2007 NFL Playoffs

[JangoFett4Hire 0]

Oh god, not again.

 

Well, I think Indy's going to savage them in the dome next week--the Patriots got two gigantic breaks this weekend (the muff and the fumbled INT) along with a ton of dropped balls. Not much leads me to believe that it'll be too different from the midseason result.

 

When will you people learn?

All of you Hateriots and Cartman, who has no business calling himself a Patriots fan.

[CanadianChris 0]

Why does picking against the Patriots automatically make you a hater?

[Slayer 0]

I'm with Agent. Bring on Bears-Colts. Double-choke theory actually works in my favor this time, since The Game America Wants involves the other two teams. I don't get why everyone is saying there's "no story" for the Bears.

"Which Rex Grossman will show up next?!"

 

There's your story... a lot more interesting than last year's Bears

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

That's how the team works. ESPN can toss Brady & Belichick off for weeks and weeks, but if Steve's Generally Reputable Sports Book picks San Diego to win by 3, they're suddenly "disrespected."

[JangoFett4Hire 0]

Why does picking against the Patriots automatically make you a hater?

 

It doesn't, but a few people on here seem to not care for my hometown team.

[The Man in Blak 0]

And Brady threw three picks.

 

Yes, and one of those essentially turned into a 17-18 yard gain when it was fumbled and miraculously recovered by the Patriots. I realize, by your fractured logic, that interceptions thrown by Tom Brady are probably considered to be "gifts" to the other team, rather than an actual accomplishment of the defense. (The fact that you framed them against a laundry list of screw-ups that New England had absolutely nothing to do with indicates that well enough, thanks.)

 

But two losses of possession through interception don't really balance out all of the things that I mentioned in my original post, as much as you'd like them to. Nobody would assert that you'll find a football game that doesn't have mistakes, but to ignore such a disproportionate amount of errors between the teams in this game, especially when the margin of victory was so small, is pure fallacy.

 

Both teams made their share of mistakes, neither played their "best" football, but that's just a credit to the effort from both teams.

What exactly makes you think that New England didn't play their "best" football? Did you seriously think that Tom Brady, who's never been renowned for torching higher-caliber defenses, was going to roll up 400 and 5 TDs on the Chargers defense?

 

The Pats showed had a little more grit/poise/moxy, whatever you want to call it, they did what they do, took advantage of more opportunities than San Diego, and that's all there is to it. Scoreboard.

I will freely admit that the Patriots made less mistakes than their opponents - if there is any constant for the Belichick era, it's that fact right there.

 

But, two things that have to occur to arrive at that outcome. The first one is that the Patriots have to make a low number of mistakes and that is certainly a credit to the players and the coaching staff. The second one is that their opponents have to make a larger number of mistakes and that's something that New England has very little, if any, control over.

 

All the Patriots haters say the Chargers blew it and the Pats got lucky, but how many times do the Pats have to win games like this before people realize that it's the Patriots' play that creates these situations? They've made a habit of "winning ugly" against good teams. It's not like these "crucial mistakes" by the Chargers happened in a vaccum, they happened as a direct result of their opponent.

Why yes, Schottenheimer and the Chargers were so intimidated by the mere notion of being on the field as the New England Patriots that they burned two crucial timeouts in the second half (so that they could immediately soil themselves in terror). And that unnecessary roughness penalty that extended an important scoring drive was induced by hypnosis from the opposing sideline too, right?

 

In my opinion, the reason that there are "haters" in the first place is because the blatant Patriot fanboyism and sports media saturation just screams out for a directly proportional backlash. Most of the objective observers of the game have noted that the Chargers let one slip away, but that just doesn't fit under the M.O. of the TSM branch of Patriot Nation, where every skate job becomes an epic victory where the Patriots "showed more grit/poise/moxy" than the other team.

 

One might tempted to think that this was a very loud inferiority complex that rolls over from baseball season, as Boston fans clutch so tightly to Belichick and Brady as their own Torre and Jeter, but I'm willing to give you guys credit and just assume that you're just being morons in the wake of a big playoff victory.

