Bill Simmons: Patriots saying Eff-You to the League

[maverick4]

This was the hairy victory cigar of the Bird Era. Maybe the 2007 Patriots don't have anything as magical as McHale's pits, but they do have the "Eff You TD." It's their little way of telling the other 31 teams, "You took shots at us after the Jets game, you discredited our three Super Bowls, you pretended we were the only team stealing opposing signals when everyone does it, so you know what? Eff you."

As you might have heard by now, the Patriots are 6-0, they've outscored opponents by a 230-92 margin, and Tom Brady might quintuple Gus Frerotte's QB rating before everything's said and done. In each of those six wins, they specifically went for a meaningless touchdown just to stick it to their opponents.

But here's a case where sports has been reduced to the purest form: A great football team broke the rules and paid the price; media members and NFL folks had a field day excoriating the team for what happened; somewhere along the line, people decided the team's Super Bowls were tainted even though the NFL didn't send out its much-discussed memo about videotaping opposing signals until September 2006; and that's when the team made the collective decision, "You know what? Eff you!"

It's a two-word phrase that can't be printed on ESPN.com, but it's become the mantra of the 2007 Patriots season. Eff you. You can see it with every rubbing-it-in touchdown in the fourth quarter, as well as every "Get 'em a bodybag ... YEAHHHHHHHHH!" reaction on the sidelines after it happens. You can see it with Brady's ticked-off game face that hasn't changed for five straight weeks. You can see it with Belichick's super-satisfied grin during the postgame handshake with the opposing coach -- especially with Wade Phillips, who made the fatal mistake of taking a shot at the Pats this week, when Belichick looked liked he was dying to tell him, "Man, imagine what the score could have been had if we were allowed to videotape your terrible coaching signals!"

It's a great football team with an even greater edge. If you're rooting against them, you hate them for it. If you're rooting for them, you love it and feel the same way. Best of all, there's no middle ground. Maybe the 2007 Pats were caught stealing signals, but only one signal matters anymore: two middle fingers turned toward the sky.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/bostonblog/071015

 

[maverick4]

To be honest I get giddy now when the Eff-You TD happens, everyone knows it's coming and when it happens it's great.

 

[Pats726]

Well..they did it...and have pissed this team off...so???? Toll over all of them!!!!! I agree...Enjoy the ride!!

 

[JoePats]

I can't believe so many people thought they would take a knee on 4th and 1. It's not like they could have taken the clock all the way down. There were about 18 secs left when they snapped the ball and they had milked the whole play clock on the whole sequense anyway.

I don't blame them at all for not wanting to give the ball back to Dallas in a 2 score game no matter how little time was left in the game.

Clearly the smart play there was to take it in.

 

[Oswlek]

I still disagree with the SD one, but I agree that the NY one and the Dallas one seemed pretty sure.

The NY one in particular was because, if you recall, NE challenged the call when Evans came up just short the play before. That was a total, "in your face" move to Mangini.

 

[ALP]

great, lests hope BB can remind them of this every single time, LOL...i love this article

 

[maverick4]

Here's the complete list:

Week 1 at New York Jets (38-14): 1-yard TD by Heath Evans, 1:58 left.
Week 2 vs. San Diego (38-14): 3-yard TD by Sammy Morris, 3:18 left.
Week 3 vs. Buffalo (38-7): 45-yard TD catch by Randy Moss, 10:22 left.
Week 4 at Cincy (34-17): 14-yard TD catch by Randy Moss, 3:18 left.
Week 5 vs. Cleveland (34-17): 15-yard fumble return TD by Randall Gay, 0:42 left. (Important note: This came one play after the Pats failed to convert the "Eff You TD" on fourth-and-goal from Cleveland's 4 when Brady just missed Kyle Brady in the end zone.)
Week 6 vs. Dallas (48-27): 1-yard TD run by Kyle Eckles, 0:19 left.
-------

This line cracked me up, but I share the sentiment:
"What does this all mean, other than we should start preparing ourselves for the first 100-point game in NFL history against the Jets in Week 15?"

