Wow
(Courtesy of www.boston.com)
That was a tremendous game. Although it was sloppy on both sides, it was incredibly exciting, and the Patriots made a couple huge plays to once again come away with the W with the game on the line.
The weird thing was, the Patriots offense did not look good for most of the game - Brady included. The interceptions were just awful; if it weren't for Brown's stripping the ball on Brady's last one, it seems likely that the Pats would now be done for the season. The Pats were lucky, but they did play a tough game of football. For the majority of the game they looked outmatched, but a few key plays made the difference in this one.
Big props to Gostkowski, who not only nailed an early 50-yard field goal (the longest in Patriots postseason history) but also knocked the go-ahead FG through the uprights with 1:14 left in the game.
Huge game next week with several exciting subplots - Gostkowski vs. Vinatieri, Manning's attempt to exorcise his playoff demons, the possibility of Belichick not going with the tried-and-true Derelicte fashion style for the big game - I am psyched for it.
I have to be honest, I didn't think the Pats would be back in this position. Given their play during the season, I thought they'd get knocked out before making it this far in the playoffs. And even today, Brady played poorly in general, although he did come through when it mattered. It will be interesting to see what happens next Sunday.
Pats vs. Colts in the AFC Championship game? Deja vu, anyone?
Also, LaDanian Tomlinson is pretty awesome.
3 comments:
a) its reassuring the scoreboard lives on
b) Tommy terrific definitely did not have the game of his life yesterday, in fact it was one of the sloppiest performances he has put out there which i blame partly on (c)
c) is the offensive coordinator suffering from Alzheimer's? they ran THE EXACT SAME FORMATION at least 9 (thats when i started actually counting after i started noticing i was suffering from deja vu) times in a row..lets see, I have never played a day of organized football in my life(although I DOOOO tote an impressive Madden record) but even I know if the Offense is going to run 3 wide receivers to one side and one to the other with brady in the shotgun..yeah they are probably going to pass the ball to one of the 4 receivers...RUN THE BALL especially if you avg 4 yards a carry!
D) i love tommy and the boyz but they better step it up against manning and his ponies
~45
Actually, I agree, Dunndee. I meant to mention this in my post: Why the heck didn't they run the ball more?
They rushed only 21 times for a paltry 51 yards.
San Diego gave up an average of 4.2 YPC over the season, good for 20th in the NFL. That's a run defense against which the likes of Clock Killin' and the Kid could have done a lot more damage, I reckon. Unless there is some behind-the-scenes strategery going on (are they too banged up for heavy duty?), I didn't understand, or particularly like, the pass-happy offense.
They will certainly need to "tote" their A game into next week's game.
Maybe it makes sense that such a frustrating game was so exciting. If nothing else it was a chance to see Tomlinson earn whatever honors they throw at him; he owned (pwned?) the Patriots on Sunday, no question. They didn't deserve the win - though Gostkowski did (man I love watching him kick for some reason!).
I'm dying to see the Pats shitbox the goddamn Colts this weekend, but (even though I'm no betting man) I wouldn't exactly rush to put any money on 'em. No matter; it's all gravy at this point. Like you I figured they'd be gone by now.
See you in Miami!
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