Perfect day for imperfect football

WEEK 3

Patriots 38. Bills 30 (9/26/'10): As Mark and I stood in the parking lot on a beautiful late-September Sunday eating pulled-pork sandwiches (served in a sauce of apple cider vinegar, mustard, ketchup, hot pepper, and brown sugar) with homemade cole slaw, we both agreed the Pats needed to not just beat the very beatable Bills, they needed to look sharp in all phases of the game doing it.

A few cocktails later we walked into the stadium with Mark's brother Adam and his three teenage daughters (their first game) to the sounds of the Who. The much-maligned Gillette crowd was buzzing in every sense of the word. We knew that Brady wouldn't need us to be too vocal for the Pats to take Buffalo. I thought what a perfect day for Don Julio margaritas, er, I mean a perfect day for football.


It was a perfect day for football. Just not perfect football. 

WEEK 3: A win is a win.

The Pats looked sharp on offense -- putting up 38 points on 200 yards rushing and 245 passing -- and the Brady to rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez connection is fast becoming an another big weapon. As for the other phases of the game?

Well, not even a few Don Julios could make the defense and kicking game look good. The D had two interceptions (Chung, Meriweather) but only forced the Bills to punt once. The Bills -- a team that had scored a total of 17 points in its first two games -- rolled up 30 on 374 yards of offense. Buffalo had to settle for field goal attempts on four drives, and they often stopped themselves on those possessions. The Pats defense has now given up 24, 28, and 30 points. That's 82 points through three weeks. Only four teams have allowed more and they have a combined two victories. There's no disguising it. The D is not good enough. What's that? The defense really only gave up 23 points yesterday?

Right. That brings us to the other phase of the game that is not good enough. Special teams.

The Pats opened the second half with a quick, 5-play drive that ended with the second Brady-to-Moss TD pass of the day. Pats 24, Buffalo 16. Just when it looked like the Patriots had taken command of the game, the kick-coverage team allowed rookie CJ Spiller to take the ball 95 yards for a touchdown. Spiller is a fast playmaker, but the Pats special teams tackling was sad. As was Zoltan Mesko's punts. The rookie's 37.7-yard average on three punts was also not good enough

But it was an entertaining -- if not encouraging -- day at Gillette. Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis -- with the trade of Maroney and injury to Faulk -- is now, suddenly, an important part of the offense. Against the Bills he ran for 98 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown. He looked good enough. As did the passing game of Brady, Moss, Welker, Hernandez, et al.

Enjoying the postgame hot dogs and beer with Shep and Matt, I started thinking about the play of the offensive line (solid as always), the running game, young players like Hernandez, McCourty, and Chung. I started to feel optimistic about the team's chances of going into Miami next Monday night and finally -- finally! -- getting the big road win.

Then I got home and turned on the Dolphins-Jets Sunday night game. What a game. Two great defenses each gave up more than 400 yards and yet made big plays when needed. Two questionable offenses showed they have the mental toughness to put together long, crucial drives. Both teams played at a much higher level than the Pats. As the Jets defense made the last big play to pull out a huge road win, I thought are the Pats good enough to win a game like that?

At the moment: No. Not good enough.

True grit

The Patriots have officially hit their season's quota for injuries. Tory Holt. Ty Warren. Leigh Bodden. Brandon McGowan. And now the biggest of all. Kevin Faulk.

The team named four captains this year. Tom Brady. Vince Wilfork. Jerod Mayo. And Faulk. The other three are all important parts of the team. No doubt. But there really is only one captain. Faulk.

FAULK: Broken clutch.

News that the veteran running back/jack-of-all-trades will miss the rest of the season with a torn knee ligament caps off an all around lousy second week for the Pats. But Laurence Maroney's trade, the collapse against the Jets, and Brady's dissing of the home crowd combined don't add up to the loss of the team's true leader.

