Unanswered Points

You’d have to think the Dolphins were feeling pretty good at halftime. They had dominated the first 30 minutes of play. The Patriots seemed to crumble at the end of the half, playing poorly in all three phases of the game to set up Miami for the spectacular one-handed TD grab by Mike Wallace and a one-point, 14-13 deficit. Everyone remembered what happened in the second half of the Week 1 game in Miami, right?

Yeah. Everyone remembered.

Baby Steps

I think I read somewhere that if everything breaks right this Sunday, the Patriots could not only win the AFC East but secure the #1 seed and home field for the playoffs as well. By “everything” I mean the Broncos losing at San Diego, the Colts losing to the Texans at home, the Bengals losing at Cleveland and… You know, it would be great if the Pats could just win the AFC East this Sunday.

Baby steps.

My First F-Bomb

There’s a scene in “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie is helping his dad change a spare tire. As Ralphie’s dad is attempting to break his own personal record for fastest flat tire change, the lug nuts are knocked into the air, and as they arc in slow motion out into the darkness Ralphie says, “fuuuudge.”

Only he didn’t say fudge…

Fair warning, I won’t be saying fudge after the break, either…

Destiny is Transactional

The Patriots control their own destiny. Sort of. I’m sure their opponents will have something to say about it but if New England wins out, they will have the #1 seed and home field throughout the playoffs.

But you knew that.

The Clubhouse Turn

We’ve got four games to go. Here’s where we are, every NFL team in 25 words or less.

Okay, sometimes more than 25. 

When I hate. 

I’m only human.

Losing or Not

Losing is terrible. Everything that’s good about winning is nowhere to be found in losing. Losing is depressing. It sucks. It hurts like a kick in the balls. Okay, it doesn’t hurt that badly (having experienced both I feel safe in making this judgment) but it’s close. So, why do I feel so good today?

This Week's Game

On the one hand, it counts just as much as the Week 8 Bears game. It counts the same as any other game. Well, out of conference games are pretty low down the list of games with playoff implications. I suppose there must be some advanced analytics that could be applied here. Intuitively, I know that division games are always the most important games on the schedule. Those games carry huge playoff implications. Aren’t they actually worth more than 1.0 games in the standings because of tiebreakers? 1.05? 1.1? Can someone with math skills help me out here?