Ain't that a kick in the head

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Eagles 34, Pats 31 OT (11/29/'87): Another tale from the strike year. And this one pretty much sums that season up. The strike lasted for three fun-filled weeks. And I do mean fun-filled. After two weeks of scabball the Pats made an announcement that brought a smile to the collective faces of their fans. Not the end of the strike. It was the return of Doug Flutie, he of the Boston College hail-Mary miracle touchdown pass. Flutie, hometown icon, was crossing the picket line and putting on a Pats uniform. Did I say scabs? Replacement players? I mean guys who just love to play football! Flu-tie! Flu-tie! And he lived up to the hype, leading the Pats to a 21-7 victory against the Houston Oilers in which he turned replacement WR Larry Linne into Belitnikoff with 87 yards catching and a touchdown. Lin-ne! Lin-ne! The new Pats went 2-1 and kept the team in first place as the strike was settled and the regular players returned to take their place. Except Flutie. He was staying. But as it turns out not playing.

With Grogan hurt the Pats had a choice between California boy Eason and the hailed Flutie to be the QB the rest of the way. If there were any fans who wanted Eason I never met one. Still haven't. But Coach Berry, the former Colt great who was big on loyalty, gave Eason the job. Eason and the rest of the regulars were whipped by Indy 30-16 and looked more lost than the scabs. But Grogan soon returned and the team stumbled its way to a 5-5 record with five games to go. Good enough for first place in the division. And second place. And third. And fourth. And, yes, last. All five teams were 5-5. No, really. It's true. If you ever need a definition of mediocrity just refer to the AFC East Division in 1987. Strike or not, the Pats were a good team and if they could just make it to the playoffs... well, who knows what could happen.

Jim and I were ready for the stretch run. He had endured the strike game with me so the other ticket was his for any game he wanted. And we wanted the Eagles. Philly's strike team didn't win a game and had basically sunk their season so we expected a sure victory. And it should have been. But it wasn't. The Pats lost 34-31 in OT in a game that to this day I still don't really believe they lost. Kind of like that Super Bowl not too long ago. The Pats were getting smashed 31-10 going into the fourth quarter. Grogan couldn't start the game so Coach Berry passed over Flutie yet again (was it the height thing?) and pegged career backup Tom Ramsey to start at QB. Ramsey won his first career start a week earlier but on this day was working on what Jim and I were sure was his last. The crowd was yelling for Flutie and yelling for blood. But Jim and I didn't do much screaming. We weren't the yell-obscenities-at-your-team-when-they-are-losing kind of fans. We just sat there in the rain and groaned a lot and talked about getting out of there early and beating the traffic.

But in the last 10 minutes of the game Ramsey silenced all the Flutie chants and led the team on three scoring drives to tie the game 31-31 with a little more than a minute left. The mood turned from dangerous to delirious. And then Johnny Rembert picked off a pass by Randall Cunningham and the Pats were lining up for a field goal to win the game with just seconds left. Everyone was elated. And then the barefooted kicker walked out on the field. Tony Franklin. Statistics will show that he was a great kicker in the NFL. He's the only kicker to make two field goals beyond 60 yards in one game. He had his best years with the Eagles. The team he was about to beat. But he had missed a kick to cost the Pats a game earlier that year against the Cowboys and had already missed one in this game. Franklin was a short, chunky guy with a bad porn-mustache who suddenly looked like he was near the end of his career. In other words, your typical '80s kicker. And he didn't wear a shoe on his right foot. His kicking foot. I had always wondered how he could kick a football with his bare foot in ice-cold Philly and New England. But he did. As he walked out to kick with his head down the crowd began to shout words of encouragement. "You better make this kick you fat piece of ..." "This kick is so easy my mother could make it!"

Turns out it wasn't that easy. Franklin missed the kick. Did he just miss another field goal? Aaaaaaaaah! Franklin kept his head down and walked off the field. The words of encouragement returned. Louder. One of the great things about sports is that it can often give an athlete a chance to quickly redeem himself. A fielder can make a big error but then step to the plate in the next inning and crack a game-winning homer. A kicker can miss a key field goal but his team can win the coin toss and march down the field to set him up to kick the game winner in overtime. And that's exactly what the Pats did. Franklin came out to kick again. "Come on Franklin," I thought."You can't miss another one. Not even washed-up kickers miss three in a game. The odds are in your favor." The ball was snapped, Franklin's bare foot smacked it and it sailed through the air and ... landed short in the endzone. He missed again! Franklin was quoted after the game as saying "The only way I could feel worse is if I went outside and a seagull dumped on my head." I knew the feeling. Franklin headed to the sideline and disappeared under a large raincoat. The crowd verged on becoming a sociology-class study on mob violence. The Pats got the ball back but fumbled and then the Eagles' kicker did what Franklin couldn't do. He made a kick.

Jim and I stood there in the rain. Then we looked at each other and without saying a word began scrambling down the rows of benches towards the field. We climbed over a wall and made our way down to the railing near the ramp where the players came off the field. Franklin lagged behind the others. Alone. He was still covered in the raincoat that could not protect him from the obscenities the fans were hurling his way with more accuracy than his kicks. As he passed in front of us I screamed the first thing that came into my head. "You suck!" I know, not very original. Jim's was a little better. "Hey Franklin. It's almost December! Put a f---ing shoe on!"

Jolly old England

WEEK 7
The Pats have reached their bye week at 5-2 thanks to their drubbing of Tampa Bay in London. The final was 35-7 but it felt more like 60-7. The Patriots played two of the league's worst teams in consecutive weeks and beat them by a combined score of 94-7. That's about as convincing as it gets.

Yet all the Patriots have done is put themselves in good shape for four huge November games. Good shape. Not great. I can't remember four games in one month quite as big as this. It starts with a home game against the impossible to figure out Miami Wildcats (formerly the Dolphins). Then it's the game of the year: a Sunday night clash with the Colts. That's followed by a home game against the Jets with a chance to atone for the Week 2 loss and maybe put the Jets away. The Pats then close out the month with a trip to New Orleans for a Monday night matchup against the best the NFC has to offer. The Saints are unbeaten and unstoppable when on offense.

The Pats sit at 5-2. Good enough for first in the AFC East. 5-2, however, was the worst the Pats could do in the first seven games if they planned on being in a position to make some noise in the playoffs. A play here or there in the Jets or Broncos game and the Pats would be battling the Colts for top seed in the conference. Instead they are sitting at No. 4 right now. Go 2-2 in November and they will still be a playoff contender but with little room for error down the stretch. Go 3-1 or better and they will be in a strong position for a top seed. The real fun begins In November.

