SportsCrack

Patriot Reflections: No Field Goal Attempt and a Dollar Short

I don’t know who said it but time heals all wounds, even when your team loses the last game of a 20 week quest of immortality. You see, I respected the New York Giants. They were a great team and I had watched many of their games all year, thanks to NFL Sunday Ticket. It was here that I made my mistake, however. I neglected to realize this was the Super Bowl, and I just could not get over the fact that the Giants just looked so frigging vulnerable all year long. I neglected to take into account their playoff victories and their momentum and their underdog mentality that they carried into the Game of all Games.

Let’s pause for a minute here shall we? Now, I respect Bill Belichick as a coach – please emphasize the coach part. He’s a football mind like I have never seen before. Do I agree with some of the decisions he makes in regards to his peers? No. If I was an NFL coach and he did what he normally does to me, would I want to break his jaw? Absolutely. Does that make me respect him any less? Of course not.

But it was at this 4 th and 13 in the Super Bowl, in the quest to go 19-0 and become football’s best team for the remainder of time, that I finally understood Bill Belichick. I enjoyed when he went for it on 4 th and 1 and even sometimes 4 th and 2 in regular season games. That was fine, I did it in Madden and agreed with doing it to some degree in the NFL. It was cool, it was hip, no other coach did it. I enjoyed it. My coach had more balls than your coach was the way I phrased it in my warped ADHD mind. It didn’t bother me.

After a while, with the Patriots having the best 4 th down conversion percentage in the last couple years in all of the NFL, Bill started to get a bit more greedy. He would go for it on 4 th and 3, 4 th and 5 and to the best of my knowledge (not saying this is true, I blame the Bud Light) I think I saw him go for it on a 4 th and 8 one time. I’m too lazy to go and research it, I apologize.

Anyway, back to the scene: 4 th and 13, the third quarter is running out. The Patriots are up 7-3 in the biggest game in the history of the franchise, perhaps the biggest game in the history of the NFL. What happens? Bill goes for it, on fourth and 13 in the second half of the Super Bowl. It was all well and good before, Bill, but WHAT THE FACK WERE YOU THINKING? Its 4 th and 13! It’s not 4 th and 1, or 2 or 3 or even 5! Who does that in the Super Bowl?!

Like I said before, it was at this time that I really knew who Bill Belichick was as a coach. I love the guy to death for all he’s done for the Patriots and to a lesser extent, for my life. I don’t know about you all, but my week hinges on whether my home town teams win or lose. I don’t go into a depressed isolation or anything, but you can be sure I won’t be holding doors for old ladies and smiling at everyone throughout the week. Okay, I still hold doors for old ladies, but I am a timeless gentleman who always does good for my elders – but if my team loses, I still have a sourpuss on my face.

But why, oh WHY, would you go for it on 4 th and 13 when you’re up by 4 in the Super Bowl? If you get a field goal there, your up by a TD going into the 4 th quarter. Isn’t that basic football strategy? I get you’re an on the edge coach who does some different things than other coaches, but this went too far. It was by far one of the dumbest decisions I have ever had the misfortune of seeing in the history of my watching the New England Patriots. It’s not like the New York Giants defense had been lying down all day, they were playing A+ football!

In short, I was confounded by this play call. If a field goal attempt was called and was successful, the Patriots very well could have taken it into overtime and won. But that’s neither here nor there; I just needed to get it off my chest.

On the other side of the ball, the New York Giants played a great game. Thankfully, I like the Giants as a football team and enjoy watching them. It’s good to see Michael Strahan get a Super Bowl ring, he’s a class act and an entertaining personality. It’s also good to see Eli Manning get out from the massive shadow that’s been placed over him since birth, and which got bigger with his older brother massive ascent to stardom. As the youngest brother of four, I know how it is living under the shadows of your older siblings.

Also, props to Tom Coughlin for having the cajones to mix up his coaching style entirely for the good of the team. Known as a tough guy coach for his entire career, he threw it all out the window and listened to his players more and axed the tough guy routine. He is a great coach and I commend him for his game plan as well as his coaching abilities.

It’s sad to see football go, and even though basketball is currently in mid swing, I will look forward to baseball to lighten my mood. As for next year’s football season, I would like to go on record and say that every single member of this team will return next year, save for Asante Samuel. If I had to put my life down on a Super Bowl winner next year, I would easily take the New England Patriots. But for now, congratulations to the New York Giants, and their fans -- I’m already looking forward to next year’s NFL season. Go Sox!

Super Bowl Quick Pick

Just so I can get this on the record:

Patriots 44 Giants 20




It's going to be a close, high scoring game until halftime but then in the second half New England will begin to pull away... by a lot.

Just so everyone knows, after the Super Bowl this whole site is going to be morphing into Baseball Crack to begin getting ready for the baseball season. Expect a major overhaul and hopefully, wittier content. Stay tuned.

