Usually I write my newsletter on Tuesday and then focus on the big topic of the NFL week in an expanded Thursday article.  The big story of the weekend was supposed to be Rodgers leading the Packers in the first game of the post Favre era. That story we knew about since March and it took a weird turn over the summer.  I had planned on writing about that since July. That quickly changed 15 offensive plays into the Patriots season when the Chiefs Bernard Pollard hit Brady's knee and ended his season. Therefore I decided to address both topics.

Let's start with Brady. The first thing I wanted to address was whether that hit was dirty. I think the Patriots and any of their fans that have been throwing that out there should be embarrassed. Randy Moss says that it looked dirty to him, but he wasn't sure. Bill Belichick says that he teaches his players to hit from the knee up and the shoulder down. That's all fine and good. If a player has a chance to make a tackle like that and bypasses it for the more difficult lower hit I would agree with that. That is clearly against the rules.  But sometimes you are blocked into a quarterback before he lets go of the ball.  A quarterback is one of eleven players.  Defenders have to be able to make plays against all of the opposing players.

If a defender can't do what Bernard Pollard did than it is time to put the red jersey on the quarterbacks and don't allow them to be touched. Make them play with flags in pink skirts. The ref didn't throw the flag on the play. The NFL did not issue a fine. It was a legal hit. The ball was in the process of leaving his hand. It wasn't even close to being a late hit or an intentional low shot.  The man felt horrible about it as soon as it happened.  You could tell that from his body language.  It was an unfortunate play, but a perfectly legal one.

Where do the Patriots go from here? Is there precedence for a team losing a star starting quarterback this early in the season? These were four notable recent instances I could think of.

1991: Randall Cunningham: 1990 was a very good year for Cunningham. He had the following numbers: 271 completions in 465 attempts 58.3 completion percentage, 3,466 30 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a 91.6 QB rating. He also rushed for 942 yards and 5 touchdowns. While the AP named Joe Montana the MVP, Cunningham was the Pro Football Writers of America MVP. The Eagles went 10-6, but lost in the 1st round of the playoffs. You could argue that given the surrounding cast on offense and the things Cunningham did on the ground and through the air that he was more valuable to the Eagles than Brady is to the Patriots. 

In 1991 many thought the Eagles were a favorite to take the next step.  Cunningham attempted exactly 4 passes before suffering a season ending knee injury in the season opener against Green Bay. The Eagles would rely on a defense led by Reggie White that allowed the 5th fewest points in the NFL. When Jim McMahon was in there they actually went 8-3. However, he missed 4 games and the Eagles were 1-3 in those games. The Eagles would start the season 3-5, before ending the season 7-1 and missing the playoffs with a 10-6 record. They were one of the hottest teams in the NFL to close the season. 

1999:  Vinny Testaverde:  He had finally found his home.  In 1998 he went 12-1 as the starter and helped lead the New York Jets to an unexpected AFC Championship birth.  They would go on to lose to the defending champion Denver Broncos.  Vinny went 259 for 421, threw for 3,256 yards, 29 touchdowns, 7 picks, and a 101.6 QB rating.  Vinny was named to the Pro Bowl.    

The Jets were expected to compete for the title in 1999.  That changed 15 throws into he season when Testaverde torn his Achilles tendon and was out for the year.  The Jets defense remained tough all season finishing 9th in the league.  But the offense couldn’t get out of its own way and started the season 1-6.  Ray Lucas got hot in the second half of the season and the Jets salvaged an 8-8 season in a brutal division where every team finished at least 8-8.  They did not qualify for the playoffs. 

1999: Trent Green: The Rams weren't expected to be a Super Bowl contender, but they were expected to improve from 4-12 with rookie Torry Holt at receiver and Marshall Faulk coming over from Indy at running back. Trent Green was the high priced free agent QB that was supposed to lead this new high-octane offense. He had come over from Washington where he had 278 completions in 509 attempts for 3,441 yards, 23 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and an 81.8 QB rating. So, when Green suffered a knee injury on a hit by Rodney Harrison in the preseason people weren't too excited about a little know 28 year old quarterback from Northern Iowa that had completed exactly 4 NFL passes. 

Kurt Warner stepped in and had the season of NFL seasons. 325 completions in 499 attempts for 4,353 yards, 41 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a 109.2 QB rating. Warner led an offense that scored a NFL best 526 points. The Rams would post a 13-3 record and won the Super Bowl.

2001: Drew Bledsoe: Drew Bledsoe made it a little longer than Brady did in 2008. Bledsoe was injured in the second game on a hit by the Jet's Mo Lewis.  While it wasn’t season ending, it was a big blow to a team coming off a 5-11 season.  Bledsoe was the best player the Patriots had, or so they thought.  In came a little known second year quarterback out of the University of Michigan named Tom Brady. 

Bledsoe didn't have nearly the campaign in 2000 that Brady had in 2007. Bledsoe had been a good quarterback in the mid 90s, but his star had started to fade. The Patriots were 5-11 the year before and he had only 17 touchdowns to 13 interceptions and a 77.3 QB rating. However, he had led the Patriots to a Super Bowl appearance in 1996 and had been the face of that franchise up until that point. 

The rest as we say is history. The Patriots went 11-3 with Tom Brady as the starter and would capture their first Super Bowl title. Bledsoe would play for the Bills the next year and Brady would go on to win 2 more Super Bowls, appear in another, and become a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback. It is hard to believe that Matt Cassel could have similar results, but you never know.

The Patriots have a number of things working in their favor. They have Randy Moss. That can't be overstated. Ryan, Flacco, Russell, and Rodgers are starting for the first time this year. They don't have a weapon like that. It is a big advantage. Moss is a scary receiver that demands double teams down the field. While Moss probably isn't going to duplicate 23 touchdowns, he probably wasn't going to do that with Brady. He should still have a strong year. Welker is probably the one that is hurt more. He was often the 3rd or 4th read for Brady running free from the slot. Cassel isn't going to be able to make those quick reads. Welker will still get catches as a featured guy, but not like he did with Brady. Watson and Gafney give Cassel more NFL quality weapons.

The Patriots have a strong staple of running backs. Maroney, Morris, and Jordan all can carry the load this year. The offensive line is solid. While it got a little beat up by the NY Giants last year in the Super Bowl, it isn't like the Patriots have regressed into a 2004 version of the Houston Texans. They will be able to run and pass block. Matt Cassel does not have to win the games himself. He doesn't need to be Tom Brady. He needs to give them some good plays, but most importantly he needs to not make a lot of bad ones.

