Time Once Again To Rescue This Season, Patriots Face Must-Win Game Sunday
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Posted Under: 2000 Patriots Season
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Okay. This time we really mean it. This is the week the Patriots have to win or else.
I mean, we’ve only been saying it for the past month.
We had to win the Minnesota game. They kicked our tails. 0-3. Season lost.
Close-up |
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| Where: | RCA Dome Indianapolis, Ind. |
| When: | Sunday 10/22 1:00 PM EDT |
| TV: | CBS WBZ TV-4 in Boston |
| DSS: | DirecTV Channel 712, 941 |
| Latest Line: | Colts by 9 |
| Team Records: | Patriots 2-5 Colts 4-2 |
Well, maybe we’ll be okay if we can just beat Miami. Nope, no such luck. Drew Bledsoe again fails in the clutch. 0-4. Time to mail in the season. Win at Denver the next week? What, are you crazy?
Crazier than hell. We beat the Broncos. In Denver. The season is saved. No it isn’t, we’re still 1-4. Gotta beat Indianapolis at home. Talk about a season maker/season breaker. If we lose this one, then the Patriots are really gonzo.
Yikes. The Pats won again. Hey, this team’s really something. They’re 2-4 now. Let’s see, now you’re talking the two or three seed for the playoffs, assuming Miami is the one seed. Why? Simple. Momentum. Two wins and we’re 4-4 at the bye.
But the Jets are the next opponent.
The Jets? Hah. No Parcells. Testaverde is hurt. Game’s at home. We’ll get back at that green slime for the close loss we suffered in week 2. The Patriots are hot right now. Easy win for us.
A week later, it’s suddenly back to the 0-4 mantra. Win this week or forget the easy second half.
There’s two major problems here, both of which might be impossible to overcome.
First of all, each of the last three years has taught us that demoralizing October losses to the Jets begats losing streaks. The deflated psyche of the team takes weeks to recover from losing to the team that now has Big Bill and Curtis.
Second of all, the team we have to beat this week is Indianapolis. The same Colts who will want revenge from two weeks ago. The same Colts who will be hosts this time instead of visitors. The same Colts who will be more ready than ever to take whatever Bill Belichick throws at them. The same Colts who need to win just as badly to save their season as the Patriots do.
Believe it or not, the Colts are fighting for their playoff lives. Did they ever think for a second that the Jets and Dolphins would be tied for the division lead at this juncture of the season, with the Colts in arrears? The Patriots will get one mighty hungry team on Sunday.
What team will the Colts get?
Any one of the following: a team still too demoralized from the Jet loss to compete properly, a team that needs Chad Eaton more than ever to stop Edgerrin James, a team that may do exactly what Belichick wants on defense and still get torched anyway by Peyton Manning, a team that will keep on track in its pursuit of setting a new record for most quarterback sacks allowed in a season, or a team that pulls off a miracle similar to Doug Flutie in Miami in 1984.
The latter is what it might take to beat Indy on Sunday. Sad, but true.
Whatever edge the Patriots got two weeks ago in Foxborough against the Colts isn’t likely to be there on Sunday. The Colts are a much better team than the Patriots on paper. Being at home, facing the Patriots for the second time in three weeks, hungry for revenge over the 24-16 loss, all signs point to a Colt victory.
Even more disturbing is a wisecrack Bob Lobel made on WBZ’s Sports Final last Sunday night.
Lobel said to the Herald’s Michael Felger, to paraphrase, “Is it a fair thing to say that the Patriots beat the Colts only because of two fluke plays (the Hail Mary pass, the fake field goal)?” Felger called Lobel’s query “cynical”. Substitute “astute” for “cynical” and you hit the nail on the head.
The Jet game bore that out. If you think about it, take away those two plays from the Colt game, and it’s doubtful you see the Patriots at 2-5 right now. The Patriots would have had to gameplan the second half much different down 10-3 versus tied 10-10, and that’s only the beginning. The Colts had to suffer from a bit of shock after the Tony Simmons touchdown grab, and the Patriots took clear advantage.
So, how can the Patriots possibly win Sunday?
It will take a similar gameplan from two weeks ago. Give up all the short stuff to Marvin Harrison and Terence Mathis, but nothing deep or in the Red Zone. James must be as well contained as he was two weeks ago, but without Eaton in there, it’s a crap shoot. Run quick slants on offense to ease off on blitz packages.
It may work. You never know.
Another thing that may work in favor of the Patriots is the RCA Dome itself. The Patriots lost there last year, but not a lot recently. Their only 1990 win was in Indy. In the 1990s, the Patriots were 7-3 at the RCA Dome. It is traditionally one of the friendliest road stops for the Patriots. Hometown congeniality is definitely in order for the Patriots this week.
There is a chasm between 3-5 and 2-6 at the bye week. At 3-5, the Patriots have a pulse going into the easy second half schedule. Belichick must preach the urgency issue this week, something that was lost on the players going into last week’s win over the Jets that never was.
It is not stretching things to suggest that the Patriots could go as well as 7-1 over the final eight weeks. The road game at Buffalo is the only real losable game in the second half. That would put the Patriots at 10-6 if they win Sunday. 10-6 ought to get the Patriots some play time in January. It might not win the division, but a five or six seed would become a distinct possibility.
And if the Pats also lose at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day, a win Sunday and a 6-2 second half puts them at 9-7, a record that got them a playoff berth in 1998. The second half looks very plausible if the Patriots can somehow come into the break at 3-5.
Another thing to consider: the 1994 Patriots started 3-6, and won their final seven games to go 10-6 and make the playoffs. This scenario would perk up those eternal optimists if the Patriots lose Sunday and are 2-6 at the bye. But asking for an 8-0 second half is a wee bit too much.
2-6 at the bye would pretty much put an end to any playoff hopes for the Patriots. Their spirit would not be there to win many close games, and though the team might not quit on Belichick like it did on Pete Carroll, it’s likely you’d see the team key on rebuilding for 2001 rather than gunning for the 2000 postseason.
Once again, the 2000 season is on life support. It needs to be rescued. For about the fourth or fifth time.
Except this time, smelling salts have failed. Now we’re on mouth-to-mouth and CPR. The patient is fading fast. We’ve called 911 and sent out SOS signals. Screaming hysterically might also be in the offing.
To sum things up for Sunday, one can look to former Celtics head coach K.C. Jones. He was interviewed at the end of halftime of Game 7 of the 1984 NBA Finals by CBS’ Pat O’Brien. O’Brien asked what he told his team in the locker room. Jones replies, “Well, gosh, gee whillikers, we have to win this game!”
Gosh, gee whillikers, so do the Patriots.
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