The unexpected

WEEK 5
Patriots 31, Broncos 21 (10/7/'12): It's always a pleasant surprise when the game-day rain that was forecast all week never really arrives.

It was just one of the many surprises on a day of the unexpected at Gillette. We arrived at Rock Ridge about five hours before kickoff on what turned out to be a pretty nice fall day for drinking and grilling. It wasn't until the third hour of tailgating (and drinking and grilling) that we needed the cover of the tent. It was right about that time, as I was enjoying the roast chicken, that another unexpected thing occurred.

One of the tailgating traditions in the Enchanted Forest is the old guy who dons a Pirates batting helmet and the jersey of that week's opponent and walks around the lot taunting Pats fans -- good natured of course or he'd have disappeared in the woods long ago never to be seen again. One week he's dressed as Ray Lewis, the next as Ben Roethlisberger. He walks among the grills and coolers yelling "Let's go Broncos! or "Come on Jets!" to the entertainment of everyone wearing Brady jerseys. It was about 4 p.m. when he made his rounds, this time wearing a vintage Elway jersey. As the tailgating crowd laughed at old man Elway, the guy tailgating next to us reached into the back of his SUV and pulled out a giant fox head. That's right. A giant fox head.

With the words "I'm coming to get you, Elway!", he put the giant fox head on and started climbing up Rock Ridge. Old man Elway stopped and looked back to see a man in a giant fox head stumbling towards him. It was obvious he was not expecting that either. The two exchanged a few words -- although it was hard to hear exactly what the guy in the giant fox head was saying -- and then old man Elway disappeared over the rocks towards the other side of the lot. As giant fox head guy walked back with his arms raised in victory, Matt -- who works for ESPN so he knows these things -- recognized that it was not just any giant fox head but actually the giant fox head of Slyde, the New England Revolution's mascot. That's right. The New England Revolution apparently have a giant fox as their mascot. And his name is apparently Slyde. Turns out one of the other guys tailgating next to us is Slyde. Not the guy who put on the head. If you google Slyde and compare him with the photo above you will notice a difference. We asked why a soccer team named the Revolution had a fox named Slyde for a mascot but no one seemed to know. Not even Slyde. So we raised a toast to our mascot neighbor and then headed into the stadium for what would turn out to be four more hours of rain-free weather and unexpected developments.

Brady vs. Manning round 13 turned wasn't really about Brady or Manning. They both had good games. Very good games. But the story was the Pats running game. Again. It is the unexpected story of the season so far. And if it continues it will make the already dangerous Pats' offense almost unstoppable. Even for the Giants in February.

The teams traded impressively long drives for a 7-7 score early in the second quarter. A tight game was one thing that was expected. The fact that my third margarita was not being watered down by rain at that point in the evening fell happily into the unexpected category. The Pats would score the next 24 points (pretty unexpected) to break the game open. Brady continued to build on what may turn out to be his best season ever. He only threw for 223 yards and one touchdown but he was in total control of the game. Any talk of anyone but him for MVP at this point is foolish.

Brady used the running game and a very hurried-up offense to wear the Bronco defenders down to the point of exhaustion and confusion. The crowd was on its feet as the Pats went on drives of 14 plays (touchdown), 16 plays (field goal), and 16 plays (touchdown). Ninkovich then sacked Manning inside the Denver 20 and Big Vince recovered another big fumble. Two plays later Stevan Ridley (151 yards rushing) crashed into the end zone and the Pats were in control 31-7. Manning put up a couple of late touchdowns to close the score to 31-21 but, like many times in the past few years, it was too little too late against the Pats D.

With a big AFC victory in hand and the Pats back in their familiar spot at the top of the AFC East, we headed back for a post-game tailgate of burgers that Matt had brought up from Noack's in Connecticut. From the time the score hit 31-7 I had been thinking about those burgers. We started unloading the truck ... table, grill, chairs, cooler ... cooler? No cooler. Just as Shep was saying "Someone stole our cooler!" one of the guys a few cars down was yelling "Someone stole our cooler!" No post-game hamburgers. No post-game beer. Talk about unexpected. In the nearly 20 years we've been tailgating we've never had a cooler or anything stolen from the back of the truck. First time for everything.

As we ate the leftover chicken we talked about two things... who would steal someone's hamburger meat! And the fact that the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots are currently averaging 165 yards a game on the ground. Third best in the NFL.

Now that's really unexpected.