When an injury like this happens most teams eventually adjust.  The key is those first 5 or 6 ball games.  The Eagles and Jets started off 3-5 and 1-6 after their injuries.  They eventually salvaged their season, but not in time to make the playoffs.  The key for the Patriots is not to go into a 5 game nosedive before they pull out of this. 

I expect the offense to score anywhere between 350 and 390 points in 2008. That would put them between the 10-15th ranked offenses based on last years league wide scoring numbers.

The following teams made the playoffs last year scoring under 400 points. Pittsburgh (393), Seattle (393), New York Giants (373), Tampa Bay (334), Washington (334), and Tennessee (301). What those teams had in common was strong defenses that didn't yield a lot of points. The Steelers ranked 2nd in the NFL in scoring defense. The New York Giants led the NFL with 53 sacks. Seattle was 6th in scoring defense and allowed the fewest passing touchdowns. The Bucs had the 3rd ranked scoring defense, second ranked yardage defense, and the first ranked pass defense. The Titans had a great season when Albert Haynesworth was healthy. If you remove the 3 games he didn't play the Titans allowed an average of 15.3 points per game, which would have led the NFL.

The challenge for the Patriots will be to not allow a lot of points this season and force turnovers that give their offense a shorter field.   It was expected that this was going to be a rebuilding year for the defense and that the offense would have to carry the team.  There are going to be a lot of games where they score 14 to 21 points. They need to allow 10 points on those occasions. They need to get after the quarterback. They need to stop the run. They won't have the benefit of an offense that made other teams one-dimensional. They will have to stand on their own two feet and carry this team.

Bill Belichick is the perfect person to do this. His background is defense. He was the defensive coordinator for the NY Giants under Bill Parcells. He helped turn the Cleveland Browns into a nasty defense in 1994. He was the defensive coordinator for the Patriots in 1996 when they made it to the Super Bowl. He knows how to win with smash mouth football and defensive strength. He can coach that way this season.

The schedule also sets up well for them. They should be able to beat Miami (2), Oakland, St Louis, and San Fran. They can't lose to any of those teams if they want to be playing January football. If the Patriots win those easier games that gets them to 6 wins. They probably aren't going to beat the Chargers, Steelers, or Colts. That means to compete for the playoffs they will need to get 4 wins from the following teams: Buffalo (2), NY Jets (2), Denver, Arizona, and Seattle. That is by no means impossibility.

The Patriots have to make sure that the following three things don't happen. 1) No taking bad teams for granted. If they lose to St. Louis or San Fran they are going to have to make up for it with a win against a harder team. Losing Tom Brady got rid of their margin for error. The Hood is the best in the business at taking it one game at a time. The Patriots should be fine there. 2) Play well at home. If the Patriots go 4-4 or 5-3 at home this season they won't have much of a chance. They need to protect the home turf to take pressure off Cassel when he travels on the road. If they can go 7-1 or 8-0 at home that will help matters.  3) No big injuries to any other players. This is something they can't control. Sometimes it just isn't your year. I saw it firsthand with the Packers in 2005.  Sure they didn’t lose Favre, but that team was down to their 5th running back and 6th or 7th receiver.  The Patriots can't afford to have Moss miss 6 games, Welker miss 4 games, and Seymour miss 6 games. They lost one of their greatest weapons and they have to keep all the other solid veterans healthy. 

If they can do those things they should get to 9-7 or 10-6. That will put them in the hunt to either win what has been a weak division in years past or the wildcard. If they can do that anything is possible in a 60-minute single elimination playoff game.  The AFC is in a state of flux now.  Manning is coming back from knee surgery.  Jacksonville has huge offensive line and receiver injury problems.  The Chargers lost Lights Out for the year.  Big Ben is already having problems with his shoulder.  The Jets have a lot of chemistry issues to work out with so many players.  Their season is relying in large part on a 39 year old Iron Man.  The Patriots can overcome this injury. 

The loss of Tom Brady is a big one for the NFL. It's an even bigger one for the Patriots. Other than Moss there isn't another player on that roster that is even close to the level of importance to that offense as Tom Brady. You can't measure the things he does that don't show up in the box score. His leadership is a huge intangible Brady brings to that team.

However, after these initial days of analyzing and speculating the one thing we learn is the games go on. I'll have something interesting to write about next week. If the Patriots don't compete there are 31 other teams to talk about. The NFL isn't going to cancel it's season with Brady gone and the Patriots are going to have to play 15 more games. No one is going to take it easy on the Patriots because Brady isn't there. In fact teams are going to be looking to knock the Patriots out, especially after the way the Patriots embarrassed teams last year. It is revenge time for the 52-7 wins the Patriots had to start last season.  This may be the best shot to beat the Patriots and nobody is going to miss an opportunity like that if they can help it.

The Patriots have to remember that the Packers were willing to get rid of the 2nd MVP in the NFL to go with a kid that had 59 career passes. The Falcons and Ravens are both starting rookie quarterbacks. While it isn't ideal that Matt Cassel comes into this situation with so little on his plate other teams are going that route right now and are expecting to not only win games, but make the playoffs.

This has happened to teams in the past and some have come out okay. The Patriots can look to their own past for that. I think the Patriots will be fine. They should stay in the playoff hunt until the very end and if things go their way they could very easily make it. This injury while unfortunate is going to make the AFC as interesting as ever.  What are your thoughts on the Patriots injury?  1-15 this season, losing record, playoff contender, or Super Bowl Contender?  Let me know your thoughts.

Rodgers role with the Packer Offense

Now on to the topic I thought I was going to be focusing on.  People are jumping up and down about Aaron Rodger's game on Monday Night Football and rightfully so. He completed his last 10 passes of the game and was extremely efficient throughout. 18 for 22 for 178 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 picks, and a 115.5 QB rating is a very solid passing performance. He also rushed for 35 yards and added a rushing touchdown. They won the game 24-19 over a division rival in Minnesota who many people think could contend for the Super Bowl. Game 1 of the post Favre era could not have gone better. Rodgers deserves a great amount of credit for playing a terrific game under difficult circumstances.  He showed tremendous poise. 

Now that the soap opera has left the building the thing that interests me the most is what the Packers offense is going to evolve into now that the focal point of the offense for the past 16 years wears a Jets uniform. I'm trying not one to get caught up in the whole Rodgers vs. Favre. I understand that many people are going to focus on that and that there is going to be two evaluation processes. 1) How the Packers do this year vs. how the Jets do this year. In other words people are going to wonder if the Packers played for the future at the expense of the present. 2) How good of a career Rodgers has, which will take many years to evaluate.

