Quoth the Raven, nevermore

The Ravens' Ray Lewis announced yesterday that he is retiring after the playoffs. Lewis is a first-ballot hall of famer. Maybe the greatest linebacker ever. When he's playing the Patriots and trying to kill Tom Brady I can't stand him. The rest of the time you gotta love the guy. Except for that little murder that he may or may not have been involved in, Lewis is an inspiring person. He talks about God like a preacher. He's a mentor to young players and a force for good in society. And he hits like nobody's business. He's an original.

He even makes an intro for a video game awesome ...

Communication breakdown

Well ... it has sure hit the fan now.

If you foolishly stayed up late last night to watch all of the Seahawks-Packers game like I did then you saw the NFL's fake refs implode on national television. You think the officiating in the Pats-Ravens game was bad? Around midnight last night the fake refs took a big road victory away from the Pack and handed it to Pete Carroll and his Seahawks. The final play of the game -- a Hail Mary by Seattle -- was intercepted by Green Bay's M.D. Jennings in the corner of the end zone. Anyone but the most diehard Seattle fans (and the NFL) looking at the video below would have to agree with that. Seattle receiver Golden Tate gets an arm in there and claws away at the ball but it's clear who has "possession" and who doesn't.

It was even clear to one of the two refs on the field who made the call. The other ref, the one who signaled touchdown but really had no idea what had just happened, takes a look at his fellow fake ref and sees him starting to put his arms up so he too throws his arms up ... to signal touchdown. Problem is that the other ref was raising his arms to signal ... an interception and a touchback. Ooops. The two officials never talked to each other before making a signal as the regular officials would have. And after they made different calls they just stood there. Lost. The head ref, the man in the white hat, is no where to be found for a long time, thus allowing mass confusion to ensue. It was a mess. And it was all caused because there was no communication between the officials.

And that's where the real problem with the fake refs comes in. All refs -- real or fake -- make bad calls. It's just going to happen. Even to the best of refs. They have to make hundreds of split second decisions each weekend. But what the real refs do is prevent a game that is played on the edge of chaos from actually devolving into that chaos. And that's no easy feat.

Simply put .... the real refs, most of them in their 50s and 60s, manage to maintain total control and authority over giant athletes who are playing a ferocious game in an almost-out-of-control state of mind. Guys like Ed Hochuli never look confused. They are always in command and always communicating with their fellow officials. Everyone knows who is in charge. That's why the regular refs are a very important part of the game.

The fake refs have totally lost control of that game. ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook writes a good piece about this. The Pats-Ravens game had more skirmishes and pushing contests after the play than you normally see in a month of football. The regular refs know how to take control in those situations ... toss a lot of flags high in the air so all the players can see them and get in their faces. The fake refs mostly just stand there looking like I would ... lost in a scrum of NFL players.

Packer Greg Jennings was asked about the rough play after the game last night. The veteran wide receiver said he had never played in an NFL game where players were just taking shots at each other and the refs were doing nothing about it. The only way to make the players think twice about unloading on someone is to keep control of the game. The fake refs can't seem to do that. Someone is going to get hurt. And then the NFL will have a real problem.

Fall is in the air

The fake games are over. How do I know that? The 2012 NFL preview edition of Sports Illustrated landed at my door today.

From the time I was about 10 years old there were three magazines that came all around the same time that told me my favorite time of year was about to arrive.... the TV Guide fall preview edition, the Sears Christmas catalog, and the SI NFL preview.

I still get them all.

Summer is great. School vacation. The Cape. Gin and tonics. Baseball. 9 p.m. sunsets. Bocce ball in the yard. Gin and tonics.

But I have always looked forward to the end of summer. Probably because I have a September birthday. But also because it was the start of football season.

Gronk looks ready. So am I. Time to restock the tailgating supplies.

Shake, rattle ... and fall

Norman A. Sas.

I had never heard of him either. But his obit came across the wires the other day.
Turns out he was the guy who invented the electronic football game. No, not the little handheld device from the late '70s that had a tiny red light that you moved across the screen to a series of beeps and blips avoiding would-be tacklers in the form of more little red lights.

I'm talking electronic table-top football. The closest a game got to the real thing ... before Madden.

I got my first (of three) electronic football games when I was 12. The "field" was a sparkling piece of green sheet metal with the NFL logo painted in the middle and all the yard and end zone markers perfectly recreated. The players were about the size of a pawn on a chess board. But so much cooler. My set came with the Dallas Cowboys (then America's Team to the media -- but no one else) and the Detroit Lions. Enclosed in the box was an order sheet to get more plastic players dressed as other NFL teams. It wasn't long before all my favorite teams (Pats, Chiefs, Browns) and uniforms (Niners, Vikes, Raiders) were represented in my growing collection of guys. Sometimes I would just set up the field (Pats vs. Niners usually) and lie on the floor and imagine the players runnning around the sheet metal field. Hey, I said I was 12.

Electronic football was one of those games where the set-up was as much or more fun than the actual playing. Like Stratego. Or Mouse Trap. Or Risk. The beauty of electronic football is that the set-up happened before every play. Each little guy sat on top of a green stand. Attached to the bottom of each stand was a little wheel with two prongs sticking out of it. The idea was that if the wheel was set straight then the two prongs would make the player run straight. If the wheel was turned to the right then the player would go right. If the wheel was turned to the left, then left he would go. That was the theory.