I heard DA say on the Sports Blab 98.5 (he's the only guy on that station I can really stand to listen to) that the Pats need some guys with "snot." So true. For a team devoid of snot, the loss of Kevin Faulk is a big one. No one played with more snot than he did in so many different roles.

I have Faulk rated ninth on my list of the top 15 Pats of the Super Bowl decade. If you've been watching the team during their championship run (and before) then you, like me, can't count the many clutch plays that Faulk made. Whether returning kicks, catching a big third down pass, or picking up a blitzer, #33 almost always came through when it really counted. You could count on it. And he's done it with class. (Excluding that minor marijuana incident a few years back, but hey, it's the NFL).

The Pats will be able to replace Faulk's on-the-field duties in time. Julian Edelman can take the role of out of the backfield pass catcher and there are lots of candidates to return kicks. Sammy Morris will also be asked to do more, filling the role of blocker and receiver. But there are no candidates to fill the leadership void. Maybe this will spur the team to solve the puzzling Logan Mankins contract standoff. Mankins would help with protecting Brady and bring some snot back to the offense.

There was much speculation that, at age 34, this is the end of Faulk's career. If it is, he goes out with an amazing list of accomplishments in his 12 years with the team. He is the franchise's leader in all-purpose yards with an astounding 12,247. He also holds the team record for kickoff return yards (4,098). He's fifth in team history in rushing yards (3,550), fourth in catches (424), and tenth in pass receiving yards (3,667).

Those are the numbers. His true value has always been in his grit and determination. He's one of the team's all-time leaders in those categories too, and always will be.

Credit where credit is due

WEEK 2

I was trying to think of the words to describe how the Patriots played in the second half of their loss to the Jets yesterday. Out scored. Out coached. Out hustled. Out played. That doesn't capture how bad it was. I flipped on the NFL Network and caught some of Tom Brady's post-game press conference. "We just sucked," he said. Thanks, Tom. Those were the words I was looking for.



WEEK 2: Sour Apple.

 As Bergs and I sat in my den watching the Pats get outscored 18-0 in the second half we both had a strong sense of deja vu. We knew we had seen this before. Oh, that's right. We saw it last year in Denver, in Indy, in Miami, in Houston, and right there in New York. I had hopes the outcome of a big road game would be different this year. Not yet.


That was the theme of 2009. The Pats would face a big challenge against a good team on the road. They would start off very well, taking a lead into the second half, only to come apart at the seams. It was something the team had rarely done since their Super Bowl run started. Whatever problems the Pats face with the loss of the core of their championship D, the common assumption has been that as long as Brady and Belichick are on the top of their games then the team will be tough to beat. Clearly they are not on the top of their game and haven't been consistently since David Tyree caught that ball in the Super Bowl with his head. I keep thinking this is the week that will change. Not yet.



When Brady hit Moss for his ridiculous one-handed TD catch late in the second quarter I texted Mark "How much are you loving this team?" He responded "A ton." So was I. It was the same way I felt when the Patriots took control of all those games last year. The team looked a step ahead of the Jets -- and then suddenly they were a step behind.

Also like many of last year's biggest losses the Pats left a lot of points on the field in the first half. Brady took the opening drive for 15 plays and nearly 9 minutes. Runs by Taylor and Faulk. Passes to Welker, Hernandez, and Gronkowski. It was a sharp, well-balanced attack. It stalled on 3rd-and-9 at the NY 14 when Welker came up a yard short. Gostkowski hit the field goal but an inexcusable delay of game penalty brought it back five yards and then Gostkowski missed his second try. Three points lost.

After the D held the Jets to three and out Brady and the offense put together another 15-yard drive and capped it with a TD pass to Welker. Pats were up 7-0. The Jets D had been on the field for all but about a minute of the first quarter. The Jets were already on the ropes. A quick stop by the D and the Jets defense would have been gassed before the first half was over. The Jets season -- as early as it was -- was hanging in the balance. And they responded.

