PatsFaninAZ
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2006
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You know, those saying that can just STFU.
I wonder whether anyone who has actually played professional sports has ever really said this.
I suppose if the patriots were some true dynasty type dominating team that has rolled through the playoffs and chewed up teams all over the place in the last 5 years, that would be a legitimate thing to say. But I think anyone who says that hasn't really been paying attention to this team and what it's truly accomplished in the last 5 years. This is not a professional type assassin type dominating team.
This is a team that outwills you to a win. Every superbowl has come by winning games we weren't supposed to win and involved huge wins over teams that were supposed to beat us. Maybe not the carolina year, but even then we've never been a team that just rolls and rolls over people and then hands the ball to the ref. It's a team that wins by field goals late. That wins by playing a star offensive receiver on defense in the biggest game. That pays attention the little things like clock management and strategies like taking a deliberate safety where it gives you the best chance to win. We're not a team that's ever really had some dominant pass rushing superstars who dance and celebrate all over the field. We don't seem ever to blast teams three and out over and over and over. We play smart defense, manage games and stiffen up in the red zone. We take guys who were looking at working at starbucks and turn them into playoff MVP receivers. We win games by heady plays in big situations and because our coach prepares our team so that when the lights are brightest, the stakes are highest, the oxygen is in the shortest supply, and the butterflies should be at their highest, we usually don't blink. We win games by taking our opponent's ego and using it against them. (See, e.g., Mike Martz.) We, by and large, stay in bounds when we're supposed to, and go out of bounds when we're supposed to. We throw touchdowns to our linebackers. We introduce ourselves as a team when others are primping and preening all over the field. And above everything else, we have a coach and a quarterback and some magnificent players like Troy Brown who understand what should be the most fundamental point in football but that it seems as though at times others just don't understand -- you don't need to win every battle to win the war, and in the end, winning the war is all that matters.
What the patriots have achieved (even if they lose 40 to 0 next week) over the last several years is simply amazing, staggering, and shocking. It's also not an accident.
So my long winded point is that to fault these guys for acting like little boys who just broke into the ice cream truck when they win is absurd, because time after time after time, that's exactly what they are. And it's also what so unbelievable about this team and reason they should be rooted for, not against.
I wonder whether anyone who has actually played professional sports has ever really said this.
I suppose if the patriots were some true dynasty type dominating team that has rolled through the playoffs and chewed up teams all over the place in the last 5 years, that would be a legitimate thing to say. But I think anyone who says that hasn't really been paying attention to this team and what it's truly accomplished in the last 5 years. This is not a professional type assassin type dominating team.
This is a team that outwills you to a win. Every superbowl has come by winning games we weren't supposed to win and involved huge wins over teams that were supposed to beat us. Maybe not the carolina year, but even then we've never been a team that just rolls and rolls over people and then hands the ball to the ref. It's a team that wins by field goals late. That wins by playing a star offensive receiver on defense in the biggest game. That pays attention the little things like clock management and strategies like taking a deliberate safety where it gives you the best chance to win. We're not a team that's ever really had some dominant pass rushing superstars who dance and celebrate all over the field. We don't seem ever to blast teams three and out over and over and over. We play smart defense, manage games and stiffen up in the red zone. We take guys who were looking at working at starbucks and turn them into playoff MVP receivers. We win games by heady plays in big situations and because our coach prepares our team so that when the lights are brightest, the stakes are highest, the oxygen is in the shortest supply, and the butterflies should be at their highest, we usually don't blink. We win games by taking our opponent's ego and using it against them. (See, e.g., Mike Martz.) We, by and large, stay in bounds when we're supposed to, and go out of bounds when we're supposed to. We throw touchdowns to our linebackers. We introduce ourselves as a team when others are primping and preening all over the field. And above everything else, we have a coach and a quarterback and some magnificent players like Troy Brown who understand what should be the most fundamental point in football but that it seems as though at times others just don't understand -- you don't need to win every battle to win the war, and in the end, winning the war is all that matters.
What the patriots have achieved (even if they lose 40 to 0 next week) over the last several years is simply amazing, staggering, and shocking. It's also not an accident.
So my long winded point is that to fault these guys for acting like little boys who just broke into the ice cream truck when they win is absurd, because time after time after time, that's exactly what they are. And it's also what so unbelievable about this team and reason they should be rooted for, not against.
