Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Final Score
Jaguars 20
Patriots 31

View from Mt. Olympus: Never in doubt!

I don’t care what the final score was. I don’t care how close the score was along the way. Answer me honestly; was there any point in the game where you thought the Patriots were in trouble? Any point at all that you thought they weren’t going to win this game? Not for me.

Not once did the Jaguars defense stop the Patriots, except when the Pats weren’t trying on the final drive. Punter Chris Hanson didn’t need to shower. Seriously, they could have played another four quarters and Tom Brady would have had the Pats in scoring position on every single drive.

Speaking of #12, let’s end this “best ever” debate once and for all. Tom Brady is the greatest Quarterback to ever put on a set of shoulder pads…no more ifs, ands or buts about it. Facing a supposedly good defense, Tom Terrific shredded the Jags, not throwing his first incompletion till the second half. In fact, he only threw two incompletions in 28-attempts, both of which should have been caught. Wes Welker, who caught everything else, dropped one right in his hands with nobody around him. And the other one that Ben Watson could have caught, he was being held by the defensive back the entire time anyway. Most Patriots fans didn’t need the new playoff record for completion percentage to confirm it, but the rest of the football world must now acknowledge the truth; Brady is the best ever. Even Joe Montana never put up post-season stats like these.

A few other thoughts; I can’t tell you how sick and tired I was of listening to people talk about how tough and physical the Jaguars were. There is not a tougher, more physical team than the Patriots. Just look at how they beat up the opposition and how poorly the opposition plays the following week to understand what I’m talking about. If the rest of the NFL and the pundits think the Pats are a finesse team, they’re sadly mistaken. It’s OK to give other teams their due, but never make the mistake of thinking another squad can beat Bill Belichick’s boys because they’re tougher than them.

Rodney Harrison is playing like a crazy man. I wish he’d tone it down a bit, because those late hit penalties could come back to haunt them against the Colts. (Yes, they’re playing the Colts next week. San Diego doesn’t stand a chance!) However, Rodney has to walk a fine line, because he needs that intensity to be the difference maker he’s been the last half of the season. 4-consecutive playoff games with picks speaks for itself. As long as he keeps making plays to atone for them, he’ll be forgiven the occasional unnecessary roughness penalties.

So the Patriots have no running game? Laurence Maroney can’t carry the load? Those yards against the Jets and Dolphins were meaningless because he wouldn’t be able to do it against a good defense? Well, either the Jacksonville defense is highly overrated, or those of you who doubted Maroney and the running game have to finally admit you’re wrong. The kid played the game of his career and is a threat to bust a long TD run every time he touches the ball.

One final thought on Pats-Colts; it will be the biggest conference championship contest ever. 16-0 vs. 14-2 regular season teams meeting eclipses that 1991 Giants-49ers showdown where the G-Men were 13-3 and the Niners 14-2, though I believe both teams were 10-0 at one point during the season.

I can’t wait for that game. It is the true Super Bowl, with all due respect to whoever comes out of the NFC.

That’s the view from here…how did you see it?