3 posts tagged “patriots”
There we sat, a world of fans and football watches, casual observers and die hards alike. It was a moment of silence, a single moment in history when we knew not what to say. Tom Brady, hero of a hundred games and MVP, stepped back, and lobbed it deep. Here and now, the hail marry to end it all. It was simple, these were the Patriots. Moss was going to catch it, shake a safety and trot into the endzone. The cannons would sound, the confetti would fall and the champions would revel. It was all planned out, the hats were ready, the books printed the papers fresh off the press. It was all as was ordained. The Perfect Patriots, the champions of the world, the heroes of the NFL universe. We all were to bask in the perfection of their season. The perfect franchise, the greatest dynasty.
And then something happened, the ball fell to the ground, no flag, no mystery calls. Silence, for just a moment. New England was defeated, the monster lay slain. As one second ticked off, and then back on, the clock, the game ended. Three fourth quarter changes in the lead, one amazing helmet-pinned catch. Like the Tackle, and the Catch, this moment is forever. Eli Manning dropping back, the pressure, the pass the catch. It wasn't a touchdown, it wasn't the last play of the game, but it was symbolic of everything that happened this Sunday. It was improbable, impossible and no one believed it happened. I was on my feet, floored. And there you have it, 17-14, the Giants win. You'll hear the lamentations for a hundred years, and you'll remember that catch forever. But what does it mean?
18 and Done
No other Super Bowl, and no other team, seemed to be as ordained as this Patriots team was. From the brutal
Tom Brady holds the record for most touchdowns in a season by a quarterback. He is the youngest ever back to reach four Super Bowls, and until Sunday, he was the youngest ever Quarterback to win four Super Bowls. Randy Moss stood triumphant over Jerry Rice's 22 touchdowns, cruising his way to immortality as the man who made the Patriots perfect. Even the 'scrappy-do' of the Patriots, Wes Welker, whose amazing 11 catches tied a Super Bowl record, was ordained to become great. But then it all faded away. Perhaps it was karma, because the Patriots broke the rules. Maybe it was fate, because nothing perfect was built to last, who knows. Was this the Tower of football Babel? Did the gods of football strike down those impudent men, seeking to reach the unseen heights of perfection? They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Well, perhaps the road to failure this season was paved with perfection.
Now this season stands as a lament, a forgotten song. 19-0 is gone forever. The most potent offense in the history of football, stronger than the Browns of the 50's, more powerful than the Cowboys of the 90's or the Greatest Show on Turf in St. Louis, this New England team was unstoppable. Moss was amazing, and when you shut him down, Stallworth stepped up. When neither was there, Wes Welker appeared to be a safety valve. We fans got to see one of the greatest teams in the history of sports play. Every pass was perfect, every down used and treasured. Brady's long list of accomplishments was dotted with perhaps the most perfect performance in playoff history, when against the Jaguars brutal defense he went 26 of 28 for three touchdowns and 262 yards. Lawrence Maroney appeared out of no where to give the Pats a run game, and suddenly, in the cold and in the 4th quarter and when it mattered most, the Patriots re-emerged into their traditional, no-nonsense self. And then, to finalize their season, they came up short. Perfection was just inches away, and they missed it. Back to Tantalus, stuck between the Super Bowl and perfection, both pulled away once more. Does the season end without meaning? In some ways, yes. 18-1 is nothing, not if that -1 came when it mattered most. But this season was amazing for the Patriots. let us not deny that this game was an upset. This New England team was the strongest team I have ever seen. But even the strongest team, can fail, that is why we watch the sport.
David slays Goliath
The Band is on the Field, the Kick is Good, the game is over. Victory, over defeat. The scrappy band of nobodies upset the giants. It's so sweet it could be a movie. But what does it mean? Beyond capping a miracle 11-road win season in which the Giants, picked by certain bloggers to not even make the post season and loose their head coach in the offseason, reached the Super Bowl, this game was it. This game was the Miracle on Ice, where the West beat the East, where the Giant fell and the little team that could managed to shock the world. This is why we watch the game, to see the unbelievable, the unexpected, and the amazing. Like Iron Mike Tyson going down, and the Titans coming up short, this ending was one for a lifetime. The Giants will be remembered not just as the winners of Super Bowl XLII, but as the team that succeeded where 18 others, including themselves, had failed.
The Giants played the part of justice, blindly bringing about the end of a season of anger, frustration and hatred. The Pats ran up the score, they rubbed it in, they were cocky, superior and 'the best'. The Giants were an afterthought. Come on, the AFC Championship was the Super Bowl right? I myself considered not even turning the game on unless it came close. Boy was I wrong. The irony of all of this was, it wasn't like the Giants got lucky, or the ball bounced their way. Occasionally (like when a fumbled hand-off got flat out robbed by the Giants) luck titled for the Giants, but overall there was nothing spectacular. It was the Giants who first coughed up a turn over, and the Giants who failed twice in the redzone. It wasn't luck that let the 4-down linemen of New York abuse the Patriots O-line and for the first time since 1/2 of the Dallas game, make Tom Brady earn his plays. In the most impressive O-line, D-line battle I've ever seen, the Patriots flat out lost. The one tool that has forever been the key to the New England success, finally failed, and it failed gloriously.