Sanchez faced a 3rd-and-6 at his own 27. Punt here and the Pats would have a chance to take command of the game for good. That's when Sanchez put it together. He hit Braylon Edwards for 13 yards and a first down. Then Banta-Cain got through for a sack putting the Jets in 2nd-and-20. Another chance to get Brady the ball back. Sanchez connected for 24 yards on the next two plays and drove his team all the way down for a huge touchdown to tie the score.

Brady then hit Moss for the one-handed catch and it looked like they would come out of a first half they dominated with a touchdown lead. But the Jets got the ball on their own 20 with just 53 seconds in the half and drove 7 plays to set up a field goal as time expired. 14-10 Pats.

I said to Bergs that the Pats just had to win the turnover battle in the second half and they would win. Second-half turnovers: Pats 3, Jets 0. Second-half points: Jets 18, Pats 0. As always, turnovers are the key.

But so is coaching, and playmaking, and tackling. The Pats did very little of those things in the second half. There were re a lot of key moments in the second half and the Jets made a play on almost every one they faced. And that was without Pro Bowlers Revis and Mangold. Everything broke the Pats way to get a huge road win. They still couldn't take advantage of it.

Give the Jets a Rex Ryan-size amount of credit. They had to win that game and they did. Convincingly. They kept making the plays to keep drives alive and came up with the turnovers. I didn't think the Jet offense could put up 20 points. They did that pretty easily. That's a great sign for them. Not so great for the Pats D.

The Pats second-half failures is now the key issue facing this team. ESPNBoston's Mike Reiss has a good story about it. He includes a stat I hadn't heard. In their last eight home games (not including the trip to London last year), the Pats have been outscored 116-41 in the second half. That says it all. If the Patriots can fix that problem they will be a serious contender. If not, they'll be lucky to make the playoffs.

They'll get another chance in Miami on a Monday night in two weeks.

50-50-1

PATS-JETS: Football holy war.

The Patriots and Jets have played 101 games against each other since the two original AFL franchises were formed in 1960. The record: Pats 50 wins, Jets 50 wins. 1 tie. Now that makes for a truly great rivalry.

This week adds another entertaining chapter as the Patriots go into the spankin' new Meadowlands to face Gang Green in what is a huge game even though it's only the second week of the season. The 2010 Super Bowl champs got off to a rough start on Monday night, committing an amazing number of penalties and mistakes in losing to the Ravens at home. The also-ran Pats got off to quite a different start, looking very sharp in all phases of the game in handily beating the Bengals.

Which trend will continue?

For the Jets it's a must-win situation. A loss would mean starting off the season 0-2 at home, 0-2 in the AFC, and 0-2 in backing up Rex Ryan's tough talk. Not many teams can drop their first two homes games and rebound to have a playoff caliber season. It would require that they go nearly perfect on the road -- and winning on the road in the NFL is not easy. Just ask the Pats.

They went 2-6 on the road last year with their only two wins coming against lowly Buffalo and Tampa Bay. Fortunately they went 8-0 at home but the team's inability to gut out a road win was indicative of their overall lack of guts. A win at New York -- no matter how ugly -- would be a clear sign that the 2010 Patriots are going to be a team to reckon with.

The most noticeable difference for the Patriots in last week's win against the Bengals -- as compared to last year -- was the game plan. The Pats' offense looked flat and predictable and the defense looked lost and beatable in many games last year. It was unusual to see from a Belichick coached team. But it was a coaching staff -- and team -- in transition. So far through preseason and one real game the team looks more prepared and the game plan seems more creative.

The theme for 2010 in the NFL is coming down to one thing. Coaching. Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden had an excellent season-opening article, focusing on the Patriots, about the difference in styles between teams and coaches like Ryan and Belichick. Loud vs. quiet. Bragging vs. thinking. I enjoy watching and listening to Mt. Ryan. It's great he's coaching the Jets. He's just not the kind of guy I want coaching my team. I don't want my coach mouthing off every 15 minutes. I don't want him telling me how great his team is. I want him thinking about the next game, the next quarter, the next play to prove it. That's Belichick. While other coaches are whooping and hollering, Belichick is thinking and planning. That's been a big edge for the Pats this past decade.

