Good Times

Good times.

 

Intellectually, I know how good I’ve got it as a Patriots’ fan. They are quite literally the perennial AFC East champs. They win nearly 75% of the time. Tom Brady has won more than 85% of his December starts. But every so often they surprise even me.

The pigskin pundits and bobbleheads had picked the Ravens to win and – as even I had acknowledged – rightly so. The Ravens were hot and playing a home game with their playoff lives on the line. The Patriots were beaten up and coming off a disappointing loss in Miami that seemed more a harbinger of doom than a wake-up call. If told before the game the final score would be 41-7 I’m sure I would’ve guessed the Ravens would be the winners and I’m sure I wouldn’t have been alone.

Interestingly enough, as I watched ESPN and NFL Network this morning, yesterday’s Week 16 games were about a lot of things – Peyton Manning breaking Brady’s TD Pass record, Romo’s redemption, Cam’s clutch game-winning drive, the Seahawks actually losing a game at home – but one thing it was not about was the New England Patriots. There was plenty of local media coverage, of course. NFL.com’s “What We Learned” post from Week 16 made the game all about the Ravens poor performance and noted the final score was “misleading” as 21 points were scored in “garbage time.”

I would suggest the game-sealing drive that made the score 27-7 was the key series of the second half. The Patriots had stopped the Ravens on 4^th down near midfield. There was 6:37 on the game clock. Bill Belichick has said that there are points in a game where you have to pass the ball when the defense knows you need to pass the ball and times in a game where you have to run the ball when the defense knows you need to run the ball. This was the latter case, of course. 

New England ran the ball nine straight plays, almost exclusively behind Logan Mankins with the 48-yard drive culminating in LeGarrette Blount’s 7-yard TD. The Patriots ran 4:32 off the clock and they did it against the 9^th best rushing defense in the NFL.

Garbage time? A three and out by New England at that point in the game puts the ball back in the hands of Baltimore’s big play offense with – let’s say – about five minutes and the score 20-7. The Ravens scored three touchdowns in the last 2:05 of their game against the Vikings just two weeks previous. The Patriots needed to run the ball and they did so with authority.

This game reminded me of the 2001 team; balanced offense, aggressive defense, solid on special teams. The 2001 Patriots were an easy team to root for. Coming off a 5-11-0 record the previous season there were no expectations. They lost their franchise QB just two games into the season, seemingly ending their season before it had begun. Tom Brady, a sixth round draft pick became the starting QB. We didn’t know it then but it was the start of everything. They were a game under .500 after seven games. They were 5-5-0 after a close loss to the Greatest Show on Turf. 

They would not lose again. 

They played hard. They played like they cared about the game of football and while that may seem like a curious observation; it was something new to those of us who had rooted for the Patriots the previous four seasons. There didn’t seem to be anything really special about them on offense but they had a solid defense, they scored some points every now and then on special teams and week after week they just found a way to win.

I liked how that season ended.

But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. There’s still work to be done and with Shane Vereen and Devin McCourty added to the injury report it doesn’t get any easier. The Patriots still need a win at home against the Bills next Sunday to secure the #2 seed and the bye week.

It’s been a long time since I watched the Patriots without expectations but based on what I saw and read today, it seems the national pigskin media doesn’t have many expectations for New England.

This, too, is a team that’s easy to root for. They started the season with 14 rookies on the roster but without their top three pass receivers from 2012. They’ve overcome their share of adversity and injury and somehow found a way to win. They’ve won with Vince Wilfork, Jerod Mayo, Tommy Kelly, Sebastian Vollmer and Rob Gronkowski on IR. They’ve won despite injuries to Danny Amendola and Shane Vereen (who were supposed to replace Wes Welker and Danny Woodhead). Rookie wide receivers Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins, shutdown corner Aqib Talib, safety Steve Gregory and left tackle Nate Solder have all missed games due to injuries. They’ve won despite the ball security struggles of lead back Stevan Ridley, subbing in LeGarrette Blount, a guy the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t want. Julian Edelman, their leading receiver, couldn’t get a sniff in free agency. They play hard. They compete (all four of their losses were by a one score margin). They came back from a 24-0 deficit to beat the Denver Broncos, the consensus best team in the AFC. Yesterday they won in all three phases of the game over a team that has proven to be their pigskin kryptonite and once again they're in position to make yet another deep run in the playoffs.

They say life is a journey, not a destination. Well, I have no idea where this is going or where it will end but this much I do know. It’s been a hell of a good ride so far.

Merry Christmas!