There will be a time and a place to evaluate that and when there is I am sure I will write something about it when we get to that point. While people were getting caught up in the moment of whether the Packers made the right decision on a play-by-play basis I noticed a lot of interesting things.

Here is how Rodgers ranked among NFL quarterbacks this weekend.

1) His 18 completions ranked 14th in the NFL.

2) His 22 attempts were tied for 24th.

3) His yardage was tied for 20th.

Where he excelled was not in how many times he passed the ball, but his efficiency. His completion percentage was 2nd in the NFL. His QB rating was 8th. He didn't throw a pick.

That leads to an interesting question. Are the Packers going to give him more responsibility as he plays more games, becomes more comfortable with the offense, and earns more responsibility; or are the Packers going to become a run and defensive oriented football team in the post Favre era?

I looked at Favre's numbers over the last 2 years with McCarthy not in an attempt to compare Rodger's start and rank it among Favre's, but to look at the style of the Packers offense. Here is what I found.

1) Favre had more than 18 completions in 28 of his 32 games under McCarthy. Several of those games were games he got hurt in or rested. New England in 2006. Dallas in 2007. Detroit to end the season with everything clinched in 2007. In fact Favre had more than 25 completions 10 times in 32 games, significantly more than what Rodgers put up in game 1.

2) Favre had more than 22 attempts 29 out of 32 times. The only 3 times were the games I listed above.

3) Favre had more than 178 yards passing 27 out of 32 times under McCarthy. The three games I listed above, the 06 opener against the Bears when he had 170 yards, and the 06 home game against the Lions when he had 174 yards.

This isn't meant to slam Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers supporters could argue that Favre only had 14 games out of 32 where he didn't throw a pick. They could argue Favre had only 14 games where he eclipsed a 100.0 QB rating. I'm not trying to look at either of those points.

What I'm looking at is the direction of the Packer offense. For most of Favre's career the Packers were a pass first offense. That started to change with the emergence of Ahman Green in 2001, but the Packers evolved into pass first again once Green became injury prone starting in 2004 and especially 2005. By the beginning of 2007 the Packers were ignoring the run all together, mainly because they had no good running backs.

It started to move back toward a more run dominated offense at the end of last year. Part of that was the emergence of Ryan Grant. Part of that was the Favre injury in the Dallas game and Rodgers subsequent injury after that. The Packers had no options at QB and really didn't want to further risk any injuries that would cost them a playoff run.

It's impossible to figure out where the Packer's offense is headed based on one game or where it would have been headed had Favre stayed. But against a team that in 2007 was ranked 1st in rushing defense and 28th in passing defense the Packers only threw the ball 22 times and rushed the ball 27 times. I understand it was a little wet there, but the conditions weren’t that bad.  You would think they would have tried to pass more. The Packers play calling was extremely conservative.  They passed on a chance to close the half with a touchdown and settled for a field goal that was blocked. They didn't gain a first down in the 3rd quarter. They didn't let Rodgers put the ball up in the 4th to gain a clinching 1st down. Instead they ran, punted, and relied on the defense and on an offense making safe conservative yardage with no turnovers.

The Packers were able to do that, because the only time they trailed in the game was 3-0 in the first quarter.  Rodgers will be down by 10 points at some point this season and we will see how the Packers and Rogders handle that.  In this game the Packers capitalized on the big play. They got a 57 yard run by Grant, a 56 yard catch by Jennings, and a punt return by Blackmon to set up 21 of there 24 points.

People will point to how good Grant played. I thought Grant was average at best. Yes, the stats say 12 carries for 92 yards against a league leading rush defense. However, 57 yards were on one play. That means 11 carries for 35 yards the rest of the way and no ability to score goal line touchdowns. The Packers had to pass it in on 3rd and 1 and quarterback sneak it the other time. If they are going to win with Grant as the featured weapon he must get 5 or 6 yards more consistently and he needs to score goal line touchdowns. He was good at that last year and I expect him to do better in the weeks ahead than he did in the opener.

The Packers last year used the pass to beat the Vikings. In their two victories Favre was 65 for 91 for 695 yards with 5 touchdowns and 0 picks. The Packers did use the run against Minnesota, especially in the second game where Grant had 25 carries for 119 yards. But the Packers used the pass to win those games.

I see three themes emerging from this game:

1) I think the Packers realize the spotlight their young quarterback is under. They want to put him in position to make good plays and move the ball, but limit is opportunities to make bad plays and hurt the team. By not making him the focus of the offense they minimize the chance that Rodgers messes up. That is going to stop these "Why isn't Favre Here" stories.  They will be able to do that for quite a while as long as they play with the lead like they did on Monday Night.

2) They want Rodgers to be more comfortable as the starter before they unleash him. The more success he shows in this offense the more they will have faith in him to throw the ball around and gamble. I would expect the Packers to throw more as the season progresses.   They are going to have to at some point, because every team ends up behind in a game at some point where the quarterback has to throw the ball every play.  That is when we will see just how good Rodgers has become over the last 3 years.

3) The Packers wish to move in a different direction philosophically. I think McCarthy wanted to do this once he saw what he had in Grant, but Favre is not the right fit for that philosophy. By going with the younger more mobile quarterback they can throw the ball 20 times a game and not have to worry about whether the star gunslinger is going to like the reduced role. They want to play a similar style to what the Steelers played on Sunday where Big Ben threw the ball 14 times. I think that is the main reason the Packers didn't want Favre back. They figured less was more. Less yardage and less touchdown throws were acceptable with fewer interceptions and less points allowed. 

It's difficult to say whether this is a good idea or a bad idea. Since the 1970 merger no quarterback has led the NFL is passing yards and won a Super Bowl that same season. Brady in 2007 was the closest. The only quarterbacks to lead the NFL in touchdown passes and win the Super Bowl the same season are Stabler(76), Bradshaw(78), Young(94), Favre(96), Warner(99), and P Manning(06).

Still, the list of average Super Bowl winning quarterbacks is fairly short. While you don't need the premier quarterback on the premier offense in the NFL it is nice to have a Hall of Fame caliber player. You have to have a passing presence in your offense that allows you to make plays when you need them and keep the opposing team off balance. You don't need to have the most accomplished passer in the NFL. If the Super Bowl were about who had the best arm and the best skills Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, and Eli Manning would not have won a ring.

