Beantown Sports Guys

Not so Super Sunday for Patriots fans

Being a fan of New England teams, it's tough to blog about one of your favorite teams losing, especially in historical proportions.

So I'll make this short and sweet (for my sake and readers):

• Congratulations to the New York Giants. I will not say they wanted it more because I don't believe that. In what I believe to be one of the worst Superbowls in recent memory (this coming from someone who loves defensive games), one of the sloppiest "I wonder who will make the last mistake" games, they won. So congrats.
  
  
• I'm confused as to why the Pats didn't go to the hurry up offense earlier in the game, especially in the first half. On the final scoring drive for the Pats that ended with a Moss touchdown Brady led them down the field easily and wore out the defense by going to their two minute drill. Why didn't they do that before?
  
  
• Two major blown calls effected the outcome of the game: Pierre Woods' fumble recovery that would have given the Patriots the ball with good field position, and the mysterious Eli sack where he was stopped in his tracks not once, but twice, only to still run when the refs would have blown his forward progress dead 99 times out of 100, at which point he launches a prayer which is answered.
  
  
• I counted 12 blatant holding calls on the Giants, and 4 blatant holding calls on the Patriots. Out of those 12 calls, 3 were so egregious that they were major game changers. Easily. I know Mike Carey and his reffing crew are top notch, right below Ed Hocculli and his crew, and it's the Superbowl, and he calls the least amount of holding penalties, but call the game the way it needs to be. Again, who knows if they were called if the Patriots would have won, but come on.

• The Patriots need to find someone that can punt more than 12 yards each time he is snapped the ball.
  
  
• The entire nation breathed a sigh of relief when the Patriots lost, they became the Yankees in everyone's eyes. It's inaccurate though, because the Yankees pay and overpay to chase players, while the Patriots make due, draft extremely well, and pick up veterans that are ready to win and forgo that next huge contract. That's a huge difference.

So it's been two days now, and I've yet to turn on any local news, ESPN, NESN, or Fox Sports Net. If I can make it a week, I should be in the clear. I'm looking to avoid all the talking heads taking shots at Belichick, Brady, and the Patriots and lauding the Giants left and right. At least one week should be all right.

Right?

Superbowl XLII – It’s Here

My updates have been scant, especially when it comes to "the Pursuit of Perfection", mainly because I've read so many articles that seem to have said it all. I'll go ahead and drop a few insights into the game though, an hour before it kicks off:

• Eli being Eli – Eli has been very calm, cool and collected lately. But can he remain that way if he is down by 14 early?
  
• Giants Pass Rush – they did a great job in Week 17 against the Patriots, but that was without their entire right side of their offensive line. They were missing Stephen Neal, Nick Kasczur, and TE Kyle Brady, who is one of the best blocking Tight Ends in the NFL.
  
• Special Teams – If the Patriots can do better with their Special Teams, especially with their punting, they have a really good chance of controlling all phases of the game.
  
• Plaxico – he talks a mean game, but with a bum ankle and swollen knee will he be able to back it up?
  
• X-Factors – the X-Factor for the Patriots will be Ben Watson I think. He has been silent lately, and the Giants could focus too much on the WRs, he could wind up MVP. As far as the Giants, the Safeties for the Giants will need to come up big if they want to win.

Kick-off in under an hour, and its all about doing what the Patriots have done all season: play their own game, dictate the tempo, control the clock, and just dominate. But the Giants stand in the way of that perfect season, so the Patriots will need to bring their A game to do it. The Giants beat both the Cowboys and Packers, both on the road, so they aren't to be overlooked. Or the 2007 Pats will be forgotten 10 years from now.

Omaha! Omaha!

I'm so anxious for the Super Bowl to begin. I hate it when this happens. You look so forward to something then maybe it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. As I said before I am very confident that the Pats will win and I think they will win big time. I heard that the NFL Network will be playing a lot of Super Bowl games up until the current one. Should be some interesting matchups. Since I am forced to wait until the Pats play again I thought I would write a little "one play script" of what I have witnessed this year during a Patriots game. If I have missed any details please let me know. I'm far from being a sports writer.

Brady's offense is at the line, the opponents defense is about to pounce. "Omaha! Omaha! ," (he always starts off that way). It's about the only two words I hear him shout clearly. He looks left, then right, and then points to some suspected threat which is usually a rouse to intimidate the defense and just before he calls for the snap, he gives a quick glare to Moss or Welker as if he is using telepathy to communicate to them. HIKE! The ball is snapped into Brady's hands, takes two steps back and quickly makes a high short pass over the center to Faulk. Yes, that's right. Faulk! The elusive and forgotten gem in Brady and Bellicheck's bag of tricks. He snatches the ball out of the air and then makes a run for about ten yards for another……………..FIRST DOWN!

So where is the elusive Brady? Okay, enough with that. Who cares? Man, the press is just terrible about things like this. Yesterday the cameras were only on the field for 15 minutes so if he did practice he probably came out after the cameras left to keep the speculation going. Today he supposedly was a no show again, but for all we know he is studying tape. Just let him do his job. Media day is coming soon so that's when they should pounce.

