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Patriots Go 16-0

December 30th, 2007 | Comments |

Simulcast on no less than four channels in New England, but all using the same crappy NFL Network feed . . . the New York Giants represented the entire NFL against the 15-0 New England Patriots last night.  Just in case you somehow missed it, New England prevailed.

Completing a perfect record for the season was no walk in the park for the Pats, but they made it happen. Welker, Welker, Faulk, Welker, MOSS!, oh yeah, and even some running by Maroney.  The Giants came to play, though, and made it a grind every step of the way.  Manning looked as good as I have ever seen him and Brady was under pressure all night.  The Giants took a 12-point lead at one point in the game, the biggest lead any team has had over the Patriots this year.

On the way to 16-0 last night, a few other records were set . . .

  • Tom Brady threw the most touchdown passes in a season (50)
  • Randy Moss caught the most passes for touchdowns in a season (23)
  • Patriots scored more points than any team in a season (582)

During the season, the Pats outscored their opponents by a total of 315 points, which is more than several teams in the NFL scored the entire year.

Bill Belichick says, of course, that the team still needs to improve.  Even if you’re not the sourpuss coach, you’d have to agree.  A perfect record does not mean they’re a perfect team.  During the first half of the season, the Pats completely dominated their opponents.  Not true for the second half.  There were some real nail-biters late in the season and the Pats defense would often be seen back-pedaling 60-70 yards before stopping the opposing offense.  It seems that the rest of the NFL has figured out how to manage the imposing New England offense – not that that’s particularly difficult when 90% of the plays are passes.

The Pats will have to get through the cream of the NFL crop over the next three weeks to make it to the big game.  While I like their odds, it certainly won’t be a cake-walk.  I’m not a huge fan of the “perfect” season talk.  16-0 is great, but winning the Super Bowl is what it’s all about.

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Related posts:

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  2. Pats Lose the Big One. Congrats to the Giants and Their Fans.
  3. A Letter to Bill Belichick

December 30th, 2007 | Category: Patriots | Comments |
  • Dave, I totally agree. Since there was no shame in losing to the Pats, why not play your heart out and take risks. Problem (for the Pats) is that everyone in the playoffs plays that way. "Still have to improve" is an even more important mantra now.
  • Dave
    While not wanting to spoil your "we still have to improve" party, another factor that seemed pretty real is that the second half of the season most of the opponents really showed up to play - because in a way they had no pressure. You might as well go in and give it your all and leave with a smile even if you lose. Sometimes this is when people perform their best.
  • I totally agree with your comment about Collinsworth. I thought he did a good job. The "crappy feed" part was more about video, actually. Their cameras or processing over-compressed movement and the picture went from clear to blurry constantly. I also didn't like the way they showed the game info in the small block on the top of the screen and I could never find the down or yardage until they panned back onto the field which, surprisingly, wasn't frequent enough. I also thought their commercial timing sucked.

    Yeah, they're nits, but I now appreciate ESPN, Fox and NBC more and am even less compelled to pay for NFL Network.
  • The Real Howard S
    I would exempt Cris Collinsworth from the "crappy NFL feed" comment. He is a polished professional who was able to a large extent to compensate for Bryant Gumbel's inadequacies as a play-by-play announcer. Gumbel and the pregame pundits should hone their skills calling small-town high-school games before returning to NFL coverage.

    I watched the game on the NFL Network itself (Dish Network did not provide HD network feeds) and was subjected to a featurette repeated, three -- or was it three hundred -- times, hosted by a blimp in a pink shirt whose name I mercifully forget. He is the William Hung of broadcasting! Talk about Crappy!
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