I think the league still thinks of the Packers as a pass first team. I was not impressed with Minnesota's game plan on Monday. They didn't blitz much. That is how you beat Favre. Rush four people, drop the rest into coverage, and force him to make quick decisions into coverage. Blitzing Favre can be a recipe for disaster.  Rodgers needs to be blitzed more until he proves he can pick those up and make quick reads. The Vikings didn't adjust to that. As teams realize the Packers are trying to become a run first team they will put more people in the box, blitz, and dare Rodgers to beat them. As they realize that his best downfield throws are on play action or rolling out of the pocket they will adjust with more blitzing from the outside.

It was a good start, but good starts don't really mean a whole lot. What is going to matter is if Rodgers can put the team on his back when the chips are down and pull out wins the Packers weren’t supposed to win.  What is going to matter is if he can guide this team to the playoffs. Anything less will be a disappointment to Packer fans. That is going to take more than one game to figure out. 

If the Jets make the playoffs and the Packers don't there will be uproar. If Favre plays at a MVP level and Rodgers is merely a game manager there will be a lot of head scratching.  As long as Rodgers is allowed to play with the lead like he did last night with the crowd on his side he will be fine. As he plays more games, plays on the road, defenses start making adjustments, and injuries start affecting key Packer personnel around him we will see if he can sustain his Week 1 performance. If he doesn't succeed it won't be because of his attitude. He seems to be saying and doing all the right things at this point.  Now it is on to Week 2.

What are your thoughts on the Packers?  I think its a little too early to predict if Rodgers can lead them to the playoffs, but do you think the Packers get back to a throw first philosophy spreading out their receivers like they did with Favre in 2007 or do you think it is going to be a much more conservative team the entire season that features Grant and the Packer Defense?  Let me know your thoughts.

I’ve been holding off on writing an article about this since reports surfaced days before the Super Bowl that Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh had taped a Ram’s walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI.  I wanted to see what new information came out of this, which quite frankly wasn’t much.  Now that Matt Walsh has met with the Commissioner and the tapes have been shown to the public, what is the final affect of Spygate on the Patriot’s legacy?
   
The problem that we have on this topic is that there are too many people that are emotionally attached to the situation.  You have a number of fans that are huge supporters of the Patriots.  They believe this an attempt by fans of other franchises to discredit the accomplishments of the most successful franchise in the league since 2001.  They believe giving this matter any credence is pure jealousy.  Conversely, you have another group of people that hate the Patriots so much that they will take any bit of negative information and use it to discredit the entire Patriot dynasty.  They want to believe the Patriots were a 6-10 team transformed into Super Bowl Champion with this conduct.

The fact of the matter is that both positions are utterly ridiculous.  Many Patriots fans have lost their minds in trying to justify or explain this.  It was against the rules and if the Patriots didn’t know it was against the rules, the only reason they didn’t know is because they didn’t want to know. 

The method they were using to tape these games was very systematic.  On every play they would tape the scoreboard showing the clock, score, down, and yardage.  Then they would show the signals being used by the coaching staff on the other sideline.  They had done this practice as early as 2001.  Common sense dictates two things: 1) In a league where coaches spend 15-20 hours a day preparing for their opponent, why would they use those valuable hours viewing footage that didn’t give them any advantage? 2) If it wasn’t working why did they continue to tape opposing sidelines from 2001-2007?

It obviously gave them an advantage otherwise they wouldn’t have gone through the painstaking systematic approach in taping these signals over multiple seasons.  If it wasn’t a competitive advantage the league wouldn’t have fined the Patriots $250,000.  They wouldn’t have taken away a first round pick.  They wouldn’t have fined The Hood $500,000.

However, the anti-Patriot crowd has also lost their minds.  First, do you honestly believe that the Patriots were the only team in the league engaged in this activity?  In reading and watching TV about this topic I have heard two interesting stories on ESPN from unconfirmed sources.  1) That there was another team in the league that had tried to tape coaching signals and when the opposing coaching staff saw what was going on they sent a huge security officer stand in front of the camera to block the taping.  2) That when Herm Edwards was with the Jets he knew the Patriots were engaged in this behavior and would waive to the cameras to let the Patriots know that they knew the signals were being taped.

Opposing coaches that had no idea their signals were being taped  were naive.  I have a very difficult time believing that 1) The Patriots were the only team engaged in this type of activity and 2) That no one in the league had the foggiest notion that the Patriots were taping signals. Teams that were playing the Patriots should have known this practice was going on and could have taken measures to prevent it or minimize it.

Here is my opinion on the fallout of this.  All I know is that had I been the coach of the Patriots and tried to tape these signals and put together a game plan based on those signals the Patriots would have gone 0-16.  I am a follower of the game, have very strong opinions on what I watch, and consider myself a historian of the game.  I can call plays on John Madden Football.  That does not make me qualified to be a NFL Head Coach.

Taking steroids will make someone stronger, but it doesn’t guarantee they will have the hand eye coordination to hit a 95 mile an hour fastball.  The same is true for this.  Taping signals is not going to make an unqualified head coach smart enough to win 3 Super Bowls.  Had the Patriots done the same exact practice with The Ole Ball Coach running the helm they wouldn’t have won 3 Super Bowls.  They probably wouldn’t have won more than 6 or 7 games a season.  But when you take the best Head Coach in the NFL and the best Quarterback in the NFL and arm them with a competitive advantage, it can have a huge impact.

You can’t take the dynasty part away from the Patriots.  They won 3 Super Bowls in 4 years and appeared in 4 Super Bowls in 7 years.  What happened has happened.  The past is in the past.  You can’t take away the impressive record of Bill Belichick and what he has been able to accomplish in Boston since 2001.  You can’t take away Brady’s post season record. 

Where it does hurt both of them is in their climb to join as Muhammad Ali called, “The Legend’s Club.”  In the Thanksgiving Special that Fox Sports did for Brett Favre last year where they had Ripken Jr., Gretzky, Bird, Staubach and a slew of other legends congratulate Brett Favre on his wonderful career, the tribute ended with Ali saying, “I am the Greatest, you are the Latest.  Welcome to the Legend’s Club.”

The Hood and Brady are no longer playing to be the best in the game right here, right now.  They are playing to become legends.  The best of the best.  All time greats.  No one can deny that Bill Belichick is a better coach than Marty Schottenheimer.  That is undisputable.  But is he a better coach than Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll, or Don Shula?

