godef
In the Starting Line-Up
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- So does anyone still wonder how a juggernaut like this year's Patriots can be stopped and why it is so hard to go undefeated? When all those little things go wrong, dropped passes, questionable calls, etc, in combination with a brave oppoent who refuses to kneel down and plays a magnificent game. The odds are, it happens at least once, and more typically several times in the course of a 16-game schedule. Give credit to the Patriots for overcoming all of it and coming out on top, but if this continues every week for the remaining 5 games, we will not go undefeated. If.
[*]I will never disrespect the Eagles again. I’ve always thought SB XXXIX was not as close a game as the score indicated, and I always thought they were overrated in general, a product of the weak NFC (which by the way has a slight 2-game edge over the AFC thus far this season).
[*]Not only did Patriot fans all over breath a big sigh of relief, so did all the casinos. Shame on any casino that closed betting on the game, just get out of the business already. If you think about it, a 24-point spread really was over the top, considering the Eagles were 5-5. Buffalo is overrated. And insofar as Washington goes, sh*t happens, 52-7 one week doesn't translate into 52-7 every week. But the bandwagon was in cruise control and everybody was picking the Pats and the casinos panicked.
[*]When I watch a game in which I expect the Pats to win, and in fact we are in danger of losing, I go through a process of mentally prepping myself for a possible loss, where I essentially presume we are going to lose, anything after that is a bonus. Not that I don't hold any hopes of a comeback, I do, it's just a thing I do. Did this in the 4th quarter of the Indy game, and I did it again last night when we were behind by 4 and Philly had the ball. It looked bleak. - Al and John did not see any offensive PI by Moss, and neither did I. I think Randy has a bad habit of merely laying his hands on the cover guy, which in itself is not interference. But then when separation occurs and his hands remain on the defender, it appears he's pushing off. And his reputation doesn't help, I think there were other isntances where he got away with actual PI.
- This game should deflect from the Randy-Moss-is-the-real-MVP talk. Moss was defensed into a non-factor in the second half, yet Brady still found another way to win, this time in the form of Wes Welker; so is Welker now the MVP?! OK, Moss was undoubtedly still drawing a lot of attention which freed up other resources which still makes him invaluable, but the buck still stops with Tom Brady.
- I once again have the fear of God in me (OK, the football gods), and I hope that Pats do too, if they haven’t had it all along. We are beatable (by anyone other than Indy). We can still go undefeated, but we’re going to have to earn it. Anyhow, does anyone think Belichick ever lost this fear of God? Nope, he’s been around too long. It really is just us fans, not the Patriots. I last felt this way following the Cincinnati and Miami games in 2004, when the Bengals gouged our defense for a lot of yards, and then we blew that game in Miami. I was worried we had peaked, but then we turned in a magnificent performance at the Jets the next week, and all was well again.