The real fun Sunday was seeing if Brady, without the snow, could continue to get closer and closer to being Tom Brady again. The answer was mostly yes. After throwing for six TDs last week, he tossed another three in Wembley. But he also had two picks. The result of sloppy passes. That can't happen in the next four games. The most encouraging part of the last two weeks was the play of the defense. Seven points allowed. Granted, the Titans and Bucs are playing terrible football but you still have to make the plays on defense and the Pats have been doing that. Especially the secondary.

All the pregame media talk focused on the benching last week of Adalius Thomas and Leigh Bodden and the cutting of Joey Galloway. The failures of Belichick. Bad free agent signings. Bad drafting. The talent pool is drying up without Scott Pioli. Belichick the coach has only Belichick the GM to blame. None of those stories mentioned the Patriots record over the last three years being better than any other team in the NFL. Maybe this week's stories will focus on the players who stepped up yesterday. Like WR Sam Aiken, a free agent from last season, who caught a 54-yard touchdown. Or Darius Butler who had a pick and was flying all around the field. Or Brandon Meriweather, who might turn out along with Jerod Mayo to be the core of the Pats D for years. The young defense has held its own through the first seven weeks. November will be a bigger test.

There's not much reason to spend a lot of time breaking down the last two games. The Pats played well against two weak teams resulting in two blowouts. That's what happened in '07 too. The difference in the '07 team (and the back-to-back title seasons) is that those teams also came up big against the best teams in the league. The next month will tell if this year's team can do that. It starts in two weeks against the Miami Wildcats. You couldn't ask for a better time for an extra week to prepare. If the Pats can't stop the wildcat offense with two weeks of planning and practicing then they never will. If they can, they will have some serious momentum heading into the game of the year.

Pregame parade

Being a season-ticket holder, one of the things I don't get to do as often as I used to is settle into the couch on a Sunday morning and watch all the pregame coverage. So I brewed up some Peet's and decided to see if my remote control skills were still there. Just like riding a bike.

First stop: Fox. The network that turned the pregame show into a circus by adding comedians and cartoon graphics of robots. The starting lineup on the NFL Sunday morning shows change every year. Checking out the Fox desk I see former Giant Michael Strahan has joined Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long (is he still there?), and Jimmy Johnson. I guess JJ is really not coming back to coaching.

The camera cuts to Strahan awarding a hideous red Ford Taurus to a woman who won a contest. "It's all voice activated. You can just talk and tell it to do things," says Strahan. "Really. I drove this thing around for a few weeks." Not sure what this has to do with football. Then the anchors start talking about the Steelers-Vikings clash. Good. That's a big game. What insight can they give me? Bradshaw says the Steelers should be careful what they wish for in playing Brett Favre (who came into the league the same time as Bradshaw I think). "Caveat emptor" Bradshaw says to Strahan who looks at him as if he was speaking Latin. "I speak English," Strahan says. It's not good when Bradshaw looks smarter than you.

Switch to the NFL Network and Michael Lombardi is breaking down the Colts-Texans game. Finally! Some actual football talk. Love the NFL Network. The new NFL RedZone channel shows that American ingenuity is still alive and well. Lombardi talks excitedly about the Colts offense and their "explosive aerosol passing attack." Click.

No pregame viewing would be complete without checking in on ESPN's "NFL Countdown" hosted by the Boomer Chris Berman. I don't know anyone who hasn't grown a little tired of the Boomer's act. He's lost his fastball when it comes to his rapid-fire delivery. But he's the Boomer. Like Johnny Carson, it's just comforting to see him. What isn't comforting is watching Tom Jackson and Keyshawn Johnson standing on a green floor that is supposed to simulate a football field. Jackson's holding a ball. He's explaining something about how you stop the wildcat offense. He and Keyshawn, wearing some darn sharp suits, start acting out the plays. I'm too distracted by Keyshawn's tie to follow what they are saying. It's never a good idea when an anchor or analyst leaves his or her desk. Never. Just show me some game film. Don't act it out.

Commercial. Time to go to the ... wait. There's David Spade in one of those Direct TV commercials where they take an actor in a movie scene and then record the actor looking like he's still in the scene but talking about Direct TV while the rest of the scene continues as usual. Only he's reenacting the classic "fat guy in little coat" scene from "Tommy Boy." Spade is spliced into the original scene with his old pal Chris Farley. Who's dead. Spade must have told himself as he cashed the check that it would make a great homage. It's just ghoulish.

Back to ESPN. The feature is "Ditka's Doghouse." Snoop Dog made the theme song. Snoop and Ditka. Makes sense. Ditka goes into Iron Mike ramble mode and rips on the Chargers for their being all mouth and no game. Have to agree with him there even though I only understood about half of what he said. Next feature is a special report on the old "Superstars" TV show of the early '70s. The episode pitted the Steelers against the Vikings in a Super Bowl rematch featuring one of the greatest tug-of-war battles in the history of sports involving rope.

Back to the NFL Network and the talk focuses on the Pats vs. the Bucs in London. Warren Sapp, former Buc, sums it up for his Tampa team: "That's a long way to go for a bum whipping." Click.

Time for "The NFL Today" on CBS. There's Dan Marino, Boomer (Esiason, not Berman), Shannon Sharpe, and former Steeler coach Bill Cowher. They are making their predictions for the games and Sharpe is holding a wrestling championship belt which I think means he won picking games last season. We have one of those for the loser in our family fantasy league.

Cut to a feature on the NFL's future in London. There's Bob Kraft looking dapper standing outside what could be 10 Downing Street. What's that he's saying? "If we expand the schedule to 18 games I think within a decade we could have an NFL franchise in London." He says the game is catching on in the land of rugby and soccer. Cut to a couple of English guys who were just asked what they know about the NFL. "I don't watch American football," said one gent. "There was a player called the Fridge right?" Looks like it's really catching on. A franchise in London? An 18-game schedule? Well, I'll enjoy the NFL for now ... till they destroy it. It's just right the way it is. Bigger is not always better. Except in nose tackles.

1 p.m. approaches and it's time to make a sandwich and pour a beer. I'm ready to watch some football. But I can't say I know anymore about the games than I did before a morning of watching television.

I'm looking forward to the Miami tailgate in two weeks.

An overseas call

The Patriots play ambassadors of the NFL this weekend. Oh, and have a must-win game.

Robert Kraft got the call from the league during the offseason and of course said "Yes, we would be honored to represent the NFL in London." That was the correct answer. But now reality sets in and the importance of a regular season game far outweighs the plan for global domination of the sporting dollar. The Pats really need to put this game in the W column and if traveling to jolly old England to play in Wembley Stadium in any way hurts their chances to beat a hapless Tampa Bay team ... well, that's a problem.