When you start debating which legend is better than another legend you really start splitting hairs.  Don’t think for a second that if someone tries to say The Hood is a better head coach than Tom Landry that it won’t be pointed out that while The Hood does have 3 rings to Landry’s 2 rings, that Landry had a longer tenure, won with more quarterbacks, appeared in just as many Super Bowls, and that in the two Super Bowl games he lost to the Steelers by 4 points he didn’t tape the signals of Chuck Noll to get a competitive edge.

For Bill Belichick this is damning.  While it will probably not keep him out of the Hall of Fame or joining the legends of the game it is going to rob him of a chance to be considered at the top of the very top in the head coaching fraternity.  While the first paragraph of his one page biography will speak to his incredible winning percentage, post season record, and Super Bowl rings the second paragraph is going to talk about this scandal.   When everyone in that fraternity has so many impressive accomplishments it is going to be hard to take someone who was convicted of cheating and give them the gold medal.  In order for him to get that gold medal he is going to have to so outdistance himself from everyone else that there is little argument, similar to what Jerry Rice did at the receiver position.

With regards to Tom Brady it gets harder to figure out the affect on his legacy.   Here is someone that benefitted from the information that probably didn’t know how it was obtained.  It isn’t as if he was doing the videotaping or even ordering it.  While it is unclear is to what extent the players knew anything about this; my belief is that they didn’t and the reason would be free agency and coaching staff changes.  If every player and assistant coach on the Patriots knew about this practice, how would it have stayed quiet for 7 years with all the players and staff switching teams.  You can’t tell me that when Ty Law was released from the Patriots that he wouldn’t have ratted The Hood out to the league had he known what was going on. 

The problem is that while Brady probably didn’t know that he was being given this information against the rules and ethics of the league, the fact is that he benefitted from that information.   In a league that is decided by about 5 or 10 plays, it is hard to know how much that affected playoff games between two talented opponents.

So again, obviously Brady is better than Ryan Leaf, Rex Grossman, or Phillip Rivers.  But in an argument about whether he is better than Elway, Favre, Manning, Montana, Starr, or Unitas this topic is going to come up.  The difference is that instead of being in the 2nd paragraph of Brady’s one page bio it will be in the 5th or 6th paragraph.  It will be less damaging.  Not as many experts will jump on board that argument, because many people will say it was not his fault and was out of his control.  However, I can’t believe that it won’t ever come up in that discussion and I think there are some legitimate arguments to be made about how much this practice impacted Tom Brady’s career, not so much in terms of regular season statistics, but in regards to his incredible winning percentage in both the regular season and post season. 

Patriot fans will argue that their team had the best talent and they would have won those games anyway.  Other fans will argue that the Patriots wouldn’t have won any Super Bowls.  It is hard for me to believe that.  I don’t believe the Patriots would have been 5-11 all those years.  I think they were a playoff team regardless of their videotaping practices.  I even believe they would have won at least one Super Bowl?  But in so many playoff games that were decided by 7 points or less did it change the outcome of any of those playoff games?  I don’t know and no one has an answer for that.

That is why I believe the NFL destroyed those videotapes after the first batch was turned over.  They didn’t want the media and the fans to see the exact details of what the Patriots were doing.  The Patriots have been one of the most successful franchises in the NFL this decade.  In my opinion the NFL was trying to minimize the damage this did.  It does them no good to have their most successful team, Head Coach, and QB tarnished by this.  However, once the Walsh tapes came out they had little choice to release them without fueling the conspiracy theories that were out there about those tapes.  The consequences of not showing them would have been much worse.

What is your opinion on this matter?  Based on the facts we know now and assuming that there are no other new facts that will come to fruition, how does this affect your view of the 2000 Patriot’s legacy?  Does it put an asterisk next to it, tarnish their accomplishments, become a small footnote, or should it have no affect at all.  I would like to hear your thoughts.                         

And that is why they play the game.  On Saturday New England was on the cusp of creating NFL history.  On Monday they are the victim of one of the greatest upsets in NFL history.  The New York Giants concluded their improbable Super Bowl run with a 17-14 victory.  Here is my recap of the Super Bowl.

MVP of the Super Bowl:  The voters got it right.  Eli Manning led two 4th quarter touchdown scoring drives to win MVP honors.  Honorable mention to the Front 4 of the NY Giants who kept putting pressure on Brady all day and disrupted their offensive flow.  It would have been impossible to pick which lineman was more valuable.  You could have gone a number of different ways as the NY Giants had many deserving candidates.  Eli was as good of a choice as any as his poise in the 4th quarter saved the day.  They are truly a team in every sense of the word. 

LVP of the Super Bowl:  Plenty of blame to go around.  Laurence Maroney and his 14 carries for 36 yards was not what the Patriots were hoping for.  Randy Moss and his 5 catches for 62 yards were good but not great.  While Brady had 266 yards passing, no picks, and an 82.5 rating we have seen him play better.  Samuels dropped a big pick.  Other than Welker and Thomas no one had a really big day.  But the LVP is definitely the offensive line.  They didn’t open up holes for Maroney, Brady was sacked 5 times, and pressured countless other times.  The result was that Brady was not able to go down the field and the Patriots couldn’t make the big offensive plays they needed for victory.  Their 14 points was their worst offensive effort of the season and was caused by the pressure of the Giants.

The Mike Martz Award (Excellence in Coaching):  I have to go with the Little Red Riding Hood’s decision to go for it on 4th and 13.  I don’t mind aggressive play calls.  However, I think that crossed the aggressive realm and bordered on the stupid.  1) Giving the team the ball at their 31 as opposed to their 38 was not going to change the complexion of that game, 2) It was 4th and 13 not 4th and 1.  That is a very low percentage situation, 3) If he was that worried about field position have your kicker or QB pooch kick it to pin the Patriots back.  My impression was that this was a Hall of Fame Coach that tried to get too cute and it might have cost him the game.  While there were a lot of other big plays that happened in between that call and the final outcome of the game, that was a very bad decision and gave the Giants momentum.  He should know better than that.
 
Hospital Visit:  There were no serious injuries in the game. 

Coaching Carousel:  One consequence of the outcome of the Super Bowl game is that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is going to be pursued to take the Washington Head Coaching job.  To the victors go the spoils and he improved his stock in the last 5 games more than any coordinator in the league.  In Week 15 he would have generated very little interest.  It will be interesting to see whether or not Daniel Snyder’s decision to hire the entire coaching staff before the Head Guy will play any role in Steve Spagnuolo’s decision.