A Patriot Fans Manifesto

Instead of pretending to be fair and balanced like Fox News, I am instead going to write in the henceforth ‘Pats-person.’ It is similar to first person and third person, except that I will in no way hide my undying allegiance to the most hated team in sports.

It was a mere seven years ago the Patriots were the underdog darling of the entire country. Since then, it’s been quite a journey. Back then they were the team that no one gave a chance to and were a general feel good story (except in St. Louis of course).

After a year off the Patriots were in the Super Bowl yet again, this time against the Carolina Panthers. Suddenly, the word ‘dynasty’ was being thrown around and although the underdog tag could no longer be applied to them, they were still respected by the majority of NFL fans.

The very next year, 2004, the Patriots were yet AGAIN in the Super Bowl. The Philadelphia Eagles were the next victim and around this time people were starting to see the Patriots a bit too much. Almost like ‘Hey, it was cute at first guys, now you’re annoying – cut it out!’

Two years and two gut-wrenching playoff losses later, we arrive at the beginning of the 2007 season. The Patriots had added a plethora of weapons including but not limited to Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Adalius Thomas. Then, during Week 1, the shit hit the fan.

It went by many names, the favorite appearing to be Spy Gate. The Patriots were caught red handed taping the defensive signals against the New York Jets. I’m not going to get into how Eric Mangina is a snitch and all that because it would go nowhere. You either agree with what he did or you don’t. Personally, I think it’s a bit more widespread than everyone made it seem, but oh well. The damage had been done. The ‘Patriot darlings’ were suddenly labeled as cheaters and everything they had accomplished up until then came under question.

Explaining the feelings upon hearing this, as a Patriots fan since childhood would be too difficult. The only thing I can equate it to is if the star player on your team was caught using steroids, but even then it’s like comparing apples and bananas. If you live in an NFL city that was once considered a dynasty, imagine Spy Gate happening to them right at the peak of their greatness. It sucks, let me tell you.

It didn’t necessarily suck because I believed it was such a horrible thing to do. Again, I think that every single NFL team in the league does what they need to do to gain a competitive advantage. It sucked because the New England Patriots had become the New York Yankees/Dallas Cowboys/Place a Successful Disliked Team Here, all rolled into one. Pretend that that team killed your dog and you’d have the general consensus of the new look New England Patriots.

However as the Patriots began to tally win after win each week, I began to feel less and less ashamed of what the Patriots had done. After all, they didn’t even get to use the ‘cheating intel’ from Week 1. Every win that they added to their record was legit and I became less and less concerned that I was rooting for the criminal of the NFL.

Now, as we stand on the precipice of NFL history, it just boggles me how in a mere seven years the Patriots went from darling underdogs to hated villains. It’s interesting to say the least. With success comes jealousy and with jealousy comes hatred. I’m sure there will be a lot of articles covering the Giants/Pats Super Bowl in the upcoming days. I’m sure that many of them will spew anti-Patriot content and that’s okay. I don’t really expect non-Patriots fans to side with them and am pretty sure that 45 ½ out of the 50 states (Vermont might be half and half) will be rooting against the Pats in the Super Bowl. I mean, if I wasn’t a Patriots fan, I sure as hell would.

Due to the success of the season it was easy to shrug off attacks by suggesting jealousy or ignorance. But if you thought Boston area sports fans were obnoxious before? Just think of how bad we’re going to be when we get to give it all back to you when we win the Super Bowl in two weeks.

NFL Divisional Round Preview: Part 1

The NFL Divisional Playoffs, one of the best weekends of the year. Two days chock full of pure football goodness. Not to mention, after it’s all over – we still have next week’s conference championships! This preview will have two parts: Part 1 will deal with Saturday’s games, while Part 2 will deal with, yup; you guessed it – Sunday’s games.

Seattle Seahawks @ Green Bay Packers (Saturday 4:30 EST on FOX)

This is of course the first playoff rematch since the “We’re going to get the ball and we’re going to score” comment by Matt Hasselbeck in 2003. As we all know, Al Harris ended that game with a pick-six.

This time around the Packers are the NFC North champions, one of the hottest teams in the league and have the number two offense in the NFL. The Seahawks are the champions of a weak NFC West, but are coming off an emotional win in the wild card round and have some key veteran playoff experience.

As with most games, there are going to be many keys to this match up. One of which is Ryan Grant and if the playoff pressures will get to him. I’ve since been convinced that he’s a good running back (especially after taking Priest Holmes over him for my final FA pickup thus extending my fantasy losing streak) and I think he’ll continue his fantastic season in this game.

Another key is going to be whether or not Deion Branch plays. By all accounts, he should, but the question is going to be how healthy will he be on Saturday?

Also, don’t forget: This game is being played on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. Sorry Seahawks fans, but I’m going to have to take the Pack in this one. Get rid of that Shaun Alexander character and you should do much better next year.