The Patriots are 0-2 on the road so far this season and eventually, if you have plans of winning that fourth Super Bowl you've been battling for the last four years, you have to start winning road games. A trip to the sunny climes of Tampa and the winless Bucs would have almost guaranteed the team's first road win. A detour to London and Wembley, the home of soccer, changes the odds just a bit. To say the least.

After the Pats destruction of the Oilers/Titans in the snow last week, it seems safe to predict the Pats will come away with a win and go to 5-2 heading into their bye week. A trip to London hopefully turns out well. But a trip to Tampa would have almost certainly been a good thing for the Patriots ... and me. If the game was being played in Florida there's a good chance I would be sitting in the Bucs stadium come kickoff. Much like in 1997 when I flew down to visit my friend Brendan who worked for the Associated Press in Miami. Although it wasn't in Foxborough, it is one of my favorite "tales from the tailgate"... Florida style.

The Patriots played Tampa on November 16th in 1997, Pete Carroll's first year in the impossible task of replacing Bill Parcells. They were defending AFC champs. Drew Bledsoe. Curtis Martin before he left to join the Tuna. The Pats won their first four games under Carroll (I couldn't believe it either, but they really did. I checked). But they were sitting at 6-4 as they came into Tampa. The Buccaneers were 7-3 and playing some serious Tony Dungy defense. Nonetheless, I was feeling pretty confident.

I left Logan Airport Friday evening in the middle of a blizzard. I arrived a few hours later in Miami and soon found myself sitting in shorts and a T-shirt at a bar along a canal drinking a beer while large boats (yachts I think they call them) pulled up to the dock and let the beautiful people spill out one-by-one. This was my first trip to Miami. I felt like I had landed in Oz. Brendan, who is the type of person who knows his new town like the back of his hand in about a week, took me on a whirlwind tour of South Beach and the rest of Miami on Saturday. The next day, game day, we made the drive from Miami to Tampa along "Alligator Alley." We weren't exactly sober but I was not imagining the gators hanging on the side of the road. When Brendan asked if I needed to stop to go the bathroom, even though the answer was yes, the answer was no. Do you see the gators out there?

We drove into the city and found a parking spot in a lot near the old Tampa stadium known as Houlihan's Stadium. Named after Hot Lips Houlihan? I don't know. This was one year before Raymond James Stadium and the pirate ship with the canons that fire when the Bucs score a TD. The new stadium (much like Gillette a few years later) was rising up right beside the old one. The old stadium, kind of shaped like a giant saddle, was a heck of a place to watch a game. Brendan and I wandered around the Tampa-style tailgates looking for free food and beer. We found lots of beer. And at our last stop some interesting food.

"You ever had gator?" asked this rather large dude in a sherbet orange Bucs jersey and a cowboy hat in a Florida drawl. "Uh, no I said." Brendan had of course.

"Well you can't come all the way down to Florida and not have gator,'' he laughed as he cut me a piece. I took a bite of the chewy meat. It was good, tasting mostly of the spices he had cooked it in. "Where do you get alligator?" I asked.

The cowboy hat guy looked at me seriously and said "You drove here through alligator alley, right?" I told him we did. "You saw those gators on the side of the road?" he continued. I told him we did. "That's where we get 'em. On the way to the game we just grab one and cook it up," he said proudly. All his tailgating friends nodded and smiled.

Wow I thought. That's crazy. I took another bite. Wow. They get it on the side of the road? After a minute or two cowboy hat guy and his friends couldn't hold it in any longer and fell over each other laughing. Turns out in Florida you can just buy gator meat at the store. Yes. He got me good. We hung out with them till game time and then headed to our seats. It was about 80 degrees. It was mid-November. We were having a great time. Brendan and I were ready for the game. We even had on Pats jerseys. In 1997 the Pats had won exactly zero Super Bowls. You could wear your Flying Elvis or Pat Patriot jerseys to any stadium (except NY of course) without any problem. People mostly felt sorry for you because you rooted for one of the saddest franchises ever. Three Super Bowls later and they mostly want to get in your face. Now you wear your Pats jersey into enemy territory at your own risk.

We struck up some good-natured conversations with the Tampa fans around us, telling them their Dungy defense hadn't seen anything like Bledsoe and the Pats offense. I was feeling pretty confident. The Bucs scored the first 27 points. The Pats had three turnovers early in the game. Bledsoe was awful and didn't even throw for 100 yards. It was ugly. A preview as to what the Pete Carrol tenure would become. And the insults rained down on me and Brendan. But we continued to stay cool with the beverages and didn't let the ridicule bother us. As we left the stadium after the 27-7 thrashing, Bucs fans were thanking us for our team being so bad and inviting us to come back soon.

As we headed to the car we bumped into the cowboy hat guy. "Hey!" he shouted. "You were right. Your team is pretty darn good. About as good as a gator picked up off the side of the road!" Brendan and I headed out to eat away the loss at a local restaurant. "So what do you think of South Florida," he asked after our team got crushed. "Best trip I've ever had," I answered. "Best trip ever."

I might have had another one if the Pats and Bucs weren't moving the game to London. Instead I'll watch it from the couch. It's a huge game. A loss would mean they have to be perfect in the difficult four-game stretch that comes after the bye. A stretch of: home against Miami and the wildcat, at the Colts, home against the Jets, and at the Saints. That's the regular season right there. So a win against the Bucs means the Pats can go 2-2 in that stretch and be in good shape to win the division. Go 3-1 or better and they are a top three team in the league. A loss, in England, against the Bucs, means they have to go 3-1 or better in that stretch. You have to beat the teams you should beat. That, old chap, is what makes a game in London against a winless team a must win.

Bash of the Titans

WEEK 6
Patriots 59, Oilers/Titans 0 (10/18/09): I thought I might title this post "Splash of the Titans" because the forecast all week was for heavy rain. Don't get me wrong. There was plenty of that. However, it soon turned from a rainy October day to a cold, snowy January day. I don't remember seeing any forecasts about snow in Eastern Mass. But as me, Bergs, Shep, Matt, Russell, and our friends bit into our second pulled pork sandwiches, the rain started to turn to snow. Heavy, wet snow. Throw in 40 mph wind gusts and it goes down as the coldest and wettest I've ever been at a game. Perfect conditions for Tom Brady and company to put up huge offensive numbers. Ya, right.

We tailgated in one of the "non-Patriot" parking lots just south of the stadium across the street. The reason? Although it's great to have pavement beneath your feet on wet days, it's not worth it to have to move all your stuff (tent, grills, tables, etc.) when the golf cart convoy comes by every 30 minutes to keep the rows in the "Ford Explorer" section of the lot clear. "There has to be eight feet of clearance for an ambulance in case of an emergency," announces "Mr. Make-Believe Authority" guy. OK buddy. If you think eight feet is going to make a difference if there's an emergency among the tailgating masses... well good luck with that.