Overall Impressions of the Week that Was:

1) My congratulations to the Giants fans and condolences to the Patriots fans – First off, congratulations to the NY Giants.  They are a very deserving champion.  To beat the 13-3 Cowboys, 13-3 Packers, and 16-0 Patriots on the road or at a neutral site is an amazing story.  Those 3 games were decided by 10 points and produced 3 of the best playoff games in recent years.  I also offer my condolences to the Patriots fans.  I remember in 1997 how devastated I was when the Packers lost to the Broncos in the Super Bowl.  I felt robbed of a repeat.  I was robbed of the chance to see #4 get his second ring.  People would have talked about the 1996-97 Packers with the Cowboys, 49ers, Steelers, and Packers teams of the past that repeated.  It would have been historically significant for the Packer franchise.  Instead the 96 Packers are remembered as a great one year team and the 1997 team was almost great.  That was a tough loss to ####.   The 1997 Packers team was very good, but not undefeated good.  I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be a Patriots player, coach, owner, or fan today.  It has to be a very sick and empty feeling. 

2) Was this the greatest Upset Ever? - I would say no.  The 5 greatest upsets in all of sports in my opinion are 1) 1980 US Hockey team defeating Russia on the way to a Gold Medal, three Final Four games, 2) 1983 NC State defeating Houston in the Championship, 3) 1985 Villanova defeating Georgetown in the Championship, and 4) 1991 Duke defeating UNLV in the semi-finals, and 5) Buster Douglas defeating Mike Tyson.  This just doesn’t top those in my book.  Remember that Russia had destroyed the USA with the same squads earlier that year.  NC State was going up against two future Hall of Famers and Nova was going up against Patrick Ewing and a dominant Georgetown squad.  Neither winner had a great pro player.  Vegas had beaten Duke by 30 points in the Championship Game just one year prior and Vegas was in the discussion for greatest college basketball team ever.  Mike Tyson was the most feared Heavy Weight Fighter in the world when he lost to Douglas.  He was capable of knocking anyone out seconds into the opening round.  Those 5 underdogs were given no chance prior to that game.  While the Patriots matched the dominance aspect of the other upset victims, I don’t believe the NY Giants were considered the type of underdog that was those other opponents.  While they were an unlikely Super Bowl participant they had lost 38-35 to the Patriots just 5 weeks ago.  That didn’t suggest this would be a blowout.  While I thought the Patriots would win I was expecting a close game.  Close games can go either way.   I was not expecting a blowout like those other 5 events.  In terms of Super Bowl upsets I think it ranks in the top five along with 1) 1968 Colts, 2)1969 Vikings, 3) 1990 Buffalo Bills, 4) 1997 Packers, and 5) 2001 Rams being the other victims on Super Bowl Sunday. 

3) Was this the Greatest Super Bowl Ever? – This is annoying to me.  Anytime a good Championship Game was played people want to race to call it the Best Ever.  I think the greatest College Bowl Game ever has occurred in the last 5 consecutive years.  Great and Greatest is thrown around too easily.  I do not evaluate Super Bowls until at least 10 years after the fact.  In my mind Super Bowls need the following things to be great, 1) It has to have been a competitive contest down to the wire, 2) It has to involve Hall of Famers on both sides of the football, and 3) it has to affect or shape the course of NFL history.  In my mind the two greatest Super Bowls ever played were Super Bowl XIII between the Steelers and Cowboys and Super Bowl XXXII between the Packers and Broncos.  Super Bowl XIII determined whether or not the Cowboys or Steelers would be the team of the 70s.  There were Hall of Fame Coaches on Both sides.  Hall of Fame QBs.  Hall of Fame RBs. Steel Curtain vs. Doomsday Defense.  35-31 score.  That game had it all.  It is number one in my book.  A very close second is Super Bowl XXXII as it determined a lot of things about the 1990s.  While the Cowboys were the team of the decade the Broncos went on to claim back to back titles and prevent the Packers from doing so.  Elway got his first Super Bowl win against another Hall of Fame QB in Brett Favre.  The game snapped a long AFC losing streak in the Super Bowl and was the transition toward AFC supremacy in recent years.  The 31-24 score was very competitive and the result was in doubt until the very end.  While the XXXIV was an exciting finish, the Rams and Titans lacked a lot of those elements and is therefore lower on my list.  Time has allowed that to play out.  Unlike that game, this game has a better chance to join those super Super Bowls.  It was competitive down to the very end.  It altered the course of NFL history by ruining a perfect season for New England.  If the Patriots fail to win another Super Bowl or the NY Giants go on to win another Super Bowl it is a pivotal point in NFL history as well.  This might be the game that shifts the power back to the NFC.  The game has the potential to join some of the other epic performances, but give it some time before jumping to conclusions.  If it truly was an epic game history will reflect that even more in 10 years than it does the day after.  No need to throw Greatest around the day after.

4)  The effect on Legacies –

a) Brady – I think he is the least touched by this.  I didn’t think winning this game would make him the best QB of all time.  Therefore it would be unfair for me to say that losing it disqualifies him from that distinction.  The damage is more in losing with an undefeated team than losing in the Super Bowl.  Still he is only one player responsible.  He isn’t Tiger Woods playing an individual game.  This was about the good plays his team didn’t have time to make than the bad plays that cost him the game.  However, this game showed a couple things to me.  First, how many people want to still call me an #### for saying that Randy Moss was the MVP of this season?  The Patriots were averaging 41.1 points per game in their first 10 games.  That dropped to 27.1 points per game in their final 9 games.  The difference was that the league caught on to Randy Moss.  In the first 10 games he had 66 catches for 1052 yards and 16 touchdowns.  The result was the Patriots were more explosive than anytime in the Brady area.  In the last 9 games he had 39 catches for 539 yards and 8 touchdowns.  Good numbers, but not like the first 10 games.  In the playoffs he disappeared and the result was the scores got a lot closer and there was more pressure on the defense.  Unlike other teams Brady and the other Patriots were still able to win almost all of their games with their best offensive skill player’s production being limited.  However, unlike the first meeting the Patriots were not able to produce the points they needed to beat the Giants.  Wes Welker is a good player, but he can’t do the things Randy Moss does.   He is not a game changing receiver.  I am taking the same approach to Brady’s game as I did with Favre 2 weeks ago.  He picked a day to not have his best game on a day when he needed to play his best.  Part of that was his line and part of that was on him.  While he was able to give the Patriots the lead with a little over 2 minutes left in the game there were too many plays left on the field by an offense that was capable of so much more.  Brady is still an all time great to me; he just reminded us that he is human.  While he now has a Super Bowl defeat on his resume and lost a perfect season he is only 1 player on that roster and that blame does not fall solely on his shoulders.  His legacy is still very secure and he could still recover from this to be the best QB in NFL history if he continues to have great regular and post season success going forward.   