So when me and one of my friends sat down to play a game we would spend 15 minutes setting up the first play. This guy and this guy will pull right, and these two guys will pull left, allowing the running back to cut right and then straight through the hole created by the blockers. On defense it would be this guy will come up on run support while these two guys head back in coverage. It was a lot of strategery.

Then you would flick the switch. And all the strategery would go right out the window.

The field would begin to vibrate. And I mean vibrate. Loudly. A motor attached to the underside of the game would cause the sheet metal to rattle, causing the players to move around. The idea was that the players would move in the predetermined patterns that were set up before the switch was flicked. The reality was that the players would bounce all over the field. Some backwards. Some in circles. Some would begin to "run" and then fall over. Other players would come together in a pack for a group vibrate. Half of the time the little foam ball would fall out of the guy's hand and we would yell "fumble!" A fumble was recovered when another player would bump into the ball. Sometimes that would take minutes. Very suspense-filled minutes.

No matter how many times the flick of the switch created chaos instead of something that looked like football, me and my friends would faithfully gather all our guys up again and set up another play. All the while talking about the last play as if something had actually happened. And that's because every now and then a little plastic guy carrying a little foam ball would vibrate his way down the field with a bunch of other little guys chasing him and cross the goal line for a touchdown. I'm guessing the average score for electronic football was 6-0 (it was almost impossible to kick an extra point). They were some of the best 6-0 games I've ever seen.

Sometimes my mother would come into the room where we were playing and stop to watch as we placed each guy carefully in position. There was a hush of concentration in the air. Then the hush would be broken by the loud sound of the rattling metal and the players would jump around with no rhyme or reason and the runner would be "tackled" and we'd shut the switch off to get ready for the next play.

"Huh," my mother would say. "It's just like real football. I can't tell what's happening at all."

Thanks, Norman A. Sas. Great game.

Finally moving on

Easter Sunday found me, my brother, and nephews talking football (who really wants to talk Sox right now?). Who will the Pats draft with those two first-round picks? Will the Pats even use those two first-round picks? How bad will the Tebow-Sanchez mess in NY be? Can Brandon Lloyd play like '07 Randy? Who's more to blame for that infamous missed pass in the Super Bowl, Brady or Welker?

I have been in the "it was a horrible pass" camp from the start. Brady blew it. Welker almost made a great catch but couldn't pull it in. Brady missed a wide open Welker with the Super Bowl on the line. Still hard to believe.

My nephew and my brother put more of the blame on Welker. They are in the "if it hits you in both hands and you don't catch it ... it's a drop" camp. Seems like that is the much larger group. And that could be because Brady never came out and said "I screwed up." He has let Welker take all the blame.  I'm still waiting to see if Brady will ever take his share.

When it was announced that Brady agreed to have his contract restructured to be more cap friendly, leading many to believe that the money will go to a long-term deal for #83, Shep texted me "That's Brady's way of saying 'Sorry Tim'. Will you let it go now?"

OK, time to let it go. Time to move on.

Brady is still the man. With the offense the Pats have assembled, this coming season may be his best yet.

The Jets get their man

Well it doesn't look like the Jets want Peyton Manning to lead their team for the next few years after all.

Reports are that Mt. Ryan and his crew have decided to re-sign Mark Sanchez, a.k.a the Sanchize, to a brand-spanking new three-year contract extension.

Poor Jets fans. They didn't even get to enjoy the "we might get the other Manning" fantasy for 24 hours. Don't get me wrong. I like Sanchez. He took his team to the AFC title game in his first two seasons. Not bad. But -- like the whole Jets team -- he took a big step back in 2011. How big? Just check out this replay on NFL.com. It's one of my favorite moments of last season. I look forward to many more just like it.

Peyton's new place

There's a classic episode of the "Dick Van Dyke" show (stick with me here) in which Rob comes across a painting of his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore, who I wanted to be my wife when I was 10). The painting was made by an eccentric artist when she was in college.

She's naked.

Rob wants to get the painting "off the market" but the artist (the great Carl Reiner) says he has two better offers. One from a guy in their town who wants to display it as part of a local art exhibit. The other from some millionaire who owns a villa high on a mountain on some tropical island. Rob says "I think it would great at the top of that mountain."

That's where I would like to see Peyton Manning go ... far away and out of sight. Mazz was saying in his usual shrill tone that he wanted Manning with the Dolphins -- in the Pats' division -- so he could see more Brady vs. Manning clashes. I have seen enough of anyone named Manning. Or Manningham.

Miami would be a great spot for the future hall of famer. And he already lives down there. But I'd like to see him either in the mountains of Colorado, or even better, the desert of Arizona. And the NFC

Peyton Manning would look great as a Cardinal. Far, far away.

The NFL ... It's a hit!

Bounty-gate. Sounds so much cooler than Spygate. Doesn't it?

I won't get into which is the bigger evil (because I would have to say "cheating" is always worse), but the debate during the last few days about the New Orleans Saints taking out bounties on opposing players has been very interesting indeed. Especially when the debate is among former NFL players.

Mike Golic of ESPN, one of the more likable ex-players turned talking head, has been the most outspoken that bounty-gate is much ado about nothing. Golic was as tough as they come on the field. He played defensive line for Notre Dame and then in the NFL in the late '80s and early '90s. As he says ... "I was going to hit you as hard as I could whether there was an extra five grand on the line or not." I believe him. But that's Golic. He was tough, but not insane. Not a borderline criminal. You can't say that about all of today's players. Or yesterday's.

