Whoa! It's been over 2 weeks since my lazy ass has posted something new! I apologize for that, for the 2 of you who read this blog (I think I have 2 readers now! Yay me!).
Let's talk Patriots. After Brady went down, and some marble-rolling around in my brain, I still called for the Patriots to go 11-5. That would put them winning all the games they "should" win, and allowed for winning and losing one each that would leave people saying, "Huh???". The Dolphins probably would have beat the Brady-Pats, if the Defense still allowed them to use that play against us over and over again. I picked us winning that one, and we lost. So there's the one "gimme" that we lost. The game against the Chargers was the 1 game that we were supposed to lose, that I thought would be our "Huh???" game...especially in the way the Chargers had been playing the last few weeks! But they proved me wrong. However! That still statistically lines up an 11-5 season.
But...I digress. Even being a tried-and-true Pat's fan...I don't see it happening. Offense and Defense plays spotty. Cassell, who I still hold on to a string of hope to be a good QB, is not producing. He's holding the ball too long. But is that all is fault? If, A: He has no open receiver to throw it to, or B: He's getting rushed by the Defense within a second of the ball being snapped, what is he to do??? OK, sure...Brady will stay in the pocket until 1 millisecond of him being steamrolled by 900 pounds of Defensive Linemen...but if he doesn't have the time, and his receivers can't get open...the same results happen. Is this Cassell's fault? Or is this the Offensive Line's fault???
Last year's Superbowl proved, once and for all, that if you rush Brady, then he's not the same Superstar as he is if you try to triple-team Moss. So every team is coming full-bore at our QB this year. And the O-Line isn't stopping them. At all. I, like everyone, can't wait to see Brady be back to full health, and leading this team. But I still don't think that Cassell is the "little backup that thought he could". I think he can. Given the right situation.
The Pat's Defense sucked, too. How many times did Phil Rivers throw down the field? We know their running game is in a state of uncertainty...yet it seems that we were all for defending the run. So Rivers threw the ball all day long.
Oh well...game is done, the Bronco's are next. This is one of the games that I had called for the Patriot's to win. I honestly think that this is the game that decides the fate of the 2008 season for the Patriots. Monday Night Football. You still have a winning record. You're going against a 4-2 team (that hasn't yet had their Bye). And, as I just read, you may be going into this game without 2 of your starting Offensive Linemen, Matt Light and Nick Kaczur. If Cassell thought that he had to scramble last week, just wait 'til this week!
I've officially called of trying to call a season-record for the Patriots. A good friend, and devoted NFL, and also Patriots, fan, has told me 9-7. I'm witholding predictions until after this weekend's game against the Bronco's. I need more info...ie: I need to see how they do this weekend to make sure last week wasn't just a "fluke".
No matter what...I'm still a Pat's fan.
And as much as I hate to admit it...when I drafted my 2 Fantasy Football teams, I didn't draft any Patriots players. Both by draft pick selection, and whatever else I called it...I just didn't. I'm not totally feeling the pain from THOSE decisions, although I'm feeling the pain of a number of my OTHER choices...ie: Joseph Addai, Willie Parker, Brian Westbrook (who's on-again and off-again), and T.O. (who's been mostly off-again this year). Oh well. Such is life. I still have a 5-1 record thus far!