b) Bill Belichick – He takes a lot harder hit for this.  This may prevent him from being the best NFL Coach of all time.  While he is still a Hall of Fame caliber coach he was chasing after immortality.  The thing I question is going for it on 4th and 13 from his 31.  Don’t go for it on a long pass when your line has shown no ability to protect your quarterback to protect 8 yards of field position.  That was a bad decision at a key moment by a guy that should have known better.  I can’t see Halas, Landry, Lombardi, Noll, or Shula making that type of decision in that big of a spot.  There is a difference in being aggressive and foolish.  Lombardi went for a quarterback sneak on 3rd and goal with no timeouts from the 1 yard line in the Ice Bowl.  He didn’t go for it on 4th and 13.  I don’t hold The Hood solely responsible for the loss or that decision as the biggest factor, but I don’t think he put his team in the best possible situation to win that ball game.   What differs from Brady in this situation is that he didn’t have 4 defensive linemen rushing at him when he made that decision.  He made a bad decision and had an average game plan in his biggest moment.  The game plan did not work and he is as responsible as anyone for that.  Fair or not, this loss will be used against him when discussing the greatest NFL Head Coaches of all time.

c) The Patriots Dynasty – This takes the biggest hit of all.  Every dynasty lost playoff games.  The 60s Packers lost the NFL Championship 17-13 to the Eagles.  The 1976 Steelers lost the AFC Title Game to the Raiders.  The 1986 49ers lost to the NY Giants 49-3.  The 1994 Cowboys lost to the San Fran 49ers 38-28.  That isn’t the problem.  The problem is that all of those dynasties won with their best team.  The 1962 Packers closed their season with a title.  The 1978 Steelers won it all.  Same with the 1984 49ers, 1989 49ers, and 1993 Cowboys.  While the previous Patriots teams were great, this one was special.  The other 3 Patriot Champions won by a single field goal.  This one set an NFL record for points.  They had a great scoring differential.  It had the looks of an all time dominant team capable of delivering a 55-10 blow like the 89 49ers.   It didn’t deliver against a team that was not an All Time Great Team.  Instead of being in the top 5 for Greatest Teams ever the 2007 Patriots are contending for the Greatest Single Season Team not to win a title.  Furthermore, the Patriots weren’t exactly clicking on all cylinders in the playoffs like a 1985 Bears or 1989 49ers.  Had they won this game they would have been in the discussion with those other dynasties but not had the signature wins the 85 Bears or 89 49ers had.  By losing the Super Bowl they have nothing.  That doesn’t mean their other 3 Super Bowls are meaningless.  That dynasty is still secure.  They are still above the 70s Cowboys, 80s Bears, 90s Packers and Broncos, or some of the other teams that had good runs but didn’t get the hardware these Patriots received.  However in going up against the 60s Packers, 70s Steelers, 80s 49ers, or 90s Cowboys there is no margin for error.  This loss prevents them from reaching that lofty status.

d) Eli Manning – I’m not sure what this does for his legacy, because legacies are hard to establish in year 4.  On the one hand he is no longer a first round bust like he was 5 weeks ago.  He was an intrigual part of a Super Bowl team that drafted him.  On the other hand, the defensive line is going to be remembered for this dominating run as much as he is.  While he put up solid number throughout the postseason they were not out of this world.  The fact is that all Super Bowl QBs have help in winning it all.  It is a team game.  Manning took the most difficult step, which is to win a title.  Now he needs to put together a solid regular season.  As he starts to build those his legacy will only continue to grow.  If he reverts back to 20 TDs and 17 interceptions it will not diminish what he achieved this postseason but will continue to hinder him from joining the elite QBs.               

5) Mercury Morris needs to get a Life – Most of the 1972 Dolphins are pretty classy individuals.  They should be proud that their achievement is still in tact.  However, I am sick of listening to some of the members of the 1972 Dolphins, most of all Mr. Morris.  First he was not a Hall of Famer or even the best player on his team.  He is a 3 time Pro Bowler and 1 time All Pro.  He had only one season of 1,000 yards rushing and two seasons with double digit touchdowns.  He had 21 carries for 68 yards and 0 touchdowns combined in the Dolphins two Super Bowl wins.  While he was a key contributor for the 72 Dolphins it would be the equivalent of John Taylor or Brent Jones talking trash about how great the 1989 49ers were in the playoffs.  Know your role.  Second, even though the Dolphins had the most successful regular season I don’t think many people consider them the single most dominant team for one year.  They played a schedule that featured opponents with an under .400 winning percentage.  They beat 2 teams with winning records in the regular season.  They did not dominate the playoffs.  Most people consider the 1962 Packers, 1978 Steelers, 1985 Bears, and 1989 49ers to be more dominant teams.  While the 1972 Dolphins will always have a place in NFL history for their extraordinary single season achievement no matter what anyone does going forward; get a life.  Let other people talk about your greatness don’t do it for us.  If you are going to talk about it send out the Hall of Fame Head Coach or Larry Czonka, not Mercury Morris.  Stop making up songs and acting like an unemployed stand up comic in a last ditch effort to become relevant after the fact.  While he had a nice NFL career, Mercury Morris is becoming more famous for behaving like a spoiled child the last month than anything he did on the football field.  It is unfortunate that he has turned into a bitter ex football player dying to stay in the spotlight.

A Look Ahead: 

That’s all for this season.  What a terrific season it was.  Again, congratulations to the New York Football Giants on their Super Bowl title.  I have enjoyed reading your comments through out the year.  I will probably not be posting as regularly the next couple months, but keep checking back for free agency, draft, and other relevant NFL news.   In a few months the predictions for 2008 will be in full gear and we can engage in the debate all over again.

Congratulations Donovan McNabb on your 2004 Super Bowl Ring.  Joey Porter, you are one of the best linebackers in the history of the NFL with your 3 Super Bowl rings earned since 2001.  Peyton Manning, I don’t seem to remember you going winless in Foxboro during the playoffs.  Those were some mighty fine performances you gave us. 