How do you think ex-Pat Brandon Meriweather would react if told he could make an extra $5,000 if he made sure the opposing quarterback was carried off the field and didn't come back. They haven't created knee pads strong enough to stop him. And that's what this is all about. Greg Williams, one of the slimier coaches to walk the NFL sideline during the past few decades, allegedly told his players to "get as close to the line" of decent behavior as they could and he would tell them when they went over the line. That's different from telling a player to hit hard, intimidate, play all-out all the time. It just is.

It's a mindset. Of course NFL players -- mostly on defense -- are going to try to hit opponents as hard as they can. That's the nature of the game. That's why the equipment continues to get bigger and bigger. But if before the coin is tossed, before the first ball is snapped, an entire team's mentality is not just to hit hard but hit with intent to injure then that does change the way players approach the game. Football and violence are synonymous. Football and assault should not be. There are clean, hard hits. And there are dirty, hard hits. Greg Williams was urging his players to be dirty. And he was seeing that they were financially rewarded for it. That should bring nothing less than a lifetime suspension.

I'm not an NFL peacenik. I still miss the bench-clearing hockey brawls. Rodney Harrison is one of my all-time favorites. I wanted Favre hit hard and hit often in 2010 along with everyone else in the football loving world (except ESPN employees of course). As Golic says, this stuff has been going on since the game began. But times are changing. The lines are being redrawn. And coaches advocating injuring players is way across that line.

The NFL has been putting out "The NFL's Hardest Hits!" videos since the moment the VCR was invented. It's part of the game. One of the best parts. And the league has been selling it for years. But there really is a difference between hitting someone as hard as you can and hitting them so that the doctors have to pick their parts up off the turf. The league has been trying to control the violence in the game. Especially the violence that leads to serious injuries like concussions. It's an uphill battle but one worth climbing. That's why the response should be harsh. You can line a player up for a hard hit, but if there's an extra $5k on the table you might just line him up a little lower. Say, at the knees. The message the bounties were sending was that it's not just good enough to hit hard, you have to hit hard enough to injure.

Mike Golic might not think there is a difference. But a guy like Brandon Meriweather would.

I'll be back

I've had a solid week to digest the fact that Brady and the Patriots did not win a Super Bowl that they had control of with just five minutes to play. A week's not enough.

There will be plenty of offseason NFL news to help me start to move on. Where will Manning (the other one) end up? What teams will be big players in the free agency free-for-all? Will the Colts actually have a head coach? And speaking of head coaches... How long till Rex Ryan inserts another foot in his mouth? One thing that we already do know ... next year's Super Bowl goes back to New Orleans. That would be the perfect place for Brady and Belichick to finally close the deal on #4. See? I'm already moving on.

The 2012 League Year (when did they start calling it that?) will start on March 13th at 4 p.m. when free agency begins. See you then.

The year in pictures

When I was a teenager my favorite Sports Illustrated issue was The Year In Pictures. No. Really. It was. Not the swimsuit issue. That was second. The Year In Pictures was the best, especially on olympic years. It was just great to look back at some of the best sporting moments captured in stunning images by the best sports photographers in the world. A picture really is worth a thousand words. Especially that one of Big Vince rumbling down the field after his interception against San Diego. Or the one of Gronk going head-over-heels for a TD against KC. Or Brady diving for a TD in the AFC title game. Or... it really was a great season.

Pick 'em

Has there ever been a more anticipated sporting event in New England? Maybe even the country? I think not.

Super Bowl XLVI between the Patriots and the Giants reminds me of the great Super Bowl matchups I grew up watching in the '70s between the Steelers and Cowboys. Even if you weren't a fan of either team you watched just to see football played at its most intense, highest (and entertaining) level. Most of the country will be rooting against the Patriots (does that make them the Cowboys now?) getting their fourth title. That's how I felt about the Steelers.

So who will win? I'm leaning towards the Patriots. As is Vegas. But the reality is this game is up for grabs. As even as they get. A toss up. A pick 'em game. These two teams have staged three very entertaining games in the past four years. Each one featuring many lead changes in the second half. There was the finale of the perfect regular season in which Brady and Moss both broke passing records to win a shootout 38-35. A month later there was that other Super Bowl that I have blocked out of my memory. And this past November there was the Giants handing the Pats their first regular season home loss in three seasons. That game featured a last-second comeback led by little Manning that was eerily familiar.

The two teams don't know how to play boring games against each other.

It's being called the rematch, a chance for the Patriots to avenge their epic loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The NFL Network has seen fit to show that game several times during the past two weeks. Thanks for that. But the two teams are very different and there's not a lot to be learned from watching that film ... except one thing. An offense that looks unstoppable can suddenly become very stoppable in a pressure game against a very good defense. I can still remember the week before that other Super Bowl when then-Giant Plaxico Burress predicted that his team would win 23-17. When Brady was informed of that he laughed. He wasn't surprised Burress predicted New York would win. Of course he would. But he was surprised at one thing. "We're only going to score 17 points?" Brady asked incredulously. He thought it was impossible for the Pats offense to be held completely in check. He learned he was wrong. As did I. We both know better this time around.

