N.E. Sports Weekend Report

For days and days, well, six days actually, I envisioned myself writing about how incredible a sports weekend this was:  the Celtics remained undefeated at 9-0, as did the Patriots, and New England nation added a second championship on the year, as the Revolution finally captured the MLS cup.  Oh, and BC rolled into the ACC title game.  Unfortunately, these New England teams were a mere .500 on the weekend (wait, didn't the Bruins play?).  Still, I would have to give the weekend an A- for Boston sports.

Let's start with the Patriots.  Was anyone surprised that the Pats absolutely destroyed the Bills (again) last night?  Probably not many, if any.  I, for one, was surprised by two things.  First, the way the Patriots are playing does not surprise me: they are a stacked team, clearly the best in the NFL, quite possibly the most dominant team ever assembled in the history of the league.  What continues to amaze me, however, is the mere level of perfection the Pats play at.  What happens on Buffalo's first drive of the game?  A Gay interception (don't laugh...nothing is funny here) sets up Brady deep in Bills territory, which basically automatically translates into a touchdown, as long as the Pats have the ball past their own 40-yard line (seriously).  What do the Pats do on their first 7 offensive possessions?  That's right - march down the field essentially uncontested and score 7  touchdowns.  Amazingly, the Patriots were 8/11 on 3rd down conversion.  Also, they were 2/2 on 4th down.  Which leads me to my second "surprise."  For the first time this season, I finally thought Coach Bill would elect to kick a field goal instead of going for, as Bill Simmons would say, the "Eff You" TD.  How wrong I was.  Facing 4th and 1 at the Buffalo 10, I thought to myself, "Well, surely THIS time they will just kick the field goal."  After all, the score at this point was 42-10 late in the 3rd quarter.  To my utter disbelief, Brady stayed on the field and promptly completed a 3-yard pass to Moss for the first down.  The first play of the 4th quarter was, of course, the Patriots' seventh offensive TD.  Seriously?!  A 32-point lead apparently was not enough for the Pats, and they cashed in yet again, to the horror of the Buffalo crowd in the stands.  So they were 8/11 on 3rd and 2/2 on 4th - which means 2 of the 3 times they failed to convert on 3rd down, they simply converted on the next play.  And THAT means there was only 1 offensive possession, basically one play the entire game, that failed to produce a first down on a drive.  Incredible.

- Patriots Grade:  A+

I was really hoping the Celtics would beat Orlando just so that I could claim two Boston teams were 9-0 at the same time (the Pats would be in progress at the end of the Celtics game).  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  The C's finally faced a worthy opponent Sunday night, and it showed, as Boston struggled to get points on the board or find any offensive (or defensive) rhythm in the first half.  Remarkably, Boston trailed by 17 at the half, and STILL managed to storm all the way back to take a brief 1 point lead late in the 4th quarter.  If Tony Allen makes that uncontested driving layup in the final minute, the Celtics may well have won that game. Even as it was, the C's were in a position to win, but Pierce could not convert his 3 as time expired (still not really sure why he took that shot - there were still about 5 seconds on the clock, and he's so good at driving to the basket).  Still, 8-1 is not a bad start, and when your one loss is by 2 points to a formidable team after you've trailed by 20, it's hard to be too upset.

- Celtics Grade:  B+

I'm not going to pretend I watched the entire Revolution game on Sunday.  I actually watched maybe about 30 seconds of it as I lay bleary-eyed in bed.  Besides, the game started at noon, an ungodly hour to be awake for any college student on a Sunday, especially when the Patriots don't play for another 8 hours.  In any case, we are blessed by having ABC in awful black and white, fuzzy reception, so I could barely watch and keep my sanity even if I wanted to.  The Revs lost 2-1, but led 1-0 early.  I'm not too big on US soccer, but it is a shame that New England couldn't hold the lead, especially since they are now 0 for 4 in title games in the last several years.  Disappointing is probably the most fitting word, given the strong season they did have, and the potential for another championship landing in the region.

- Revolution Grade:  B-

I'm also not going to pretend I watched the entire BC Eagles game, although I did catch the last few minutes.  That final TD score, however, was simply sweet.  BC needed this win badly to redeem themselves for 2 straight losses.  It looked dicey towards the end, but Matt Ryan's Brady-like drive set up the winning score.  BC, now 9-2, jumped a few spots in the BCS rankings.