With the unfolding of the newest scandal to rock professional sports, people are coming forward saying that the Patriots dynasty is the result of smoke and mirrors.  Tom Brady is a mirage that was videotaped right before our eyes.  According to Jerry Porter, the Patriots were a struggling franchise before 2001, but by using video cameras to tape signals, they transformed themselves into dynasty contenders. 

According to the AP, Sheldon Brown said that he noticed a difference in New England’s playcalling in the second quarter of the Super Bowl between the Patriots and Eagles.  After the Patriots gained only 45 yards in the first quarter, they had 286 over the next three. 

In the same story, Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward said this week that he suspected the Patriots had some type of inside information on the Steelers before at least one of the teams' two AFC championship game matchups since the 2001 season.

First and foremost, what Bill Belichick did was wrong.  Every team tries to gain a competitive advantage in a game.  He clearly crossed the line.  Having an assistant watch signals from the sideline is completely different than videotaping someone’s signals.  The NFL Rule’s and Competition Committee outlaws this practice.  Belichick had to be aware of these rules.  The NFL should punish him for his actions.  This punishment came down in the form of a $500,000 fine against Belichick, $250,000 against the Patriots, and the loss of draft picks that will vary depending on the outcome of the Patriots season.  Surprisingly, no suspensions were given out.  Personally, I would have taken that route rather than the forfeiture of draft picks.  However, I believe that the penalty was within the realm of reason.  The punishment should serve as a deterrent for future behavior. 

Here is my issue.  I think the people that were not good enough to beat the Patriots in the playoffs or Super Bowl need to stop embarrassing themselves by opening their mouths on this subject.  The overall reaction that I have seen suggests that while Belichick was the one that was caught, he is not the first to have engaged in this practice.  The overall feeling is that while no team will admit that they engage in this type of practice, that Belichick did not invent this practice. 

Teams playing the Patriots could have taken all kinds of precautions to thwart the Patriot’s attempts to steal signals.  1) The Patriot’s opponent can have two people signal in the plays from the sideline as to confuse the opposition as to which signals are in fact the real ones, 2) The Patriots opponent could switch up the signals in the middle of the game.  If they thought the Patriots were on to their signals, they could have switched those signals up during the game and used that switching to their advantage, 3) They could have sent their packages in through substitute players that were entering the game. 
The fact is that if you are stupid enough to allow the other team to steal your signals, you deserve what you get.  If the Patriots were being accused of tapping into the headsets and listening to conversations or plays that the other team was calling we have a much bigger problem.  This is something that other team cannot control.  To decide not to use the headsets for fear of a tap would cause a competitive disadvantage. 

Baseball players have been stealing signs for over a hundred years.  The baseball teams have systems in place to prevent runners on second base from relaying signs to the batter.  While it is the responsibility of the Patriots to play by the rules, it is equally the responsibility of the opponent to make sure that a system is in place that will not allow signals to be compromised. 

While I am not a Patriot fan, I think that what they have accomplished in the last 6 years is pretty amazing.  They have won 3 Super Bowls.  They have appeared in 4 AFC Championship games.  They have won at least one playoff game 5 of the last 6 years.  This has been the result of a Hall of Fame Coach, a Hall of Fame Quarterback, and the best front office in football.  They have been wise in free agency, evaluated talent in the draft, not been afraid to bring in controversial personalities, and not afraid to cut people that need to be replaced.  The Patriots are the model for the rest of the NFL. 

This is a tarnish on Bill Belichick’s image.  Not an atom bomb, as betting on baseball and the Reds was to Pete Rose.  I would compare it to the Sammy Sosa corked bat incident.  Clearly, we know that Sammy Sosa did not hit all of his home runs with the help of a corked bat.  However, we do know that he cheated, because he was caught in the act.  To what extent the corked bat was used during Sammy’s career; no one will ever know. 

It is the same in this situation.  No one knows how many games the Patriots used the videotape.  However, we know that Bill Belichick used it.  Therefore, it is a tarnish on his resume, because we will never know how much he used this illegal practice. 

The problem is that there are so many other factors in play.  If I used a cork bat, I would hit exactly 0 homeruns.  In 100 at bats, I would strike out 100 times.  Sammy Sosa had the talent to not only hit the ball, but to hit homeruns.  To say that his 600+ homeruns were entirely the result of cork is a ridiculous position. 

It is the same in this case.  Bill Belichick is the best coach in football.  Period.  If I had videotaped those signals, it would not have turned me into a head coach, much less a Hall of Fame head coach.  If Art Shell had those signals his bed and breakfast offensive coordinator would have still scored under 200 points.  Players make plays.  Players are the ones that execute on the field.  Hall of Fame coaches have the ability to maximize the production out of the talent that they have.   Videotape or no videotape, Bill Belichick is capable of doing that.   To make the assumption that the worst head coach in the NFL could have used this videotape trick and transformed the Cardinals into perennial title contenders is absurd.   The Patriots won for more reasons than videotaping signals. 

I’ll make another analogy.  Saying that Bill Belichick altered the course of NFL history by using this videotape is like saying that if I were to be caught shoplifting that I am damaging the national economy and causing the country to go into a recession.  While my act of shoplifting would be wrong and would hurt the storeowner from whom I stole, you have to keep the act itself in prospective.  Clearly unemployment, high interest rates, and high gas prices would also play a much larger role in a recession than me not paying for some merchandise. 

The sad thing in all this is that Bill Belichick didn’t need to do this to be successful.  He is such a good coach to stoop himself to this type of level is unconsciousable.  However, the players that were not good enough to win championships need to keep their mouths shut and worry about playing football this season.  They need to stop taking advantage of this opportunity to repair their own legacies.  Bill Belichick being caught for this does not suddenly turn their past post seasons into success.  For these players to use this opportunity to repair their own legacies is shameful. 

This incident makes me even more certain that the Patriots will be playing in the Super Bowl.  Not only do they have the loss to the Colts in last year’s AFC Championship game to motivate them.  Now they have a chip on their shoulder from all the people who doubt their past accomplishments.  The whole team has basically been transformed into Randy Moss.   Moss is a superstar that has put up every number imaginable that must now prove that he is still a legitimate threat.  Did you see what he did when put to that test?  I would expect the Patriots to be focused and ready to take the Chargers out this Sunday, and the rest of the NFL for the weeks to come.  That is a scary thought for the other 31 teams in the NFL.