So we took the party to the "grass" of one of the other lots. The grass soon turned to mud. Lots of mud. Just like all the lots were in the pre-Gillette days. But it was fitting because this was another "throwback" game to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the AFL. So the Pats wore their old "Pat Patriot" unis and the Titans wore the unis of the Houston Oilers with the powder blue helmets and the oil derricks. Just like the good old days. We traversed the muddy rivers out of the lot and made our way along Rte. 1. As we walked to the stadium I began to notice something I hadn't seen in quite a while. A lot of drunk people. Really drunk. There was the older man (probably pushing 60) wearing a Titans jersey circling menacingly around the middle of the parking lot shouting about the lack of manhood of Pats fans. There was the guy in a Welker jersey and jeans -- no coat, no boots -- walking backwards yelling at everyone around him to "get rowdy!" At one point he walked backwards right into a wall. And his very drunk friends couldn't get him up. The pregame entertainment hadn't been this fun in years. "It is a throwback game after all," Shep said.

I had set my gloves on fire before the game when I rested them on the grill to warm up. A little too long. So upon entering Gillette I headed right over to the souvenir stand to buy a new pair. The cost: $20. They could have charged me twice that. I needed gloves to hold my margaritas. I wasn't sitting down in our seats in Section 109 so I decided I would wander around and watch the game from different standing room spots. The seats were all covered with snow and ice so standing seemed a good way to go. I watched the first few minutes down in the McDonald's end zone but the snow got heavier and wetter and there's no cover there. I made my way up the ramp to stand behind the championship banners, passing a lot of staggering people along the way. I found a spot where I had a good view of the field. It was hard to see the scoreboard through the snow but it looked like the Pats were up 10-0. The fans were bracing themselves against the wind gusts that would blow the icy snow right in your face. They buried themselves in hoods, hats, parkas ... and booze. Everyone just kind of stood quietly in a frozen buzzed state. That is till "Thriller" came over the sound system during a break in the game. Then many of those frozen people burst into their best "Thriller" moves, including one rather large guy who had the crouch/slide/clap/ slide move down. I thought I was on the set of "Glee."

I left the "Thriller" crowd and made my way over to the lighthouse in the opposite end zone to watch the rest of the game. On the first play right after I found my spot along the rail, Brady dropped back and launched a bomb to Randy Moss. Moss had a step on the defenders but Brady hadn't hit this pass all year. What are the chances he's going to do it in a driving snowstorm? Pretty darn good it turns out. The ball hit Moss right in the hands as he crossed the goal line. Touchdown! And then another! And another! And another! And another! The Pats and Brady put together a second quarter the likes of which had not been seen in many a decade. Brady threw touchdown passes of 40, 28, 38, 30, and 5 yards to set the NFL record for most TD passes in a quarter. There should be an asterisk next to that record just in case Peyton Manning ties it in a dome some day.
*--Accomplished in impossible passing conditions.

The Patriots rolled up a team record 619 yards in offense. The long-awaited break out of the offense happened on the most unlikely of days. Granted, the defense of the Titans/Oilers was missing several starters and was ripe for the picking. And it's often said that the offense has the advantage in the snow because the receiver knows where he is going and the defender does not. Although it hardly ever works out that way. Usually both receiver and defender are sliding all over the place. But not this time. Moss, Welker, Edelman all looked like they were playing on a beautiful fall day.

The Pats took advantage of the weather as they have done often this decade. Their dominance in the cold has been a big part of their success. Just as it was for the Steelers in the '70s and the Bills in the '80s. It was good to see from the '09 Pats. With the loss of guys like Harrison, Bruschi, and Vrabel -- proven bad weather players -- there was a question of how the new players would perform. Especially on D. Some players just don't like to play in the cold and snow. Seems like the newest Pats don't have a problem with it. That bodes well for the December games ... and hopefully beyond.

Strikes are for baseball

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
1987. My first year as a season-ticket holder. The Pats were defending AFC East Champs and were expected to contend again. I had a good job at the newspaper and a first child on the way. I had two season tickets for the Pats. I was an adult. The season started well when Raymond Berry named Steve Grogan the starting quarterback over Tony Eason. Ask Pats fans to list their all-time 10 favorite players and of course the lists would be filled with the names Brady, Bruschi, Harrison, Bledsoe, and Hannah. One name that should appear on all those lists is Grogan. Steve Grogan is why people who love football love football. Nobody played harder. When the game was over there was only one thing you could be sure of and that's that Grogan left it all on the field. He wasn't the most talented QB by far. He was just one of the toughest to ever play the game. Tony Eason, let's just say, was not. Although Eason too took many a shot and got up and kept going. The difference is Grogan wouldn't just get back up. He'd get back up and throw the first punch on the next play.

The season got off to a great start as the Pats beat their nemesis Miami in the home opener 28-21. Yes! Season-ticker holder right here! Week 2 saw Grogan hurt and the Pats go to New York and get thumped by the Jets. Uh. Hey. Season-ticker holder. Over here... Did I mention that the threat of a players strike had been hanging over the NFL all offseason? I believe my answer to anyone who said "You're buying season tickets? There's going to be a strike you know." was always "Are you kidding me? The players aren't going to strike. They are making way too much money." The players had set a deadline for a settlement for the start of Week 3 of the season. I wasn't worried. I was wrong. I can still see the sports front of the Boston Globe displaying a large NFL logo in color with the heavy black words "ON STRIKE" stamped across it. I had season tickets and the players were on strike. I was an adult. I still have the letter from Pats General Manager (and son of the owner) Patrick Sullivan. It starts "Dear season ticker holder: I regret to inform you that as a result of the NFLPA going on strike last night, we are left with no alternative but to attempt to field a competitive team for the balance of the 1987 season..." No alternative but to field a competitive team? Is that different from what they had been doing? But how can they do that with no Grogan, no Stanley Morgan, no Steve Nelson? Replacement players. Scabs in pads. That's how. The Patriots like the rest of the teams in the league were prepared to play the games even without the players. The total cost for two season tickets in 1987 was $260. I was expecting to see professional football players for my $260. That's not what I got.

The Pats sent out a call for ex-pros, beer league players... basically anyone who could throw or catch a football. And they came. On a cold and rainy October Sunday me and my friend Jim, who also worked at the paper, headed to the stadium to see what kind of players they found. As we drove up to the entrance of the stadium lot we could see a line of guys in raincoats carrying signs off to the side. Hey! It's tight end Lin Dawson. And there's Eason. The striking players milled about drinking coffee and looking not so much like pro athletes but a bunch of guys on strike in the rain. They just watched the cars of fans file by. I didn't have a strong pro-player or pro-league feeling either way. I just wanted to see football. I was curious to see what kind of football it would be. Not many people shared my curiosity. Only about 14,000 out of the usual 54,000 decided to show up. Part protest, part good sense I guess. But this was my first year with tickets. This was only the second home game. I was going.

