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I can't believe the amount of hate that has been thrown at Bill Belichick all week. Yes the New England Patriots were outcoached by the New York Giants but give the guy a break for leaving the field one second early. Is this really even news? Everyone knows that the field at a Super Bowl quickly becomes a circus after the game is over (well maybe New York Jets fans don't but I think even they can probably imagine it). He just wanted to get out of there. I'm amazed that people are really concerned about this and it's really just a shame that it's stuff like this that gets counted as controversy against the Hoodied one.

Continue reading "Belichick's an Eccentric Genius, ..."

Yes I'll admit it, the 2007 New England Patriots season has to qualify as the most disappointing in team history. Back when the Pats stunk you couldn't really be disappointed, you had to expect them to end the season with a loss. I don't think the loss to the Green Bay Packers in 1996 was more than a blip on my Boston Sports Misery Index. We were just happy to not get blown out like we did against the Chicago Bears ten years earlier. But after three Super Bowls your expectations change. Especially when you're playing a team that you've already beaten in the regular season. So yes, this 2007 season goes down as a disappointment in terms of the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl. But what positives can we take as we start to pick up the pieces and refocus on 2008?

Continue reading "Always Look on the Bright Side (of ..."

First things first.. Congratulations to the New York Giants! They absolutely deserve full credit for knocking off the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Giants defenders were all over Tom Brady all day, Eli Manning came through in the clutch and they pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history.

Continue reading "Upsets are What Make Sports Great"

Part of me thought that Commissioner Goodell coming out today and answering a bunch of direct questions about "Spygate" would do something to cool off the conspiracy theorists. But alas it has not. I shouldn't be surprised. It is in our roots to want to take down the guy on top. It just so happens that my favorite team is on top right now and thus Spygate will never die. The facts are out there and the New England Patriots received a significant punishment, fans can believe what they want to.

Continue reading "Patriots Fans Embrace the Hate!"

Welp, it's two days before the Super Bowl and what a shocking coincidence that Spygate is back in the news. Isn't that just amazing? Arlen Specter kicked it off this morning by requesting NFL Commish Roger Goodell to explain why the confiscated tapes were destroyed, though he claims he intially made the request just before the New England Patriots played the Philadelphia Eagles this season (another coincidence?) but the NFL didn't respond.  So here it is today in the New York Times:

Continue reading "Spygate's Back... and Patriots Haters ..."

As I've said before I don't know why every person with access to the internet feels the need to make predictions as to how games will go. Ultimately no one is keeping track of who predicts what. Would you still read someone's blog or article if you knew for a fact they were horrendous at predicting the outcomes of games? Probably not. But there's no prediction watch dog on the internet and if you write about sports you've got to make your picks so here's mine for what it's worth (which is nothing).

Continue reading "Super Bowl 42: Mike D's Pointless Prediction"

 

As I mentioned yesterday a significant number of the Giants were dressed in black suits as they got off of their chartered flight upon arriving in Arizona and I cracked that it was like they were dressed for their own funeral. Apparently I wasn't that far off. John Tomase of the Boston Herald ( http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/index.php/2008/01/29/funeral-plans/)reported that the real meaning behind the all-black garb was to signify the death of the New England Patriots undefeated season. On the surface the team claimed the suits represented that they were on a business trip. Of course, as we've learned this week, the New York Giants can't seem to keep their mouths shut and word leaked out about what it really meant.

Continue reading "Giants in Black... for the Death ..."

23-17 is what Plax thinks the final score of Super Bowl 42 will be with the New York Giants beating the New England Patriots. First off, as I've said many times I don't understand why people feel the need to make predictions (including stupid bloggers like myself). I understand that Plaxative is confident in his team, and rightly so I think that the Giants need to go into this game EXPECTING to win if they are to have any chance at all. My problem is with the score he picked.

Continue reading "Plaxico Burress Predicts 23-17 Victory For Giants"

Media Day at the Super Bowl is an absolute circus. Rich Eisen goes into great detail in his new book about exactly what goes down there. NFL.com is streaming the whole shebang live and it looks exactly like Eisen describes it. Some things that have stood out to me so far today...

Continue reading "Patriots Media Day Thoughts, News and Observations"

I just don't get it, folks. Why can't people just not talk and make stupid predictions? This can only serve as fuel to the New England Patriots fire, just like the Philadelphia Eagles prematurely planning their Super Bowl parade did. Current Patriots still remember that part of Bill Belichick's pregame speech and this little news item might be used in a similar fashion...

Continue reading "New York Giants Chairman Predicts Victory"

Tom Jackson appeared almost upset today on ESPN's NFL Countdown. He was convinced that New England Patriots QB Tom Brady is not injured and the Pats are playing games with the media and trying to use  the leaked photos from last week to their advantage. I happen to agree with him. All year the Pats have been victims of weekly controversies. Rightly so on some weeks (Spygate - San Diego Chargers, Rodney Harrison HGH - New York Jets), not so much on others (Run Up the Score Gate - Washington Redskins , Randy Moss Hurt-My-Finger Gate - Jacksonville Jaguars). 

