Stats on Pats Weekly - A Tough One for the Birds
New England 31, Philadelphia 28
Article by Raleigh Dugal, southcoast247.com correspondent
Okay, so I called for a blowout, along with the rest of the United States of America and most civilized nations. I didn’t hear anybody calling for A.J. Feely to play the game of his life against New England’s vaunted defense. I knew Philly’s D was good, but not good enough to make Brady look like a frustrated Pop Warner Pee Wee for a couple of quarters. Once Samuel picked that pass off and trudged down the sideline for six you know you thought the script was heading in the same direction. But the birds managed almost 400 total yards against New England in the almost-greatest upset of the season.
Andy Reid pulled out all the stops, going on fourth down early and recovering a mid-game onsides kick to keep the Patriots on their toes. When New England didn’t answer on their own fourth down try the Pats seemed really rattled and Feely and Philly were rolling. Tack on a missed Gostkowski field goal and the game looked grim.
CBS hit the watermark for single player screen time on Sunday Night Football, cutting to Tom Brady calling shots a record 4,08298 times
Or did it? I think Patriot nation has grown too fat and happy with sixteen point spreads and 56 point blowouts every week. Remember the 21 game win streak they posted between 2003 and 2004, when they shut teams down without scoring a ton of points and persistently tiptoed over favored opponents like David over the downed body of Goliath. Remember the three Super Bowls won within striking distance of a measly field goal? Throughout their run of dominance the Patriots probably took five years off my life with all their nail-biting and nerve-wracking victories, even though they tended to come out on top. Now after the big offensive upgrade worry warts are warbling away about a gutsy holdout that saw New England pick off two key passes in the closing minutes to win in old school fashion.
I might have gotten the week wrong, but the remaining five games aren’t going to be a cakewalk. Now New England is Goliath and there are a slew of Davids chomping at the bit. Baltimore has no offense but is no slouch, and even though Pittsburgh put together the ugliest game in history against Miami they’re still a threat to New England’s perfection. As I said earlier, teams like New York (Jets) and the Dolphins will be kamikaze at the end of the season playing for nothing but pride. And where the hell is Lawrence Maroney? Once a strong suit, the Pats are looking suddenly thin at running back.
Madden might think Philly found a “blueprint” to pick apart New England, but I don’t think so. New England rarely flies the same way twice, so Belichick will be busy patching holes and punching egos all week, getting ready for a raucous Monday night against the Ravens. Hopefully A.J. Feely didn’t give Kyle Boller any ideas.
Okay, so I called for a blowout, along with the rest of the United States of America and most civilized nations. I didn’t hear anybody calling for A.J. Feely to play the game of his life against New England’s vaunted defense. I knew Philly’s D was good, but not good enough to make Brady look like a frustrated Pop Warner Pee Wee for a couple of quarters. Once Samuel picked that pass off and trudged down the sideline for six you know you thought the script was heading in the same direction. But the birds managed almost 400 total yards against New England in the almost-greatest upset of the season.
