So, the chatter amongst the pigskin chattering class this week has been all about Tom Brady's own personal House of Horrors, a house built from SoCal Kryptonite, Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Rightly so. Minus his 2-7-0 record in Denver, Brady wins 80% of all other games played. So, yeah, that's a thing.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results...
Local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads have spent the week talking themselves into a Patriots win in Denver against the Broncos tomorrow. Let me count the ways…
Dante Scarnecchia fixed Marcus Cannon...
I hope so. In the 2015 AFC Championship Game, Tom Brady wound up wearing a Von Miller suit as Cannon either consistently forgot the snap count or consistently forgot he had arms. Or both. Did anyone make sure Cannon packed his arms for the trip? Yes? Anyone?
The Corpse of Stephen Jackson will not be starting at running back…
The Patriots have a running game they didn't have last January. LeGarrette Blount is having a career year. James Develin (a big reason for Blount's production) and Dion Lewis are back on the field. The matchup of New England's #7 rushing attack and Denver's #29 rushing defense has the gridiron cognoscenti pointing and nodding.
The Defense may not have arrived but they know where they're going…
Despite the 11-2-0 record, the Pats #3 scoring defense (17.7 PPG) doesn't get much respect. This New England defense should be called the "Just The" defense. Whenever they play well, all we hear is, "Well, it was just the [fill in opponent here]." Aside from two touchdowns resulting from special teams gaffes, the Pats held the Ravens to 9 points. In the previous three games they gave up 17, 17 and 10 points. Yes, it was just the 49ers, Jets and Rams (respectively) and if New England shuts down a Denver offense that was held to 10 points last week at Tennessee I suppose we'll be hearing, "Well…"
Tom Brady is on a mission from God…
Tom Brady isn't getting that apology from Roger Goodell so there really is no other way to recover his good name than to do it than on the field. And he has. Every game he wins breaks his own record for most games won as a starting quarterback. He's having one of the best statistical seasons of his hall of fame/greatest of all time career. At 39-years of age, he is outperforming his career averages for completion percentage, TD percentage, INT percentage (currently his career best), sack percentage, yards per attempt, yards per completion, yards per game, passer rating and total QBR (also currently his career best). In a season that has been all about settling debts, what would be better than a win in Denver?
And God loves Tom Brady...
Full Disclosure: I'm an atheist so "mission from God" is simply the turn of a familiar phrase for me. Okay, I'm quoting "The Blues Brothers." If there is a God in the Old Testament sense, I don't think he pays much attention to sporting events; he's far too busy with plagues and cataclysms and otherwise testing the faithful but if God does care about the outcome of NFL games it's pretty clear who his favorite quarterback is, isn't it? How else do you explain the 202-61-0 overall record, the 22-9 postseason record and the four Super Bowl wins. The two losses to Eli was just God tweaking Peyton. If God decides to take a break from smiting Aleppo and kicks back on his couch with a six of Sam Adams and a takeout quart of fried clam strips with onion rings and coleslaw from the Maine Diner this Sunday, we should see a big game for Tom Brady and a win for the Patriots.
No comments:
Post a Comment