 

What's wrong with just saying "Damn, guys, we got away with one here, but I'm looking forward to next week. Go Patriots!" ?

[CanadianChris 0]

The Patriots won because Marlon McCree didn't know enough to get down on the ground after intercepting Brady late in the fourth with his team up by 8. That's essentially it. It's great that they managed to put 11 more points on the board from that point on, but if McCree just gives himself up instead of trying to run in traffic, the Chargers win that game.

[JangoFett4Hire 0]

The Patriots won because Marlon McCree didn't know enough to get down on the ground after intercepting Brady late in the fourth with his team up by 8. That's essentially it. It's great that they managed to put 11 more points on the board from that point on, but if McCree just gives himself up instead of trying to run in traffic, the Chargers win that game.

 

It was the heads up play of Troy Brown stripping the ball.

 

I mean, wow we got away with one. Can't wait for next week. Go pats!

[CanadianChris 0]

The Patriots won because Marlon McCree didn't know enough to get down on the ground after intercepting Brady late in the fourth with his team up by 8. That's essentially it. It's great that they managed to put 11 more points on the board from that point on, but if McCree just gives himself up instead of trying to run in traffic, the Chargers win that game.

 

It was the heads up play of Troy Brown stripping the ball.

That was the point. If McCree gives himself up after intercepting the ball, there can't be a fumble.

[hyperchord24 0]

He gets pissy because the Pats did the "lights out" dance? Big fuckin deal. Everytime a QB gets sacked by Shawn Merriman he does it, and you don't see them pouting and whining about how he's classless for doing it.

 

Tomlinson needs to grow a pair. It's amazing how a guy gets more pissed about another guy dancing on his team's logo than he does about team choking the game away.

That doesn't make what the Patriots did any less disrespectful.

 

Maybe Belechik is at fault. After being a poor sport in the first Jets game, and what happened after the second, maybe the Pats are just a little too cocky. Belechik is after all the coach that would have his players fake injury (to force injury timeouts) to disrupt the no-huddle offense in a close game.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

STOP HATING

STOP DISRESPECTING

[The Man in Blak 0]

It was the heads up play of Troy Brown stripping the ball.

 

Yes and, once again, after the fumble is forced (which is definitely to the credit of Brown, who did make a great play there), it's basically a coinflip when it comes to the recovery of the football. And, given that the Patriots were 5/5 on fumble recoveries, while the Chargers were 0/3, you might say that the ball bounced their way - literally - a couple of times in this game.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

My terminology of 'blowout' is any game where the Patriots don't have to pray that the opposing team can tie/beat them on their final drive. So, namely by more than 1 TD.

Eight points is a blowout? Is this what being a Patriots fan does to people?

[hyperchord24 0]

STOP HATING

STOP DISRESPECTING

EDIT: Was that directed at me?

[Boon 0]

In my opinion, the reason that there are "haters" in the first place is because the blatant Patriot fanboyism and sports media saturation just screams out for a directly proportional backlash. Most of the objective observers of the game have noted that the Chargers let one slip away, but that just doesn't fit under the M.O. of the TSM branch of Patriot Nation, where every skate job becomes an epic victory where the Patriots "showed more grit/poise/moxy" than the other team.

Don't lump us all in together.

 

One might tempted to think that this was a very loud inferiority complex that rolls over from baseball season, as Boston fans clutch so tightly to Belichick and Brady as their own Torre and Jeter, but I'm willing to give you guys credit and just assume that you're just being morons in the wake of a big playoff victory.

Interesting theory. But you realize that Roy is a Yankees fan, don't you? Doesn't really apply there.

I think Boston fans clutch so tightly to a winning combination, like they did with Schilling/Pedro, Bird/McHale/Parish, etc. Believe it or not, Boston fans don't always think about the Yankees. You're also forgetting the slew of Patriots fans who hate the Red Sox. I think there are a few of those around here (Roy included).

 

That doesn't make what the Patriots did any less disrespectful.

 

Maybe Belechik is at fault. After being a poor sport in the first Jets game, and what happened after the second, maybe the Pats are just a little too cocky. Belechik is after all the coach that would have his players fake injury (to force injury timeouts) to disrupt the no-huddle offense in a close game.

