Well today is the day that former Patriots video coordinator Matt Walsh wil meet with Warden Godell to discuss what was or was not on the tapes. Then Godell will release those tapes to the media, then go meet in Washington with pissed off Eagles fan, Sen. Arlen Spector, to put a finish on the entire Spygate cloud that has been over the NFL for the better part of the last calender year.
My question now has been my question since the Spygate story broke, "Who Cares?"
Honestly, this is only the first time someone taping signals has been caught doing so. As much as people want to think that the Patriots were the only team taping signals, need to remove their rose coloured glasses and see what advantage this can give a team. Then you're going to tell me that only the Patriots are the ones taping signals? Really?
The Pats and Bill Belichick were just the first ones to get caught, after his protege Eric Mangini went to the league and told the NFL what the Pats were doing. What is stopping Mangini from taping signals? Didn't he come from the Belichick school of coaching? Wouldn't he have learned from the master and put it into practice? Just asking some questions.
Next we have this so called smoking gun, that turned out to be shooting blanks. Former Pats employee Matt Walsh claimed to have video tape of the Rams walk-through before they faced the Patriots in Super Bowl 36. Then he gives Godell the tapes and it shows us exactly what we already know.
Thank you for wasting my time. Your big atom bomb that was supposed to blow up the Patriots dynasty turned out to be a dud that was well beyond its relevancy.
Then, finally we have the Eagles fan, Sen. Arlen Spector who was looking for any reason to say that something was fishy about the Patriots beating his beloved Eagles in Super Bowl 39. He is grasping at straws looking for a reason to try and get his first championship as an Eagles fan.
This is almost as rediculous as Congress being involved in whether or not baseball players took performance enhancing drugs or whether or not Roger Clemens "misremembered" his whereabouts at Jose Canseco's BBQ.
Spygate was a non-story from the beginning, the league disciplined the Patriots, and the story was closed. Since everyone loves to delight in others people misery, when somone has a little bit of success, they want to tear them down and say something was up and they achieved thier success while everyone played by the rules. Doubt that they were the only team taping signals.
Time for everyone to put Spygate in the rearview mirror and move on.
How clutch is David Tyree? How didn't he get sacked on the Tyree catch? What happened to Brady being Brady? How did the Giants beat the Pats?
All these questions to be answered, right now.
David Tyree is the most clutch receiver in NFL history. That catch he made during the Super Bowl was the best catch I have ever seen in the 20 years on this planet. How does a person catch the ball with both hands then transfer it to his face? Then, keep the ball from hitting the ground and having Rodney Harrisson clawing and attempting to wrestle the ball from him. For a fourth receiver, he just got a huge pay-day based on one catch.
What happened at the beginning of the Tyree catch? How did Eli get away with 5 Patriots trying to tackle him as well as the feeling that he would be the goat if he was sacked on that play.
If Eli didn't keep fighting on that play, and went down, people in New York would be calling for his head, and saying he is not a tough quarterback. Now he is an excellent quarterback and people will be saying he is better than Peyton. Lets not get ahead of ourselves, Eli relied on that excellent Giants pass rush for most of the enitre game, and entire playoffs. I give Eli all the respect in the world, but he has to succeed with a terrible defence before I will say he is better than Peyton.
What happened to Brady? Blipp in the radar people. Brady is still one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. Today after he didn't do what he is known for, people will say he is an average quarteback or a system quarterback and not as good as he is. He just didn't have the magic that he ormally has yesterday. This only motivates him to become a much better quarterback. Wait and see.
The Giants beat the Pats by getting a ton of pressure on Tom Brady that he had never seen before this game. That defence pressured the offensive line and made them look ordinary. Also Eli did played a little defence himself. He kept the ball for an incrediblely long time. When the opening dirve was 10 minutes long, I knew this was going to be a close game. My Pats -11.5 bet went out the door in the first quarter.
I can admit I was wrong. I said the Patriots would win and would cover. My mistake. I didn't give the Giants the respect they deserved. They were a good team, but I thought the Pats would revert to the Week 4 Pats and score 50 points. I was completely wrong. Congrats to the Giants.
I have heard a lot of talk about Tom Brady and the boot that he wore to his girlfriend's house in downtown Manhattan. Then Brady was listed on the injury report from New England, so there was some doubt that he was 100 % for this game. Also, why are some of the Giants players poking the bear.
Tom Brady and "bootgate" which is the ####est name for anything ever, there is one thing that you must know. The New England Patriots have made a mockery of the NFL injury report system. For years they have done this. Bill Belichick has been listing Tom Brady as questionable for probably the last 5 years. Ever since Fantasy Footbal took off in popularity, Belichick has been making a mockery of the system. Now a Belichick disciple Eric Mangini is doing the same thing, when Laverneous Coles was listed the same way as Tom Brady. Brady has never missed a snap, even though he was listed as "Questionable" even though he was 100% healthy.
Didn't any of the Giants players learn from the mistakes of Chargers DE Igor Olshansky and not tug on Superman's cape. There is a reason that the Patriots went 16-0 during the regular season. It's not because of spygate, it is because of people questioning the Pats on how they got those titles. They showed every team they played this season why they are the best team in the NFL right now. People feeding the monster, made the Pats hold thier noses in the air and say "try and score with us".
