It never gets old

WEEK 7
Patriots 29, Jets 26 OT (10/21/'12): I love the walk into Gillette before a big game. There's a buzz -- literally -- in the crowd as thousands of Gronks, Bradys, and Welkers make their way to their seats or the taps. You can feel the anticipation in the air as the loudspeakers blast Creed or U2 or Springsteen. Especially on a near-perfect fall day like yesterday.

The start of the day was a lot of fun. Mark and I were the first ones into the Enchanted Forest and cocktails were served shortly after 11. The end of the day was a lot of fun. A sack of Sanchez and fumble recovery by Ninko for the overtime victory and a tailgate dinner of roast pork with homemade apple sauce. In between the tailgates? There was sure a lot of fun. And a lot of frustration. But that's sports.

The Blabosphere will be in full "Pats suck" mode this week. Guaranteed. The Pats pull out a thrilling 29-26 back-and-forth overtime win -- stealing a victory right out of the mouth of Skinny Rex and the Jets -- and everyone's unhappy? Sure, the team has problems. What team in the NFL this season doesn't? And don't say 6-0 Atlanta because they do. The Pats coughed up another lead. Gave up too many yards passing. Made some key mistakes. But they battled all the way and when it looked like they had handed the game to the Jets (which prompted Ryan to yell "Oh ... my ... God!" so loud you could hear him across the field) they pulled themselves together and marched down the field to tie the game with no time left on the clock. If you can't enjoy a game like yesterday's then I'm not sure why you are watching. And no doubt about it, if they lost it would have been a crusher. But it still would have been a great game ... and a great day.

Tailgating just never gets old. I was up at 8:30 in the morning for the 4:25 kickoff. I picked up Mark and his portable cooler loaded with pulled pork and homemade coleslaw at the train station in Providence. A stop at Seven Stars bakery for the bread for the pulled pork sandwiches and we were on our way to the Enchanted Forest lot south of the stadium. We pulled in and headed to the very back behind a large rock formation we have dubbed Rock Ridge. Shep and Matt soon joined us and we were enjoying the beautiful weather and the pulled pork that came up on the morning Amtrak from New York. There's nothing like a nearly five-hour tailgate to get you ready to watch some football.

And we sure got some great -- and bad -- football to watch. The Pats got the ball and were moving with the no huddle but a drop by Lloyd stalled the drive and the Pats punted. The Jets then took the ball and drove 76 yards on 11 plays, getting five first downs along the way. It was impressive. The crowd was not happy. The Pats offense had punted and the defense had allowed a touchdown. Apparently the Jets had nothing to do with it. It was all mistakes by the Pats.

There was a real "uh-oh" mood in the crowd. And then the Pats responded by scoring the next 16 points and, of course, everyone was happy again. First came a 104-yard kickoff return by Devin McCourty. A kick return for a touchdown is one of the most thrilling plays to experience in the stadium. You can really see the play unfolding because you can see the whole field. As the hole opened up the crowd began to roar and when McCourty burst through that hole the place erupted. McCourty passed in front our seats at midfield and it looked like two Jets were going to catch him. It was at that moment that he turned on the jets and left them in the dust.

The Jets got the ball at their own 10 and went three-and-out as big Kyle Love got Sanchez for the first of four sacks for the D. Brady got the ball at the Pats 42 and went right back into the no huddle. This time there were no drops and Brady and Gronk finished it off with a great 17-yard touchdown pass. Brady's throw under pressure was perfect and Gronk's juggling catch was outstanding. The teams exchanged punts and Mesko pinned the Jets deep again. On first down Big Vince smashed through the line and forced a fumble and Sanchez had to kick the ball out of the end zone for a safety. A kick return. A great touchdown pass. A great punt. A safety. 16-7. Ya. The Pats aren't making plays.

The Jets mounted two long field goal drives to cut the score to 16-13 with nine minutes to play in the third. Sure, the Pats D failed to make the stop. But Sanchez and the Jets' offense also made some pretty impressive plays. The Jets may have been 10 1/2 point underdogs (which seemed crazy), but they are a good team and they were playing good, tough football.

Brady and the offense got the ball at their own 17 needing to respond. And respond they did. A nearly seven-minute, 15-play drive that mixed the run and pass beautifully and ended with Gronk catching his second touchdown. The Pats offense can't make the big drive when they need it anymore? 15-plays. 83 yards. Nearly seven-minutes. 23-13.

The Jets answered back. How did they do it? Well, the last time I checked they have NFL caliber players on offense too. How come when the Pats score it's because the offense is unstoppable? But when the other team scores its always because the Pats' D is incompetent? Sometimes the other team makes plays too. Sanchez led his team from his own eight-yard line and drove 14-plays for a huge touchdown to cut the score to 23-20 with just 5:44 left to play. What a crazy 5:44 it was.