That edge had dulled since the 18-1 season. That's going to happen during any great coach's time. Happened to Shula. Landry. Johnson. Cowher. But you just knew the edge would return, at least for a little while, at some point. It looks like it might be back.

And it's going to take a great coaching job to beat New York. Brady looked very comfortable in the pocket against Cincy. That won't be the case come Sunday. The Jets will be firing at him on almost every down. Ryan is as aggressive as he is loud. Belichick had two extra days to prepare for Ryan's defense. Both coaches are on a mission. One has already proven he can finish the job The other one just talks like he has.

One other factor: In the first game against New York last year the offense only scored nine points. In the second game it scored 31. The difference? Wes Welker. He'll be playing this time.

It comes down to two simple questions. Are chances good the Pats will score 20 points? Yes. Are chances good the Jets will score 20 points? No.

Make it 51-50-1. Advantage Patriots.

Opening thoughts

I work Tuesday through Saturday, which means I miss a lot of good college football. But it also means that on Mondays after a Pats victory I get to enjoy a day of watching all the highlights, coaches' press conferences, post-game reviews, and analysis on the NFL Network, ESPN, and ESPN News. When the Pats lose I'm a little more productive on Mondays.

It was an entertaining first week (thanks mostly to Wes Welker). Pete Carroll was beyond pumped and jacked as his Seahawks stunned the Niners 31-6. I'll say one thing for Carroll, he doesn't change. He wears his enthusiasm on his sleeve whether he's in New England, Southern California, or the great Northwest. His jumping around is fun to watch. It's just not a smart use of a coach's time to be running around high-fiving players and fist-pumping. He should keep his focus on the game. San Fran's Mike Singletary never loses his focus. In classic Singletary fashion, in his Monday press conference he thanked Carroll and the Seahawks for the stomping. "Tell Pete Carroll thank you very much for kicking our ass," Singletary said. "It was good medicine, and we're going to take it."

FOSTER: 42.30 fantasy points.

Speaking of ass kickings, Peyton Manning and the Colts' luck finally ran out against the Houston Texans. The Colts have stolen a few wins away from Houston the past few years. But this time, behind running back Arian Foster, the Texans jumped all over Indy early and often. Foster ran for 231 yards and three touchdowns. (I started him over Shonn Greene on my fantasy team -- if I could only be that smart all the time). The Network's Mike Lombardi found a silver lining for Indianapolis. "The Colts will bounce back and now they don't have to worry about the perfect season anymore." A perfect season? It's only fhe first week. Why would they already be worrying about that? Oh, right. They are the Colts.

The Patriots were the other easy winner of the day. My favorite play of the game: Pats opening drive, the offense faces a 2nd-and-five from the Cincy 8-yard line. They line up with Faulk in the backfield and Moss alone on the right. On the left, Welker lines up a few yards from the sideline with Rob Gronkowski just to his left and Alge Crumpler a step in front of him. Brady took the snap and chucked a quick pass to Welker who tucked himself in behind the twin towers of Gronk and Alge. They slammed the two defenders easily out of the way allowing Welker to scoot almost untouched into the end zone. The three new tight ends didn't take long to show the kind of impact they can have.

A key part of the success of the play was Moss, all alone on the right side, attracting the attention of four of the seven defensive backs/linebackers. A good example of the value of Moss even when he's not the focus of the play.

The Steelers survived the first of four games without Big Ben. If they are 3-1 or better when he gets back then they are a serious contender. The Skins won their first game under coach Mike Shanahan thanks mostly to Cowboys coach Wade Phillips. The Cowboys called a pitch-out play with four seconds left in the half and the ball inside their own 30. A fumble later the Skins scored an easy TD that proved the difference in the game. I don't get Jerry Jones's devotion to Phillips but I kind of respect it.