TWO WEEKS

Just less than two weeks and we will see the Big Show, The New England Patriots versus the New York Giants. Already rumors are flying. Did Seymour play dirty against the Chargers? Does Tom have an injured foot? Let's not forget about the assault and battery accusations by Randy Moss’s supposed long time friend.

Can they get over it? No sweat!  They have been accused of so many things this year and it doesn’t even bother them. They have been trained to focus only on the next game. The term tunnel vision comes to mind. I only wish I had that focus and determination. As for those rumors and accusations, Seymour just played his game like every football player does. Tom is just psyching out the Giants fans and how suspicious was it to have that girl come out with that accusation against Moss? Something is fishy in them waters.

As for the Superbowl I think it will be a blowout! Well maybe not a blowout in reality terms but when I play Madden 08 with the same rosters, depth charts, field and weather conditions and I have had the Patriots blow them out every time. I know that you can’t predict a game on the outcome of a video game but hey, I’ve had some games come pretty close to the real matchup.

I was just thinking: What am I going to do after the football season is over? NASCAR will be here soon, but I’ve kind of lost interest. There have been too many changes in that sport. March Madness is coming soon and baseball is around the corner. Hopefully I will have a lot to talk about then.

MEDIA BLACKOUT!

The Final Playoff game between the Undefeated New England Patriots and the San Diego “lucky” Chargers is on now. Winner of this match goes to the SUPER BOWL. It started at 3:05 eastern standard time. Why I am not watching it is because I invited my brother and his family to come watch the game with us. Well, they asked me to record the game on TIVO because they have to take their son back to college which is only about an hour away. They did the same for us when we were coming back from our Christmas vacation. Our plane was scheduled to land in Manchester at 8:30pm and the game between the Pats and Jags had already started. Talk about trying to keep blackout conditions with all the technology these days. I was tuning out everyone so I wouldn’t accidently hear any scores. My relatives were texting me and leaving messages on my cell. It was so tempting to flip open the phone, but I only did to turn it off. We quickly passed the game being televised in a sports bar at the airport but I did not look. I picked up my car and had the radio off all the way to my brother’s house, because he was recording for us. We did not start watching that game until 10pm that night.

So now I have my email and instant messaging notifications turned off and I’m avoiding the internet, tv is off and the answering machine is turned down. It is almost 5:00PM now and it is killing me. I made Chili, the chips, cheese and crackers are on the table. Soda and beer is chilled. My brother and his family should be here any minute. Media blackout is a challenge, but when you’re a true sports fan it is definitely worth it. I will follow up after the game and tell you if it was really worth it. Stay tuned.

 Well it was definitely worth the wait! The Pats pulled off another one. Was there ever really any doubt? I don’t think so. Moss and Welker did their part, but Faulk and Maroney were awesome. As for the Greenbay game I was a little disappointed. I really wanted Greenbay to win. If Favre retired this season it would have been great for him to retire on top, but still losing to the Pats of course.

Patriots get ready for Jaguars

The Patriots were "lucky" enough to get the 5 seed and play the Jaguars this coming weekend. Even though they had a better record than the Steelers, they were the lower seed because they did not win their division. I guess it puts more emphasis on winning your division as far as seeding goes, but its very misleading, as many people assume the higher the seed the better the team. Not the case. No one really gave the Steelers a chance to beat the Jaguars, even in their own hometown, and the only thing surprising was they kept it so close for so long.

The Patriots have been studying the Jags more than anyone according to Belichick because they recently played the Steelers and earlier in the season they played the Chargers. There is no mistake: they have a great running game, a good defense, and a QB that doesn't make too many mistakes. But we've beaten teams like that before, especially this season.

Just ask the Colts and the Steelers.

Not perfect just yet

Yes, the Patriots are 16-0.

Yes, Tom Brady has the record for TD passes in a season with 50.

Yes, Randy Moss has the record for TD receptions in a season with 23.

Yes, they are a team you cannot count out until there is no time left on the clock.

But there work is just beginning. They know it, and Patriots fans everywhere know it.

After the rest of the regular season concludes tonight, the Patriots will have a glimpse of playoff matchups they can watch and prepare for. Probably the easiest game right now would be Pittsburgh. They are really dinged up, and haven't been running the ball too well lately, which is very un-Steeler like. Everyone is afraid of the Jaguars, as they have the offense and defense to challenge Indy or the Pats. No one seems concerned about the Titans or Browns (whoever gets in: if Tennessee wins, they edge Cleveland, if they lose, the Browns are in), as they are very shaky all around. San Diego has one of those "you never know what you're gonna get" offenses with Rivers at the helm.

It's not cliché, its truth: the Patriots clinched a playoff berth weeks ago, and that's all they needed to be in the running for another Super Bowl. Any of these teams could beat them if they don't execute like they have. They need this bye week to get a bit healthier, and to rest their bodies as well as their minds, through all the stress that "16-0" has caused.

As of tomorrow, none of it matters. It's a new season, and everyone is 0-0. This is what makes champions.