Patriots
establishing a pattern.
I've heard several people call the turnover-happy
performance by the New England Patriots on Sunday night
"uncharacteristic." And it's true that most of the time, the
Patriots are efficient and protective of the football. But,
there is a pattern here.
On Dec. 20,
2004, the Patriots made a visit to the 2-11 Miami Dolphins.
Tom Brady threw four interceptions that night, two of them
in the final two minutes that allowed the Dolphins to come
back and steal a win.
In the 2005
playoffs, the Patriots went into Denver and committed five
turnovers, one of them an interception by Tom Brady late in
the third quarter at the Denver 5 that proved to be the nail
in their coffin.
And now
Sunday night. Four interceptions by Tom Brady, a fumble by
Corey Dillon, and their second loss in their last three home
games.
This team,
the best-coached team in the league, is establishing a
pattern of "uncharacteristic" losses due to turnovers. In
these three defining games, they turned the ball over a
total of 14 times. What's interesting to me is that, in each
of these games, if they had simply turned the ball over one
fewer time, they likely would have won two if not all three
of them.
I think the
Patriots are the best team in the league. The problem is,
these meltdowns make them look terrible. They have a strong
propensity to adjust after losses like this. Their next
three games will tell us just how well they can right their
ship.
And now,
my midseason awards:
MVP, Peyton
Manning, Indianapolis Colts.
There's no question at this point in the season who's the
league MVP. Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning looks
incredible. He has, at times, sliced up two of the league's
best defenses in the last two weeks. The fact that he's the
MVP right now is so obvious that I feel foolish even saying
it. But, I've been a big critic of him in the past, so I
want to give him big props here now. Even if he is a "horsey
face." Runner up: LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
Biggest choking dog:
Drew Bledsoe, Dallas Cowboys. When Drew got benched in
New England five years ago, I wasn't happy about it. I had
been a big Bledsoe defender, and I didn't like how Bill
Belichick handled him. I was wrong. Not only has he lost it
as a top NFL quarterback, but he's been adequately replaced
by a guy named Tony Romo. Will Bledsoe be in the league next
year? My guess is he'll be wearing silver and black.
Runner up: Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
The best
conference: AFC.
I keep wanting to think that the AFC and NFC are becoming
equal in stature, but then weeks like this happen. The AFC's
worst team, Miami (1-6), went into Chicago
(7-0) and made the NFC's best team look silly. 31-13? Can
you imagine the odds you could have gotten before the game
if you took Miami -17? You'd be calling real estate agents in Beverly
Hills right now. Buffalo beat up on Green Bay pretty badly,
24-10. Kansas City put the smack down on the road against
St. Louis, 31-17. Only Seattle and the New York Giants (who barely
beat the Texans, quite possibly the second-worst team in the
AFC) managed to win home games against the AFC this weekend.
Runner up: The Big Ten
Person I least want to
hear ever again: Joe Theismann. I can't say he's
single-handedly ruined Monday Night Football, because he's
had a lot of help in the booth and from the producers. But,
the guy who's supposed to keep the game focused on the
intricacies of what's going on on the field has said darn
near nothing of any substance in nine MNF games. He's even
striking out when Tony Kornheiser lobs him softballs.
Runner up: Jeremy Shockey, New York Giants
Team most
likely to strike second-half gold: Seattle Seahawks.
Don't look now kids, but the curse of the Super Bowl loser
is in serious jeopardy. I only watched about 15 minutes of
the Seattle-Oakland game last night, but I liked what little
I saw. Seneca Wallace and Maurice Morris are no Matt
Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander, but they were efficient in
getting the Seahawks a much-needed win. Now, both Hasselbeck
and Alexander are expected to return in the next two weeks,
and just look at this schedule they face for a warm-up: St.
Louis (4-4), @ San Francisco (3-5), Green Bay (3-5). They
only have two games (@ Denver and vs. San Diego) against
teams with a winning record in their last eight games.
Runner up: Jacksonville Jaguars
My Top
Five:
1 (tie)
Indianapolis.
They played just about as well as they can possibly play on
Sunday night and got a big win. That defense, though, just
looks so shaky.
1 (tie) New
England. They played
just about as badly as they can possibly play on Sunday
night and lost by a score. I just don't think they're any
worse than the Colts.
3) Denver.
Despite facing the Colts, they still have allowed the fewest
points in the league.
4) Baltimore.
