Sunday, December 30

They did it!

The Patriots went 16-0. But that was a close one. They're beatable. It's just that nobody's done it yet.

(BTW, the Vikings really stunk last week. Good thing I'm a bandwagon Patriots fan.)

Must address Cris Collingsworth's opinion last night that 16-0 isn't in the same league as the '72 Dolphins if the Patriots don't win it all. I heartily disagree. We all know the competition back then wasn't as stiff. 16 games are quite a bit harder than 14. Plus, the much closer media scrutiny (24-7 sports coverage across all media) makes it harder.

We've all agreed on how championships are decided in the NFL. It's not best of 7 or something like that. It's whoever's the best that day. But not all championships are created equal. (And don't get me started on all of the Packers' 'world championships' before the merger of the AFL and the NFL.)

(I did fell they got jobbed on that excessive celebration penalty that led to the runback for a touchdown, but since they won, I can let it go.)

Hand it to Manning. He did real well against a tough Patriots D. The Giants did a good job.

That said, I look for a major letdown for them this week, emotionally and physically when they play TB. The Bucs will win. The Giants played really hard against the Patriots. And it will come back to bite them in their playoff run.

(Of course, I could be wrong and Eli could be right.)

Nice article on the Brady-Moss records . I like Jim Litke's writing.

Heck, even the mention of beating the Vikings' 1998 single season scoring record brings back painful memories of the losing the NFC Championship Game to the Giants.

But maybe it was for the best: I doubt the Vikes could have beaten Denver in the Super Bowl, and then we'd be all alone at 0-5 in Super Bowls.

A big, public thanks to Christine for watching the game with me. That's love.

3 comments:

therealkimaliczi said...

It was certainly a nailbiter!!

Paul Stokes said...

Collinsworth had an astute observation in the third quarter about NY when he noted that the Giants appeared to have gone into a more conservative posture at that point with their lead and that this was a dangerous thing to do when playing the Patriots.

Macon said...

I watched the 3rd quarter and enjoyed it! I thought of you, Sean, while I watched it. :-)