The Jaguars, Giants, Titans, Pack, and Lions also posted big opening victories. What? The Lions didn't win? How's that possible? Right. They got robbed.

The silver and blue finally won a road game after 21 straight defeats when receiver Calvin Johnson caught what looked like a winning TD pass only to have the refs rule that he didn't maintain control of the ball. Check the video below. He catches the ball, takes two steps as he goes to the ground, rolls halfway over (still with control of the ball), and as he goes to get up he puts the ball on the ground and drops it there to go celebrate. If it looks like a touchdown and smells like a touchdown ...

But the NFL's czar of officiating, Mike Pereira. said that the rule was properly interpreted and the touchdown correctly disallowed.

The rule says: "If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete."

So Johnson caught the ball, went to the ground, maintained control of the ball after touching the ground, and only lost the ball as he was getting back up off the ground. Yet the play was called correctly.

Huh. I guess now not only do you have to catch the ball and land on the ground for it to be a touchdown -- you also have to get up, shower, get in your Mercedes, and drive home all while maintaining possession of the ball.

Detroit, a team that needs every win it can get, should be 1-0. Haven't Lions fans suffered enough?

Talk the talk

WEEK 1
Patriots 38, Bengals 24 (9/12/'10): Lots to talk about after a convincing victory over Cincy in the home opener. And lots of people talking (right, Randy?). Wes Welker capped off his amazing return from knee surgery with two touchdowns. The offensive line protected Brady in the first half and then opened up holes for Fred Taylor in the key fourth quarter drive that put the game away.The young defense set the tone early with a total team tackling performance. Special teams made big plays. The fans enjoyed a great late summer day of tailgating and were in good spirits all afternoon long. As Shep said, even the moaners and the groaners who sit behind us were happy.

WEEK 1: Thumbs up.

The Pats set the tone right from the opening kick-off. Gostkowski boomed the ball deep and the Bengal return man was met at the 19-yard line by Kyle Arrington and Tracy White. Belichick and his staff cut some key special teams players in Eric Alexander, Ross Ventrone, and Pierre Woods. Clearly he felt it was time for some new blood there. They special teams players were flying around all day.

The defense started the game by forcing Cincy to punt on both its first quarter possessions,. The D then topped that in the second quarter by getting a fumble (Rob Ninkovich), forcing another punt, and then picking off Carson Palmer and taking it in for a touchdown (Gary Guyton). While the defense was doing that, the offense scored two touchdowns (Brady to Welker, Brady to Welker again) and added a field goal. Rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez caught a sideline pass and took it 45 yards on the opening scoring drive. Brady looked sharp. Guys were blocking downfield. The line was on its game, Mankins or no. The running game put up nearly 130 yards for the game. Running back by committee at its best.

Brandon Tate, building on his outstanding preseason, took the second half kick-off 67 yards for a touchdown. Pats 31, Bengals 3. What's on the grill for the post-game celebration? Uh oh. Spoke to soon. The Bengals offense got on track in the third quarter, scoring touchdowns on back-to-back 12 play drives. The defense did not look lost like it did in the preseason. The Bengals just finally started making some plays. The score was suddenly 31-17 and the Pats were in a position they were in several times last year. It was at this point that this year started to look very different from last year.

The Patriots got the ball with less than a minute to go in the third quarter and held the ball for a game-clinching 14-play, nearly eight minute drive. Last year the Pats would go three-and-out and the other team would take advantage of an exhausted defense. Not this time. Brady to Welker for 12 yards. To Moss (a great game) for 9. Then Fred Taylor took over. He would finish the game with 71 yards rushing. Brady would cap the 14-play drive with a beautiful throw and catch with Rob Gronkowski in the corner of the end zone. A game clincher.

