Patriots Troubles

I wanted to say a couple of things about the Patriots' Super Choke before it was really too late:

1. Belichick is a jackass for walking off the field early. This probably isn't a news flash. You're telling me a guy as detail oriented as Belichick didn't notice there was time left on the clock? You can't believe a word this guy says. When he tells you he didn't know if was against the rules to tape - lie. All you hear about is how smart this guy is, but he supposedly didn't understand a simple rule that the NFL notified every coach in the league about? And I don't understand why people are saying now that walkthroughs don't tell you much. I've never been in a football walkthrough, but I have been through walkthroughs in other sports. In my opinion, you can learn a lot from watching a walkthrough. Is it just me, or do you only walkthrough plays and situations you think you're going to use/see during the game? You can get a pretty good idea of a team's gameplan and strategy by looking at the walkthrough. Now Mike Golic on ESPN said you can't get much from a walkthrough, and for a player that knows the system inside and out and has had it beaten into them, that's probably true. You've run all of those plays all year and at full speed. But what better tool for the other team to have than a a tape of a team going slowly through the motions of the plays it is going to use during the game? I don't know why people are giving Belichick the benefit of the doubt on this one. Nothing he has said has convinced me he is even somewhat honest. Every excuse and explanation he has given is exactly what you would say if you were lying. We'll see if anything else comes from this, but just like Bonds and Clemens, I don't believe a word Belichick says.

2. I am really excited to see how the Patriots do this year. There are a lot of forces working against them. First, trying to rebound from and 18-1 season is harder than you think. They basically worked their asses off to achieve something great a failed. This is going to be a recovery season. Anything athlete knows that when you push yourself to the limit like they did, you need time to relax and recover after it is over. It's pretty hard to motivate yourself to start another win streak, especially after how hard it obviously was on them. Also, I am anxious to see how their players react if they do start losing. It is the easiest thing in the word to be all about the team and each other when you're winning. As soon as the winning stops, people starting thinking about themselves again. There are a lof of classy guys on that team and a lot of guys that know they would be nothing if they weren't on the Patriots, but there are also a lot of guys that leave at the first chance at money. These guys, as well as Moss, could start problems if the winning doesn't continue. Luckily for them, they only play 4 teams in 2008 that had winning records in 2007. So regardless, they should still be a good team, record wise. But I am still excited to see how they all perform after the huge let down last season, which is what it was.

3. Brady's season was great, but not as good as Manning's when he broke the record. Just look at the stats (it took Brady significantly more passes to break the record and Peyton and Brady's passer ratings were pretty similar). Everyone got so caught up with the Patriots scoring that they just assumed Brady had the best season of all time. Not true.

Prediction for Pat's season: 11-5, lose in the first round.