Brown out

WEEK 9
I thought the Pats would be 6-2 at the halfway point of the season. That was my ceiling.

6-2 it is. That is a good first half regardless of what happened in Cleveland.  In a year when any team can beat any other team, and not just in the old "any given Sunday" cliched way but in a real way, the fact that the Pats are 6-2 is a sign that the team has done a lot more right than wrong so far.

Except for today. That was a day of wrong. The two-win Browns 34, the six-win Pats 14. Can it be chalked up to just one of those games? Or an exploiting of some of the team's weaknesses? The next two weeks will answer that.

WEEK 9: Outsmarted.

The Browns jumped on the Pats for 10 points in the opening four minutes, thanks to a quick field goal drive and then a botched kickoff by Sammy Morris that led to an even quicker Patrick Hillis touchdown. The two teams traded a few punts before Brady led the offense on an 11-play touchdown drive that ended with Hernandez catching a pass that tipped off fellow rookie tight end Gronkowski. The drive began a lot less enjoyably. Brady dropped back and got sacked for a 9-yard loss to set up a 2nd-and-19 from the New England 12. The Pats were starting to look like they did against the Ravens in the playoffs last year.

Then they made a smart decision. They went no huddle early in the second quarter. Brady hit Gronkowski for a 22-yard completion and the offense no-huddled in for a huge TD to cut the score to 10-7. The Pats were back on their feet and back in the game. The winner would be decided by which team could make more plays the rest of the way. The final score will tell you which team that was.

I could go into how the Browns made a huge third down play inside the Pats 20 to keep the next drive alive and then scored on a trick play where student (Mangini) got the best of teacher (Belichick). Or how Gronkowski had the ball ripped from his hands on a first-down play at the Browns' 3-yard line with 22 seconds left in the half that killed an impressive -- and crucial -- two-minute drive. Or how the Pats started the second half with two weak drives while the Browns were putting up 10 more points to push the score 27-7 by the end of the third quarter. Or how rookie QB Colt McCoy rode a great running game to victory. I could go into all of that. But why bother? The spouting heads on radio and TV will be doing that all week. I say plug in your iPod.

Fact is the Browns outcoached, outplayed, and outsmarted the Patriots for much of the game. They deserved to win. Once again the Pats defense allowed more than 400 yards in offense. That just can't continue. That's not bend but don't break. That's bend and about to snap. The offense continues to run hot and cold. Most importantly, the Pats lost the turnover battle and that almost always costs you on the road. There's a lot for Belichick to work on to get ready for the two biggest back-to-back games of the year.

So the Patriots are at 6-2. Next up: At Pittsburgh, which could be 6-2 if they win on the road in Cincy tomorrow night. In a season where there are no sure things, the Pats going into the land of the towels and winning big would not surprise. In fact, I feel good about that happening.

Shut your trap

It'll be three more Sundays before I get to go back to Gillette. I would say I need the break after the past few weeks, but I really don't. I'm ready for the next home game. That will be an evening affair against Manning and the Colts, the first in what will be four huge home games in the second half of the season. After the renewal of the greatest rivalry in sports is done, the Pats will have another huge home game two weeks after that. Monday night against the Jets. Ya, that will be fun. It's been a great season of tailgating and it promises to get even better.

BELICHICK & MANGINI: Et tu, Eric?

But first the Patriots look for their third road win of the season. They only won two all of last year. They get two shots at it in the next two weeks. The second one will be at Pittsburgh -- a huge road game. But first the Pats play the proverbial trap game. In Cleveland. A fitting setting.

After playing against Miami, Baltimore, San Diego, and Minnesota, a game against the 2-5 Browns might not get the juices flowing. But when you are 6-1 there really are no trap games. Every win -- no matter the opponent -- is a step closer to a division title, the playoffs, and the all important first-round bye. Add to that the fact that it's against Eric "The Rat" Mangini and there is no way that Belichick won't have his team up for this one. No way.

The Belichick-Mangini feud is at the heart of the dreaded Spygate. It was Mangini -- who left the Pats to coach the Jets (it's always the Jets) -- who ratted on his former boss about his little video side-business. It didn't seem to matter to Mangini that just the year before he was a clerk manning the counter at the Pats Video Mania store. You would think his conscious would have prevented him from pointing the finger. Instead he gave his mentor the finger -- and a feud was born.

Mangini had a great first season with New York, taking a 4-12 team to 10-6 and a playoff berth. The Jets then met the Pats in the first-round of the playoffs at Gillette (one of my favorite playoff games) and Belichick's team shredded them 37-16. Revenge was sweet. Mangini lasted two more years with the Jets, the last one ending with Brett Favre throwing pick after pick to turn an 8-3 start into a 9-7 collapse. Mangini was gone.

Surprisingly -- no, shockingly -- the Browns hired him about a week later. And Mangenius proceeded to take down all the photos of the great Cleveland Brown players that adorned the walls of the team's facility. And there were a lot of great players from some great team's. Thumbing your nose at a franchise's history (one scarred by the team leaving town for Baltimore) is an interesting way to say hello. The Browns stumbled to 5-11 in Mangini's first year and it was actually uglier than the record indicates.

