WEEK 13
The Patriots clinched another AFC East title with a solid -- if somewhat difficult -- road win down in Miami. A win of any kind on the road in the NFL is a good win. A win that clinches your fourth division title in a row ... well that's a great win.
The Dolphins are a pretty good football team. They almost beat the Colts on the road a few weeks ago and they did beat the Seahawks last week. Both the Colts and Seahawks are playoff teams. I watched both of those games and was impressed with how well coached the Dolphins are and how tough they play. They won't make the playoffs, but they are not an easy win for any opponent.
Most Pats fans knew that. Except for Dan Shaughnessy. Then again, he's not really a fan. He's a Dan. And if you are a Dan you really don't know much about the NFL. It's pretty obvious. Before the game Dan wrote the following ... "Winning the AFC East is kind of a joke. It’s like the New York Times being named one of the top 10 newspapers in the country. It’s like Shaquille O’Neal winning a slam-dunk contest at Lincoln-Sudbury High School." Actually, it's not like that at all. As Tom Brady would say ... Winning any game in the NFL is tough. Winning a road game in the NFL is really tough. How did the mighty Niners do against the Rams yesterday? Not so good. The Jets, Bills, and Dolphins are not near the top of the league, but when they play a solid game they are nobody's pushover. Especially the Dolphins.
But Dan didn't see it that way. He added this in his column before the game: "It’s weird to be this confident for any road game in the NFL. ... Sunday is no contest. This New England team is on a roll."
There is no "on a roll" in the NFL. Each week is different. The Giants looked like they couldn't be stopped a few weeks ago then proceeded to lose two in a row. Some weeks Gronk catches 12 passes and two touchdowns and looks like a monster and then the next week he catches two passes and spends a lot of time blocking. The NFL doesn't operate in hot teams and "rolls." It's week to week. A fan gets this. A Dan doesn't. Most fans thought the Pats would win because they are the better team. But "no contest"? In Miami? Against a pretty tough team in your division? Please.
So what did Dan have to say today after the Pats did win in a very tough road game to take the AFC East? "We are spoiled. A win, even when it clinches a division title/playoff spot, isn’t good enough anymore. ... It was pretty ugly — downright unwatchable at times." Who is we? Speak for yourself. Once a Dan, always a Dan. Unwatchable? I really enjoyed watching that game. The Dolphins have a good pass rush and are one of the best teams in the league against the run. They challenged the Pats and the Pats answered the challenge. If you are a football fan, you love a game like that. If you are a Dan, you want every game to be 49-19 so you don't have to pay attention and you can beat the traffic. There were many big moments in yesterday's game and the Pats came through in enough of those moments to get the win.
Especially at the end of the game. Miami kicked a field goal (forced by a great Mayo sack on the delayed blitz) to cut the score to 20-13 with just more than eight minutes left to play. Brady and the offense got the ball at their own 20 and -- after a day spent getting stuffed on the ground -- they handed it to Ridley time and time again for an impressive 16-play drive that chewed up seven of those eight minutes. Gosty kicked a field to seal the win. The Dolphins D said "go ahead and try to run on us" and the Pats offense (especially the banged up line) responded by doing just that. That's football. It was a great drive to watch. For a football fan, that is. Apparently not all that fun if you are a Dan.
Ugly or not, the win did indeed clinch the division, the first of the three goals the team sets every year for the regular season.
- Win the division.
- Get a first-round bye.
- Get home-field advantage.
I was surprised to see how few times the Pats won the division in the first 40 years of my life. Just five. Then I remembered something... they often sucked! Bad. Does 1-15 ring a bell? Which makes what the team has done in the past twelve seasons (10 division titles) even more amazing ... and completely unexpected.
My nephews have grown up knowing nothing but division titles and playoffs. It won't always be like that. They will have their 1-15 some day. But not any time soon. But they know that. And they appreciate and enjoy every win -- even the "ugly" ones. They are fans. Not Dans.
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