 

[Phokus]

Normally, i don't enjoy Simmon's articles, but that summed up exactly how i feel about the season.

Patriots to the rest of the NFL: EFF YOU!

 

[Fanfrom1960]

I can't believe so many people thought they would take a knee on 4th and 1. It's not like they could have taken the clock all the way down. There were about 18 secs left when they snapped the ball and they had milked the whole play clock on the whole sequense anyway.

I don't blame them at all for not wanting to give the ball back to Dallas in a 2 score game no matter how little time was left in the game.

Clearly the smart play there was to take it in.

I agree. A bomb TD on a fly pattern might take 12 or 13 seconds, but on an onside kick, the clock doesn't start until somebody touches it, so that could take just 2 or 3 more seconds, say a Dallas player catching it and immediately going out of bounds. That would leave time for one more play. Touchdown, both extra points good, and we're tied. Stranger things have happened. I'm sure our coaches were thinking all of this and saying eff-it, like Simmons said, we're running a play. If Dallas doesn't like it or stop it, eff them too. It was absolutely the right thing to do.

 

[Gwedd]

I can't believe so many people thought they would take a knee on 4th and 1. It's not like they could have taken the clock all the way down. There were about 18 secs left when they snapped the ball and they had milked the whole play clock on the whole sequense anyway.

I don't blame them at all for not wanting to give the ball back to Dallas in a 2 score game no matter how little time was left in the game.

Clearly the smart play there was to take it in.

Ya know,

Dallas has no one to blame but themselves for that last score. Phillips called a time out there at the end. He was telling the Patriots that they were still playing till the clock went to zeroes. Bellichick said fine. Had Dallas NOT called that time out, New England might well have been able to run all the time off.

In the end though, going for the last score was the only honorable thing to do. they said they wanted to play. we kept running it right at them and telling them to stop us if they could. That's not running up the score. That's playing to the end of the game, a full 60 minutes, exactly as Dallas indicated they wanted to do with that last time out.

 

[spacecrime]

I still disagree with the SD one

There were still over three minutes left at the time of the TD. That's a little early to take a knee and turn the ball over on downs, don't you think?

Though personally I would have loved it. It would be a total sign of disrespect for a bunch of Charger crybabies who deserve no respect.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Hey NFL-

" EFF YOU "​

Heeeeeeeey, that does feel kinda good :singing:

 

[ALP]

LOL, ohh yea...i think the only team we mit not try to score that type of TD on is billick and the ravens...smart coach calling out mangini, LOL, it mit actually pay off for him...

 

[patriotfan32]

The only thing I would worry about is the risk of injury with cheap shots by the opposing team on the quaterback when going for these points.

 

[patsox23]

Yeah but if you hand it off and run it up the gut 4 times, are you really exposing your QB to cheap shots?

 

[Porco Rosso]

"Get 'em a bodybag ... YEAHHHHHHHHH!"

[The Jets have the ball late in the 4th quarter while we're leading 96-0]


Belichick: Sweep the leg.
Colvin: What?
Belichick: YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!
Colvin: ...No, coach.

 

[IndyKen]

That's some great stuff by Bill Simmons - I think we have a rallying cry for the rest of the year now..

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Simmons loves the karate kid... classic movie

 

[Michigan Dave]

Eckles? Seriously?

 

[psychoPat]

edited extract:

Barring injuries, it's going to be an enormous, enormous deal if somebody beats New England this season. That's the sign of a truly great team, regardless of the sport. During my sophomore year in college, I remember watching the '89 Niners and thinking, "There's no way in hell they can be beaten. You'd need about 35 things to happen." As it turned out, they outscored their opponents by a 442-253 margin in the regular season, lost two games by a total of five points and rolled through their three playoff opponents by the unfathomable score of 126-26. Yeah, the '92 Cowboys were great; so were the '94 Niners and the '98 Broncos. But the '89 Niners were on a different level, and we haven't seen anything like it since. Now we're seeing it again.


OK.
As of yesterday, it's officially permitted to say this.