Super Tuesday...

Is a hell of a lot better than Super Sunday in my book these days, but it's not like I'm a boitter Pats fan or anything. Actually, I'm noit. They got outplayed, period,a nd I can appreciate that. Sure I wanted to see them have the perfect season, but there is a specific reason they actually play the game. The Giants showed up determined and their defense stole the show. I have to apologize to Manning fans, but Eli is just not the MVP of that game. The whole defensive line gets that nod, another period. Congrats to the 2008 Super Bowl Champion New York Football Giants!

Patriots vs Giants... again

Hmmm. As I walked in the door to my house after a nice weekend of of skiing, I walked towards the family room to turn the Patriots game on. While I enjoyed listening to the first half on the radio in the car on the way home from the mountain, I looked forward to seeing it on the tube as well, and then a text message came through: "Do you think Tom Brady's drunk?"
After today's game, it was a fairly viable question and quite frankly, I wonder. The Patriots were lucky to get past a very dangerous Chargers team. Granted, Tomlinson may have been on the bench, but with the way the Pats offense was playing, I wouldn't have been all that surprised. Suffice to say, they will have to step it up a notch in a could weeks in Glendale if there are to beat the upstart New York Giants. Of course there is incentive for both teams; the Giants want to be the Cinderella story and prove their week 16 game against the Pats was no fluke while the Patriots are shooting for the perfect season, don't want to get paddles by their coach, and are trying to save the nation from seeing the second Manning in two years win a Superbowl - a thought that makes me sick.
It truly would have been nice to see Brett Favre back in the big game. While I wouldn't want to see my team lose to them again, it would be far better than losing to another Manning, and Favre is a class act. I hope he comes back next year!

Congrats to Tom Brady and Co.

I'm obviously not the first to mention the fact that late last night New England quarterback threw for his record setting 50th touchdown pass of the season, breaking the mere two-year-old record previously set by Peyton Manning, but I have some of my own thoughts on this achievement that might not be shared by others. After Manning broke the 20-year-old single season mark set by Miami Dolphins legend Dan Marino, this looked to be a mark that perhaps could only be broken by the one who had just broken it, but then there was the trade that sent Randy Moss from the Oakland Raiders to New England for a few pennies and pat on the back. Moss, who had become known more for his antics than his pro-bowl abilities, was thought to be all but washed-up and a risk to any team that would take him, but this isn't any old team and it's coach has always had a way of keeping guys in line. That said, Moss went on to break the single season for touchdown receptions, set by Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.
But I digress. Why? Because I don't really care about that record, albeit nice. Quite frankly, I didn't care about the Patriots winning every game this season. Yes, I've been a fan my whole life and would love to see another championship, but all this crap about team this and team that is getting old. Tom Brady has been a company man long enough and should get to enjoy this record. For years he's been racking up victories and while his last minute heroics may be second to none, the media darling has always been Peyton Manning. Whether the Patriots won every game of the decade, pundits would always praise Peyton Manning and if I were Brady, I'd be sick of it. I'm obviously not Brady and I'm sick of it. So yes, last night I really cared about seeing Tom Brady break that record. After two dropped passes in a row, it looked like Moss might not be up to the challenge and perhaps Brady would have to go to Wes Welker for the record, but then late in the forth quarter, Brady unleashed a Hail Mary on 3rd and 10 for a 65 yard touchdown completion, which gave both Brady and Moss their respective records. And while I don't care to say much about how lame it was listening to Bryant Gumble babble throughout the game, I would like to direct my attention for one last thought on a comment that he a Chris Collinsworth agreed upon nearing the end of the game. To paraphrase, they said that Brady didn't care about setting the single season mark and just wanted to win this game... Wake up guys! Tom Brady has as much pride as anyone and he has three Super bowl rings. To put it bluntly, Tom Brady wanted nothing more than to get that record and hats off to him for making his mark.

Yep, I want to see some records get broken

We all hold aged sports records so dear to us, but after one has been broken, we seem to long for it to happen again and again. We only need to look back to the late 1990's with the home run pursuit in baseball to see how invigorated fans were by the multiple chases going on. Granted, there is a little controversy behind those to say the least, but the fan reaction was amazing. I may not have been a fan of Sammy Sosa or Mark McGuire, but I was into those chases and loved seeing the fan reactions. As for Barry Bonds, I'll just leave that topic alone 'cause getting sick isn't my top priority for the day, but regardless of scandals and this and that, we all love to see records get broken. In my case, any records held by Peyton Manning needs to be broken, and fast. While Dan Marino held on to the single season touchdown record for over 20 years, it looks like Manning's grasp will over last a little over 2 as the Patriots, led by Tom Brady will take on the New York Giants this weekend. Brady is one touchdown pass short of tying the record and two of breaking it. The likelihood of this not happening Saturday night is remote and for all of us Manning haters, it couldn't come soon enough. And while I would like to see Randy Moss get the Rice record as well, for receiving touchdowns in a single season, I'm a little more ambivalent that this one. I'm sure it will happen, but quite frankly, Brady's my man.

