Exactly. Unread is different from "exists". To each his own of course, but I do not have time for that.
I know that is ended well but I just rewatched the Pats / Seahawks 4th quarter super bowl and i can’t for the life of me figure out why Harmon jumped over Kearse on that miraculous catch. All he had to do is disrupt it a little and it wouldn’t have been a catch. Instead, he avoided all contact completely.
I understand fear of penalty but that was ridiculous. He got lucky because he would have been a huge goat.
I understand fear of penalty but that was ridiculous. He got lucky because he would have been a huge goat.
I think you’re underestimating the speed at which that play happened and overestimating the speed at which human brains process information, evaluate it, and produce a muscular action in response to it. What Harmon’s body was doing as he flew over the prone receiver (when the ball had ostensibly already been swatted away) had already been decided a step earlier. The fact that the ball bounced a fluky way while he was flying past isn’t his fault.
Once the ball was swatted, he assumed that it could no longer be in the receiver’s inbox.
I never understood Collinsworth’s reaction - he said something like “I can’t believe he didn’t get up and run into the end zone”. He didn’t really have the opportunity, the Pats tackled him pretty quickly. And of course his #1 priority was to make sure he secured the catch.
Talk about losing your fastball. BB!
Seriously, what’s more ‘fastball’ than drills and practice? That’s the core of coaching, and he’s still on it.
(maybe this goes in the other thread)
If (when) the Bills lose to Tampa, they'll be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, and will be yet another example of how hard it is to stay atop the mountain. Every single year some teams have success; think that they have the formula; then fall back to the back. Meanwhile, the Patriot train just keeps rolling along, year after year.
From an article on the Ringer about the Vikings since 2012 and this playoff, performance breakdown is just amazing..
Almost no one is even close to their regular-season win %, while the Pats were somehow better (scrolling down so are the Broncos, Ravens and Eagles but with far few games I am guessing)
Almost no one is even close to their regular-season win %, while the Pats were somehow better (scrolling down so are the Broncos, Ravens and Eagles but with far few games I am guessing)
That’s surprising, I remember attending a game in San Diego where it seemed like LDT gained 3 million yards and the Patriots couldn’t stop him. This was the 2002 season where they were experimenting with the extremely pass heavy offense.
San Diego was just short at 238 yds rushing. LDT had 217. Still close at 21-14. Drew Brees at QB! Here's a problem: Troy Brown didn't play.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200209290sdg.htm
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Two little things I remember about that game (other than LDT running all over them, especially that one play where Tim Dwight caught up to the play to make a block to get LDT one of his TDs (see 1:20:32 in the attached youtube):
1. The Patriots scored 14 points, but every drive made it into San Diego territory.
2. There was one play in the 4th quarter that featured the most egregious premature/inaccurate 1st down celebration (until Mac Jones's against Tennessee two weeks ago put up a strong contender) where David Patten caught a 12 yard pass on 2nd and 15:
(at 1:47:44 if the link didn't get the time right)
(It was a nice catch, though)
Also, after looking at the boxscore that Al Zarilla posted, that game also featured Mike Vrabel's first career receiving TD
It's easy to associate Vrabel's touchdowns with Super Bowls only, but he had 8 total.
What BB & the coaching staff has done in the last slate of games is really incredible. According to Footballoutsiders.com, it's (almost) historical:
In fact, NE is behind only the Bucs & Packers in the ELO "forecast" currently, ahead of the Chiefs, Cards, and every other AFC team. It's truly remarkable.
The improbable rise in NE's DVOA made me curious about ELO, the metric that FiveThirtyEight.com uses. Low and behold, it also shows a similar, rather dramatic rise (red box is mine):
In fact, NE is behind only the Bucs & Packers in the ELO "forecast" currently, ahead of the Chiefs, Cards, and every other AFC team. It's truly remarkable.
Perhaps the most compelling data (among many) about the greatness of BB as a coach is the consistency with which his teams improve in December. No matter how good they are early, they almost always get better. Offhand I can only think of two seasons---2002 and 2007---where they weren't better in December than in September. that has to be completely unprecedented, though I realize also hard to measure.
How about 2019? They went 2-3 in December that year (after going 10-1 pre-December), including the inexplicable loss in week 17 at Miami.
And their record in December+ shows this (despite a few WTF losses). BB has a .686 winning % overall...and a .768 winning percentage after December 1 (53-16).