The team started this year by luring Mike Holmgren in as GM to set the organization back on its feet. I was sure the first thing he would do is fire the Rat. As is often the case, I was wrong. After a face-to-face meeting Holmgren decided to stick with Mangini. I can't imagine it was his personality that won him over.

That seems to me to be Mangini's biggest problem so far as head coach. He learned a lot of things from Belichick, but, at least to this point, it looks like he learned all the wrong things. Mangini acts as if Belichick's dour, secretive style is the key to his success. It's not of course. It's his coaching. Something Mangini is actually pretty good at.

The Browns -- although 2-5 -- have shown signs of improvement this year. They knocked off the Saints down in New Orleans and have been competitive in several of their losses. But they are still 2-5. Are they dangerous? Every team in the NFL is this year. Winless Buffalo included.

The Browns, with a strong running game and playmaking defense, are capable of winning. But if the Pats are upset on Sunday it won't be because they weren't up for the game. Belichick won't let his team fall into that trap.

The Grill-to-Go ... went

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE

Patriots 27, Browns 16 (12/9/'01): "Happy Father's Day!" My daughters Katie (14), Amy (11), and Jenny (9) stood with big smiles around a large present for me. It was by far the largest box I had ever gotten on Father's Day. I had no clue what it could be. We already had a large dog so I ruled that out. I was curious. Upon tearing open the paper with the gleeful help of the girls I saw standing in front of me a Grill-to-Go. A Grill-to-Go! It was the tailgating must-have item and I now had one. Thanks girls!

The Grill-to-Go was a somewhat space-age looking device when folded up -- its rounded, red body a sleek rocket shape. It sure looked ready to go. It was a great replacement for the charcoal and small propane grills that cluttered up all our car trunks. No more bags of charcoal and cans of lighter fluid. Easy to clean. A griddle for making eggs and bacon for the early morning tailgates. It was the hit of the 2001 tailgating season. At least the first three months of it.

Me, Paul, Bergs. and the Grill-to-Go arrived for the Week 13 game against the Browns. The Pats were at 7-5 and starting to ride the Brady wave that would wash them all the way to New Orleans. The wind chill was in the low 20s and there was a threat of snow. We tailgated among the snow banks and dirt piles rising high between the old stadium and the new one under construction. The lot was a mess. When the wind would blow the dirt would cover everything. You could feel it in your teeth. One tailgate Shep left a window open in his car. He was cleaning dirt out for years. To quote Mark: "Welcome to downtown Baghdad, boys."

We set up for the tailgate and I pulled out the Grill-to-Go. It was the first time for Paul. He was impressed. How could you not be? It went together like a dream and heated up quickly and evenly. The only glitch -- just a little one -- was the plastic tank at one end that the grease drained into. It had a little opening like at the top of a water bottle. Somehow you were supposed to get the grease out of there. But if there's one thing grease does, it's solidify quickly upon cooling. So by its seventh week in action the plastic grease tank was filled with old grease. As we sat in our chairs drinking and watching the burgers cook, we noticed the grease tank had caught fire. A small flame rising out of the little opening. I tried to put it out but it just kept burning and burning and burning... "Anything in the instruction manual about it also being used as a torch?" Bergs asked.

We ate and packed up the tailgate to get into the game. I had forgotten to turn the grill off and it was still hot. Too hot to put in the trunk. "How about we put it in the snowbank in front of the car and bury it so no one sees it and steals it," I said to Paul. He agreed with the plan. The Pats beat the Browns in a great battle to improve to 8-5. The highlight of the game was Troy Brown returning a punt 85 yards for a touchdown thanks to big blocks by Lawyer Milloy and Richard Seymour. I can still see the look on the punter's face -- the last man between Brown and the end zone -- as Seymour rumbled towards him to throw the block. One of the best moments of that year. Late in the game the weather turned nasty with a cold, wet snow. As we left the stadium the three of us decided to skip the postgame tailgate and hit the road. Paul and I jumped into my car and made an easy exit.

The next morning I was cleaning the supplies out of my car. Chairs. Table. Cooler. Grill? Where's the Grill-to-Go? Nowhere to be found. I thought back to the pre-game tailgate and an image of me burying the grill in a snowbank flashed before me. I lost the Grill-to-Go. That my three daughters gave me. Ruh roh. I figured I could just go out and buy a new one and they would never know the difference.

Then I heard a voice. "Hey Dad, where's the grill?" It was my always observant daughter Amy. "What happened to the Grill-to-Go?" The scene in the "Grinch" where the Santa imposter conned Cindy Lou Who into thinking he was taking the Christmas tree back to the North Pole to fix it ran through my head. But this turned out to be one of the few times a white lie eluded me. "I left it in a snowbank."

I often wonder if the Grill-to-Go sat in that snowbank till the next day when the snow began to melt and some member of the stadium staff noticed it sticking out. I picture him sitting on his deck at home, beer in hand, smelling his burgers cooking on my Grill-to-Go and watching the eternal flame burn from the plastic grease tank.