The fact that this team is being completely ignored is a
shame. They lost to Denver in a cold rainstorm in Denver and
to Carolina with Kyle Boller quarterbacking 95% of the game.
5) The
NFC's best team.
I'm not quite sure which team that is right now. Chicago
has looked awful in two of their last three. Right now, I
think it's probably New Orleans, but that could change
week-to-week.
Philip
Marie Giants
After last
week's loss, we really wanted to win our game this week. And
we did, going away. The 44-6 win represented our highest
points scored and our lowest points allowed all season.
What's cool
is I finally am starting to feel like a quarterback. I'm
reading the defenses better, stepping into the pocket better
and throwing the ball accurately. I threw two interceptions
this week, but they were both off the hands of receivers,
tipped high into the air, into the waiting arms of a
defender. Grrrr.
A book
bet: Cyd and I are writing a book based on Outsports
that will be published next June. We couldn't decide whose
name should go first on the jacket and came up with this
solution: I'm a Colts fan and Cyd loves the Patriots, so we
agreed that which ever team won Sunday night would decide
the issue. The book will now be by "Jim Buzinski and Cyd
Zeigler Jr."
That was
just one subplot in watching one of the most riveting games
this season, that saw the Colts go into Foxboro, Mass., and
come away with a 27-20 win.
The key to
the game was in the turnovers -- the Colts had two and the
Patriots had five, the most for them in a regular season
game since 2001. Tom Brady was uncharacteristically shaky,
throwing four interceptions and no touchdowns for an awful
34 QB rating. His counterpart Peyton Manning was terrific,
throwing for more than 300 yards with two touchdowns.
"We talked about coming out and
getting a lead,'' Manning told NBC. "Adam Vinatieri called
tails and lost, so he won't be calling the coin toss
anymore. But we got the lead and it seemed like we had them
in chase position all night.''
It was also
strange to see New England's Bill Belichick get outcoached.
He's the best in football but he had an off night. He looked
like a total dickhead baiting the ref after a legit pass
interference call and should have been flagged for being out
of the coach's box. Offensively, the Pats were running all
over the Colts, but for some reason abandoned the run for a
good chunk of the second and third quarters.
"We just weren't good enough,''
said Belichick. "That's all. Turnovers, penalties like
that, you're not going to win many games that way. There's
not a lot to make out of it. They just did a better job of
coaching and playing than we did.''
What a
catch: If you missed it, find a replay somewhere of
Colts receiver Marvin Harrison's second TD catch. Utterly
brilliant and one of the best I've seen.
Road
warriors: The Colts are 8-0 and have won at New England,
Denver and the New York Giants. In these teams' other games,
they are a combined 18-3.
Catty: Tom Brady and Adam Vinatieri were
Patriot teammates for six years and won three Super Bowls,
but Brady doesn’t like seeing Vinatieri in Colts blue and
white. "He still looks so ugly in that uniform," Brady said
this week. Retorted Vinatieri: “Tell Tom to quit looking at
me.”
Vinatieri,
who had been perfect this season, missed two field
goals in his return to Foxboro and would have been the goat
had the Pats rallied to win.
"They are trying to get loud and
make it hard on the opposing team and that totally makes
sense," he said. "I wish I had played a little bit better."
Chicago bared: After Miami’s convincing 31-13 drubbing
of previously of previously unbeaten Chicago, I’m more
convinced the Bears are the most overrated team this season.
The Bears have feasted on a cake schedule, with wins over
mediocrities like the Packers, Lions, 49ers, Vikings, Bills,
Cardinals and Seahawks (minus Shaun Alexander). Against the
Cardinals three weeks ago, the Bears committed six turnovers
and were totally outplayed, only to get one of the most
bizarrely lucky wins ever.
Sunday,
the Bears were exposed as a team with a solid defense but an
offense that is too unpredictably shaky to be championship
quality. This came against a Miami team that came into the
game 1-6, including a loss to Houston.
For the second time
in three games, Bears quarterback Rex Grossman was awful.
Against the Dolphins he had three interceptions and lose a
fumble for a
pitiful 36.8 rating. (Against Arizona, he committed six
turnovers). In contrast, Miami’s Joey Harrington
was picked off twice, but did throw three touchdowns against
a defense that was hailed as invincible. CBS showed a
telling stat that in the first seven games, Grossman’s
fourth-quarter QB rating was only a 26.
