Ok, we've all had our fun, let's look at what this game really means for the Colts (the only thing that really matters to any of us):
1. Labels are for morons. A year ago, Manning was a "choker"; Eli was "a bust"; Brady was "clutch". Now after watching Tom Brady fail in the playoffs with the ball, less than two minutes to play, and a chance to force OT or win the game, we know that these tags are for simpletons. Brady didn't play well last night for sure; no reasonable person can say he did. His one TD pass was to a wide open Moss when a defender fell down (the same Moss that was wide open two plays earlier when Tommy yanked a throw). All that being said, it wasn't his fault they only scored 14 points (unless you call it karmic payback for his ahole laughing at the Plaxico saying they'd only put up 17-sorry I just can't stop being snide). He had protection problems. No QB can function when under pressure. So now that we've seen Brady fail repeatedly in the clutch, what are we to assume? He's lost it? He never had it? No, those conclusions are for people that don't like to think. In a close game, there is always a lot of luck. He's had a golden rabbit's foot rammed up his ass for years now (don't ask me how it got there, but my money's on the goats), and now the luck ran out. Brady took a step back last night for sure. He's now back in Troy Aikman/Terry Bradshaw territory.
2. This game proved what we knew three weeks ago. D-line pressure is how you beat the Pats. In the second quarter of the Chargers' game, we knew we weren't going to win the Super Bowl. Indy had no prayer of beating NE without a healthy Freeney. Watching what the Giants did confirmed it.
3. Randy Moss's vanishing act proved how important he was to the Pats offense. By far the weakest D the Pats played in the post-season was Jacksonville, and they managed to handle the Kitties without serious contributions from Moss. Again, that last TD aside, he brought little to the table in the last three games, and the Pats 'greatest offense ever' looked pretty freaking normal.
4. I wish that I had written it down (I checked, I didn't), but I said it to enough people: Eli Manning was never the problem the Giants. You could see that in week one. The Minnesota game where he threw all the picks wasn't even all his fault. Jeremey Shockey played one of the worst, most gutless games ever by a tight end that day, failing to run hard or even run the right routes. He sold out his QB that day, and his injury was the best thing to ever happen to that team. And yes, I'm aware of the FO article that says Manning actually threw more picks when going to Burress than Shockey. I think that kind of gutless performance pollutes the whole team.
5. I'm 100% serious about the things I wrote about Spy Gate 2. I think BB is in serious trouble. The Pac-Man and Mike Vick incidents are going to make it impossible for Goodell do anything less than give BB a one year ban if the allegations of walk-through taping are true...and honestly, does anyone really doubt them?
6. Next year will be fascinating, and the Colts are going to be in a prime position. As long as Freeney can come back healthy, I see no reason why this team won't be back in the Super Bowl. I think we are all worried about Marvin's health, but AG showed that he was very much worth a first round pick. This team has a SERIOUS need for one more competant corner (he may already be on the roster), one more pass rusher, and depth at WR. We'll probably need another guard too. But here's what we WON'T have to do next year: Replace two linebackers, rebuild the interior of the D-line, and train a new left tackle. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
7. Call it the curse of AV. The Pats play a Super Bowl without him and get a kickoff out of bounds, and BB opts out of a 48 yards FG in a dome. Bet you wish had those three points back, Bill. That call was positively Marty-esque.
8. No group of fans in history ever deserved what they got more than the Pats fans. At the end of the day, THEY are the reason everyone hates their team. There isn't anyone in the world who feels sorry for you. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, as they say.
Links worth reading:
This one freaking made my day. They are wrong though. The NE offense didn't choke. They got outplayed. It's not the same thing.
The FO guys go 'round the table. Just another example of why they are the best read on the web. There's no idiot finger pointing and labeling and using stupid words like 'choke'. They take a serious look at what happened and find historical correlations. I love this article.
My good friend Brian, who is a Browns fan (yet I still talk to him), sends this semi-delusional piece about the Browns chances at a title. It basically focuses on the importance of D-line pressure. If you can get it, you win most of the time. If you can't, you lose. Morons like Jeremy Green mocked Dwight Freeney's sack totals and scoffed at his insane number of pressures. No one is doing that anymore, except maybe Jeremy Green (who's too stupid for me to listen to anymore).
Note the subtext for this John Clayton article. Maybe I'm misreading it, but I don't think so. That last line was a bit nasty wasn't it?
DJ Gallo empathizes with Pats fans.
Friend of 18to88, Jessi, sends us this T shirt.
Demond Sanders: Yeah, it doesn't suck having the tables turned on Brady. He's a very good player, but no player in the history of sports was as due to lose a game by three points. His teams have lived on the edge for years, and especially this season. He started his playoff career with something like a 12 game winning streak. Amazing. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, things have a way of evening out. Tommy's had tough playoff exits in three consecutive seasons. Reminds me a lot of Jeter. Not a precipitous fall, just a once-untouchable career slowly becoming more vulnerable. Welcome to the world of losing Mr. Brady.
The Bill Simmons mea culpa article isn't as sweet as last years', but it's pretty flipping close. HE WAS PLANNING TO PARTY WITH BRADY AFTER THE GAME. That little nugget just made my year. I repeat: He was planning to party with Brady after the game. "I kept seeing Brady sitting in a chair with his right ankle encased in ice, quietly sipping a bottle of champagne with a satisfied smile on his face, and Gisele would be there, and everyone would be recapping 19-0 and remembering the incredible season. I liked the thought of a famous person celebrating a historic night in such a totally normal and relatable way."