A slap of humility for Anthony Smith

Competitive sports can be inherently humbling. The joy of victory is savored by far fewer than the agony of defeat, but for most of us, even competitive sports are much less pressure-filled than profession sports. That's not to say that if I play a foe in tennis, a defeat isn't going to be humbling, especially if I'm better and happen to lose, but what I mean to say is that I don't have much on the line and at the end of the day, it's just a loss.
So what's my point? My point is that yesterday's loss for the Pittsburgh Steelers and in particular, safety Anthony Smith was like a double blow to the head, but to be frank, I think I agree with Rodney Harrison, who actually didn't give the guy a hard time for guaranteeing the victory, but rather, expressed his opinion that this was and is a learning opportunity for the young player. Granted, he needs to first learn to shut his mouth, but The Steelers didn't play a bad game, they just played a New England team with a chip on their shoulders after two straight close games.
Quite a big piece of humble pie he has to eat though' no doubt about that.

How many records will Tom Brady break?

The New England Patriots are a team claims not to care about statistics or individual goals. AS a fan of this team from birth, I can attest that whether the team has cared about breaking records or not, they have never had a player like Tom Brady and until this decade, were certainly not breaking records of any sort.
Like the good team player he is, Brady shrugs off questions about the passing records he may set this season. Regardless of the team mantras and "company lines," if you will, I actually find this sort of surprising. Why? Tom Brady already has three Super Bowl rings; would it not be fair for him to get some acclaim for himself? Surely the Patriots wouldn't be where they are right now without Brady and quite frankly, while I want to see the team win another title, I'm going to be greedy and say that I also want this guy to win some awards and set some records. I'm so sick of hearing how great Peyton Manning is - not that he isn't, but I think it's time for him to step aside - likewise for Dan Marino. In 1984, Marino set the single season passing record with 5084 yards. After 11 games Brady has 3439 yards and would need to average an astonishing 329 yards over the next five games to break the record. Although it's a long shot, just look at this past Sunday when Brady passed for over 360 yards in what was not his best game. More likely to be broken is the record for touchdown passes in a single season. While Marino held this record for two decades, Manning set the new standard with 49. After 11 games, Brady seems in the drivers seat with 39. While he only had one in the last game against the Eagles, don't expect Randy Moss to be covered so well the rest of the season - he's too good and so is Wes Welker. So while most are willing to bet that Brady will break the TD record and the single season passing percentage record, I will go out on a limb (sort of) and say that he will add the single season passing yardage record and single season QB passer rating record. And then after the season, perhaps voters will look to someone other than Manning as the league MVP, but then again, Brady doesn't and won't do TV commercials.

Yikes is right!

From a 22-point underdog to almost knocking off the Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles certainly came into Foxboro tonight with a mission. And while I'm happy to see the end result, I have to give props to A.J. Feeley for one heck of a game before the two very costly interceptions. Of course if it wasn't for the nearly perfect pass protection of Randy Moss ALL NIGHT, it would have been a different story, but the Eagles did one hell of a job and you have to respect that.

An over-hyped game that was prime for a letdown

Some called it "SuperBowl Forty-one and a half," but quite frankly, today's game between the Patriots and the Colts was perhaps less entertaining than most of the other games in the league. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but really, if it weren't for the two touchdown comeback in the final 9 minutes by the Patriots - led by the always poised Tom Brady - all the football pundits would be talking about the game that really wasn't. And yet that's just what's on the surface. The people that talk about the game on TV and on the radio have to talk to the masses; therefore, they might not talk ab out what really went on in this game - domination by the Colts for 51 minutes. That's right! The first 51 minutes was all about defense and the Colt's running game - both were amazing and apparently caught the 9-0 Patriots off guard. Being from Maine, you can imagine that I am pleased with the result, but I'm not fooled. The final score was very deceiving and the re-match in the playoffs should be interesting.

Not The Best Bandwagon

I remember walking into Filene's with my mom when I was 11-years-old and seeing shirts for the New England Patriots first Super Bowl game against the Bears. Even at such a young age, my pride as a New England fan ran deep. I recall basically throwing a fit during the game as things quickly turned south under the direction of Tony Eason and his ever-present feet-first slides to avoid tackles. An despite being destroyed on the pitch, I never gave up on the Pats. I remember being excited about Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells and I even can stomach a little 1996 nostalgia when we got clobbered by the Packers for Super Bowl loss number two, but then things changed. Bledsoe got injured, Brady emerged out of nowhere, and three Super Bowl rings later, a dynasty had been built under a great owner, a great general manager and who many of us fans believed to be one of the games greats coaches.
Now don't get me wrong, Bill Belichick is still, at least in my opinion, one of the gamers best coaches, ever, but why would he cheat? I don't buy into the whole, "everyone does it, but he got caught thing." Nope. You can't justify what the Patriots coaching staff did in breaking the league rules for videotaping the game from the sidelines during the first quarter of Sunday's victory over the Jets. Yes, the camera was taken away early and the actual effect of having the camera was most certainly minimal to the outcome to the game, but just the thought of our guys now being the bad guys makes me sick.
I doubt Bob Kraft knew about it. It's doubtful the player knew about it, but a few days certainly did and they have tainted this proud franchise and quite frankly have harmed they're own players in the process. No, "Cameragate" is not really that big a deal in terms of how badly someone can cheat. There just isn't very much benefit to what they did, but therein lies the big question: Why do it? Why cheat against the Jets. Why Bill? It's time for answers.
As for the penalties imposed by the league; they are mild in my opinion. I would have made the team forfeit the game and have suspended Belichick in addition to the fines and loss of draft picks, but what do I know? I'm just a fan of the game and yes, I'm still very much a fan of the Patriots.