More data on 2019...
September: 4-0, 122 points for, 27 points against, +95 point differential (+23.8 avg)
December: 2-3, 130 points for, 108 points against, +22 point differential (+4.4 avg)
No matter how you slice it, they were far worse in December of 2019 than in September of 2019.
2015 as well, don't even need to look up the stats.
Edit: beaten by @Ralphwiggum
3-0 in September (week 4 bye), +49
2-3 in December + January, +15 (and they also lost their last game of November)
Edit: beaten by @Ralphwiggum
3-0 in September (week 4 bye), +49
2-3 in December + January, +15 (and they also lost their last game of November)
That 2015 team was stacked until they got decimated by injuries. Still a Ghost missed PAT and a Gronk 2PC away from making the SB that year.
He may no longer have had one on the side of his helmet but Manning had a massive horseshoe up his ass that season.
Yeah, Dion Lewis, Solder, Blount and Edelman were huge losses-when Edelman returned he was about 65%. The offense the first half of that year was devastating and had it all—so many losses--all the more amazing they came so close. I think Amendola missed time too, guys like Chris Harper got meaningful snaps.
One of Brady’s great efforts was that championship game in Denver-getting creamed on almost every play, very few weapons, a two pt conversion away from OT.
Wow, Doyle is still just a little salty after two plus decades. Is it wrong that his bitterness just warmed my heart like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day? I don't who has the whinier fanbase when it comes to the Pats, Indy or Pittsburgh? Brady and Belichick just broke their souls over and over during the run. Both teams had generational quarterbacks that lost out on multiple Super Bowl appearances due to the Patriots, and in Indy's case two great quarterbacks.
Edit: Can't read the article, but how does Deflategate remain fresh? It has been 7 years and nobody really cares anymore and once again the game wasn't even close.
Edit: Can't read the article, but how does Deflategate remain fresh? It has been 7 years and nobody really cares anymore and once again the game wasn't even close.
IMO Colts fans are far more whinier than Steelers fans, imagine saying "Deflategate remains fresh".................that was 7 years ago, so how is that "fresh?"
It's incredible to me that this stooge is actually a journalist; he sounds like a sports radio talk caller venting his spleen, journalists are supposed to be impartial and report the facts, not moan and whine about the opposition.
Or jaded like Felger and Massarotti are.
Felger and Mazz are both writers too. They are at least successful at sports talk radio, despite bringing nothing useful outside of ratings. Doyel failed at talk radio badly, lasting less than a year. He sucks at everything.
Doyel is an opinion writer. He writes for his readership. Having lived in Indiana, he reflects, amplified of course, the opinions and viewpoints of his Hoosier base that buy his paper.
On the other hand, how does that get us Shaughnessy?
I still hear from Steelers fans about the 2004 AFC title game even 17 years later. Because Pittsburgh dominated the early season matchup and broke the Pats streak, and then themselves got beat down in January they feel the Pats cheated them out of a Super Bowl appearance. Steeler and are convinced that the Pats stole the signals and used it against them in the playoffs. It doesn't matter that Cowher has been on local radio for years downplaying the whole thing, many fans here still complain about it.
So he's consistent at least.
And I bet sports talk radio in Indiana must be a thrill a minute; the Colts, who they stole from Baltimore, the Pacers, who fell into the NBA from the ABA and the Indy 500......"just a series of left turns for 500 miles"...........
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I know nothing about that moron.
Other than he continually whines about the Patriots.
And spells his last name wrong.
No idea where to post this, but figure some folks around here might enjoy it (and some may be seeing it for the first time). Came upon it when looking at old Madden stuff:
View: https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/1475843985763549290
Vinatieri chasing down and tackling Herschel Walker on a kickoff return.
View: https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/1475843985763549290
Vinatieri chasing down and tackling Herschel Walker on a kickoff return.
If BB doesn't make an adjustment and has Bryant covering Waddle all over the field, my television will not survive. I can promise you that.
You're just trying to drive people to drink.
If BB has Bryant on Waddle in 2 weeks, it's because JC and Mills are both out with injuries or covid. Even then he'd double Waddle.
As Bill has always said, Adam was a football player. Jesus, I remember this like it was yesterday.
Boy, Hightower had already lost a step even then!
edit - haha, I thought 54 was some scrub, didn't realize it was Bruschi.