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Final Score
Jets 10
Patriots 20
View from Mt. Olympus: The records will have to wait another week. Mother Nature apparently isn’t a big fan of passing touchdowns, so Tom Brady (and to a lesser extent, Randy Moss) will have to make history over the final two weeks...assuming of course, they get some sunshine along the way.
I hope this performance puts to bed the “Patriots can’t run the ball” nonsense once and for all. Of course they can run the ball. But when you have the type of passing attack they do, why would you want to? It was nice to see Laurence Maroney run hard and run well. The kid has a world of talent and should post big numbers when called upon to do so. One of these days, his breakaway speed is going to pay big dividends.
I’m often amused when Bill Belichick is asked during press conferences about being concerned at the lack of “balance” on offense. You know what his response always is? “All I care about is scoring points. I don’t care how we do it.” I know people like to believe in those old axioms about “running the ball to set up the pass” and you need a balanced attack. But when push comes to shove, all that matters is scoring more points than the opposition. With all the fancy game-planning and stuff, it really is as simple as Belichick says. If not, the Vikings (with their top notch running game and great run defense) would be 14-0, not the Patriots.
Sure was nice to see the return of Richard Seymour, wasn’t it? I realize New England’s defense emphasizes scheme over individual numbers and that the All-Pro defensive lineman is probably still doing things that don’t show up on the stat sheet or the average fans radar, but with his reputation, you expect more, don’t you? This was the first time all year I felt Seymour altered the course of a game. Let’s hope it was just a case of #93 rounding into form after that knee injury and that this is just the start of a monster run to close out the season. (Also good to see the Invisible Man, Eugene Wilson, in the right place at the right time on a couple of occasions)
Did you notice what fantastic shape the field was in? I guess keeping the tarp on the field until shortly before game-time works. Why didn’t the Pats think of that years ago when they were a pound it out team and the Colts (or other finesse) teams were passing based? LOL!
That’s the view from here…how did you see it? Was I the only one surprised that the Belichick-Mangini midfield meeting was civil compared to previous encounters? Where are all my “they’re going to lose one somewhere along the way” guys now? Is Miami going to do it? NY Giants? The ONLY team that has a chance is Indy, assuming the Colts get there.
I'm with you Teddy.
The so-called experts who say the Pats can't run don't seem to understand that the Pats just don't prefer to run. Going in to today Maroney averaged 4.2 ypc. That's pretty good, in fact that's better than Joseph Addai's 4.1.
Now that Miami has won a game what is their motivation?
That game could be ugly.
I don't like the Pats chances of beating Miami next week. I have no reason to feel this way, but that is what my instinct tells me.
I don't know that the Pats can take all that many positives out of this game, Teddy.
They beat an awful team by 10 points and, if Nugent makes that FG in the 4th quarter, they may very well have had to fight for a win against a team that Vegas, and any football fan, knows is probably 3 TDs worse than the Patriots.
The fact that they ran the ball against the Jets means nothing. You could put my grandmother in the backfield vs the Jets with the Pats' receivers and she would average 5 yards a carry... The Jets were down to their backup QB and made more than a game of it.
So- the strategy for the Dolphins and Giants is simple... Start your #2 QB (as the Eagles and Ravens did) and take your chances. G-Men will probably be fighting for their playoff lives so that will not be a walkover.
BTW- who were the morons who decided to throw ice balls at the Jets in the 4th quarter? I thought NE fans were classier than that... That's something I'd expect to see out of New York fans but not New England...
boiver, what gave you the impression that us new england/boston fans had class. I think we rank right up there with new yorkers and philly fans. and we don't always throw ice balls and other projectiles, but the jets deserved it. I'll admit it, i too was at the game yesterday and i was throwing anything i could get my hands on. i even threw stuff at patriots players. the only bad part was that mangini didn't catch an ice ball to the face
G-Men are already in, though after watching them last night, I wouldn't exactly call them a playoff team.
Why shouldn't I be impressed that the Pats ran the ball on the Jets despite conditions that took away any threat of a passing game and allowed Mangenius to load up on the line? Perhaps you should have your grandmother call the Steelers for a tryout, because that "powerful" running game couldn't get a thing going against this very same Jets squad.
I think the problem, folks, is that the Patriots set such a high standard of excellence early in the season, we're now looking for things to nit-pick about. That game was never in doubt yesterday. So what if the final was only 20-10? They won 3 Super Bowls by a field goal each. A 10-point win is a cakewalk!
Hey, Teddy P. You are absolutely right. Why should we be worried about the pats only winning by 10. It was a game played in sloppy conditions. Bottom line we got the W and are still undefeated.