#1 There is absolutely no reason for LT to bring in Belichick's name. Be pissed at the other Patriots, I know I would be. It's not like Belichick sat there and taught his team the victory dance they were going to do if they won. That was just fucking stupid. I don't blame him for being mad, but he needs to stop and think about who he's really mad at.

#2 As far as the Jets go, the first loss didn't show anything out of the ordinary. Pats got beat, coach was bummed. Big deal. The second loss was a mess after the game b/c of all the pointless media coverage around the coaches. And he apologized for it immediately after.

#3 I assume you're referring to Willie and the Colts. You show me where Belichick told Willie to fake an injury, and I'll be the first in line to stone him. Did Willie fake it? Yeah, probably. But that's not on the coach. "The players play the game, not the coach." -LT. Willie has been around the block a few times, he's capable of making his own decisions. And as I recall, the Colts had a few downs to punch that ball in, and they didn't.

#4 It's spelled B-E-L-I-C-H-I-C-K. You'd think if the media was sucking his cock so much, people would've seen his name enough to spell it correctly.

 

EDIT: If I'm going to be a dick about spelling Belichick, I should be able to spell slew.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

That was directed at America.

 

As for Precious Roy, he's a weird anomaly in that he's a New Yorker that likes one Boston team. I don't know how big that S-L-E-W is.

[Boon 0]

Lots of people like the Yankees and Pats. It's called Connecticut.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Okay, I was under the impression that Fairfield County went New York and the majority of the state went Boston.

[hyperchord24 0]

Coaches are directly responsible for players' play on the field. Faking injuries, poor sportsmanship come directly from the coaching staff in one way or another.

 

EDIT: I was almost going to come on here and say I'm sick of seeing the Pats win. They're not a good football team, but they just seem to win. That's not a very sound argument, but there are a lot of people who think that. They are the real haters. I'm just calling it as I see it. I hate the Pats.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

If Tom Brady starts banging some guy's wife, we can say that comes from Belichick too. After all, chicks dig eight-point blowouts.

[Boon 0]

Chicks dig rings. The end.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Okay, I don't really see what that added to the discourse, but let's move on.

 

So, Peyton Manning better get his shit together, huh?

[hyperchord24 0]

If Tom Brady starts banging some guy's wife, we can say that comes from Belichick too.

That's a slippery slope. You know what I meant.

 

Now Indy seems to have found it's D? Yeah, I don't think so. Indy's just gotta protect the ball.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Say what you will about the quality of the Patriots victory over the Chargers yesterday, but it still was more impressive than what the Colts did against Baltimore. Zero touchdowns and 2 INTs (which should have been 4) from Manning. That's something you expect out of Rex Grossman. They were hardly impressive against the Chiefs either. If the Colts don't get better play out of Manning and that offense this week, the Pats are going to stomp them.

 

For the NFC, the advantage seems to be with New Orleans. The Bears have two big question marks; is the good Grossman going to show up and can their defence (which has been pretty shoddy the last few weeks) hold up against the best offence in the NFL. I'm not confident that both of those will work out favourable for Chicago, which was my pre-season pick to win the Super Bowl.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Zero touchdowns and 2 INTs (which should have been 4) from Manning. That's something you expect out of Rex Grossman.

 

Can we stop using Rex Grossman as our instant punchline, please?

[Precious Roy 0]

Yes, and one of those essentially turned into a 17-18 yard gain when it was fumbled and miraculously recovered by the Patriots. I realize, by your fractured logic, that interceptions thrown by Tom Brady are probably considered to be "gifts" to the other team, rather than an actual accomplishment of the defense. (The fact that you framed them against a laundry list of screw-ups that New England had absolutely nothing to do with indicates that well enough, thanks.)

 

Oh, I'm absolutely giving credit to San Diego on the interceptions. As I said before, aside from a couple breakdowns in their deep coverage down the stretch they played a great defensive football game.