Cincy would score another touchdown late in the fourth but the game was decided. The defense gave up too many yards in the second half, but for the most part the young players came through. Safety Pat Chung led the team with 16 tackles. Cornerbacks Butler and McCourty held their own against T.O. and Ochocinco when the two stars weren't in the locker room Tweeting. Ocho had 12 catches and a touchdown but it was too little too late. The defense only recorded one sack but was often in Carson Palmer's face. That's different from last year too.

The biggest difference from last year -- for one game at least -- was that the Pats looked in control of the game. They rarely confused their opponents last year on either side of the ball. The Bengals often looked off balance yesterday while the Pats played like a team with a plan. That's something to talk about.

The one doing the most talking was, of course, Randy Moss. I was hoping he would restrict his talking to the field. Guess not. He decided he needed to expand on his comments from the other day about his contract. OK, we get it Randy. You love playing for the Patriots and want to do it for several more years. Hopefully the Pats do too. Enough talking.

Except in the locker room. Tedy Bruschi started a post-game tradition of the "Oooooh yaaaaaa!" chant after a victory. For those who think Belichick's teams get no joy from their pursuit of victories, take a look at those post-game moments. From the video below, it looks like Randy has become the guy to carry on the tradition. This is the kind of talking I want to hear from him.

Your 2010 New England Patriots...

The Pats open another football season tomorrow at home against Cincy. Fall is here. My favorite time of year. If only every day could be 67 degrees with a few wispy clouds and a cool breeze. And with football. At least for the next several months there will be football.

The Patriots finished 10-6 last year. Then they got steamrolled by the Ravens in the playoffs.The question going into 2010 is a simple one. Are the Patriots better than last year -- or will they take a step back?

BELICHICK: On a mission.

Some years it's easy to answer that question. At the start of training camp it seemed like this was one of those years. The Pats would be better. How better would depend on how many of the young players would become reliable playmakers, especially on defense and special teams. Welker is back. Brady, Moss, and Taylor are all healthy and have the look of focus. The offensive line is a rock. Big Vince was signed and happy. The young players on D would benefit from the experience -- good and bad -- they gained last year. Finally, Belichick has a history of getting his team motivated by their failures. Like that playoff game last year.

But then things started to happen. Pro Bowl lineman Logan Mankins didn't come to camp and made it clear he would sit out the season if he didn't get more than the $35 million the team reportedly offered him. Linebacker Derrick Burgess also didn't come to camp, not because he didn't like his contract (he had just signed an extension) but because he was thinking of retiring. Then things really took a turn for the worse. Defensive stalwart Ty Warren was ruled out for the season with a hip injury. Shortly after that, starting cornerback Leigh Bodden went down for the year with a bad shoulder. Then Brandon McGowan -- one of the young hitters on the D -- was put on the IR with a chest injury. Combine all that with a couple of sloppy preseason losses and my optimism was taking a hit.

But even with all that I still get the sense that this team -- youth and all -- is on a mission. They were embarrassed at home by the Ravens. With that loss as motivation, Belichick will have Brady and the offense locked in. That's why he drafted monster tight ends Gronkowski and Hernandez. It's much like 2007. The year before the Pats had blown a large lead in the AFC title game against the Colts. Belichick went out and got Moss and Welker and Stallworth. Brady and the offense broke almost every single-season record imaginable. If the injury bug doesn't start hitting the offensive side of the ball then the Pats should have an even better offense.

The defense was not as big a problem last year as many seem to remember. It was actually the offense that made huge mistakes late in games against Miami, Denver, Indy, and Houston that were largely responsible for those games ending as losses. The defense had trouble getting off the field but the offense had chances to lock up games and failed. The defense had similar trouble getting off the field in the preseason. But if young, physical players like Mayo, Meriweather, Chung, and Spikes can continue to make strides then that should get better.

If the defense shows just marginal improvement over last year, Brady and that offense will turn many of those tough losses last year into big wins this one.

An opener against Cincy is a good test right out of the gate.