Really Bill? Partying with your Victoria's Secret super model girlfriend after you've just won your fourth Super Bowl is relatable? You're so out of touch it's scary. You need to quit hanging out with your famous friends out in Los Angeles. (By the way, how funny is it that BS's celebrity friends are Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla? He would pick two of the biggest losers ever to become famous.) Yes, I voted for BS in our poll. His smugness capsulizes everything America hates about New England. Rant over.
Dent. Buckner. Boone. Tyree. These are words I like to say.
Monday, February 4, 2008
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21 comments:
How many of the picks thrown to Plaxico and how many were thrown to the box 3 feet above his head?
You know what else is awesome?
THIS WAS THEIR BEST SHOT.
The Pats have a LB corps (the focal point of their defense) whose youngest member is 31. They have two key free agents (Moss and Samuel) who will both require big paydays, and neither of whom are franchisable (Samuel has an agreement not to be, and franchising Moss would effectively be telling him, "we'd like you to slack all year long, please"). This was their best shot. Yes, they'll still be good for the next few years. As long as Brady is behind center, they'll have a chance to be good. But they are on the way down, not up. Especially if more comes out on the whole Spygate front, this year may serve to be the beginning of the end of the Pats as heavy favorites in the AFC.
Bruschi is a free agent as well. Not that I can see him going anywhere except a golf course. Seau should be put out to pasture. Harrison hasn't just lost a step, he's lost about five.
Moss will likely land with the Redskins. Or Cowboys. Because if there are two people dumb enough to overpay for Randy Moss, it's Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder.
Samuel is headed elsewhere. The rats are always the first ones to jump off a sinking ship.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600781500?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwviolentkicom&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1600781500
Amazon book title -- 19-0: The Historic Championship Season of New England's Unbeatable Patriots (by the Boston Globe)
I saw that the link is still working for the 19-0 book. Some of the comments under that are spectacular. I love the one that says, "Please file this under 'Fiction'." That's awesome.
Line of the day from one writer:
They came for a coranation; they witnessed a decapitation.
Some agreement on Shockey from Big Daddy Drew at KSK.
"I think it’s pretty obvious now that the Giants not only need to cut Shockey, they also need to key his car and burn any of his property left in the locker room."
I don't think the CHFF boys have any choice but to use the choke label. They have told the world for years that winning was due to the QB and if the offense struggled it was because the QB choked. Of course, they were wrong, but they would be even worse weasels if they tried to say something different this morning.
I'm curious as to how many people see the light and stop buying into the Clutch-Choke myths. If two guys usually perform somewhat similarly and one does better in a smaller sample size (playoffs) it's luck not some innate, unmeasurable quality.
I loved the last bit about Bill Simmons and could not agree more.
I would not be too sure about a best shot for the Pats--I felt that way about the Colts in 2005--14-2 and HFA throughout the playoffs, we still had Edge, the SB in a dome where Peyton had 6 TDs in 3 quarters the year before. Oh my, I thought that if any year was it, 2005 was. Turned out to be wrong.
I do agree with Joel that the Pats have some potential restructuring and geezers to deal with, but we lost a bunch of SB starters on D and came back better in 2007--most pundits did not expect that. They'll be back; just not as good as this year, and if the Colts are at least as good as they were this year, we'll all be happy with the outcome. Assuming a year of experience improves Ugoh and Gonzo, health improves the DL and Harrison, the Colts should surely improve.
Maybe you're right about "best" shots; this was theirs, but they still have plenty of good shots left. Wow, call me 180-reversal man.
heh-heh-heh.
This loss for Brady reminds me a ton of the Pittsburgh loss in '05. Manning, like Brady, got sacked five times and had no time to make a play all game long. Despite this he manages to keep his team in the game and nearly pulls off an all-time miracle. And yet he's the goat.
The Giants played sick last night. Call it what it is.
That front seven was evil.
Anyhow....thankfully I run a lucrative drug-dealing racket and can break out to Florida (wanna get away fun fares) to douse my misery with some sunshine and bikinis.
And some daquerieuies? How the frig do you spell that?
I just never thought someone would out-Brady Brady in the last two minutes. Especially when we had him wrapped up on 3rd and 11 at mid-field.
Pitchers and catchers!
I think Brady played fine. Matt Light did not. That's the nicest I can put it. There are other words I could use, but I won't. Whatever. The better team won.
Yeah, I remember getting mocked for that kind of talk by Pats fans in 2005.
I only have six percent?
WTF is that?!?
I thought I had made a bigger impact than six weak-ass percent.
Just read Simmons and thought he missed a golden opportunity for a great title to his piece, based on the last lines.:
The Silence of the Fans.
Can you still hear the fans at night, Bill? Can you? (this bit was in the book; not sure of the movie)
Check out the Southwest Airlines ad mockup about halfway down the comments section. Sums things up pretty well:
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3374681
Sorry JC,
You just aren't an ass on the level of Belichick or HGHarrison, you don't get more undeserved hype as Brady and you aren't as much of an obnoxious homer as Simmons.
You Fail, just like your Patriots.
I get crazy hype bitch!
When was the last time Shake'n'bake was a poll option, HUH?
Beckett, Schilling, Lester, Bucholz, Wakefield.........
The Pats aren't going anywhere. They will replace their old, incompetent defenders with younger, better defenders. The Colts can pull off total defensive personnel changes, so can the Pats.
Plus, they'll still be well-coached and well-run, and they'll still be cheating their way up and down the field. They will be the threat that they have been. Expect reluctant media types to be interviewing a surly Belichick after a losing effort to become a favorite new January tradition.
Jessi rocks!
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