The Pats got the ball back and had another chance to make the game-closing drive. They couldn't do it. It started off well when Brady hit Lloyd for a quick first down, but a late flag from the ref 20 yards away called Lloyd for pushing off and put the Pats in a 1st-and-20. There was no replay at Gillette (Why Mr. Kraft? Why?) but I have since seen the replay and it was a crap call. The penalty killed the drive and the Pats punted. The Jets got the ball with 4:19 left at their own 35. OK. Another chance for the defense to make a game-closing stop. They couldn't do it. The Jets drove for the tying field goal. The Jets were making all the plays. The Pats needed to make something happen to save the game. As McCourty took the kickoff out of his end zone Mark said "Hang on to the ball, son." Two seconds later the ball went flying across the field and the Jets recovered. Ryan almost choked with delight as he ran around yelling "Oh ... my ... God!" That's what everyone in the crowd was saying too. Just quieter. 23-23 with 2:01 to play and the Pats had just coughed it up at their own 18. Talk about a crushing defeat.

Tebow came on to the field and took a direct snap and ran for two yards and was stuffed. Two minute warning. The Pats still had three timeouts. The crowd started to realize that if they could hold the Jets to a field goal that Brady would still have a chance to tie it up or win it. It was right about this moment that the Pats began to make all the plays. That's right. With two minutes to play the Pats pulled themselves together and made play after play after play in all three phases of the game. It was as clutch a finish as the team has had in a while. If your response is they shouldn't have been in that position in the first place you are disregarding the fact that there was another team on the field making plays too.

The Jets got stuffed for a yard on second down and then on 3rd-and-7 rookie D'onta Hightower chased Sanchez out of the pocket and then chased him down for a sack. Big play on D. The Jets kicked the field goal but Brady and the offense still had 1:37 left to play and a timeout. The Pats have run the two-minute offense maybe better than anyone the last five years. But mostly at the end of the first half. This time they did it at the end of the game, when it really counts.

Brady to Gronk for 15 yards. It took eight guys to stop Gronk. Brady to Gronk again for 12. Brady to Woody on a short pass that Woody took for 20. It was Woody playing the role of Kevin Faulk to perfection. Brady to Woody again for seven to the Jets' 25 with just five seconds left. Timeout. Now it was time for Gostkowski -- who missed a game-winner in the homer opener -- to step up and make a 43-yarder to send the game into overtime. He nailed it. The crowd cheered with an equal amount of excitement and exhaustion. 

The Pats won the toss and Gillette got its first look at the new overtime rules. Score a touchdown and the game is over. Score a field goal and the Jets get a shot to win it or tie it and keep overtime going. (It's not as complicated as it sounds.) The talk in the crowd was do you risk going no huddle in OT? No huddle is great but it can sometimes cause mistakes and turnovers. What to do? Belichick and McDaniels knew what to do. No huddle. Brady to Woody. Brady to Branch. Woody run. Welker for 13 on 2nd-and-9. Brady to Hernandez. Woody run. Brady to Welker for 12 down to the Jets' 34. Brady to Woody for four. Brady and Hernandez couldn't connect on third down so Gosty came out to hit another huge field goal. This time a 48-yarder in overtime. He nailed it.

The Jets got the ball. The conversation in the crowd returned to the OT rules. "How does it work, again?" So like I said ... if the Jets score a touchdown they win the game. If they get a field goal then overtime continues and the next team that scores any points wins. If the Pats stop them on downs or get a turnover ... Pats win. Sanchez (with the help of a holding call on 3rd-and-5) moved the Jets to their 40-yard line. On first down Big Vince stopped Joe McKnight in his tracks, creating a 2nd-and-10. Sanchez dropped back to pass, Jermaine Cunningham broke through the line and grabbed at Sanchez's feet making him stumble backwards. Just before he hit the ground Ninko blasted him and knocked the ball loose. Ninko rolled over Sanchez and got the ball. Fumble! It's over! Pats win it!

Wait. All turnovers have to be reviewed. Was it a fumble? I thought for sure it was but others weren't so sure. Since it's Gillette it takes a while for the replay to come up if it ever does at all. We looked at the giant screens that Kraft spent millions on but never really uses except for Dunkin' ads. We waited and waited and ... Finally the replay showed. Sanchez falls in slow motion ... Ninko whacks him ... the ball comes loose before Sanchez is down. Fumble! Pats really do win! The replay was so obvious that the two teams were shaking hands, holding a prayer circle, and walking off the field before the ref could come back out to announce the obvious.

A day that started at 8:30 in the morning ended when I dropped Mark (and his empty container of pulled pork and coleslaw) in Providence for the 10:20 p.m. Amtrak to Penn Station. "Great tailgate. Great win," Mark said. "Great day all around."

It sure was. 25 years and nearly 300 games and still never gets old.