 

But my point is that it's extremely rare to see Brady throw 3 picks. The defense was good, yes, but it's not like it's the first time he's faced a good defense in the playoffs. He made some uncharacteristically poor decisions. Off the top of my head the first one was thrown right at Donnie Edwards because Brady assumed he was going pick up the tight end in coverage. Heads up by Edwards? Sure, but also a mental mistake by Brady. Second one was I think a thread the needle pass that got grabbed, and the third was Brady getting rushed and forcing a throw up the middle. All a product of San Diego's defense, but mistakes by Brady as well.

 

When the Patriots are so dependant on Brady's play to win games, and when he's historically not been bit by INTs, it's the kind of thing you would think would cost them a game. If you'd told me before the game that LT would run for 100+ and Brady would throw 3 picks I'd have told you San Diego would win. San Diego's inability to capitalize on those turnovers is the real story.

 

As for the Pats not playing their best football, they struggled to get the run going, and Brady threw 3 picks. The Patriots at their best would look a lot better on offense. A credit to San Diego. And it's a credit to New England that the Chargers didn't play their best game.

 

Call me a fanboy, but I'll stick to my opinion that it was a hard-fought game between two evenly matched teams that the Patriots did more to pull out in the end. Whether that "doing more" is making plays, better weathering a storm of mistakes, showing great effort and awareness on fumble recoverys, or not having your coach choke down the stretch, whatever they did they did it well enough to beat a 14-2 football team on the road. To say that San Diego "let it slip away" is ignoring the play of the Patriots. If San Diego had won the game and everyone was talking about Brady's 3 picks I'd be saying the same thing in reverse. I think that's pretty objective. Where I'm seeing a lack of objectivity is from everyone who continues to owe the Patriots success to either luck or the shortcomings of their opponents.

[Guest Princess Leena]

The Patriots are a joke for their bullshit towards LT.

 

Admit you got lucky, and walk off the field. Bitches. Or, talk shit to the bums that gave you the game.

[cabbageboy 0]

Am I the only one who didn't think the Colts/Ravens game was all that badly played? Yes, there were some INTs in it but it was just a flat out defensive war so those things happen. Neither team could do much against the other's D.

 

Yesterday? That Chargers/Pats game was horribly played, guys fumbled all over the place, neither QB played all that well, and there were insanely awful personal foul penalties by the Chargers. Someone had to win it.

 

Wanna know why Manning has sucked in these two games? It's called Ty Law and Ed Reed. I don't think the Patriots have anyone of that high caliber in the secondary anymore. So Manning has no excuses here.

[Chuck Woolery 0]

asante samuel says hello.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

I'm really disappointed in a lot of aspects of the Saints rooting. I can forgive rooting against the Bears as a Packers fan, but to fall for this Big Story hook-line-and-sinker is just so laughable. I'm just going to boycott the Booyahs for the week, and the rest of you should too. I can't believe people are falling for all this crap about how the Saints are this panacea for the ills of the gulf coast, as if this is going to heal the spirit of New Orleans and so on. Touchdowns don't build neighborhoods, Bristol. There are thousands of people living in federally subsidized housing because their homes have been destroyed, and the city will never ever be the same again. This has nothing to do with the Saints winning a football game. Nothing that really matters will change. I'm really surprised that Kotz is on the bandwagon. Look at the Superdome and who's in it. In spite of everything else that was destroyed in the area, in spite of all the devastated and homeless, the Superdome was a top priority so that middle-class white people could watch football. Read that! I sound like a leftist white-guilt jackass! None of this matters. This is just a pleasant diversion for the less unfortunate. Furthermore, and thus my ESPN vacation, I don't want to hear "there's only one place in America rooting against the Saints, and that's Chicago!" Chicago sports teams have nationwide fanbases. There are significant contingents of Cubs, Bears, and Bulls fans beyond the northeastern corner of Illinois, you know. "Only Chicago is rooting for the Bears"? Only dopes are rooting for the Saints.

 

Barron said "This will raise New Orleans awareness." How? Did someone miss the memo? Ridiculous statement.

 

Oh, and lest you accuse me of just being a Bears partisan, I've been averse to Saints hype from day one; I'm sure that I've gone on the record as saying this is ridiculous ever since the Falcons-Saints game when they mentioned people spending money on Saints tickets instead of food and clothing.