Be Like Water

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. 

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

-Bruce Lee

 

It’s well known that Bill Belichick will seek opportunities to learn for other coaches at both the professional and college level. He sought advice from NBA GM Jerry West when the NFL adopted a salary cap to understand how West had managed his roster and achieved excellence within those constraints. Nobody really knows what long-time consigliore Ernie Adams does for Belichick. He is a student of the physics of his sport. He crunches statistical data and analyzes predictive analytics, steadfastly refusing to apologize for several controversial 4^th Down plays that have not gone to plan; they were the right call but the Patriots couldn’t execute. That happens; it doesn’t mean the call was wrong. He is famous for the stress he puts on situational football. I suspect his bookshelves include biographies of generals and statesmen. After watching the evolution of the Patriots offense in 2012, I believe Bill Belichick is also familiar with the philosophy of Kung Fu master Bruce Lee.

Be like water making its way through cracks…

The 2012 Patriots offense is like water and Tom Brady is its Zen master. The no huddle is like a flowing stream, moving relentlessly, slipping around or over rocks depending on their size and position, converting impediments into opportunities. If the opponent’s defense is configured to stop the run, Brady will pass. If the defense comes out in nickel or dime, Brady will call on the running game.

Water can flow or it can crash…

This Sunday’s game will pit the Patriots #1 offense against the Seahawks #1 defense. Conventional thinking in the NFL has been that good defense beats good offense but the Patriots are hardly a conventional offense.

Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it…

We are contractually obligated here to note that (a) recent rule changes do favor the offense and (b) Seattle is one of the toughest/loudest venues for visiting teams in the NFL. We have no idea what point value to place on these two anecdotal observations. Clearly, the Seahawks are a tough out at home but the Patriots have been a good road team during the Belichick-Brady era.

If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves… 

I suspect none of this will matter as much as what actually happens on the field this Sunday.

New England’s offense will continue to attack across all dimensions of space and time. Seattle’s defense will not be able to cover everything. The Pats O-Line controls the line of scrimmage and Stevan Ridley has another 150+ yards rushing. Brady extends his consecutive games with a TD pass streak alive. The defense negates Marshawn Lynch and intercepts Russell Wilson. Gronk spikes.

Be like water…

Patriots 31, Seahawks 17.

Is this Giants-49ers game a grudge match? Or is it a bragging rights game? Maybe it’s simply a regular season game that could have an impact on playoff seeding come January. (Is it a shindig or a hootenanny?) Nothing the 49ers do this Sunday will change the outcome of last season’s playoff game, of course, but sacking Eli Manning repeatedly could prove to be scrumptrulescent. I actually think there’s a little more pressure on the 49ers to win this game than the banged up, bicoastal Giants. The Niners face a surprisingly difficult path to the NFC West Championship with the Cardinals, Seahawks and Rams all over .500. They need to win their home games. They need to win games they’re supposed to win and they’re solid 5.5 point favorites this Sunday. The Giants, on the other hand, are faced with the institutionally mediocre Cowboys, self-destructive Eagles and fails to live up to their potential Skins in the NFC East. The Blue Men Group are the only team in the NFC East with a plus points differential. Dropping to 3-3-0 will hardly be a reason for the G-Men to panic. They are a hawk among crows.

As a Patriots fan I have learned the hard way not to underestimate Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin. Revenge for the 49ers will have to wait.

Giants 27, 49ers 23.

The Colts-Jets game features pigskin psyches in very different heads. Can Indianapolis maintain their Chuckstrong mojo on the road? The Colts look like a team that likes each other and loves what they’re doing, that hangs out together at Buffalo Wild Wings, whose wives have become best friends.

Can the Jets crawl out of their slough of despair? Unlike the Colts, Jets players seem uncomfortable in their own skins right now. Rex Ryan’s bluster has been replaced by a bewildered resignation. He mumbles pigskin platitudes without any sense of conviction. He seems mystified by his team’s poor performance and unprepared to do anything about it. Doom lurks in every corner of the locker room.

Perhaps more importantly for this Sunday’s game, is Andrew Luck already a better NFL quarterback than Mark Sanchez?

Andrew Luck – 54.2%, 6.8 YPA, 302 YPG, 7 TD, 5 INT, 77.1 Passer Rating

Mark Sanchez – 48.4%, 6.6 YPA, 209 YPG, 6 TD, 6 INT, 66.6 Passer Rating (The Passer Rating of the Beast)

Yes, Andrew Luck is already a better NFL quarterback than Mark Sanchez. Yes he is.

Colts 24, Jets 13.

If there’s such a thing as football porn it might be the Cowboys-Ravens game. Baltimore is coming off a surprisingly unimpressive win over Kansas City. I would imagine they’re looking to work out some issues. I mean, they almost lost a game to Zombie Matt Cassel. You want to make that memory go away. You need to replace it with something else.

Dallas has had two weeks of waking up in a cold sweat after the humiliating prime-time Monday night cover-the-children’s-eyes beatdown they suffered in front of the home crowd. Tony Romo threw 5 INT in the 34-18 (and it wasn’t that close) loss to the Bears. He is now on pace to throw 64 interceptions for the season. That seems like it might be a record. Okay, he was only on pace to throw 16 interceptions till he threw 5 in one game. Then again, 16 interceptions really isn’t what one would typically think of as “good,” is it?

Anyway, America’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is coming off their bye week so they couldn’t be any better prepared for the Ravens.

Ravens 27, Cowboys 10.

The Packers look like a team unraveling at the seams as they travel to face the unbeaten Texans. In a totally WTF moment, Aaron Rodgers recently blamed the practice squad for failing to adequately prepare the starters for game action as the reason Green Bay has underperformed in 2012. This hardly seems like the sort of thing you want to hear from your franchise quarterback following a meltdown loss.

I’m guessing it will be a quiet flight down to Houston. Things might get loud on the way back.

Texans 31, Packers 20.

Much has been made of how strong the NFC West is while the AFC East has found itself in the discussion of weakest divisions in the NFL but I don’t expect these generalities to hold form when the Rams visit the Dolphins. Miami fans are probably not ready to exhale quite yet but they may have the best QB in the division not named Brady. Ryan Tannehill has been so good that sports blogs have stopped talking about his wife. Tannehill to Brian “The Deceptively Fast Caucasian” Hartline has become one of the most feared combos in fantasy football. Two of Miami’s losses have come in overtime so if you’re a glass-half-full kind of Dolphins’ fan, you’re probably thinking the ‘Phins could easily be 4-1-0.

It’s never easy, of course, but the Dolphins should find themselves no worse than in second place in the AFC East Sunday night.

Dolphins 20, Rams 14.

The Bills may be wondering why they didn’t listen to their mothers and take piano lessons when they were kids. The Bills are not irredeemably bad; they are empirically better than the Chiefs and the Browns but they are not very good, either. Following games in which they gave up 52 and 48 points to the Patriots and 49ers, respectively, the Bill travel to Arizona to face the 4-1-0 Cardinals and their Top 5 scoring defense. On the other hand, Arizona’s offense and Kevin Kolb have been a little shaky. Their less than impressive offensive line might be just what the underachieving Bills d-line needs to get their swag back.

Yeah, I don’t think so. At least the Bills hold the Cardinals under 30.

Cardinals 27, Bills 21.

Hey, what do I know.