Prediction: Green Bay 30 Seattle 24

Jacksonville Jaguars @ New England Patriots (Saturday 8:00 EST on CBS)

This is another playoff rematch game. The last time the Jags and Pats met in the playoffs was during a Wild Card match up in 2005. It wasn’t much of a game, though, with the Patriots spanking the Jaguars 28-3 in Foxboro.

This time around the rosters are quite different. The Patriots have proved that they can have a functional rushing game when they need too, while the Jaguars rely on their 149.4 yards rushing average per game to make the game more manageable for quarterback David Garrard.

Like last week’s game, the success of Jacksonville’s rushing attack will be key on two fronts: One, they’ll win the time of possession battle (keeping the ball away from the explosive New England offense) and two, take a bit of pressure off of David Garrard who in his first playoff start last week, threw an uncharacteristic two interceptions.

A lot of people are predicting a Jacksonville upset, but I’m afraid I can’t do the same, although it should be a great game.

Prediction: New England 31 Jacksonville 24

Steelers @ Patriots

Quick update: Meant to pick all the games this week but... duty calls. Trying to make that money. Here's the Steelers @ Patriots pick though (the only one that really matters):

I just heard that Troy Polamalu is definitely not playing. Even if he was though, I would have expected the Patriots to win -- but with this news... I'm gonna have to change the score a bit.

If you're curious -- if Polamalu did play:

Patriots 20 Steelers 16

Actual el prediction:

Patriots 24 Steelers 16

10 Reasons the Patriots will beat the Cowboys

1.) Tony Romo - He’s a good quarterback, I admit it. But he’s never faced a Belichick defense before. And as we all know, the first time you do that, it’s not a good time.

2.) Rodney Harrison’s Back - Yes, he took HGH. Yes, he’s known as a cheap shop, hard hitting asshole. Do I still love him, though? Your fucking right, I do.

3.) Patriots have destroyed everyone - Yes, the records of who they have played hasn’t been very good. But the Chargers are still good. They have all the same people as last year. The Jets are still good. They have all the same people. What’s the difference? Coaching? Perhaps. But let’s not downplay the teams they have played. And all the teams they have played, they’ve destroyed. Even if they were all bad. They destroyed them. Except perhaps the Browns. That was just a beat down, but the Browns played the Pats pretty well.

4.) Wade Phillips (The Cowboys coach) - He’s not very good. I think that’s all I need to say.

5.) Tom Brady - He’s been having a career year. Why would it stop now? The Cowboys defense, you say? Seriously? They’re 12th in pass defense. Good, but not Top 5. This is Tom Brady we’re talking about kids.

6.) Randy Moss - Remember the freakishly good wide receiver we knew in Minnesota? Well, guess what? He’s back. And he has a Hall of Fame quarterback throwing to him. Do you know what that means? A Hall of Fame quarterback throwing to a Hall of Fame wide receiver? Not to mention Moss has OWNED the Cowboys when he's played them. 675 yards? 10 Total TD's? Don’t get me wrong. I respect the Dallas offense. But after Tony Romo’s shitfest against the Buffalo defense on Monday Night Football? There going to need to play a lot better and without as many mistakes. Seriously. I’m gonna lead this into Number 7:

7.) Bill Belichick - All that cheating stuff aside. The guy is a defensive GENIUS. If I had to, I would look up quarterback’s first starts against Belichick to back up my point. But I don’t think I have enough readers for that. Feel free to look it up for me and refute my point. I’m not worried about it, though. Tony Romo will have a horrible game against a defensive scheme he has never even come close to seeing. Done, son.

8.) Terrell Owens - He kind of hinted that the Cowboys were going to win. Wait, not hinted. He pretty much stated it. Let’s just put it this way: T.O. is going to get rocked by Rodney Harrison. At least once. And I will giggle when that happens. I don’t not like T.O. or anything, but I do think he just needs to get smacked into a concussion. Let’s put it that way.

9.) The Cowboys are America’s Team - And as we all know--the Patriots are… I don’t even know how to put this… not America’s team? And if you’ve watched the Patriots in the past couple of years, it doesn’t matter if the Patriots are the favorite in Vegas. They take any major slight as a reason to win. Especially if everyone is picking them to lose with a team like the Cowboys. The game’s in Dallas, too. America’s team is going to lose, I can’t wait. It’ll be funny.

10.) Patriots Running Game - Even if Maroney doesn’t play we have Sammy Morris and Kevin Faulk. I don’t even have to go on about this. If Maroney plays, all done. Game over. If he doesn’t? Sammy Morris is pretty good. And we got Kevin Faulk on 3rd downs, as well as the best receiving corps on the league. I COULD BE THE FUCKING RUNNING BACK IN THIS SYSTEM! Tom Brady at quarterback. Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker, Ben Watson. Do I need to go on? No, I don’t.