Beantown Sports Guys

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.

Celtics / Pistons game

Last night’s game between the Celtics and Pistons brings many reasons for excitement, even though the C’s lost. 

There was mad intensity all game long. The teams matching each other for a playoff-type atmosphere. Ray Allen and RIP Hamilton jawing at each other and getting on each other’s nerves all night. Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace having their own individual battle with the same jawing. Paul Pierce, even having a bad night, showing up Tayshaun Prince.  Rajon Rondo starting real strong against Chauncey Billups before watching the veteran Billups take over late in the game.

I know Chicago will get their act together and be decent. I know Cleveland will always be a threat just because of LeBron James. And I realize the Orlando Magic have raised their game to be in my eyes one of the top three teams in the East with Dwight Howard playing like an MVP and the addition of Rashard Lewis.

But the two teams who faced off last night is who will be playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. A 7-game series featuring more of what we saw last night is going to be an incredible and intense series. Detroit not ready to go away and Boston ready to take that next step already.

So in terms if last night’s game, this is the first game you can really blame on Doc Rivers for losing. 

Pierce, who obviously was having a rough game all night... especially in the first half, should not have been the choice for the last shot, which would have won the game, unless the play broke down.

Doc should go to whoever is hot for the game-winner.  Going to Pierce some games would be correct, but not so last night.  It was obvious Ray Allen had that deadly stroke going.  He should have been the #1 option with Garnett being the #2 as he also had a real nice shooting night. 

Doc got lucky a week or so ago doing the same thing, going to Pierce when he had a rough shooting night, and was rewarded by a Pierce driving game winning play. However, that particular night was a rough night all around. Ray and KG were not shooting the lights out like they were last night. 

Ray was ridiculous nearly every time he got the ball and decided to do something with it. His drive and monster slam in the 4^th awoke the crowd as the Pistons were starting to take over late in the game. His side-falling-away 3 with a man all over him late in the 4^th was outright stupid. When Ray is on, you just keep feeding him. So why did the Celts get away from that? Why was Doc not calling more plays just to get him wide open looks? 

I won’t even fault Tony Allen for that terrible foul to lose the game. He will learn from it as will the whole team. The Pistons love that simple up-fake to draw the foul. Ray Allen and Big Baby also fell for the same trick earlier in the game.

Instead the Celts still win with this loss as this is a great building block to go from now. We now know the C’s are really close to Detroit for East supremacy this season. It took the Pistons needing to hit 8-16 3-point FGs just to stay with the Celts for most of the game. So these teams are really close.

Usually I am never happy after a loss, but it was great to watch what we saw from this team last night against a wiley veteran club who has played in many big games and is in no hurry to relinquish its status. The Celts drop to 20-3 and this was a good learning bump to hit. Down by 6 with just over a minute left and looking like Detroit was in full control, the C’s still came back with back to back 3’s to tie the game and even had that chance to win the game. You can’t ask for much more than that. Maybe Doc will wake up to who the go-to guy for the night is. Last night was obviously Ray and not Pierce and Doc needs to make those adjustments. 

In any event, get ready for more of a great season as the Celts will be playing with the big boys in the playoffs gunning for a championship and banner #17 FINALLY! This team is a legit contender!

Ravens swooping in for an upset?

The Baltimore Ravens are playing the New England Patriots tough…real tough.

It's 10-10 at the half, and the Ravens are doing exactly what the Eagles did in their close game against the Pats by pressuring Brady, making sound tackles, and not turning the ball over. They are controlling the Patriots offensive attack by simply keeping them on the sidelines.

It could be the end of the Patriots' perfect season, but there is still an entire half of football that needs to be played. The Patriots always make great adjustments coming out of the locker room, and they'll need to do just that to pull away from this stifling Ravens defense.

Yeesh

I had to save this picture from ESPN for the high comedy level it achieves. It's the first game that Yao and Yi played against each other. I just can't say much more than that. Yao + Yi = Yeesh

 

R.I.P Sean Taylor

By now everyone that has a TV or has read a newspaper knows of the tragic fate of Washington Redskins Safety Sean Taylor. At the age of 24, his life was taken in a senseless act of violence and greed by a bunch of thugs. They had visions of walking out of his house with TVs, DVDs, and a lot more, but all they left with was a life that wasn't theirs to begin with.

Now they have to live with that.

Maybe it means nothing to them. Afterall, each one of them had been on the wrong side of the jail cell before. Maybe they are more upset by the fact that they were caught. Who knows.

What I do know is they should be charged with the highest degree of murder possible. Their defense lawyers are saying it wasn't premeditated, but how do we know that? Should we take their word for it? Why would anyone walk into someone else's house in the middle of the night with a loaded gun, and not expect to use it? Maybe they were hoping they wouldn't need to, but they brought it in there so there has to be some level of being aware that they may "need to use it".

It's a tragedy, and the Redskins' most fitting tribute in my humble opinion was starting the game with a 10-man defense, sans their fallen warriors replacement for one play. My problem with the tribute on the side of the Buffalo Bills, a team that was struck with tragedy earlier in their season losing their Tight End Kevin Everett to a spinal injury, as that they opted to run the ball on that first play, gaining 22 yards. The Bills could have taken a knee on that first place, at which point the Redskins could have taken a knee on their first series to acknowledge that. It just irked me a bit.

Maybe it's what Sean would have wanted. Maybe it's what the Redskins wanted. Again, who knows.

What I do know in all of this is that it never needed to happen in the first place. And that is the most mystifying in all of this.