Dissatisfied customers

Tom Brady has had enough. So have I. Sunday against the Jets Brady and the offense got the ball to open the game. I had been saying all day I preferred the Pats to lose the toss so they could get the ball. "I want Brady to lead one of those great 12-play touchdown drives that sets the tone and gets the crowd fired up and into the game early."

The crowd was pretty fired up as Brady took the opening snap at his own 20-yard line. Two first downs later the offense was moving and the crowd was into it. On 2nd-and-9 at their own 45 Brady dropped back in the pocket, surveyed the field, and threw a low laser to Brandon Lloyd who was open all the way down to the Jets' 30. It was a great call and a great play. Unfortunately a sliding Lloyd couldn't cradle the ball into his chest and it bounced away for an incompletion.  Lloyd has made so many great catches in just seven games with the team that I can't count them. This time he dropped one. It happens.

On third down Brady missed Lloyd deep down the left sideline (questionable call and decision) and what looked like a good opening drive fizzled. As the offense walked off and the punting team walked on there was a rumble of boos from the crowd. The Patriots' home crowd. Booing just one drive into a huge game against the rival Jets. Booing the highest scoring offense in the league. Booing Brady. Booing McDaniels. Booing Belichick. I looked at my friend Mark and said "Really? Already? Booing?" He shrugged.

When asked about the crowd reaction and the inevitable panic in the Sports Blabosphere today after the Pats pulled out a huge -- and lucky -- overtime win, Brady said "Maybe we just spoiled some people. It's hard to win, man. It's really hard to win."

Brady is right. It is hard to win. And many Pats fans are starting to look spoiled. The team is 4-3. Has the highest scoring offense in the game. Is in the top 10 against the run. Is loaded with young talent. Is coached by one of the all-time best. But none of those things guarantee easy wins. Why? Because there's another football team on the field. Full of talented NFL players. Even the worst teams in the league are tough to beat. The St. Louis Rams will prove that again this Sunday in London.

It's just hard to understand the mentality of people who spend a good chunk of cash to go to a football game -- a big football game -- on a near-perfect fall afternoon and start booing their team before they've even finished their first beer. Especially when that team has given them more years of enjoyment than anyone ever imagined possible. Do the Pats have problems? Sure they do. Secondary. Pass rush. Play calling. They have let games get away that they should have won. But every game they have played has been entertaining. Isn't that enough? Especially with three banners already hanging in the south end zone? I guess not. I guess the only way some Pats' fans can enjoy themselves is if the team wins every game 45-10.  Those games are fun. But give me a 29-26 overtime nail-biter. Now that's fun.

You know what else is fun? Rooting for this team. The Pats lost a tough one to Seattle two Sunday ago. But it wasn't for lack of effort. At one point Wes Welker took a big hit that seemed to make it hard for him to breathe for the next 20 minutes. Yet he stayed on the field and made the next catch, and the next one, and fielded punts, and blocked. And every time a close-up of him was shown he looked like he was dying. But he kept making plays. Fans of all the other teams might be sick of Welker, but how can Pats' fans not love to root for him.

And Brady. And Gronk. And Vince. And Mayo. And Spikes. And Lloyd. And Mankins. And Bolden. And Branch. And Vollmer. And Ridley. And Jones. And Hightower. And Hernandez. And ...