PatsBlog: A Patriots Blog

 Refs Admit Mistake in AFC Championship Game

Who really cares… but….

 The refs have admitted that they made a mistake by calling a pass interference on Ellis Hobbs in the second half of last sundays game.  The following play, Peyton Manning scored a touchdown.

This was the turning point of the game for the Colts…

 But this news makes no difference.  It just gets me more frusturated, and further laments the fact that the Patriots should have won their game.  But of course they didn’t

Pro Bowl Update

So, Belichick, the coach of the AFC team, took a LS to the Pro Bowl instead of Asante or Warren.  No, it wasn’t Lonie Paxton, it was someguy I’ve never even heard of (I’ll get his name later).  Plus, Seymour is out injured for the game.  Its official, I’m not even going to watch.

Super Bowl Prediction

Bears 46 Colts 10

(Yes, I picked that score on purpose although that’s not what I believe)

Earlier today, Asante Samuel’s agent said that Asante wanted warmth before he worked out a new contract with the Patriots.  By warmth, he means more welcomed and more accepted (in case you couldn’t figure that out).  Also, its kind of obvious, but after he brought that INT to the house on Sunday, his price tag once again raised.

 Idea #1: Bring Asante to the Pro Bowl

Belichick lost in the AFC Championship game, so that means he gets to coach the team.  He also gets to bring one player, either a defensive back, defensive lineman, or special teamer (I think).  Now if he brought a Patriot, the 2 obvious choices would be Asante Samuel and Ty Warren.  And I think if Asante wants to be appreciated, there’s no better way than to take him to the Pro Bowl.

I still need 1 or 2 more writers for this site as one of mine just quit.  If you sign up, you can write about anything you want as long as it relates to the Patriots, the NFL, or Boston/ New England sports.  Send a try-out article to thebusnamedgak@aol.com for consideration to be a writer.  There will be no restriction or minimum to what or how much you write.

-Props to Peyton Manning and the Colts.  Manning did a wonderful job rallying his team from down 18.  It seemed it was something that the Patriots would do

- I was dissapointed with the lazy defense.  Ellis Hobbs said it himself, the defense just got lazy in the second half

-Corey Dillon: 7 carries 48 yards 1 td… Laurence Maroney: 8 carries 13 yards 1 fumble…  What does that show?  It shows bad playcalling…  It seems that Dillon gets it going every week, but McDaniels and Belichick never keep handing him the ball.  When we had that lead 34-31 with under 3 minutes to go, the ball should have unquestionably gone to Dillon.

-Penalties were a real killer.  But what can you say, they’re a part of the game…

- Tom Brady choked…  Yes, Tom Brady choked.  I’ve looked at his final pass at least 25 times and have come up with one reasonable explanation: Tom Brady choked and panicked, and through the ball into coverage when he should have thrown it away.

Personally, I would have rather had the Colts come in, and stomp all over the Pats.  I wouldn’t care if the Pats lost 42-0.  The frusturating thing is that the game was ours for the taking.  I would have rather not even had won the Chargers game, or even make the playoffs.  But I guess this all means that the Colts are now our #1 rival, no questions asked.

This is kind of early, but I see no point in looking back and reflecting on yesterdays game against the Colts.  The Pats lost and thats that.

1. RE-SIGN ASANTE SAMUEL!

Yesterday, he proved even further that he is a shut down corner.  Does anyone know if we can still resign him under this years salary cap?  I know the Buccaneers did something similar with Chris Simms, but does it still apply?  If someone could clear this up for me, that would be great.

2. Just Find Out About Belichick’s contract situation…

The big rumor is that Belichick’s contract is expiring after the season.  If it is, we need to just resign him.  There is the possibility that he may want to leave.  He’s won 3 superbowls and 5 division titles in 7 years with the Patriots.  There isn’t anything more he can accomplish.  He might just feel it is time to move on, if he does, don’t be expecting more than 9 wins next year, because we likely won’t get it.

3. Bring in Veteran and Rookie Receiver Help

It is critical that we get some help at wideout this offseason.  I don’t really need to say it, because after Ricochet (off his hands) Reche Caldwell dropped those 2 passes late, it became obvious he shouldn’t be the go to guy.  Jabar Gaffney has shown some promise, and Chad Jackson is a hard worker (he really is for those who don’t think so, if you want me to give evidence, I will), but it’s not enough.  Troy Brown has likely played his last game in the NFL, so we’re going to need somebody with soft hands to replace him.  The top free agents seem to be Kevin Curtis (ufa), Drew Bennett (ufa), and Patrick Crayton (rfa).

4. We Still Need Help in The Secondary

It seems no matter what, every year, this becomes an issue…  This will be an even bigger issue if the Patriots can’t resign Asante.  We could have signed him for one or two million a year at the start of the year, but now it will take 8 or 9 million a year.  I think drafting a 1st round defensive back is a priority no matter what.  I think the Patriots might be interested in safety Michael Griffin.

5. Keep Our Veterans

I couldn’t get any info on Corey Dillon’s contract situation, but I think there may be a team option after this season.  I really think the Patriots need to keep Dillon no matter what.  He is a straight ahead runner, and had a really great year with us.  Yesterday, he was productive because he is a north south runner.  The Colts are a fast defense, and converged on Maroney, but couldn’t on Corey.  Corey is essential to this team, and I hope we keep him as a compliment to Maroney.  There is also rumor of Tedy Bruschi retiring, which would be heartbreaking to the team.  I think it would also be nice to keep longtime veterans Vinny Testaverde and Junior Seau.  If there is anything to keep Troy Brown from retiring, even if it is extra incentives, I think the Patriots should bite for it.

