Can we trust the Patriots to hold on to a lead anymore?
Bill Belichick out-thunk himself with his 4th-and-2 call from his own
28. The rationale is that he thought his offense had a better
shot of picking up 2 yards on 4th down than his defense did of stopping
Manning. Even if they failed to convert the 4th-and-2, it would
have the same result as punting, right? That’s a stretch,
and it gave the Colts the ball 29 yards from a touchdown with over 2
minutes to play. There was also a bunch of oddly-burned timeouts
sprinkled in there.
Failing to convert the 4th-and-2 wasn’t really ever
considered, which is in Belichick’s nature and part of what makes
him the arrogant cutthroat that he is. Maybe karma bit him in the
ass on this one, and that’s bound to happen. But if the
Patriots’ defense is this unreliable to their head coach, the
Pats have problems that will have implications later.
For now, the New England loss caps off what was a terrible week for
my record. Discretion will be necessary from here on out.
Denver and Atlanta couldn’t trust backups,
after each lost high-performing starters in the 2nd quarter. When
Denver QB Kyle Orton left his game vs. the R*dsk*ns with an ankle
injury, he was 11-18 for 193 yards and 2 TD’s. When Atlanta
RB Michael Turner left his game vs. the Panthers with an ankle injury,
he had 111 yards on 9 carries.
Orton’s replacement was Chris Simms, who posted a 7.5 passer
rating (as opposed to Orton’s 134.5). Atlanta was already
down counter-puncher Jerious Norwood, so something named Jason Snelling
filled in, and did okay. 61 yards and a touchdown, but Atlanta
fell apart after the injury and was already getting torched on defense.
Dallas couldn’t trust Tony Romo, whose stats
aren’t great or awful, but his only INT came after a 14 play,
79-yard drive to the Green Bay 1, where he was picked off by Charles
Woodson just short of the goal line to all but seal the loss.
Crappy quarterbacks throw picks in the redzone when the stakes are high
and your team is still in the game (ahem…jaycutler).
Aaron Rodgers earned some trust after righting the ship against the
Cowboys, and even the offensive line got in on the act, scattering 4
sacks against a good Dallas defense. Green Bay’s own
defense swarmed Romo all day, sacking him 5 times and hitting him
hard. It was a fun game to watch considering the score was 3-0
Packers going into the 4th quarter.
Pittsburgh couldn’t trust their special teams,
which gave up a return score for a revolting 7th straight game.
The 96-yarder in the 2nd quarter by the Bengals’ Bernard Scott
was the difference in the field-goal fest, which featured virtually no
offensive ball movement. 8 kicks went through either set of
uprights, and 6 of them were 32 yards or longer. Cincy’s
Cedric Benson and Steeler Troy Polamalu were both knocked out of the
game.
The Jets couldn’t trust their 4th-ranked defense to keep Jacksonville’s 21st-ranked offense from scoring a field goal to win the game. Philly couldn’t trust it’s offense,
which could only manage 23 points in San Diego despite getting 450
yards and two TD’s on 35 completions from Donovan McNabb.
We almost couldn’t trust New Orleans against
lowly St. Louis, who fought back in the game against a banged-up Saints
defense in the second half. The Saints’ stable of running
backs were able to save the day, but N.O. is hurting right now in the
secondary and the Saints’ date with New England in two weeks just
started looking a little tougher for Drew Brees & Company, who
committed 3 turnovers today.
Tampa bay already didn’t trust its defense,
who did set up a potential game-winning TD by picking off Chad Henne on
a horrific pass deep in Dolphin territory. But then that same
defense let the same QB march almost 80 yards in just over a minute to
win the game with a chip-shot field goal. Josh Freeman turned in
his second solid performance in as many starts, and has Tampa Bay
feeling optimistic for the future.
And finally, if you can trust anything in the NFL right now, as much as it pains me in a profound and intimate way to say it, you can trust in Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings offense.
It’s something that I have to come to grips with, and it might as
well happen sooner rather than later. I know they played the
Lions today, and I know the final score of 27-10 isn’t even that
big of a blowout, but Minnesota made it look effortless.
AP looked very healthy and well rested (18 carries for 133, 2 TD)
after the bye week, galloping through tackles and cutting with
precision. Acceleration, burst, violence, anger. Wait until
he plays an opponent that matters.
Brett Favre made Sydney Rice look like some kind of freak
combination of Randy Moss and Jerry Rice, which he isn’t, but he
was against Detroit. This game wasn’t close, ever.
Minnesota left points on the board, which is an issue, but it
doesn’t matter. This team isn’t f—ing around
anymore, and Favre will have these bastards ready to play the big games.
The Viking pass defense will need to improve, and Antoine Winfield
will likely have to be in top form to get past this New Orleans offense
in the playoffs, and Jared Allen may have to show up for a game not
against Green Bay (1 tackle, 0 sacks on Sunday), but this offense is
serious. Brett Favre is currently projected to finish the season
with almost 3900 yards, 32 TD’s and 6 picks. Brady and
Manning might throw for more yards, but at 40, leading a team that was
a mess offensively last season to a dominating regular season in 2009,
Favre still has to be the favorite to win it.
After typing that last sentence, I am going to go drink beer, eat chicken wings, and cry, all at the same time.
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