it--and if you have teams that "should win" 60-70% of the time, they'll still have some crazy stuff happen. It's like if you look at a lot of coin flips or dice rolls and only look at the unusual runs that inevitable result. In football, analysts and writers look at streaks like the Pats 0-5 road record, lousy 2nd half performance and with perfect hindsight conclude: "The Pats can't win on the road and can't finish." Or they do the opposite and conclude we are practically unbeatable at home.
6. A kind of related phenomenon is how people look at the Pats dominant success against the Colts in the early part of the decade and conclude "we were so much better than them--they couldn't touch us, BB is in their head etc. " Then they observe the Colts have won 5 of 6 or whatever in the last 4 years and infer that now "the Colts have our number, that we can't beat them anymore, that Peyton is now in BB's head, etc" That is BS to me. They teams were always very close even in 2001-2004. If we keep playing, close teams are going to even out over time. We've only played what, like 10 games? The Red Sox and Yankees play 19 games EVERY YEAR, and it almost always is within 1-2 games by the end of the season. But remember earlier this season we won 8 in row against them? But they kept grinding and it evens out. What does that mean? Just like nobody really should have been that surprised when Peyton finally beat the Pats in the 2006 AFCCG, but they really were when it finally happened, likewise nobody should be that surprised, even though they will totally overreact, if and when we happen to beat this Colts in this postseason. Just like SD could beat us, and the Colts could easily beat SD even though you'll read countless stories about these irreversable trends, patterns, jinxes.
7. You'd think the Pats completely suck in 2009 to listen to some, but here are some Pats stats in the AFC: third in total points scored with 348, just a hair behind the unstoppable Chargers (362) and the undefeated Colts (359) ; 6th in total points allowed with 234, but not too far behind Jets/Bengals/Ravens/Colts/Broncos, ranging from 211 to 230; Combo of these has un 2nd in total AFC points differential, behind only the Colts.
8. I really like BB's style and approach for times like these: Keep on keeping on. Grind and work harder, coach each player to improve 2% every week. Maintain focus. Never too high or too low. Keep players accountable. Communicate what is expected. It's all prosaic, almost trite, but it succeeds much better than gyrating around where the players don't know where you stand from week to week.
9. None of us know how 2009 ends for the Pats, but I am very optimistic and see no reason to think that they don't have a very decent chance to go all the way. Do we have just as good a chance as the Colts, Chargers, Vikings, and Saints, all of whom are playing somewhat better right now? No. But it's a lot closer than it looks, I can tell you that much.
10. Finally, remember that the Pats of 2004 were really the last super bowl winner that weren't severely tested and toughened through a lot of adversity during the season, especially at the end. The Steelers in 2005 had to run table just to make the playoffs and win 4 road games. Colts 2006 couldn't stop the run until the playoffs and had to beat their nemesis the Pats. Giants 2007. In 2008 Arizona should have been that team but even Pittsburgh did not have an easy time of it with Ben getting knocked down and not running the ball well, yet they figured out a way to win close games. How sweet it would be to write a new unique story like that for the Pats over the next 7 weeks--e.g. we had to develop a running game late in the season, and Maroney really shined; BB's "heavy-handed" punishment woke the team up to the urgency, and finally started a winning streak
Basically, I'm sick of all the negativity about the Pats...here's a list of 10 good things or observations about the Pats!! Sometimes we need this perspective.
1. The Pats are LEADING their division with three games to go. Win the next two against the mighty powerhouses of the Bills, and at home against the Jags, and we are certain to at least be in the playoffs. (See another thread on this one for the reasoning).
2. Think back to just last year and just how much better it is to be in control of our own destiny at this late stage of the season.
3. I think the Randy Moss crap is basically that--overblown crap. It was a bad game when he was being doubled constantly and was out of synch. When it happens to a basketball player or a baseball player for 2-3 games in a row in a much longer season, they call it a shooting or hitting slump. I'm not saying Randy had a good game at all, but "he quit on the team" is totally unjustified IMO given his total production and body of work. It would not surprise me in the least the see the pendulum swing a little more back to Welker, Watson, defending the run now, and see Moss go off for 7-120-2tds!
