Weekend Thoughts
With the Patriots running up the score against an outgunned team, they're really turning into an unlikeable bunch. I was reading Bill Simmons' column about it last week, and that was when it started to register what assholes this bunch is. The thing is, I always liked the Patriots. They were the underdogs against the Rams, and Tom Brady was always the underdog against Peyton Manning. They seemed more blue collar than the Colts, with a tough, no-nonsense defense and diverse offense that you could respect. But this season I've really come around on them. Their coach is a major league creep, beyond just the cheating stuff. He's always been a petulant jerk towards the media, his colleagues and other people in general. And their goal this year seems to be to provide humiliation to their opponents in defeat rather than just win. Amazingly, I'll be rooting for the Colts for the first time against the Pats in 2 weeks, and obviously it would be awesome if the Redskins could give them a fight next week.
On the college scene, I'm not convinced that the national championship is going to be contested with a pair of teams that both have two losses. The theme of the season is "EVERYONE MUST LOSE." By my count there are only 16 teams left that don't have at least 2 losses. It's crazy. And even the one or two loss teams that are supposedly the cream of the crop have at least a couple performances where they look really weak.
UFC was to me on the lower end of their PPV offerings the past few years. I rarely don't like a UFC show, and I didn't really care for this one. Silva-Franklin was exciting and saved it to a degree, but the rest of the card was subpar. As for that main event, you got the impression that if Franklin and Silva fought 100 times, Silva's winning 97 times. Franklin just looked totally overmatched, and it didn't help that he was content to stand when his only hope was to go to the ground. As for Silva, I think he's being ridiculously overhyped in many circles. His wrestling has been a liability for a great many years, but for whatever reason 3 of his 5 UFC opponents have been content to stand with him. Travis Lutter gave him problems, and Lutter is nothing special. To me, Dan Henderson, Matt Hughes or even Yushin Okami is a bad style matchup for Silva. Doesn't necessarily mean he'd lose, but I'd have a lot less confidence in him than other top pound for pound fighters like GSP or Fedor against anyone. As for Tim Sylvia, the guy just needs to accept that he's a heel. Matt Hughes did, and it's fun to root against him. Watching Sylvia try to be the good guy is just sad, because it doesn't take.
On the college scene, I'm not convinced that the national championship is going to be contested with a pair of teams that both have two losses. The theme of the season is "EVERYONE MUST LOSE." By my count there are only 16 teams left that don't have at least 2 losses. It's crazy. And even the one or two loss teams that are supposedly the cream of the crop have at least a couple performances where they look really weak.
UFC was to me on the lower end of their PPV offerings the past few years. I rarely don't like a UFC show, and I didn't really care for this one. Silva-Franklin was exciting and saved it to a degree, but the rest of the card was subpar. As for that main event, you got the impression that if Franklin and Silva fought 100 times, Silva's winning 97 times. Franklin just looked totally overmatched, and it didn't help that he was content to stand when his only hope was to go to the ground. As for Silva, I think he's being ridiculously overhyped in many circles. His wrestling has been a liability for a great many years, but for whatever reason 3 of his 5 UFC opponents have been content to stand with him. Travis Lutter gave him problems, and Lutter is nothing special. To me, Dan Henderson, Matt Hughes or even Yushin Okami is a bad style matchup for Silva. Doesn't necessarily mean he'd lose, but I'd have a lot less confidence in him than other top pound for pound fighters like GSP or Fedor against anyone. As for Tim Sylvia, the guy just needs to accept that he's a heel. Matt Hughes did, and it's fun to root against him. Watching Sylvia try to be the good guy is just sad, because it doesn't take.
posted by Todd Martin at 2:08 PM
10 Comments:
I can see why you have turned on the Patriots, but to fault them for cushioning their lead on Sunday is inappropriate.
Much like the Yankees, the Pats have been winning for years, they are beyond dominant this year, and of course the video scandal hurts their prestige. So people will turn on them. But to the Pats defense, the only difference between them and everyone else is that they got caught cheating. Other teams break NFL rules but only the Pats are ratted out because it is the only way they can be stopped. This is much like when the pass interference rules were changed a few years ago because of the superior Pats defense.
But they were not running up points on Sunday maliciously. As we saw later in the game, Miami was able to get within 3 TDs. The more points you score early, the more rest Brady gets. A coach would be foolish not to widen the margin since it protects their star player.
I would love to see the stats on the percentage of teams that have come back from a 21 point deficit with 10 minutes left in an NFL game. I bet it would be comically low.
Todd - It sure was nice of your boy Jason Campbell to go nuts for me the one weekend I need some fantasy points from him. Ninety five passing yards will certainly put me in the money...or not.
As for the Pats, I agree with the general sense of your premise. But today's NFL is so unpredictable - see Tennessee @ Houston on Sunday - that you can never take anything for granted. Did Tom Brady need to come back into the game? Probably not. But the Pats, any team, really, should always work each possession for points.
BTW, how 'bout them 4-2 Detroit Lions?
- Matt in Anchorage
Speaking of the Redskins, the way they play is like I wish they do play like the Patriots, meaning in scoring more when you have the lead instead of just running the football and playing safe. They just play too conservative, I am not saying run up the points but JEEZ it would be nice not to have close leads and scares of opponents making come backs every game.
"I would love to see the stats on the percentage of teams that have come back from a 21 point deficit with 10 minutes left in an NFL game. I bet it would be comically low."
It's probably like 99.5% even though it happened on Sunday (HOU v. TEN). But until it's 100& you keep scoring. As Whitey Herzog once said, "We'll stop scoring once you try to stop scoring.""