A game that you can learn a lot from is the one at Gillette in Week 9. The final score was 24-20 Giants. The score at halftime was 0-0. That's the kind of games these two teams play. Standoffs that morph into shootouts. Brady and the offense struggled -- again -- against the Giants vaunted defensive line. Then Brady, Gronk, Welker, BenJarvus, and Co. got it going and put up 20 points in a little more than a quarter. Brady finished with 342 yards passing and two touchdowns. He completed many key passes with a Giant in his face or chest. But, to quote Brady, there were times he "sucked." He threw two picks and fumbled once. Three turnovers. He got away with that two weeks ago against the Ravens. He can't get away with that again.

The matchups have been broken down, turned inside out, and X-rayed. The two teams are talented, well-coached, and disciplined. You have Brady and little Manning. Great receivers on both sides of the ball. Two not-so-great secondaries. An awesome D line and a very good D line. A very good offensive line and an average offensive line. Solid but not dominant running games. Effective special teams. It's hard to give one team a clear edge in any category. Including coaching. It's that even.

But the majority of the national media is going with the Giants. The main rationale for that is New York is the hotter team, playing the better football. The Giants are playing very good football. No doubt. But hotter? The Pats have won ten straight since their loss to the G-Men in Week 9. I would offer that they have played their best two games of the season in the playoffs. Especially on the defensive side of the ball. They shut down two of the best running attacks in the league in Denver and Baltimore. I would also offer that the Pats played their best all-around game in four years against the Ravens and would have won by 10 or more points if Brady had not made some very big mistakes. But the Pats were lucky that kick went wide left. Just as the Giants were lucky that the Niners muffed two kicks to hand them 10 points.

Both teams are playing well. Both teams have been lucky. Again... even.

My prediction for the game? Patriots 33, Giants 30.

I almost lowered that score by 10 points each after watching the replay of the November game at Gillette because the score was only 10-3 at the end of the third quarter. But I figure that these two offenses have seen these two defenses a lot recently. They know what to expect. They will be able to make some big plays. In a game like that, I like Brady and Belichick. I always will.

I was watching the local news and a report about grade-school kids getting excited for the game. The reporter put the mike in the face of a little boy wearing a Gronk jersey and asked him his prediction for the game. His eyes lit up as he said "Patriots, like by a score of 45-3!" I looked at him and laughed. He's only eight. He doesn't even remember 2008. He doesn't know what it's like to see his team lose in the big game. I hope he doesn't get to find out what that's like any time soon.

Our fate lies not in the stars...

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Jets 10, Patriots 3 (9/23/'01): In just a few days, Tom Brady will step on to the field in Indy to play in his fifth Super Bowl in ten years. I won't be there ($2k for a ticket. Hello couch), but I was there the day he walked on to the field to start what would become one of the greatest careers the NFL has ever seen. Brady is probably the most famous athlete on the planet right now. Not the most popular. But the most famous. It's easy to forget that if it wasn't for a twist of fate, Brady's career -- and my entertainment level as a Pats' fan -- might have been very different this past decade.

September 23rd, 2001. Just twelve days after everyone awoke to the news and images that are still hard to believe. The NFL -- after a week gone dark -- decided it was time to get back to the business of entertaining the masses. Me, Mark, Shep, and Bergs gathered in the dirt that was the old Foxboro Stadium parking lot in the shadow of the skeleton of what would become Gillette. Mark worked in Manhattan and was not far from the towers that day. He had to make his way through the new heightened security on Amtrak, meaning no containers full of pulled pork or any other marinated meat. We sat in near 70 degree weather and did what we always do... talked football to forget about everything else.

There wasn't too much to be optimistic about on that afternoon other than the weather. The world had been turned upside down. W. was president. And the Pats were 0-1. It was very early in the team's second season under Bill Belichick. The Pats went 5-11 in his first year and looked very mediocre, prompting Bergs to repeat that he thought giving up a first-round pick to the Jets to pry him free was a bad idea. It would be the last day he would say it. Drew Bledsoe was the starting QB and the face of the franchise. Although we were Drew admirers, we all felt that he had regressed so badly under Pete Carroll that he was painful to watch. Sure, we were getting a new stadium to replace the concrete toilet bowl, but all we knew about that was our ticket prices were sure to rise.

The game was preceded by a moving tribute to those who were lost that day in Manhattan and elsewhere and the emergency workers who tried to save them. Pats lineman Joe Andruzzi had three bothers in the New York fire department and he ran out of the tunnel waving two American flags and joined them at midfield for the national anthem. The crowd formed one, powerful voice in song. I'm not big on patriotic displays at sporting events. Fourth of July on the Esplanade? Sure. But a football game? Play the national anthem but spare me Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." It's a football game, I don't care if you are proud to be an American. I felt very differently that afternoon.

The emotions of the day were soon channeled to football and a very hard-hitting game. The Patriots' defense -- with guys like Law, Milloy, Bruschi, Johnson, and McGinnest -- was starting to reach its potential and held Curtis Martin and the Jets' offense in check. Unfortunately, Bledsoe and the Pats offense seemed to be reaching its potential too. Its potential to be bad. With just more than five minutes left in the game, the Jets held a 10-3 lead. The Pats' offense had the ball just inside its own 20-yard line. We were finishing our last beers and hoping Bledsoe would find a little of the magic he had a few years earlier. Bledsoe dropped back to pass. He got forced out of the pocket and lumbered -- he couldn't run -- towards the far sideline. He got close to the first down marker and instead of running out of bounds Bledsoe, as tough as they come, decided to turn his shoulder and try to get that extra yard for the first down. Jets linebacker Mo Lewis was between Bledsoe and the marker.