Jim and I had our pick of empty seats and settled in around the 40-yard line on the replacement Pats side. On the other side were the replacement Cleveland Browns. We watched the new Pats warm up. Hey! There's a guy named Bleier! Is that Steeler great Rocky Bleier? Did he come out of retirement to play for us? Nope. It's Bob Bleier. "I think that's our new starting quarterback," I said to Jim. Jim said nothing. The game was not pretty. It shouldn't come as a surprise that guys who hadn't played football in a while and had never played together don't play very well. The replacement Browns were just a little less bad than the replacement Pats and won 20-10. "That was much worse than I expected," I said to Jim. Jim said nothing. We walked down to where the players were coming off the field to get a better look at our new team. One of the players took off his helmet as he walked towards us. "That guy looks familiar," I said to Jim. Jim said nothing. "Did he used to play for the Colts?" I asked. Jim looked at me and this time said something. "I think that guy worked at the beer stand at the last game."

The Junior member

Junior is back. Reality TV star, surfer, Hall of Fame linebacker Junior Seau that is. The season just got a little more entertaining.

Does this mean Belichick and the Patriots are desperate after the loss in Denver? Not at all. The defense has actually played well through five games. It's in the middle of the pack in most of the major defensive categories and that has been without Jerod Mayo. last season's defensive rookie of the year. The defense still has a ways to go but it is not, at the moment, a weakness.

Seau is not the first wave in the return of the geriatric squad. The Pats movement to a younger, faster defense is still on track. You won't see Rodney, Tedy, or Ty Law suiting up over the next few weeks. Although I admit I'd like to see Rodney come back for one last run too. Seau is a good fit for the Pats down the stretch. And unlike the other veterans who have moved on to the golden pastures of the TV analyst chair, Seau has some unfinished business. A ring.

Among the many disappointments of the Super Bowl loss to the Giants, one of the biggest ones for me was not getting to see Seau hold the Lombardi up high. Seau, who played most of his great career with the Chargers, is one of those players you enjoy watching whether he plays for your team or not. Like Tedy Bruschi. When he joined the Patriots for the 2007 season it seemed the last piece of the puzzle for another Super Bowl run. And it was. He was a key part of that amazing 16-0 regular season and came up with some big plays in the AFC title game against his old team from San Diego.

There was a moment in the Super Bowl right after the Pats scored late in the game to retake the lead against the Giants (Brady to Moss) when the TV camera caught Seau and Bruschi embracing on the sideline. Not in celebration as if the game was over. It was more like Bruschi saying to Seau "OK, let's go out and stop them and win you a ring." It was a great moment. Unfortunately, thanks mostly to Asante Samuel, the defense did not stop the Giants and ... well, we all know what happened.

So Junior is back. That is a good thing. He will bring experience and leadership to the younger players on the defense. Any game that Mayo gets to play with Seau is a very good thing. Seau doesn't have to be the Hall of Famer that he is. He just has to make a few key plays here and there like he did during the last two seasons.

The Patriots continue on their quest for that fourth title. And Junior resumes his quest for his first. It would be a great ending to the decade for both.

The Snow Bowl

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Pats 16, Raiders 13 OT (1/12/'02): No chronicle of the past 20 years of tailgating would be complete without the last game ever played at Foxboro Stadium. Pats fans know it as "The Snow Bowl." Most other football fans know it as "The Tuck Rule Game.'' Raiders fans know it as the "Game We Got Screwed!" This was the start of an incredible change in the team's fortunes and when Mark and I arrived in the lot that day we had no idea how different being a Pats fan was about to become.

The team, in its second year with Bill Belichick as head coach, had won eight of their last nine games of the regular season, often in almost fantastical fashion, to win their division. And with sixth-round draft pick Tom Brady leading the way. You don't get more famous than Brady is right now. GQ cover boy. Gisele. But back in the winter of '02 he was just some unknown skinny guy who came off the bench for an injured Bledsoe in Week 2. And he hasn't left the field since. I can still hear Shep yelling "Tom Bra-dy! Yes! Tom Bra-dy!" with a mix of delight and disbelief game after glorious game during that season.

All week before the game the forecast was for snow. Possibly heavy. And the game was pushed back to 8 p.m. for television when the storm was supposed to be at its height. I remember as a kid sitting on my couch watching playoff games from Baltimore, Cleveland, or Green Bay in driving snowstorms and thinking how great it would be to go to one of those games. As Mark and I arrived at the lot around 4 p.m. under a grey but snowless sky you could feel the anticipation. We kicked into set-up mode with the tables, chairs, coolers, and grills and were sitting there with our first drink in our hand as Shep joined us. "Maybe the snow's gonna miss us," Shep said. No sooner had those words left his mouth than the first flakes started falling. And they kept falling. Within a half hour everything was covered in an inch of snow and shortly after that we were pretty much in white-out conditions. It could not have been more fun. There were large mounds of dirt in the parking lot from the nearby construction of the new stadium. Soon those mounds were covered in snow and men and women were sledding down them (without sleds) like school kids on a snow day. After a while the snow was worn down and it was more dirt than snow but that didn't stop the sledding. Billy and Bergs got stuck in the traffic caused by the storm and arrived later than their usual four hours before the game. But it did not take them long to catch up in the celebrating. Billy in particular made quick work of his Raspberry-flavored Smirnoff bottle (some tailgates would ban a guy for bringing fruit-flavored booze but we're a tolerant crowd). Maybe too quick. By the time we were getting ready to make our way through the snow to the stadium he was more unsteady than usual. But there was a playoff game to see so why worry about that? As we walked away from our parking space I made my usual mental note of landmarks and rows to remember where the car was.

We got to our seats and I turned and looked at the field. For some reason I was expecting to see a mostly plowed field with some light snow cover. It was my first snow game so what did I know? Not much. The field was covered in three inches of snow with the only spots of green being long squiggly lines where the grounds crew had used shovels to clear away the yard lines. "This is gonna be great!" Mark said as we cleared the snow off our aluminum bench. And great it was.