Looking back at the past weekend in the NFL, something happened in each game that truely made it the best weekend in the NFL.
Jacksonville @ New England Nothing really happened that was earth shattering in this game, except for Tom Brady almost throwing a perfect game. Watching him on Saturday night was exactly the reason why for years when people ask me who I would choose, Brady or Manning, I have said Brady for years. He was so close that I have lost some respect for Wes Welker, simply because he ended the shot at the perfect game.
San Diego @ Indianapolis Nobody saw that game ending the way it did. If you say you picked the Chargers, you are a liar. No one saw that game coming, and what looked liked the worst game os the weekend, turned out to be the most interesting of the weekend. Philip Rivers shouldn't talk trash with fans, because he didn't win that game, Billy Volek won the game for the Chargers. When they showed him on tv yelling at some Colts fans, it showed how immature Rivers is as a person and a quarterback.
AFC Conference Game: New England wins 38-27
Seattle @ Green Bay How did Green Bay come back after a few fumbles by Ryan Grant, Farve became the old Brett Favre that led the Pack to the Super Bowl ten years ago. Also Grant ddin't let a few hiccups ruin his chance at a conference championship, after spending years on the Giants practice roster. He came back and set two records for yards and touchdowns. Seattle had a 14 point lead, and coughed it up even though all they had to do was keep pressure on the Packers and force them into more turnovers. The lack of a Seattle running game, proved they were not worthy to move on in the playoffs.
New York @ Dallas What happened to Dallas over the last month of the regular season, Dallas had clinched home field advantage, and didn't play their players like the Giants did. Dallas didn't show anything that warranted the number one seed in the NFC. they were terrible in the game, even thourgh they had the ball for two long drives and turned them into touchdowns. The Dallas defence didn't step up and stop a New York offense that it had stopped twice earlier this year. Dallas was playing with a ton of pressure, and New York was playing loose.
There were a lot ofsurprises this weekend from the NFL, only one game went the way most people predicted it, including my self.
I thought the Seattle was largely underrated this season, even though they play in the worst division in all of the NFL. For any team to go into Seattle and win is always a tough thing to do. Seattle was 7-1 at home during the regular season, 8-1 overall. There are a lot of things that come into play with playing in Seattle, like the weather and the crowd. Now that Seattle has moved on in the playoffs, maybe they will get some respect going into their game with Green Bay...Let's hope Matt Hasselbeck doesn't predict that "We want the ball, and we're going to score" My Pick: Green Bay, but close.
The New York Giants will travel to Dallas to play the Cowboys for the third time this season, and Eli Manning showed some flashes of brilliance this weekend. He finally impressed me, and I know my opinion doesn't really matter about how good Eli is. But now the Giants have to go into a hostile environment in Dallas, with a better team on the other side of the ball, and a better pass rush coming at him this weekend. My Pick: Dallas wins going away.
The best game of the weekend, didn't really start until the fourth quarter. When the Steelers finally woke up and made it a game, they couldn't do what they normally do, get pressure on the quarterback. David Gerrard looked impressive, and I know he ws largely impressive during the year, but I think Jacksonville is a little to over matched when it comes to facing New England. My Pick: New England big.
The most uninteresting game of Wild Card weekend was the Chargers vs Titans game. This game was borderline, similar to the NBA--- unwatchable. The game had no cache, it had no flair, even thought we had probably the most potent offensive player in the game in LaDainian Tomlinson, he was largely shut down. He averaged 2 yards a carry, and was a minimal impact in the passing game. I love watching LT play, but yesterday was absolutely disgusting---and not in the good way. It as a boring game from start to finish, and I found myself changing channels between a movie and golf. SD will get a rude awakening this weekend when they play in Indianapolis. My Pick: indianapolis big.
Also, here is my pick for the CFB National Title Game tonight. A close game after OSU takes and early quarter lead. Les Miles will then fire up the troops at half-time, and LSU comes from behind to win the game. Final Score: 28-21 LSU.
The Ravens have absolutely nothing to cry about, You lost the game, the officials did not "job" you guys, you folded like a house of cards.
Finally somebody got burned with this timout tag thing that everyone is doing, Thank you Mike Shanahan, burned you guys when you stopped Tom Brady on 4th down. Even your coach said that you were in the wrong scheme, even though you stopped the guy. Don't cry about that, and I know you aren't.
Next the penalty calling. Every single penalty call against your team, was legit. Ben Watson was held and that could have been the winning touchdown. Every single call against you guys was legit, and you're looking for a convenient excuse to explain why you lost your "Super Bowl".
What about Derrick Mason grabbing all of Asante Samuels jersey when Mark Clayton caught the ball on the New England 2 yard line, I thought they were against the Patriots, looked like they helped you guys on that play, to almost pull off the upset of the century.
Then what about Bart Scott, doing his best impression of Eric Bedard, throwing the officials flag like it was a 90 mph fastball. You can't let emotion get the best of you, and pull a bonehead move like that, and expect not to get a flag.
Losing creates bitterness, and then you look for excuses, Like McGahee saying the calls were "bogus", just a bitter guy. Saying that you were battling two teams, the Pats and the Zebras, another excuse from a losing team.
Quit your whining and take your loss like professionals and go to work next week.