The
Bears are lucky to be playing in the NFC, the conference
that defines mediocrity. Chicago now heads on the road for
the next three weeks and I can easily see them losing to the
Giants and Patriots and struggle against the Jets.
Bizarre ending in D.C.: You had to see the end of the
Dallas-Washington game to believe it. The Redskins won,
22-19, on Nick Novak’s 47-yard field goal with no time left,
but the way it happened was strange.
First,
Novak missed a 49-yarder with 31 seconds left. Dallas took
over and new quarterback Tony Romo drove the Cowboys to the
Redskins’ 18, setting up Mike “The Liquored-Up Kicker”
Vanderjagt for what should have been an easy 35-yard game
winner. The Skins got excellent penetration, though, and
Troy Vincent blocked the kick. Sean Taylor picked up the
ball and ran it back to the Dallas 44 as time ran out. But
wait … a Dallas player grabbed Taylor’s face mask trying to
make a tackle and the Skins were awarded a 15-yard penalty
and one more play. This set up Novak for his heroics. Fox
had a great shot of Washington coach Joe Gibbs with his head
down, afraid to look at the kick until he heard the roar of
the crowd.
Not math majors: Too
often NFL coaches go for a two-point conversion way too
early. Such was the case for Dallas against Washington. As a
poster on the Indy Star message board wrote: "Dallas
went down 5-0 early... they then scored a TD and decided to
go for 2 early in the game. they failed at that attempt. Had
they kicked that extra point, they would be up 20-19 at the
end of the game. When the redskins missed their first FG
with 33 seconds left in the 4th, Dallas could have simply
ran out the clock and won the game instead of being forced
to go for a FG which was blocked.
That's why you don't go for 2 early.. you never know how it
will play out and when you may need that 1 sure point later.
A stupid decision early cost them the game."
Athletic: San Diego Chargers linebacker Marques Harris
recovered a Cleveland fumble in the end zone for a
touchdown. What was more impressive, though, was Harris’
handstand into a double somersault to celebrate. An amazing
display of gymnastics ability from someone 6-1 and 231
pounds.
Two-timer: Isaw something for the first time
when San Diego was flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike
conduct for trying to call consecutive timeouts. I had never
known such a rule existed, yet alone how severe the penalty
is.
Vick
handcuffed: A surprising score was Detroit’s 30-14 win
over Atlanta, against a Falcons team that came in on a roll.
Falcons QB Michael Vick, who threw seven touchdowns the past
two weeks, was stymied by the Lions, throwing for only 163
yards and being intercepted twice. In hindsight, this should
not have been too eyebrow-raising. The Lions’ coach is Rod
Marinelli, who had been a Tampa Bay defensive coach for
years. In his time with the Bucs, Marinelli’s team won six
of eight games against Vick, so he obviously took his
lessons to Motown.
Bush
League: The New Orleans Saints are 6-2, but their top draft
pick Reggie Bush has had not nearly the impact a lot of
people expected. Sunday, in the Saints’ 31-14 win over
Tampa, Bush ran 11 times for negative-5 yards. The more
impressive Saints rookie is receiver Marques Colston, a low
draft choice from Hofstra, who had 11 catches for 123 yards
and a touchdown Sunday. Colston has seven touchdowns this
season.
Sneaking up: Don’t look now, but the Kansas City Chiefs
are a quiet 5-3 and have won three games in a row, including
Sunday’s 31-17 victory at St. Louis. The Chiefs have been
led by backup quarterback Damon Huard, who is 5-2 as a
starter and has a rating of 100.
Crapola: How bad is
the NFC North? The Bears are 7-1 lead and have a three-game
edge over Minnesota, which lost meekly to the San Francisco
49ers, 9-3 and fell to 4-4. Chicago is the only team in the
division with a positive point differential.
Top 5
1.
Indianapolis (8-0): The Colts, in winning last week at
Denver and Sunday at New England, became the first team in
NFL history to win consecutive road games against teams that
were 5-1 or better at the time.
2. New
England (6-2): I suspect we'll see a Colts-Pats AFC
playoff matchup, but this time it will be indoors in Indy.
3. San
Diego (6-2): LaDainian Tomlinson has no peer at running
back.
4. Denver
(6-2): Javon Walker (two TD catches and a 72-yard TD run
against Pittsburgh) was awesome.
5. New
York Giants (6-2): Their defense gave up 42 points
against Seattle in Week 3, and a combined 52 in winning
their last five.