The game was close the whole way with both teams struggling to make any plays in the snow. The Raiders took a 7-0 lead into halftime. We loaded up on beers for the second half and stood there covered in snow drinking cold beer talking about what the Pats should do to get on the scoreboard. It's too hard to pass. They should run more. That was the conclusion we came to. It seems that in the Pats' locker room they came to a different conclusion (maybe because they weren't drinking). Brady and the Pats came out throwing. Brady ended up throwing 52 times in the game. 52! That's a lot for a dry, sunny day. It's crazy for a blizzard. The Pats trailed 13-3 entering the fourth quarter but they were moving the ball. Brady completed nine straight passes to lead them inside the 10-yard line. He dropped back to pass but there were no open receivers. So, just like he had all year, he found a way to make a play. He took off for the end zone, putting a move on a Raider defender who slipped in the snow, and dived across the goal line. Touchdown! Pats are back in it! Brady staggered to his feet and slammed the ball to the ground and he followed it, tumbling head-over-heels into the snow. All I remember is jumping out into the aisle, slipping, and sliding down about five steps. Laughing all the way. Just like Brady.

The Pats got the ball back trailing by three with just a few minutes left in the game. One more score and they would go to the AFC title game. "We're winning this game," Bergs said. Of course he always says that but this time I totally agreed with him. The Pats were winning this game. They moved across midfield with just under two minutes to go. Brady dropped back one more time to pass. He raised his arm. Raider cornerback Charles Woodson came out of the snow and nailed him. The ball fell out of Brady's hand and for a few eternal seconds bobbled along the field. A Raider fell on the ball and the whistle blew. Raiders' ball. Brady got up and looked dazed. We were all dazed. What just happened? Fumble? The Raiders began celebrating in the snow. The fans stood there quiet thinking the same thing. "We lost. How could that happen? Not this time. Not with Brady." And then the replay showed on the scoreboard screen. "Hold on!" Bergs said. "That could be an incomplete pass." Notice that he didn't say "That was an incomplete pass!" He said it could be. That's the beauty of replay. Anything is possible. By the 10th replay the crowd was convinced it was an incomplete pass. Just as Brady was hit his arm was moving forward to pass and then he started to "tuck" the ball back into his body. A tuck looks just like the motion of a forward pass. Although it clearly isn't. But rules are rules. The ref walked to the middle of the field and began "After reviewing the play, the quarterback's arm was moving forward..." We couldn't hear the rest. I'm not sure if he explained the "tuck rule" or not.

The old stadium shook as the fans began stomping on the aluminum benches. The Pats were alive again. "We're winning this game!" Bergs yelled. Now I was sure of it. The Pats drove the ball into field goal position and Adam Vinatieri walked out calmly with 27 seconds left. Everything seemed quiet in the swirling snow. A 45-yard field goal in horrible conditions. Is it possible? Vinatieri kicked the ball and as it passed over the line of scrimmage it began wobbling. It looked bad. I dropped my head thinking it was going to be short. The next thing I remember I was at the bottom of a pile of Mark, Bergs, Toph, Shep, and what seemed like the entire section. Maybe it was good? It was! The kick (as I saw on the replay) just made its way over the crossbar and the game was tied. Vinatieri would make his second memorable kick not too long after that. This one a 23-yarder with eight minutes to go in overtime. The last game at the stadium that saw so many heartbreaks ended with one of the most memorable games in NFL history. And this time my team won. I stood there as the seats emptied out and took one last look at the place where I had made a lot of lifelong friends and memories. Like the old Garden, the place was a pit and sometimes I still miss it.

Heading into the parking lot I remembered that it had been snowing hard the last four hours. Every car looked the same. Every row looked the same. Everything looked the same. So much for my mental notes. Where the hell are we parked. "I think we're over by that dirt pile," Mark said. "Or maybe that one. Or that one?" Me, Mark, and thousands of lost souls wandered around the lot till we each finally found our cars. Bergs was already there when we arrived. And Shep. But no Billy. Where was Billy? "You'll never believe it," Bergs said. Turns out Billy felt sick in the first quarter and walked outside the stadium. And he couldn't get back in. So he went to his car and turned the game on the radio and "fell asleep." That's passed out to you and me. "When I finally found the car," Bergs said. "It was locked. I scraped away the snow and could see Billy sleeping in there." Bergs knocked and knocked and finally woke Billy up. Billy opened his eyes and rolled down the window. "What happened?'' he asked. "Did they win? Was it a good game?" Yes, Billy. It was a really good game.

Low blows

WEEK 5
I can't help after a sports day like Sunday but to think of how it would have felt 10 years ago. I'd be pretty much hiding in the dark in my basement listening to the Doors. But after three Super Bowls and two World Series it's really hard to get too down. Really. And once you get into your 40s and shit happens, you get perspective whether you want it or not.

Did I expect the Red Sox to blow a four-run lead at home in Game 3 with Papelbon completely imploding? Nope. Did I expect the Pats to blow a 10-point lead on the road against the Broncos with Brady missing too many wide open receivers? No way. But both of those things happened -- in a span of four hours. Losses like Sunday's were much more of a bummer in the "Why do my teams always lose big games like that?" days. Now I think most Boston fans have the ability to realize your team won't win the title every year. It's not possible. (Only Yankees fans still think they should win every year). The Sox had another great season but lost to a better team. They'll be a playoff contender again next year. The Pats played a very good road game against a good team and lost in OT. They're 3-2 and come home to play the winless (but dangerous) Titans. Then go to London to play the not-so-dangerous Bucs. Take care of business and they should be 5-2 heading into their bye week. But that's getting a little ahead of things.

Watching the Pats-Broncos game I felt like I have so many times. The Pats won't lose. They'll make a play when they need to. As Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said of beating his old team "You know how hard it is to beat them. They never beat themselves." And they didn't beat themselves Sunday. The Broncos, now a legitimate 5-0, did the beating.

The Broncos came out in what was dubbed the "Wild Horses" offense. A version of the Dolphins wildcat offense that the Fins rode to the playoffs last year. The wildcat gave the Pats all kinds of trouble last season but they did a better job against the wild horses. The only thing wild about the Broncos at the start of the game were those throwback uniforms they were wearing. What were those things? Brown and yellow with striped socks? They looked like the Vancouver Canucks of the late '70s. U-G-L-Y.

Brady and the Pats controlled the first half but held only a 10-7 lead when Kyle Orton led the Broncos on an impressive 10 play, 90-yard drive in the last few minutes of the second quarter. It felt like the first half of the Jets game in Week 2 when the Pats did everything right but score TDs and held only a 9-3 lead at the half. After the Broncos scored, Brady and the Pats responded the way great teams do. They marched 74-yards on 10 plays of their own, Brady hooking up with Ben Watson with just five seconds left in the half. Pats 17, Broncos 7. That score felt about right. But it wasn't. Brady missed a wide-open Moss (that's happened too many times so far this season as the 1-4 record of my fantasy team Moss Racing can attest) for what would have been an easy 50-yard TD.

