Time Out for Sports Talk: The Force Awakens
Todd: If that title is good enough for J.J. Abrams, it’s plenty good enough for us here at the TOST blog. Plus, we’ll direct more traffic here, as anyone who types the newly-titled Star Wars film into their favorite search engine will find our link.
Many thoughts as usual, while I’ll try to avoid going to the dark side…
If you read last week’s post, then you must know how much I love reverse psychology.
I also find myself saying ‘didn’t see that coming’ following a Patriots game more often than I’d like to admit. But how many of us envisioned a 22-point win over Peyton and the Broncos at windy Gillette Stadium? A blowout in every sense of the word.
Tom Brady is now 8-1 against Jack Del Rio defenses with 22 touchdown passes and just one interception (which happened Sunday when a pass went through Danny Amendola’s hands). Manning is 7-12 against Bill Belichick defenses (and now 2-8 at Foxboro) with 19 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
Despite Brady and the Pats putting up 43 points (and 94 in their last two wins), all I could think about while watching last week was how good the defense looked. Reminded me a little bit of the D that roamed around Foxboro a decade ago and won a few Super Bowls.
Speaking of then-versus-now, comparisons between the 2014 Pats to the champs of 2003 are quite uncanny.
Both teams parted ways with a high-caliber talent and locker room leader just before the season (Lawyer Milloy then, Logan Mankins now); both teams laid an egg in Week 1 to a division rival on the road (Buffalo, Miami); they won their next two games before losing on the road in Week 4 (Washington, KC); then they both won five straight leading into their bye week, with the last of the five wins coming against the Broncos. Paging Rod Serling?
If that’s not enough, the ‘03 Pats upgraded their secondary with Rodney Harrison and Tyrone Poole, and eleven years later have done it again with Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner.
With regards to the current duo, I was amazed to watch Manning on countless passing plays hold the ball instead of going to his patented quick release because the coverage from Revis and Browner was that good. And with those two leading the way, the rest of the secondary perfectly slotted into their roles. Everybody have fun tonight, everybody Patrick Chung tonight!
Other passing thoughts on the Pats…Julian Edelman continues each week to prove he’s more than a diamond in the rough. Any punt return that gets Brady running all the way down the field must be pretty special. Edelman now holds the Pats franchise record with four career punt returns for touchdowns, passing Troy Brown’s three. Neither one of them ever lets us down.
And then there’s Rob Gronkowski…that one-handed catch he made near the goal line was downright sick. Gronk was properly rewarded on the next play, scoring his 50th career touchdown and tying Randy Moss’ league record of needing only 59 games to do it.
While the Pats enjoy their well-deserved bye, it’s a good time to see what’s happening around the league.
There’s actually another football (spelled correctly in this case) game being played across the pond this week. If the NFL ever expands into Europe, what’s better—the London Fog or the London Calling? Think I’m liking the former, the latter seems to "Clash".
OK, just when I think I have the league figured out—Patriots and Broncos vying for AFC supremacy—I take a look at the standings and see two absolute shockers.
After their upset last night, the Cleveland Browns are now 6-3 and tied for first place in the AFC North? Really?? It’s their best start since Mike and I first debated sports on the televised version of this blog. Those Browns of 1994 were coached by Bill Belichick and technically are now the Baltimore Ravens.
If the current edition of the Browns aren’t startling enough, they’re winning with old friend Brian Hoyer at quarterback while the much-hyped Johnny Football holds the clipboard and teaching aerobics classes.
But even more astonishing than the Browns has to be the team currently sporting the best record in the entire league. It’s the 7-1 Arizona Cardinals, who haven’t had a start this good since Dan Dierdorf anchored their offensive line, Gerald Ford was in the White House and ‘Saturday Night Live’ was still a year away from its television debut. Yep, forty years is a long time.
Quick QB roundup…the good—Mark Sanchez stepping in and performing in Philly while Rex Ryan boxes up stuff from his office; the great—Ben Roethlisberger sets a new NFL record with a dozen TD passes over two games, four more than the Jets have thrown all season; and the ugly—oddly not a Jets QB, but instead it’s Dallas backup Brandon Weeden, whose performance was so woeful that Tony Romo and his fractured back will likely be pressed back into action this week.
Regarding our weekly picks, what looked like a fait accompli two weeks ago has suddenly become very very interesting, as I’ve gone 6-0 the last two weeks while my cohort had a 2-4 stumble. I probably just jinxed myself saying that, but nonetheless here’s who I like in Week 10 (16-7-1 season): Lions over the Dolphins, Ravens over the Titans and the Packers over the Bears.
Mike: I was as shocked as anyone to see how badly the Patriots beat up the Broncos last week. I was expecting a much tighter game than that.
Don't get me wrong, I was happy to relax and watch the Pats have their way with Denver, I even got a few of these chants in...
But now it's on to a bye week, which means time to rest and get ready for the rest of the season. Which means I have to concentrate on my picks to keep my lead on Todd....
For my picks (17-7 season): I'll take the Cowboys over the Jaguars, the Steelers over the Jets and Denver over the Raiders.
(Hey...I had to take it easy on my picks I spent all of my brainpower on our special edition Star Wars graphic...:) )
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