Bledsoe was about as far away from my seat in Section 309 as he could get. I could still feel the hit. Lewis lowered his right shoulder and smashed Bledsoe in his left side. It looked like Bledsoe had run into a concrete wall at full speed. The entire stadium winced. Bledsoe went down hard. He didn't get the first down. He didn't get up for a few minutes either. The crowd stood silent again. Finally Bledsoe got to his feet as the trainers checked him out. Even from a distance you could see he was shaky. There was some confusion on the sideline. Tom Brady -- #12 -- had put his helmet on but it looked like Bledsoe might come back into the game. There was a brief discussion and then Brady walked towards the huddle and Bledsoe turned and walked the other way.

There wasn't a roar for Brady. Even those of us who thought it might be time for Bledsoe to go didn't want to see it end this way. But end it did. Brady took the next snap and -- except for 2008 when he got his knee ripped up -- he has taken every meaningful snap since. Brady went a mere 5-for-10 for 46 yards as he tried to drive the Pats to a tying touchdown. The game came to an anticlimactic finish when his Hail Mary pass was harmlessly batted to the ground. We sat in the parking lot as the sun set talking about the day. What if Bledsoe can't come back? Is that a good thing? Can Brady -- the kid from Michigan -- be a decent NFL quarterback?

The next weekend the Pats hosted the undefeated Colts. By that time everyone knew that Bledsoe had suffered a serious injury and that the young quarterback would be leading the 0-2 team for the next few weeks. The Pats stomped on the Colts that day 44-13. Brady didn't throw a touchdown and had just 168 yards passing, a number he sometimes breaks in a quarter these days. But he brought an energy to the team that was noticeable. He may have been a second-year player among a group of veterans, but he was clearly a leader.

Since then he has led the franchise to three championships and several very near misses for Lombardi number four. He gets another shot at it Sunday. He is, for me, the greatest Boston athlete in my sports-watching lifetime. I was too young to appreciate Russell or Williams but I grew up on Orr, Cowens, Yaz and have marvelled at Bourque, Bird, Clemens, Neely, Bledsoe, Pedro, Ortiz, and Rice. Brady tops them all mostly because he delivered what I never thought possible. Super Bowl parades.

But it isn't just that he led the Pats to three championships. It was the way he did it. He was Bourque, Bird, Neely, Ortiz -- and a lot of Terry O'Reilly -- all in one. He is simply one of the all-time greatest sports stories. Don't let his posing with goats or hiding from the paparazzi make you forget just how amazing his career with the Patriots has been

Drafted in the -- everyone -- sixth round in 2000, Brady was an interesting mix of raw talent and, as Kramer would say, unbridled enthusiasm. He had some great games at Michigan so he wasn't quite an unknown. But he was no Peyton Manning. He wasn't taken with the first pick and he wasn't able to dictate which team he would play for. I like Manning. He's a regular guy. His commercials are often very funny. Oh, and he's one of the best QBs to ever play the game. I've grown to enjoy watching him (when not playing the Pats) because he almost always does something impossible to turn a sure loss into a victory. Manning carried the Colts on his back by almost sheer will before he hurt his neck. I get why he is loved.

I don't get why Brady is not. I know, I know. Giselle. Cover boy. UGGs. The West Coast mansion. The hair. Bridget and the baby. That's the other side of Brady. Brady the football player hasn't changed from the moment when he was headbutting Bledsoe before the Super Bowl in New Orleans. He may be a reluctant celebrity, but he still looks driven to me. He still plays like he is trying to earn his starting spot. He still plays the game the way it should be played. All out. Manning was the sure thing. Brady was the underdog. Manning started out as NFL royalty. Brady started out as NFL working class. Today they are both future Hall of Famers. Who'd a thunk it back in 2001.

Brady joined a team that had a strong nucleus of veteran leaders. Some -- like Brian Cox and Roman Phifer -- were former Parcells/Belichick guys who were brought in to bring attitude. Others -- like Law, Milloy, Bruschi, McGinnest, Johnson, Brown -- were part of the '96 team that went to the Super Bowl and were entering the peak years of their careers. Brady quickly fit in with that group and almost always played with the poise of a veteran. It was a perfect marriage. Now all those veterans are gone. All of them. Brady is the link between what is quickly becoming the distant past and what is now the future.

Brady has made the transition into the second phase of his career ... the veteran quarterback. Not every player can do it. But Brady had good teachers in all those retired Patriots who are now on almost every football program there is. (How much does that drive the rest of the NFL-loving country crazy?)

Will Brady have as much success in this phase of his career (which he says he hopes will last several more years)? Belichick certainly has the Pats poised to compete for the title for the next few years. Ten years after the first title the Pats have gone 27-5 the last two seasons. A win Sunday could set the stage for another dynasty. You never know what fate holds.

Thank you Mo Lewis.

Game films

OK, I've actually watched  movies that were not made in the 1970s. Here's one. "Wedding Crashers." Vince Vaughn at his best. Classic Christopher Walken performance. And one of the funniest football scenes ever filmed.