The second half, much like the Jets game, saw the Broncos making big plays and the Pats misfiring. Brady missed Welker on a third and short slant pass that, if he had led him, would have gone for a touchdown. The focus will be on Brady's misses again this week. And that comes with the territory when you are a quarterback in the NFL. I have no doubt that almost every Patriot messed up on at least one play yesterday. Blocks not made. Tackles missed. Holes not hit. Interceptions not made (like that key tipped ball in the second half that should have been a pick but ended up being a big completion for Denver). Passes dropped. But when you are Tom Brady every mistake, or perceived mistake, you make is there for everyone to see and criticize. Did Brady lose the game? No. But he had chances to win it and, for one of the few times in his career, he didn't cash in.

The Pats got the ball back with just more than 2:30 left in the game after the defense pulled itself together and made a stop. Brady moved them to midfield at the two minute warning with two timeouts still in his pocket. There was no way the Pats weren't moving into field goal position to give Gotskowski a chance to win it. One play later Brady was hit, the ball was fumbled, and the game was headed to OT. Brady was a perfect 7-0 in overtime in his career but this time he never got the ball. Orton moved the Broncos on an 11-play drive to set up the winning field goal.

It was a tough defeat for the Pats and an impressive win for the Broncos. Especially considering they not only had to overcome the Patriots, but also the shame of wearing those uniforms.

You have a bad altitude

Rocky Mountain High. Mile High. Whatever you want to call it, a trip by the Patriots to the rarefied air of Denver is always a big game and almost always a loss. Since I started watching the Pats in the early '70s I have seen them lose in the most excruciating of ways. I'm still trying to erase the image of Mosi Tatupu fumbling in 1984 to blow a crucial game that the Pats had in their grasp. They have made the journey to Colorado 23 times and have come away with only 8 wins. And most of them happened in the '60s.

The two teams play each other so often it feels like they are division rivals. But they're not. The Colts and Steelers have been the Pats main adversaries this decade as the three have taken turns at the top of the AFC, but the Broncos have been the team's arch nemesis outside the AFC East for decades. The Patriots aren't the only team that the Broncos have owned through the years. With Hall of Famer John Elway at the helm the Broncos didn't lose too many games to anyone in the '80s and '90s. Elway, in fact, was a perfect 11-0 against the Pats. From Shannon Sharpe's "Mr. President, call in the National Guard because we are killing the Patriots!" mock 911 call to the playoff game in 2005 when the Pats' bid for a third straight Super Bowl died in a hail of turnovers like Sonny at the tollbooth, the team from Foxborough has suffered some of its ugliest loses against Denver.

But oddly enough Denver is also the site of one the Patriots' greatest regular season victories. The 6-2 Pats and the 5-3 Broncos faced off on a Monday night in 2003. It was a back-and-forth affair and Bergs and I called each other from our couches whenever there was a big play. The Pats trailed 24-20 entering the fourth quarter and Bergs and I were on the line for the final 15 minutes. And what a 15 minutes it was. Trailing 24-23 with just over two minutes to play, the Pats were backed up to their own goal line and had to punt. It was looking like another heartbreaking loss to the Broncos. Belichick was not waving the white flag however. He ordered an intentional safety by having the ball snapped out of the end zone. Two more points for the Broncos and the Pats still had to kick the ball away. "What the hell is Belichick doing?'' Bergs and I both asked. Belichick knew what he was doing. The Pats kicked from better field position and pinned the Broncos deep, held their offense, and got the ball back. As Brady drove the Pats down the field with the clock ticking Bergs and I were hoping for a field goal to tie the game at 26-26. Instead, with 30 seconds left, Brady hit David Givens at the front corner of the end zone for a clutch TD and gave the Pats a huge road win. Belichick was so happy he and Charlie Weiss embraced with joy at the end of the game. Bergs and I still think that win was the one that made the players total believers in Belichick -- it sure did it for us -- and set them on their path for back-to-back titles. It was that big a game.

And Sunday's game should be no different. The Broncos are the surprise of the early season at 4-0. Granted, those wins have come against four weak teams. But under former Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Denver has moved past the offseason turmoil of the McDaniels-Jay Cutler fued that ultimately led to the unexpected trading of the QB. It was a rough start for the young coach. But McDaniels, showing that he learned a hell of a lot more from Belichick than Mangini, has steadied the team and has them playing solid defense (allowing a ridiculous 6.5 points per game) and has Kyle Orton doing his best Phil Simms impersonation by taking good care of the ball (no picks) and making the plays when he has to.

For the Pats, the loss of Fred Taylor to ankle surgery hurts more than it might seem. In the Ravens game, there was a 2nd-and-10 just outside the Baltimore 10-yard line late in the first quarter. 2nd-and-10. That's a passing down. A Wes Welker down. Instead, the Pats lined up in a regular formation and ran a draw play to Taylor who slashed through the hole for seven yards. The Pats went on to score on a Brady sneak a few plays later. It was a key moment for the offense to be able to run the ball in for a score. Their red zone offense looked much better from that point on because by showing they could run they opened up everything else. It was key. And Taylor was a big part of it. Can Sammy Morris or Lawrence Maroney fill that role? Maybe. I was looking forward to watching Taylor get better and better as the season wore on. On the bright side, this might mean the return of Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis. You can never get enough of the man with four names.

I wrote after the win over the Falcons that the Pats offense was on the verge of a 40 point game. Even though the Denver D is a solid one, this could be the game the Pats offense breaks out. Then again, my confidence has been mile high going into a game in Denver many times before.

At the quarter pole

The Pats and the rest of the NFL (except for the bye teams of course) have made it four weeks into the season -- one quarter of the way through. After four games you can get a sense of which teams are for real and which teams are going to put their fans through some long days of sitting outside in the cold wondering when an NFL team is going to arrive in their town. Certainly things can and will change. I don't know how many times in the past 15 years the Raiders or Vikings started 6-2 and ended up missing the playoffs. I could look it up but why bother. It's a lot. Here are my top 10 rankings as the season heads into October. Love October football.

1. Indianapolis Colts (4-0): I didn't get to go to the Pats-Ravens battle, but I did get to watch the Colts take care of the Seahawks from my hotel room in Oregon (Seattle has 3-13 written all over it even with Jim Mora who I think will turn that team around if given the time). Manning seems very happy that offense coordinator Tom Moore didn't have to retire and doesn't seem to mind a bit that Marvin Harrison kind of did. Could we end the decade with another Pats-Colts playoff clash? That would be fun.

