Some final thoughts coming off Super Bowl Weekend:
1. Don’t listen to those scribes and TV personalities who say “The Patriots didn’t look like they belonged” or words similar. They are playing the overdramatic card, and it simply isn’t true. It’s more shock factor than it is fact. Of course, the Patriots belonged. How well would Denver have fared against Seattle? Buffalo? Houston? The Patriots won all the games they had to in order to make it to the Big Show. And then they ran into a hot team that played like a buzzsaw. Fact is, this writer did not figure that the Seattle defense would play as well as it did. The Patriots did belong; they didn’t win, but eventually you all will live with that fact. I actually am over Super Bowl XLII. Really.
2. I will leave it to the Patriot coaches and personnel department to figure out what to do about Will Campbell. Every media member who offered an opinion said that he needs to be moved to guard. Mike Vrabel said he’s staying at left tackle. The Patriots pick at 31, do they go left tackle again? What about right tackle? Morgan Moses is quite long in the tooth. Campbell is way too good a teammate and an eager youngster to treat harshly in this offseason. If he just needs to develop his technique, he will. If they really believe that his arms are too short, they’ll address it.
3. Geek of the week: This is out of left field. I’m giving it to me. I underestimated the entire Seattle team. Sam Darnold did not see ghosts. Kenneth Walker III bludgeoned the Patriots and earned a well-deserved MVP, when all I saw was nothing better than a college halfback who could score four touchdowns against a not-yet-championship Michigan team but would wilt in the NFL. You could pay me a million dollars, and I wouldn’t be able to tell you any of the starting 11 Seahawks defenders. Not that I didn’t think Seattle was good. I just didn’t see “championship good” in them. I do now. When I am wrong, I say I’m wrong.
4. I hope Robert Spillane and K’Lavon Chaisson re-sign with the Patriots. Don’t cheap out on these guys. These guys need to remain an integral part of the Patriot defense. The Patriots did a whale of a good job in holding Seattle to four field goals before the game got out of hand, they did a terrific job in containing Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and they helped the Patriots get to this game with some stellar work in the subordinate rounds. Spillane and Chaisson were integral parts of the defense. Tough choices need to be made, but unlike the Red Sox, the Patriots have to be very careful as to who they choose to keep and who they choose to cast loose.
5. Nice to see Vrabel get Coach of the Year. Yes, Drake Maye lost out on MVP. Yes, Bob Kraft and Bill Belichick lost out on Canton. It’s nice that the voters got this one right, and so did the Patriots. Kraft gave Jerod Mayo his one promised season as head coach, then smartly let him go in favor of Vrabel. There isn’t anyone who can say a bad thing about this guy. Vrabel has a chance to launch a nice run of Patriot excellence which could very well yield a Vince (or more) down the road. That said, let’s hope that Mayo doesn’t have to battle the Rooney Rule in his endeavours to become a head coach once again someday.
6. Back to school: Sorry, Tobacco Road, but the best college hoop games are in the Big Ten. Mostly it’s in the original ten teams and not so much in the new teams added in the last several years. The games are compelling and loaded with rabid and incredibly loud home fans. Yes, North Carolina versus Duke is always must see; wonder how much this game affects Drake and Ann Michael (lots, I’m sure) and how little it affects Jordon Hudson and her plus one (not at all, I’m betting). By the way, good for those schools’ football teams doing as well as they have over the last few years (well, the Tar Heels had been doing well, until…).
7. What will the AFC East look like a few years from now, with three of the four teams all breaking in new head coaches this year? Will we return to the tomato can years and just give the Patriots the division title in September just to keep things uncomplicated? Maybe not, but the Patriots will at least be favored to win the division for the foreseeable future. As long as Buffalo has Josh Allen, they have to be at least considered a contender. Miami will be interesting if they hand the offensive car keys to Quinn Ewers. The Jets will still be the Jets, they have so many needs and so much culture to build that not even an AI Vince Lombardi could help them one iota.
8. Count me in as liking the prospect of an 18-game schedule and the Super Bowl moving to President’s Day weekend. They are including a second bye week in this proposal. The CFL plays 18 games. The old USFL also played 18 games. I don’t root for commissioner Roger Goodell very often, but I’m with him on this subject. Get it off the odd number of games; I am shocked that no team has ever complained when they have 8 home games and 9 road games. Then go back to the old playoff format of two bye teams per conference during Wild Card weekend. I for one would like to have seen the Patriots get a bye as the two seed this year.
9. Do not, repeat, do not do anything with the TV packages that reduce the number of fans to be able to watch games on these various streaming networks. We got way too comfy with Prime Video now being a mainstream pro football channel. Now Netflix is starting to get its meat hooks into the broadcasting action. Many more could be coming as well. It was bad enough when DirecTV lost NFL Sunday Ticket to YouTube TV. Since switching over to YTTV, all the NBC Sports Boston I get to see are 14-minute segments on YouTube (the original one). I rue the day when I have to go bootleg to watch a Patriots game. May that day never happen.
10. Finally, a shoutout to all non-football-related issues everywhere. Someone tell John Henry to get back to spending to make the Red Sox competitive or sell the team. Jayson Tatum continues to behave poorly as he rehabs from his Achilles injury. Sit him down and explain to him that the Celtics need him to win their next title, and to grow the hell up. If you are jealous of the success the Dodgers have had, don’t bring up Mookie Betts in your rant. Betts had no desire to remain in Boston, and they had to trade him. Also, easy does it when you bring up that of the four players acquired for Rafael Devers, three have been traded away. Devers shot his way out of town, and there wasn’t much the Sox could do. Get UMass football the hell out of FCS. I was all for tha,t and I was wrong. Make Lindsey Vonn listen to her dad and retire. She has nothing more to prove and she is one of the all-time great Olympians. The Winter Games look better in small towns like Cortina and not in big cities like Beijing.
Spring training is now on. Can’t wait for Garrett Crochet to throw the first competitive pitch of the 2026 Red Sox season. Take care, all, it will be late July before you know it.
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Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139
Bob, right on regarding SEA won the game. McDaniels didn’t just choke up and get stupid. Maye had no chance. Campbell rated pretty dang well all season till he tore his MCL. PLus he’s a 22 year old rookie. He’ll be really good once he gets his techniques down to handle the NFL game. The arm length topic has been squashed by NFL players and coaches that know. But it comes up again by whom? Answer: the media and fans whom never put on pads in their life. Why? Drama sells. SEA was a bad matchup. Pats had 47 regular… Read more »