It's a great look at both backyard football and eccentric, dysfunctional upper class families. Both are so much fun to watch. It's the best touch football scene in movie history along with the one from "The Big Chill.'' One has Rachel McAdams, the other has Meg Tilly. That's a toss-up.

Bradley Cooper became a star in this scene. Unfortunately I couldn't find a clip that had the entire football game so here's the best line from the movie uttered by one of the funniest actors I've seen. Crabcakes and football. That's what Maryland does. OK, Ravenstown, Md. Let's see what you've got.

Jets to the MAX

I said to my nephew Pete as we were driving to Gillette on a beautiful New Year's Day morning... "If I could choose between the Pats winning today and getting the top seed and the Jets making the playoffs, or the Pats losing and getting the second seed and the Jets losing and not making the playoffs... I would chose the Pats losing,"

That's what you call being an irrational sports fan. Rooting more against another team than you are rooting for your own team. But I knew the pleasure I would get this week from the completion of the Jets implosion. Or at least I thought I knew. Turns out I way underestimated just how much fun it would be.

It actually started before the game even ended. Team "captain" Santonio Holmes, a malcontent his entire career, got into an argument in the huddle with teammates who had finally had enough of his act. In the huddle! In the fourth quarter of a game the Jets had to have. With everything on the line. Holmes was benched for the final few minutes. He didn't have a catch in the game. The Jets wilted in the Miami heat and lost 19-17. No playoffs. No Super Bowl.

And then the fun really began. First Ladianian Tomlinson chimed in on the Holmes argument and his captain's body language. "I'll tell you what," LT said. "It's tough for guys to follow a captain that kind of behaves in that manner. You're a captain, guys looking to you. You've got to lead by example. You've got to play your tail off until the last play." This from LT. The "leader" of the Chargers who left the AFC title game against the Pats a few years ago and sat sulking on the bench, buried under the hood of his giant winter coat, as his team's championship dreams faded yet again.

Give L.T. credit for facing the media. His teammate Bart Scott just flipped off the reporters, but not before saying "All I know is I have a $4 million guaranteed contract next year." The Jets say that isn't actually true.

Mt. Ryan then got his chance to speak and, once again, came off looking mostly like a buffoon. He talked about how he was not sorry that he spent more time predicting his team would win the Super Bowl and talking smack about the opponents than he did making sure his team was ready to play. He pretty much predicted -- again -- that the Jets would win it all next year. Eventually the questions turned to the Holmes argument in the huddle and his benching.

Here's what the Super Bowl champion coach had to say... "I looked out there and was wondering why he wasn't out there. I did not bench Santonio." Hmmm... Can you imagine Bill Belichick saying that? Maybe Ryan should take a few press conference lessons from him.

Things really got entertaining later in the week when the team's injured, rookie, fourth-string quarterback decided he too should talk. That's what Rex Ryan's players do. They talk. A lot. Greg McElroy (I googled him. He actually does play for the Jets) had this to say about his first year in the NFL...  "This place is a zoo. It's the first time I've ever been around extremely selfish individuals. There were people within our locker room that didn't care whether we won or lost as long as they really had a good game individually. It's going to take a lot to kind of come together next year."

Ryan did a little post-mortem during the week and summed it up very well..."Normally, I'm a guy that really has the pulse of the team," he said humbly. "I don't think I had the pulse of the team the way I've done in the past."

So many great quotes from a great collapse. But my favorite came from an unexpected source... the director of the Jets very unfortunate Pepsi MAX commercial that's been playing the past week or so. (Wonder how the execs at Pepsi have felt watching the Jets collapse knowing they were the focus of their new ad campaign?) The director describes working with Ryan and the Jets... "They're the best group of people I've ever worked with. Ryan has put together a fabulous team. The guys are harmonious."

I guess he should stick to making commercials and not judging team talent and chemistry.

Just as Ryan and the Jets should have stuck to studying game film and practicing instead of opening their mouths and making commercials.

Game films

Tom Brady is banged up again. Shoulder this time. When you watch the hits he takes week after week it's amazing he hasn't missed more time. It's also amazing some question his toughness. I watched a montage of Brady getting knocked around and it reminded me of the opening scene of one of -- if not the greatest -- football movies of all time. "North Dallas Forty" from 1979. The '70s were great for football in the movies.

One of the greatest football films starts off with one of the greatest opening scenes of any genre. Nick Nolte, veteran wide receiver, struggles to get out of bed the morning after a game. With each step he takes he is reminded of every big hit he took the night before. No dialogue needed.

But the movie has lots of great dialogue. My favorite line is when the coach is telling his players that the key to winning is consistency. Game in and game out. He tells them that a computer has spit out info on each of them that they need to follow religiously to improve consistency, adding "No one of you is as good as that computer."

That's a scene -- and a line -- that speaks to a lot more than the football world these days.

Reading Material - Jets' Edition

MT. RYAN: Have another doughnut.

There was a lot of good reading after this holiday weekend of football. Drew Brees broke the record for passing yards in a season. The Lions clinched a playoff spot for the first time in decades. The Giants and Cowboys set themselves up for a winner-take-all NFC East battle next Sunday. God let Tim Tebow lose on Christmas Eve. Lots of great stories.