Shut the F up about the Pats.. dont hate, son... normally you're sensible.. they have no choice but to play hard.. Once Matt Cassell gave up a pick and a TD there was no choice but to get get Brady back in.. so relax.. stop being jealous.. and they will kick the redskins' ass this week. What?
belichick doesnt care whether you, the fat slobs that call themselves media members, or the rest of the world like him. he's too busy cleaning his super bowl rings and winning. teh thing about belichick is that he's paid to win games and no one does it better than him right now. he's the best at his craft. as for running it up: grow the f up and stop crying. this isn't little league or even high school. they are professional athletes. the pats picked from the same pool of people as the dolphins, and they just did it better (see: peter king's stats about the number of pats players from drafts vs. phins). also, did you happen to catch the titans-texans tilt when houston came back in the 4th quarter from a 32-7 deficit? there are a number of pats fans young enough to remember being on the other side of those huge games (1-15 under rod rust in the 90s) so go take your cry baby act somewhere else. pussy
A little late on the uptake here, but I think this last post pretty much sums up what the Pats, and by osmosis, their fans have become. I agree with you that I see no rhyme or reason why the 'mighty Patriots' ( who have played maybe one good team all season long...Dallas, with San Diego clearly not 'themselves' at the time )feel the need to lay it on so thick against hapless teams like the Miami Dolphins. Belechik has always been a creep, as you say, and as much as I enjoy reading Bill Simmons, I can't help but think that he is really missing the boat on this, heaping praise on them because they're his team, but if it was, say, the Colts who were doing this, he'd be bitching more than anybody (which he readily admits ). Hubris is a real bastard when it wants to be, and while I've got no beef with NE in the past, I can't help but think that this sort of petulance is tied in with that whole video tape thing. 'We'll show you!' It's childish in more ways than I can say, and the sort of behavior one would normally associate with some drunken wifebeater...there's no harm in calling a prick a prick, and there's little doubt that the great, ring-polishing coach of the Patriots is a complete and utter one...but then, so's the guy in the previous post. It's too bad, because I still think that the majority of the players, including Tom Brady, are a class act. Trying to 'vindicate' yourself to the NFL audience for being documented rule breakers is a strange philosophy to take...it's not as though every fan didn't know coming into this season that the Pats were loaded. I'm no great Colts fan, either, but I really wouldn't mind seeing Manning toss about 6 TD passes on 'em...three when the game is already out of reach. Classless behavior, classless fans, and a strangely classless, ESPN writing shill.
First off, just because you use the bluster of a solid vocabulary doesn't make you intelligent. In fact, your "analysis" includes equating an NFL team to a wife-beater for some unknown reason. That's a good one. Also, I happen to somewhat agree with your point on Bill Simmons. As a Pats fan I find his musings humorous, but I also know that he is a card-carrying Boston sports member, and when you think of it as such it's funnier. The Colts would not fall into this "problem" with the backlash from fans b/c Tony Dungy is likeable as is Peyton Manning. The Pats players have an edict to not speak to the media for really any reason (as witnessed by their similar answers to all the questions posted to them). They will never end up on anyone's bulletin board, and that's exactly what they want. Belichick is a rather funny dude if you ever hear him on the radio or see him on TV during interviews. The running it up part is still just ludicrous. He treated the last 2 minutes of the first half like he would a pre-season game. As a means to work on his two minute offense (which they hadn't yet done), and better themselves heading forward. It's not his fault, nor the fault of the fans, that the Dolphins flat out blow. Take your complaints to the Dolphins front office. If you don't want someone to dance, don't let them in the end zone. These are professional, grown men. Not to mention if you "ease up" a little, you open yourself up to injury. You make some good points, but also some real terrible ones. The running it up one is just tired. Turn the page. As a Pats fans, I understand that people see them as a newer version of the hated Yankees...success will do this to you. They are no longer the new kids who miraculously defeated the Rams in 2002. I get it. IF you dislike the team, do it for a valid reason, not a media driven one like running up the score. That's childish.
Hmm...actually, I am intelligent. Calling somebody a 'pussy' because they don't agree with you seems a bit 'blustery', but then I guess I called you a prick for it, so I'm no better. The wife-beater analogy wasn't my best, and I retract it because it's stupid. Listen, I thought it was bush league a few years back when the Colts had Manning tossing up touchdown after touchdown even if the game was well out of reach. I don't 'hate' the Pats; I really don't care one way or the other, and I've been around long enough to see dominant teams who are just that much better than the rest of the league for almost 30 years. I just think it's unnecessary to keep laying it on woefully inept teams, who have been crippled by injuries (and, let's face it, are just plain bad) 'just because we can'. Please don't tell me that it was necessary to put Brady back in the Miami game because there was some concern that Cleo Lemon may bring his team back. It was really unnecessary. That's what bullies do, and I hate fucking bullies. It doesn't mean anything to me if New England goes 16-0, wins the Super Bowl, or whatever...I'm not a gambler, so I don't get anything out of it one way or the other. But I also don't see any reason to rip on a guy who points this out...you're team is winning, just enjoy it, instead of insulting people who may have a few problems with how they're going about it. That was really what irritated me; the rest of it is just kinda sports talk give and take. I'd hate to think that my giving a nodding appreciation for a bit of sportsmanship makes me 'childish', but I guess in this day and age it probably does. I'll live with it, and also with the fact that I guess we won't be exchanging Christmas cards this year. None of this stuff really matters, man. I'm just tired of all the pointless name-calling, especially when I do it myself. That's all.
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