Continue reading "Tom Brady's High Ankle Sprain-Gate: ..."

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself this weekend because...
a) No NFL games and no NFL news other than discussion on Tom Brady's high ankle sprain. Let's get to the real hype next week! I'm sick of talking about injuries that everyone on the team is just laughing off. At least ESPN is starting to run old Super Bowl Highlights. In fact, the Pats v. Carolina Panthers Super Bowl 38 is on right now.

Continue reading "Going insane on a weekend without NFL football..."

This is only the second time that two teams that met in the regular season finale will meet again in the Super Bowl. The first time was in 1977 when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos 14-6 in the finale, then 27-10 in the Super Bowl. What can we learn from looking back at the first time the New England Patriots and New York Giants met back in late December? 

Continue reading "A Look Back: Patriots vs. Giants Round 1"

Looks like I Am Legend wasn't just a so-so action movie with fake looking monsters and a bad ending, it also predicted what the result of the New England Patriots - New York Giants Super Bowl would be....

Continue reading "I Am Legend Predicts Pats - Giants ..."

It wasn't pretty. It wasn't a blowout. But in the end the New England Patriots got key contributions from some of their biggest question marks this season and defeated the San Diego Chargers to advance to the Super Bowl. Let's start with the Defense. All year the pundits said the Patriots were vulnerable on D and for much of the season they ranked near the bottom of the league in red zone defense. However yesterday the Pats D, led by an ageless Junior Seau, held the Chargers to just four field goals on the day, stopping them three times inside the 20-yard line. Yet again they held the oppositions running game in check which should finally put to rest any argument that the Pats can be run on. The last time they let someone rush for 100-yards was against the Steelers on December 9th. Yet again the Defense has stepped it up late in the season and is playing championship football. They are by no means the weak link on this team.

Continue reading "Patriots Get It Done Against the Chargers"

It seems like there hasn't been a single week this season for the New England Patriots where they haven't had to face some kind of controversy. Rodney Harrison HGH suspension gate (New York Jets). Handshake gate (Indianapolis Colts). Spygate (entire NFL). Run up the score gate (Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Miami Dolphins, etc.). Vince Wilfork fell into me on purpose gate (Buffalo Bills). It's been a never ending stream of media hype every week, with Skip Bayless on ESPN always vehemently arguing the asinine side every argument. So this week some girl in Florida files a restraining order against Randy Moss. At first people weren't sure if it was Patriots Star receiver Randy Moss. It might've been another Randy Moss. But no, it was in fact the wide receiver who holds the NFL record for TD grabs in a season, #81 in your program but #2 (to Tom Brady) in your heart, Randall Gene Moss.

Continue reading "Call me a homer, I believe Randy Moss"

The Jaguars were supposed to be the ones to do it. They had a team that was "built for the cold", with big, physical players and a two-headed dragon running attack. They were supposed to have the blueprint to beat the unbeaten New England Patriots. Guess what folks, they lost and rather predictably I would say. The Patriots held the unstoppable running backs to under 100 yards (see post below) and put the game in the hands of David Garrard. And David Garrard played well, but not as well as Tom Brady. 

Continue reading "Where's Your Blueprint Now?"

One of my favorite parts of watching football is cooking for the game and inviting friends over for free food and a chance to make fun of me and my obsession. My most valuable device for New England Patriots games is my crock pot. Below is my favorite recipe to make, it's easy and scrumptious. 

Continue reading "Playoff Jambalaya"

Thank you to San Diego for bouncing back from the turd they laid in the first half of Sundays Wild Card match-up versus the Titans and thus keeping my previous post relevant. The Colts look like they just got a late Christmas present in the form of an Antonio Gates badly sprained toe. The chances of Philip Rivers winning at Indianapolis without his favorite target just got (in the words of Ben Stiller's stunt double Tom Crooze) a little but more impossibler. If the Colts shut down Ladanian Tomlinson (who I refuse to call LT since that nickname is already owned by one of the greatest linebackers of all time) it's hard to imagine the Chargers being able to pull off the upset with Rivers lobbing his weak ducks to Chris Chambers. Even if Gates somehow manages to play he's not going to be 100% and the Chargers won't be able to count on Peyton Manning giving them six interceptions this time around. All signs this early in the week point to the Colts exacting revenge for one of their three losses with relative ease. Still, San Diego's defense has been solid, it's just that the Indy D is going to eat Philip Rivers alive. No way Rivers can keep up with Manning, especially if Marvin Harrison is back.

Continue reading "Jaguars Up Next for Pats"