The Giants defensive effort is the best I have ever seen. It was better than the 70's Steelers, who towered over lesser opponents and ground their way to 4 rings. It was better than the 85 Bears, whose defense not only stopped the Patriots, but put them in reverse. It was even better than the Ravens defense, whose supremely physical style set the standard for defenses in the modern league. The Giants, with young corners and old linebackers, managed to stop an offense that had not put up fewer that 20 points all season, and in fact had averaged 36.8 points per game. 37 points a game! And the Giants held this monster to 14. They did it by pressing the line, making (most) tackles and covering down the field. Brady got pressured, so Brady had to throw early. His receivers, so used to having the time to run routes, had to improvise, and too often it didn't work. 5 sacks and tons of hits left the Patriots breathless, and the Giants victors. So, I apologize to Tom Coughlin, who I disregarded, and Eli Manning, who I doubted. I was wrong, and never have I ever been more glad.
Really, there is only one image you need to see to remember this game forever.
It was the Great Escape, and the Catch IV.
It was Giants 17, Patriots 14.
And I loved it. This is why we watch the game.
A long time ago, in a Meadowlands not too far away...
triking with a noodle-armed quarterback, have won their first victory
against the evil New England Patriots since 2002.
After the battle, Patriot spies managed to steal the
secrets of New York's super weapon...
ok, their 'decent' weapon...
the OFFENSE, a decently balanced weapon
with the potential to upset the Patriots.
Pursued by the Patriot's sinister defense,
the bold young Chad Pennington races to victory,
custodian of a just-good-enough team that can
upset the juggernaught...
It is a dark time for the New York Jets
Although the Patriots were defeated,
they won when it mattered most.
The Belichick Man-Hug pursued the
young Mangini was driven to flee.
Evading the secret cameras, the Jets
continued on their quest to the post season.
Led by the intrepid young Mangini, the Jets
have established a new running game
with the ice-planet Thomas Jones.
The evil Bill Belichick, obssessed with finding
the young Eric Mangini, has dispatched
thousands of spy cameras to hunt him down,
seeking a way to defeat the New York Jets...
Episode VI: Return of the Patriots
Bill Belichick has returned to his former home,
the New York Jets, where he coached for a day.
Now he returns to rescue his lossless season
and destroy his nemesis in New York.
Little does Mangini know that the evil
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS are preparing
for the largest win in the history of football.
Using the powerful new weapon,
the Death Moss.
When rolling, this ultimate weapon is
unstoppable and will spell certain
doom for the Jets struggling
to defeat the hated Patriots and
end perfection...
~~
4th Quarter:
| 3rd and 9 at NE 24 | (14:17) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass short left to D.Stallworth to NE 39 for 15 yards. | ||
| 1st and 10 at NE 39 | (13:34) H.Evans right guard to NE 49 for 10 yards | ||
| 1st and 10 at NE 49 | (12:50) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass deep right to R.Moss pushed ob at WAS 16 for 35 yards. |
| 1st and 10 at WAS 16 | (12:25) H.Evans left end to WAS 8 for 8 yards | ||
| 2nd and 2 at WAS 8 | (11:44) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass incomplete short right to D.Stallworth. | ||
| 3rd and 2 at WAS 8 | (11:37) PENALTY on NE-D.Koppen, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 8 - No Play. | ||
| Timeout #2 by NE at 11:37. | |||
| 3rd and 7 at WAS 13 | (11:37) (Shotgun) K.Faulk right guard to WAS 7 for 6 yards. | ||
| 4th and 1 at WAS 7 | (11:02) T.Brady left guard to WAS 5 for 2 yards. |
I've bolded the important part. 11:02 left, up by a score of 45-0, the Patriots are on the Washington 7, and the Redskins finally get a stop (of 11 potential stops, the Redskins managed only 3). Most teams, up by 45, would kick a field goal and walk off the field with a 48 point lead. At that point, for the Patriots to loose, the Redskins would have to score 7 times, or in another view, the Skins would have to score once every 1.5 minutes to win the game. As a note, in the one scoring drive the Redskins managed, it took 2:39 to get down the field from their 37. At that rate, and assuming the Redskins recovered every single onside kick and scored on the kickoff return after the field goal, the Redskins still could not have won the game.
My estimate would be like this:
Score-Time left
7-10:45
14-8:06
21-5:33
28-2:57
35-0:16
This particular scenario would have only occurred if the Skins recovered 4 onside kicks, and they still would have come up short! At 45-35, the Patriots still have a 2 score lead on the Redskins. They would have to toss a Hail Mary, get the 7, recover the onside kick and get down the field for another 7 or 3, with only 16 seconds left. This is impossible, and if it did happen it would have been the greatest comeback in all of sports history, not just football. Didn't happen, couldn't happen, wasn't ever going to happen.
4th down and 2, Brady runs for the first. Brady, the star QB without whom the Patriots would be winless, risked injury to gain a first down in a meaningless game in a position for a gimme field goal. Why? Because Bill Belichick is the most confident, cocky and insulting coach to ever coach in football. The game was won, this move was to spit in the eye of a fallen opponent. The Patriots will win a lot of games this year, but you better believe they will be the most hated team of all time. They have thrown sportsmanship and being a humble winner out the window. The Patriots want to win 16 games and get the ring, so they can be in the history book. But it will be a dark memory.