But none more entertaining than all the stories about the New York Jets after their loss to the Giants. Gotham is all a twitter about their men in green. For good reason. The Jets are plummeting. Their coach Rex Ryan has become Nero. The team that he guaranteed would be playing in their third straight Super Bowl still hasn't made it there yet. And unless the seas part perfectly for them next weekend they won't even be making the playoffs this time around.

The whole Rex Ryan shtick is wearing thin. He can talk a good game. But it's becoming less clear if he can coach a good game.

• Mark Sanchez passed 59 times in a game that was close most of the way. The Foot Doctor is not getting a lot of love for that. 
• Ryan spent the week before the game challenging the Giants. A pretty good football team. A team that one might not want to give extra motivation too. Ryan just can't help himself. 
• The Sanchize -- a.k.a. quarterback Mark Sanchez -- is suddenly not looking like he has a long Pro Bowl career ahead of him in the Meadowlands. I've been a Sanchez fan -- four road playoff wins in his first two seasons will do that -- but his star is definitely starting to dim. Next year will be a key one for him -- and his coach.

Of course it's the coach that all the talk is about. It always is when it comes to Rex Ryan. He is always credited with taking the pressure off his team and putting it all on him. That's media B.S. Pressure is created by poor play. Bad coaching. Throwing games away. Pressure is created on Sunday. Not on Tuesday at a press conference. The media doesn't create pressure -- although Felger sure wants to think it does. The opposing offense or defense creates pressure. All Ryan's act does is put more pressure on his team to live up to his ridiculous predictions and guarantees. And when they don't... trouble. Ryan gets praised for showing confidence in his team. Every coach is confident in his team. Belichick sure is. Talking about it is not as important as coaching it. Ryan talks. Belichick coaches.

The Boston media started this season with predictions of the Jets taking over the AFC East. Many said Gang Green had already surpassed the Pats with last year's playoff upset at Gillette. It was a huge moment for Mt. Ryan. The biggest in his career. Look what he's done since. Not much. Meanwhile, Belichick and the Pats are working on another #1 AFC seed. Some day the Jets will beat up on the Pats again. It's inevitable. It might even happen with Ryan as coach. But I doubt it.

I love the big guy. He's brash. He's entertaining. He's larger than life. He's also a great football guy. But he's not a great football coach. At least not at NFL level. Not yet anyways.

I watched the replay of the Jets-Giants game on Game Rewind on NFL.com. The replay starts with the coin toss. All the Giants captains are out there. But Plaxico Burress (former Giant) is the only Jet captain to come to midfield. A mind-game move by Mt. Ryan. The announcer says "Rex Ryan is unbelievable. He's always got something to get that other team thinking at the beginning of the game." Next shot is Giants coach Tom Coughlin getting ready for the kickoff. He doesn't seem too concerned with how many Jet captains show up for the coin toss.

That's the thing about Ryan. Trash talking all week. Professing your team is the best in the league even in the face of embarrassing loss after embarrassing loss. Trying to psych the other team out at the coin toss. That's not coaching. That's not leadership. That's just grandstanding. And that works just fine when the team is winning. But when things go bad, a grandstander has nothing else to fall back on. You can't go from being boastful and obnoxious to humble and reasonable. It just looks like weakness when you do.

Rex Ryan is looking pretty weak right now.

The season of giving - and taking

WEEK 16
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through Gillette, not a creature was stirring, not even the Pats offense.

OK. That's not exactly the making of a holiday classic. But yesterday's game will be remembered as a classic comeback if the Pats can nail down the top seed next week and take advantage of that home-field advantage in the playoffs like they did in the good old days. (7 or so years ago).

I had the holiday evening shift at the newspaper so Shep, two of his sons, and his dad took in the atmosphere in section P2. Handicapped parking (Shep's dad gets that sweet spot). He texted me a photo from the chilly pre-game tailgate. I was a little bummed to be missing out. Then the Pats fell behind 17-0 and I was feeling a little less bummed.

Was Tony Mazz right? Were the Dolphins the perfect team to expose the Pats weaknesses? As Stephen Gostkowski's field goal attempt flew woefully left as time expired in the first half it was sure looking that way. The Pats D was playing its usual up and down game, bending and sometimes breaking. The offense was getting harassed by a good defense. In just the first quarter, Brady was sacked twice, hurried four times, and knocked down three other times. It looked a lot like the last three playoff games in which the Pats are 0-3. The difference was that Brady -- while constantly under pressure -- didn't make any mistakes. That will be the key come playoff time. The Pats will face some tough defenses and the yards will not be so easy to come by. Brady and the offense has to protect the ball till they can weather the storm and start making some plays.

That's what they did against Miami.

The Pats offense started making plays and scoring points while the defense held Miami at 17. Brady ran the QB sneak for two TDs and threw for a third... a classic Brady scramble inside the 10 that ended with him finding Branch at the back of the end zone. The Pats scored 27 unanswered points, but not with lightning quick strikes. An 11-play drive. A 7-play drive. Another 7-play drive. A 10-play drive. An 11-play drive. The Pats, down 17-0, methodically worked their way back into the game. The Pats, down 17-0, ran for 119 yards. That's patience. That's good play-calling.

If the Pats find themselves down early in the playoffs in the face of a ferocious pass rush, it's the formula they will need to use to survive. Hopefully they will get off to a fast start. Slow starts have been a problem this season. But the 12-3 Pats have overcome most of them. Just like the Christmas Eve win over Miami. It wasn't pretty, but it was a W.