2. New York Giants (4-0): OK, as a Pats fan it hurts to put the Manning boys #1 and #2. But you got to give credit where credit is due and the Giants, like the Colts, are clicking on all cylinders at the quarter pole. A win over KC (like a win over Seattle) is nothing to crow about, but it's the balance on both sides of the ball that is impressive. They are an experienced team that knows how to win almost any kind of game. It doesn't matter how big a stadium Jerry Jones builds, the Giants will whip his Cowboys as long as Wade "Marshmallow Man" Phillips is coaching them.

3. Minnesota Vikings (4-0): Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. As far as I've read or heard on TV those are the four reasons the Vikings are undefeated. Nothing about Adrian Peterson, or one the best run D's in the league, or a schedule that started off with the Browns and the Lions. It's all about #4. Did you know he is the first player to beat all 32 teams? I thought you did.

4. New England Patriots (3-1): After losing to the Jets, the Pats have handed the Falcons and Ravens their first losses. And have looked a lot like the Pats of '03 and '04 doing it. Nothing spectacular, just good coaching, players stepping up at the right time ... and some luck. Welker's return gives Brady the extra weapon he needed to solve the one real problem they had -- red zone offense. A win over the unbeaten Broncos next week and the Pats move into the top 3 and there should be no arguments about it.

5. New Orleans Saints (4-0): The Saints have been the team of expectations since going to the NFC title game in 2006. Unfulfilled expectations. That may change this year. The offense is just too explosive for a prolonged losing streak. And the Panthers and Bucs look to be easy prey in the NFC South. Scores of 45, 48, 27, and 24 are no fluke. Brees and Co. could challenge the Pats offensive show of '07.

6. Denver Broncos (4-0): Is there anyone -- anyone -- out there who imagined the Broncos would start 4-0 after the offseason/preseason that new coach Josh McDaniels and the team had? Anyone? I didn't think so. But 4-0 they are. But those four wins were a lucky one over Cincy, romps over the lowly Browns and Raiders, and an easy win over an imploding Dallas. They have a real test now.

7. New York Jets (3-1): The euphoria of their win over the Pats has faded just a bit. They certainly had trouble generating much offense against New Orleans. But the Jets D is one of the three best in the league. Scott and Revis are as good a duo on defense as there is. If the addition of Braylon Edwards makes Mark Sanchez and the offense better (and it will) then the Jets are a dangerous team.

8. San Francisco 49ers (3-1): I didn't think Mike Singletary was the right kind of guy to be an NFL head coach. And he might turn out not to be. But as of now his boot camp approach to coaching is working in SF. The Niners are benefiting from the weak NFC West (even the defending NFC champs Arizona is struggling). But the biggest difference in the Niners is toughness. Mike Singletary toughness.

9. Baltimore Ravens (3-1): Showing that the top 10 teams in the NFL are all pretty close, this is a Ravens team that could go on and win the Super Bowl. Especially if the Steelers have a full post-championship meltdown. Not that I'm wishing for that or anything. Ravens problem is they think they can intimidate their way to victory. The Pats showed last week that doesn't work against other good teams. No matter how loud Ray Lewis screams like a fool.

10. Philadelphia Eagles (2-1): The best of the 2-2 and 2-1 teams, which is a pretty large group. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, the Eagles somehow stay competitive in a very tough division year after year. Andy Reid might not be such a great dad, but he gets the most out of his football team. Health is always an issue with McNabb and Westbrook, and watching their D without Brian Dawkins (my favorite non-Patriot) just doesn't seem right. But the Eagles are a playoff contender yet again.

Dishonorable mention: The Cleveland Browns at #32. What could the Cleveland management have possibly seen in Eric Mangini's comatose reign as coach of the Jets? Why do franchises make decisions like that? You take a shot with Pats D coordinator Romeo Crennel and that turns out to be a mess. So you follow that up by hiring Mangini? With all the other choices out there? Just makes me appreciate the Kraft family a little bit more.

Let's get physical

WEEK 4
I didn't make it to this week's home game against the Ravens due to a trip out to Oregon. But Mark texted me as he headed into the stadium that "There will be blood on the carpet today." And he was right.

There are a lot of things to like about the Pats 27-21 victory over previously unbeaten Baltimore. The thing to like the most? The Pats beat the Ravens at their own game. Punishment. The Ravens' last play was the most talked about after the game. WR Mark Clayton dropped a pass that would have set up Baltimore with a first-and-goal inside the 10-yard line with just under a minute to go. "Lucky" was the word most used to describe the Pats victory. But after watching the game on tape (another great one to pop in the VCR when I'm an old guy), I would say the drop was as much a result of the pounding the Pats D handed out all game as it was Clayton's hands.

From the opening kickoff when a mob of Patriots nailed the returner and forced a fumble, the Pats were flying all over the field and hitting everything in sight. Just like the Ravens do as well as any team in the league. The most noticeable thing about the Patriots through four games is how quick and agressive the defense looks. Sure, they have lost a ton of experience with the departures of Bruschi, Harrison, Vrabel, and Seymour. That may catch up to them when the stakes get bigger later in the year. But the time had come to get younger and faster. It's too early too tell how many of the new players will make a long-term impact, but at least for the moment they are all around the ball. And that's a good sign.

Time and time again players like Meriweather, Boden, McGowan, Guyton, and Burgess stepped up and made plays. And when the Ravens did complete a pass the Pats D punished them. It looked a lot like the defenses from the '03-'04 teams. They would give up yards but rarely the big play. They were the classic "bend don't break" style of defense. With McGinest, Bruschi, Law, Harrison, and Vrabel they had a group of playmakers. Mayo had already become the face of the next generation of playmakers. Now it's looking like the potential for a few more to emerge. Add them to Wilfork and Warren (they could both go to the Pro Bowl this year) and you have something to build on. You have to figure that played into Belichick's thinking in the Seymour trade. And when Mayo comes back this D could really gel.

Look at the final stats of the Baltimore game. The Pats didn't have any player with 12 tackles or anything like that (although if Mayo was playing they would have). Instead they had nine guys with four or more tackles, led by Meriweather with 9. That's the sign of a complete team effort. Take away the touchdown on the Brady fumble and the Pats held the Baltimore offense to two scores. A Baltimore offense that was averaging about 30 points a game.

The Ravens, led by Ray "Screaming Mimi" Lewis, like to come in and punch the other team in the mouth till they back down. The Pats threw the first punch and kept swinging. When Clayton dropped the ball in the last minute of the game, he had McGowan and Butler bearing down on him. As the ball fell to the ground they both unloaded on Clayton. It's doubtful he would have been able to hold onto the ball. It looked like he knew they were coming and was trying to get out of the way of the hit. That's what a game of punishing the other team can do. A game of flying around the field and making plays. I couldn't help but think it was a game Bruschi would have loved to play in.