- Boston College Grade:  A

I realize I can't really leave without acknowledging that this is only my second post - and first since I praised Manny Ramirez for his game-winning bomb at Fenway in the ALDS.  I think I was just worried about jinxing the Sox if I wrote anything before the World Series was over.  Look for some winter baseball coverage in the next few weeks (I can't possibly jinx the offseason, can I?  It's not like Mike Lowell's going to end up as a Yankee....right?  Right.  Since writing this he has since agreed to a 3-year contract to return to the Red Sox).  I'll probably get to some Bonds bashing and A-Rod smashing, depending on the way the wind blows, if I can.  Until next time....

Ronstoppable

First and foremost, take a look at my posts over the past week and guess what my favorite sport is.

Yesterday afternoon, the Patriots silenced all of their remaining doubters with a 24-20 win over the Colts.

The only question that remains in their season is "16-0?" Actually I'll take that back. The real question that remains is if they will go 19-0 and storm through the playoffs (I assume they get the bye).

Let's see if they can pull it out.

As a sidenote, I think I may have been the only sports fan in Boston that watched the entirety Celtics-Raptors game, but not the Pats-Colts game. Does that make me a bad sports fan?

Like a bug

Photo by Flickr user Morphomir used under a Creative Commons license.

Last time we checked in on the Pats here on PP, they were 2-0 and fresh off of a 38-17 shellacking (I'm running out of synonyms for crush) of the Chargers.

Let's take a look at what they have done since then:

Week 3 vs Bills: 38-7

Week 4 @ Bengals: 34-13

Week 5 vs Browns: 34-17

Week 6 @ Cowboys: 48-27

Week 7 @ Dolphins: 49-28

Week 8 vs Redskins: 52-7

They have scored 149 points in their last 3 games. Tom Brady is now on pace to certifiably crush the single season TD record with 30 (not including 2 rushing) through 8 games.

But none of ths matters until next week against the also-unbeaten Colts, the last and only real test for the Pats for the regular season. Prediction: Pats win 72-12 (Knock on wood).

Trite but true

With all 3 major sports teams rolling, it is a great time to be a sports fan in Boston.

As we all know by know, The Bosox completed the 1-3 comeback against the Indians last night by hammering their two aces, Sabathia and Carmona, and winning the 3 final games by a combined score of 30-5. Going into the postseason, the common sentiment was that the four AL teams (Boston, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles) were all better than the four NL teams (Colorado, Arizona, Chicago, Philadelphia), but that was before the Rockies added 7 straight wins to their tear. Also, the Rockies took 2 of 3 from the Red Sox and were 5-1 in interleague play in general (they also swept the Yanks in a 3 game set). They have a good chance to keep things going if the Sox take them too lightly.

The Patriots are busy destroying all of their opponents while Tom Brady is putting an end to the debate about who is the best QB in the league. Yesterday they led Miami 42-7 (!!) at the half before changing the guard and putting in Matt Cassel. They put Brady back in in the 4th quarter (seemingly just to run up the score, some might beg to differ) and he responded by promptly throwing another touchdown, giving him a personal record of 6, in barely over alf f a game. His record for touchdowns in a single season is 28. He stands at 27 right now (through 7 games).

And we all know how good the Celtics are.

...And the Revolution have clinched home field in the playoffs? Great...

Total Domination

After yesterday’s drumming of the Chargers, there seems to be only 2 questions left about the Patriots’ regular season: whether they will go undefeated and how badly they will beat everyone along the way.

Consider this. In week 1, the Pats beat up upon the lowly Jets, 38-14. However, lowly is hardly the right adjective to use (as I just did), since many experts were pegging them to be about 10-6, only because their schedule is so hard. This week, they pounded the Bolts (also 38-14), who are by no means cupcakes themselves. Barring a week 9 match up with the Colts, this was probably the hardest game that the Patriots have on their slate, and they handled it well to say the least, completely shutting down LT and running passing drills all over the vaunted Chargers D.

In 2004, the Patriots turned heads by winning 16 straight games (including the postseason). This year, they have an easier schedule and instead of Deion Branch and David Givens, the Golden Boy has Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth as his targets.

Maybe they’ll be at a slight disadvantage since they can’t cheat anymore, but I wouldn’t be betting against them.