‘My god…

 I want to curse a million times, but I don’t think that would be good for the sites image and stat count, so I’m going to hold in my tongue.

I’m going to make a few statements, then I am going to go into mourning, and you probably won’t hear me unless something big happens until after the Pro Bowl.

How could we allow the biggest comeback in a conference title game ever?  That’s not what dyanasties do, and sadly, this one doesn’t seem to have much more time to win another championship.  This was our game, our season, and we just didn’t get it done.  I am dissapointed to say the least, and I don’t feel like waiting an entire year just to see us make another run at a title.  Last year, we were more deserving to lose, and didn’t seem very threatening, this year was completely different.  The game was ours for the taking.

 Aloha!

P.S. Root for the Colts to get their @$$#$ kicked 2 weeks from now.  GO BEARS!

I also want to say that I do have a lot of respect for Peyton Manning, Bob Sanders, Joseph Addai, Tony Dungy, and the rest of the Colts.  They did make the NFL’s greatest all time conference championship comeback and they did it against one of the greatest dynasties of all time as well.

In fact, I’m not even going to do much of one, I just want you to see some of those Colts playoff memories over the last few years (hint: Peyton Manning is in almost every one of the pictures, and not for his good) and that’ll spell out the fortune of this game.’

The Patriots are 5-0 in AFC championship games, and just about never lose to a team twice in one season (at least under Belichick).  I’m not

, and the Patriots offense isn’t worried about the Colts defense this week either.  You are who you are, and the Colts were one of the worst rush defenses of all time this year, and I expect it to stay that way.  Our key, taking out Bob Sande rs.  He terrorized us earlier in the year by coming into the box on run and pass plays.

Expect some up tempo play from this Patriots defense, especially if Rodney comes back.  He is still listed as doubtful,  but he is actually practicing, which rarely happens for a doubtful player.  Either way, I can’t tell whats going to happen with Peyton Manning and the offense.  I still can’t tell whether this will be a sling out or a blow out…  But we will win.

I also want to take a second for fans to appreciate where the Patriots are at right now.  This year may be the last year of total dominance.  I don’t know how much longer the Patriots can stay as this dynasty, but fans should look back and say wow, because this might just be the only Patriots dynasty in your lifetime (as there have only been a few in the NFL up to this point).

Greg’s Prediction: Patriots 34 Colts 20 (compromise but I think it probably will be closer)

I saw some other Patriots sites that have actually picked against the Pats, how can you do that in the Playoffs?

 Ty Law… “It was getting too easy!”

Sometimes I feel very proud to live in New England, home of a truly great professional football team. During the regular season the sports media machine churns out many flavors of the month to entertain all the short attention span sports fans out there.

But Robert Kraft’s Patriots consistently deliver the goods; a combination of good business sense and personnel smarts. The Patriots would not be the winners that they are if Kraft did not purchase the old Foxboro stadium as well as the team itself, and hire Bill Belichick despite his association with Bill Parcells.

Last night I watched a repeat of Superbowl 36, the Patriots’ first Superbowl triumph and it was a good reminder of what the Patriots really are at their core. New England led for much of the game, thanks to a key interception by Ty Law and solid play by the likes of Otis and Antwoin Smith. Held to 3 points for the first half, the offensive juggernaut of St. Louis tied the game heading into the final minute and a half of the game, when Tom Brady and Charlie Weis/Belichick stepped up, turning aggressively cool driving against the blitz to the sidelines and to a totally makeable 48 yard field goal. This isn’t Brian Billick wussing out playing for overtime as analyst John Madden urged the Pats to do sans timeouts under 2 minutes.

The Patriots are winners and they will win Sunday, go get ‘er done boys!

Just some thoughts on Sunday’s amazing victory: At the end of the game I was ecstatic, but I could not believe that we had pulled off the win. Many sports writers picked the Pats in the game based solely on intangibles like the New England post-season mystique and prior performance (11-1 in the playoffs w/ 3 superbowl rings). Many people said that we’d need to play mistake-free to beat a Chargers team with superior talent. It was not a perfect game from Brady and luck was involved to some extent, but San Diego made the lion’s share of mistakes, mostly from the play calling perspective and dropped passes and interceptions.

One stat I heard on WEEI’s Dale and Holley show today: Sunday was the first playoff game in NFL history in which a team won while throwing over 50 passes. The running game was virtually non-existent, rather like the win against the Vikings in week 8 when we abandoned the run and focused on a weak secondary. The feared Shawn Merriman was blocked and frustrated at every turn, and as Rosevelt Colvin bounded through the locker room after the game he let out a triumphant yell “Lights out!”. Beating such a respected team could only charge up the team as they move on to face another tough opponent.

Looking ahead to next week’s matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, as usual, the strategy should be completely different. The pass rush should not be as fierce against Brady, and the Colts defense has displayed horribly poor tackling, but it is a fast defense. I like our running game stepping up in this one, and after a game in which no Pats running back carried more than 8 times I like how rested we will be at that position. Next Sunday I think will make the absence of safeties Rodney Harrison and Eugene Wilson conspicuous as we haven’t exactly stopped Peyton Manning for a couple seasons now. Stopping running backs Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes will be crucial since Manning likes to work off play action once the run is established.

Sunday was a invigorating victory which could propel the New England Patriots to a fourth Superbowl ring, but the Colts will be a huge hurdle and, as Teddy Brushci says, these victories are never easy.

I’ve given PatsBlog a fresh new look.

Tell me what you think about it, it’s temporary for now, but I think it works better than the other one.

Blog roll is now at the bottom of the page (links, forum, counter, etc.)