I got a text from Shep after the game.

"Whew!'

Whew indeed.

Faith no more

WEEK 15
My fantasy football team made the playoffs for the first time since 2005. I was playing my nephew Pete. He had Drew Brees. I had Tim Tebow.

He killed me.

The Patriots went to Denver for a huge game between playoff contenders. The Pats had Tom Brady. The Broncos had Tim Tebow.

The Pats killed 'em.

Tebow had a pretty good game. But Brady had a much better one. (As did Drew Brees, thus ending my fantasy football season).

The Pats are now 11-3 and won their (are you listening, Rex?) ninth AFC East title in 11 years. They lost defensive MVP Andre Carter for the rest of the year and what's left of that defense will be seriously tested come playoff time. But they are 11-3 a year after going 14-2. Just enjoy it. They seem to be.

The 41-23 victory over the sainted Broncos was as big a statement game as you can get in the regular season. No. The Broncos aren't the Ravens. Steelers, Packers, or Saints. But they were on one of those magical rolls that teams get on sometimes. Remember Morgan Magic? It's never easy to beat a team on a roll like that. On the road. Especially when that team comes out of the gate at full speed. Denver had 167 yards rushing in the first quarter ... the first quarter alone. Tebow broke a Ninko tackle and trotted for a nine yard score on the opening drive. Everyone knew the Broncos were going to run it, but the Pats D was showing no signs of being able to stop it.

The Pats answered back in a most unexpected way... a touchdown by Ochocinco. (Ocho reverted to his useless self the rest of the game). The Denver running game then easily gashed its way to another touchdown and the red-hot Broncos were up 13-7. The Pats were being challenged on the road. Pressure -- as Borges would say -- was being put on the offense. How did the respond?

Brady and the offense would outscore the Broncos 34-10 the rest of the way, notably without touchdowns by either Gronk or Welker. Aaron Hernandez had a big game as did the running game that put up 141 yards. By the time Danny Woodhead lunged over the goal line near the end of the third quarter the Pats had locked up a convincing road win and the AFC East.

As Tedy Bruschi would say, hats and T-shirts for everyone.

The Patriots finish the regular season with home games on Christmas Eve against Miami and on New Year's Day against Buffalo. "Tis the season for some holiday tailgating.

'Send the National Guard ...'

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Broncos 34, Patriots 8 (11/17/'96): The Patriots head to Denver yet again for a huge regular season game. It very rarely goes well out there. Actually, it doesn't go too well wherever the Pats play the Broncos. Denver is 25-16 all-time against the Pats. Tom Brady is 1-6 against the team from Colorado. There have been some ugly losses in those games for the Pats. Ugly.

I've been to a lot of great games over the past 20-plus years. They are the games that all Pats fans remember fondly. But I've seen some heartbreaking losses and been to some blowouts that had me daydreaming of the post-game hamburgers by halftime.

There was the game in '98 against Atlanta when the line getting into the old concrete toilet bowl was so long we missed the first ten minutes. By the time we got to our seats the score was already 21-3 Falcons. It was one of the rare games that our co-worker Ken came with us. Sorry Ken. There was the '95 game against the Saints that ended with me slouched up against my car in the parking lot after the Pats surrendered two touchdowns (69-yard pass, 66-yard run) late in the game for a 31-17 loss and an official end to that season's playoff hopes.

The Super Bowl Patriots had their moments too. In '05 the defending champs were in a great battle with the Chargers on a beautiful October day. The score was tied 17-17 at the half and Paul and I said something like "This team is just so much fun to watch." ... The Chargers outscored the Pats 24-0 in the second half. The lasting memory of the day -- other than the post-game burgers -- is Antonio Gates making catch after catch as he brushed of would be tacklers like flies at a tailgate. It was ugly.

But not as ugly as the ugliest game I have ever had the bad luck of witnessing. And of course, it was against the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos came into Foxborough with a 9-1 record against the Parcells' Pats and their 7-3 record. It was a statement game. The Broncos made the statement. By the end of the first half it was 24-0. Denver out rushed the Pats 198 yards to 17. The Denver D stuffed Drew Bledsoe, holding him to just over 200 yards passing and a pick. It was one of those games where the loudest sound of the day -- other than Denver running backs smashing into and over Pats defenders -- was the groans from the stands after almost every play.

We sat on the visitors side in the old stadium. Though we were pretty far up we could see that the Denver players -- especially Shannon Sharpe -- were mocking Pats fans as the score got higher and higher. The stadium emptied out after the score hit 34-8. At one point Sharpe picked up one of the sideline phones and got into an animated conversation. We thought maybe he was ordering pizza since the game was all but over.

It wasn't till I got home and turned on SportsCenter that I saw what Sharpe was saying on the phone. "Mr. President! Call the National Guard... Send help! ... We are killing the Patriots!"

There'll be no Shannon Sharpe making calls to the president today. But there will be Tebow making calls to God. I like the Pats chances this time around.

Tebow-mania

Just when you think you've seen the last craze in pop culture... along comes another that's bigger and better than all the others. Tim Tebow. As John Lennon would say ... "He's more popular than Jesus now." Wait. He is Jesus.

The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy captures the excitement surrounding Tebow and tomorrow's Pats-Broncos game as only Dan Shaughnessy can. Another great Patriots game to look forward to. Happy Holidays.