4. Likewise, I beleive the media is also overreacting to the Adalius Thomas issue. Was there a rift with BB and the team? Sure. . His production hasn't been horrible in my view, it just hasn't lived up to the expectations given the large FA contract. Kind of like JD Drew for the Sox. AD got called out by Ty Warren yesterday and today went to a Pats charity event. And we may never see him play another down, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this slowly get better over the next few weeks, hopefully leading to big plays in the post-season. Do you remember the Brandon Marshall/Josh McD explosion pre-season? Look how that's worked itself out as they won games. We could use Adalius on D as much as Randy on O for game changing plays.
5. This is a big one for me: There is just an undeniable amount of luck and weird streaks that happen in football. I believe there is more inherent parity among teams; some are clearly better and some are worse, but not as much as their records indicate. It's not chess where the better player wins 100% of the time. There chance to it--and if you have teams that "should win" 60-70% of the time, they'll still have some crazy stuff happen. It's like if you look at a lot of coin flips or dice rolls and only look at the unusual runs that inevitable result. In football, analysts and writers look at streaks like the Pats 0-5 road record, lousy 2nd half performance and with perfect hindsight conclude: "The Pats can't win on the road and can't finish." Or they do the opposite and conclude we are practically unbeatable at home.
6. A kind of related phenomenon is how people look at the Pats dominant success against the Colts in the early part of the decade and conclude "we were so much better than them--they couldn't touch us, BB is in their head etc. " Then they observe the Colts have won 5 of 6 or whatever in the last 4 years and infer that now "the Colts have our number, that we can't beat them anymore, that Peyton is now in BB's head, etc" That is BS to me. They teams were always very close even in 2001-2004. If we keep playing, close teams are going to even out over time. We've only played what, like 10 games? The Red Sox and Yankees play 19 games EVERY YEAR, and it almost always is within 1-2 games by the end of the season. But remember earlier this season we won 8 in row against them? But they kept grinding and it evens out. What does that mean? Just like nobody really should have been that surprised when Peyton finally beat the Pats in the 2006 AFCCG, but they really were when it finally happened, likewise nobody should be that surprised, even though they will totally overreact, if and when we happen to beat this Colts in this postseason. Just like SD could beat us, and the Colts could easily beat SD even though you'll read countless stories about these irreversable trends, patterns, jinxes.
7. You'd think the Pats completely suck in 2009 to listen to some, but here are some Pats stats in the AFC: third in total points scored with 348, just a hair behind the unstoppable Chargers (362) and the undefeated Colts (359) ; 6th in total points allowed with 234, but not too far behind Jets/Bengals/Ravens/Colts/Broncos, ranging from 211 to 230; Combo of these has un 2nd in total AFC points differential, behind only the Colts.
8. I really like BB's style and approach for times like these: Keep on keeping on. Grind and work harder, coach each player to improve 2% every week. Maintain focus. Never too high or too low. Keep players accountable. Communicate what is expected. It's all prosaic, almost trite, but it succeeds much better than gyrating around where the players don't know where you stand from week to week.
9. None of us know how 2009 ends for the Pats, but I am very optimistic and see no reason to think that they don't have a very decent chance to go all the way. Do we have just as good a chance as the Colts, Chargers, Vikings, and Saints, all of whom are playing somewhat better right now? No. But it's a lot closer than it looks, I can tell you that much.
10. Finally, remember that the Pats of 2004 were really the last super bowl winner that weren't severely tested and toughened through a lot of adversity during the season, especially at the end. The Steelers in 2005 had to run table just to make the playoffs and win 4 road games. Colts 2006 couldn't stop the run until the playoffs and had to beat their nemesis the Pats. Giants 2007. In 2008 Arizona should have been that team but even Pittsburgh did not have an easy time of it with Ben getting knocked down and not running the ball well, yet they figured out a way to win close games. How sweet it would be to write a new unique story like that for the Pats over the next 7 weeks--e.g. we had to develop a running game late in the season, and Maroney really shined; BB's "heavy-handed" punishment woke the team up to the urgency, and finally started a winning streak
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