On March 4th 2008, an NFL warrior called a press conference, and made his retirement known. QB Brett Favre spent 16 years with the Green Bay Packers winning 1 Super Bowl title, received 3 MVP Awards, was selected to the Pro-Bowl nine times, and has broken all types of NFL records during his long career, but to some this announcement of sudden retirement was a surprise to many from teammates, coaches and media. One reason why is because Brett had never mentioned he truly wanted to retire. In the past two years he always said he was on the fence, but he loved the game so much, and that was what always brought him back. This past season, just before the Seattle Seahawks playoff game the question was posed to Brett again, and the answer was directed more towards him returning, and that he had his daughters also wanting him to return next season. So why the change of heart? Why the sudden change of interest from a man some would say symbolizes the "Iron Man" of the NFL?

I'd like to answer that, without taking anything away from his past accomplishments, and say that this decision (along with certain others) to retire may have something to do with another aging player who remained in the game, and turned his later career into success, and that player would be Roger Clemens. Right now MLB pitcher Roger Clemens is fighting for his "life" against the Feds, and all that he's accomplished may be flushed down the toilet if he ends up going to jail for perjury in his scandal with the use of HGH and steroids. So how does Brett figure into this?

Brett is 38 years old, and last season he had one of his best, putting up better performances than some of his younger counterparts. Some would say it's due to his veteran status, but the fact of the matter is that Brett remained in the game as a QB well past the league's QB career expectancy, and was able to run with the young boys, and why? In my opinion I would have to say HGH.

So what is HGH, and why would guys like Brett Favre, or Rodney Harrison take something like this? HGH stands for Human Growth Hormone, and is used to help older players by boosting their immune systems (less likely to get sick), strengthens bones with calcium retention (lessens the a chance to have a bone broken & quickens bone healing),  and increases muscle mass. One of the things it has been known to help older players cope with is dealing with the rigors of the season. In any sport, the body goes through a gauntlet of wear and tear, and for the older guys it's harder for them to get back on track after game day, and HGH helped some of these guys through this.

At this time the NFL tests for steroids (since 1995), but they don't have a test for HGH, but after the February meetings this off-season NFLPA's Union Head Gene Upshaw announced that HGH testing was coming in the form of a urine test, and it wasn't known if it was going to be implemented by next season. Regardless of the fact when; the buzz was created, and older players who were using or tried even once are probably looking in the mirror, and this is where I think Brett may have made his decision, because it's a smart move on his part, and I'm sure he's a business minded person watching what Roger Clemens is going through. At this time Roger Clemens' career is tainted, his Hall of Fame chances are at risk, he could be headed to jail, and he's losing millions of dollars in possible ad/endorsement money. Brett is involved in a lot of charity/social projects, a shoe-in for the NFL Hall of Fame, and as a retired player he is due to land tons of endorsements, and advertising money; something that would be of risk if he continued to stay in the game, and take his chances with HGH testing on the horizon.

Before I get into what most of you came here for, I want to touch base on all of this hatred going on against Boston outside of the New England area against our sports teams. To be honest, I haven't felt this much hatred since my school bus was stoned in the 70s during the busing era, or when the tuck rule fiasco keeps being brought up year after year by Oakland Raiders' fans when their team has yet to be above .500 in recent years.

Boston is marked city, and we have people speaking out against us week after week. Is it our fault that the Red Sox won the World Series in a sweep after coming from three down in the ALCS against a team that couldn't hit above .300 until it was way too late? Is it our fault the Pats went out and signed what possibly may be the best trifecta of starting wide receivers in the history of the NFL? One that is giving defensive coordinators sleepless nights on figuring out a way to stop this offense? Is it our fault the Celtics have finally done something right by possibly giving this generation their version of the Big Three?

After their annihilation of the Denver Nuggets, the hate against Boston was so bad, that people outside of Boston, and media, were now complaining about the Celtics running up the score.

Give me an effin' break, it's professional sports people... Get over it, and enjoy what we've got.  

Alrighty mighty...

It's that time of the season again where I assault you with my annual top 10 list of things to do during the bye week. For those who are unfamiliar with this annual event, this is something I started writing many years ago during the Patriots bye week. Some of the things are personal to me, some are not, some on the list are new, while some of them move up, and some move down, or completely off the list. So without further ado, sit back, pull up a chair, and warm up your funny bone...

10) Carmen and Camille's Video Shoot: Did I ever tell you about these two Canadian rockers who are twin sisters, blonde and extremely hot? Well, some people may get lucky enough to be in their video shoot for DVD/MTV concert footage/video this past weekend, and some of those people may have been yours truly. If you want to see these ladies and hear their music during the bye week check out their website at Carmen & Camille.com, and make sure to vote for them in MTV's Battle of the Bands.

9) Seek out and Find Religion: Head to church, and confess all of those sins, and impure thoughts you've committed while attending and/or watching football games over the past 13 weeks (bye weeks count).

PS: Don't forget to confess the things you did after looking over Kim Kardashian's Playboy pictorial... You know who you are.

8) Get in Touch With Your Sensitive Side: Spend time with your wifey/girlfriend/significant other doing the things they like... renting movies, watching Lifetime or the Oxygen network. For bonus points, take a trip to the Christmas Tree Shops or Bed and Bath.

7) TIVO, TIVO, TIVO: Between the two Tivo's in my house I have run up over 70-plus hours of hard drive space like bad credit. Thanks to the recent writers' strike I will be able to clear some of my shows off.

6) Change of Scenery: Betting against the Detroit Lions this season has put you so deep in the red with the local bookies, you decide to turn rat and enlist the entire family into the Federal Witness Protection Program.

5) Be a Parent(s) to Your Child/Children: Reintroduce yourself to the kid(s) as the parent(s) they knew before week one. This way they can forget all about the terrorizing lunatic who has been screaming obscenities at the TV for the past nine weekends.

4) Git 'R Done: Run out, grab a Nextel phone, some chewin' tobacca', Coors beer, a Confederate flag, and practice your best south of the border southern drawl so you can spend the weekend as a NASCAR fan watching drivers make four left turns. Remember... It's "Chase for the Cup" time, so try not to disrespect anyone by rooting for someone who is out of the standings. If you're from Boston make sure to root for driver Carl Edwards who is ranked fifth and driving for the Roush Fenway team. A few DNF's to the top four over the next few weeks could bring a Cup Championship home to Beantown. (Well, not really. There's only one more race in the season, but still it's fun to watch once in a while.)

3) Tailgate at Home: Go to you kid(s) pee wee championship game in grease paint, armed with air horns and noisemakers. Break out the grill, cook hamburgers and hot dogs while getting a massive sugar high drinking gallons of Teenie Weenie juices, and talking about the upcoming new Spongebob TV movie "Atlantis Squarepantis".

2.5) Cash in Your Frequent Flyer Mileage: Turn in your rewards and spend time with your illegitimate children from East to West. (Note: This one may pertain to some pro football players.)

2) Cash in Your Frequent Flyer Mileage: Actress or Supermodel? Supermodel or Actress? My guess... Go back; read number 2.5 again, and do what that says.

1) Kick ASSterik: Go to Shula's 347 Grill in RI, and protest the weight of his "Shula Cut Steaks" by putting an * in every menu with a bright red Sharpie.

Shameless Self Plug: If none of the above catches your attention, then you can always go listen to the podcasts of "On the Mark Show" and/or "Krashing into the Bigfield". featuring yours truly...

"I'm such a whore."

Last week I wrote about how the Pats lost a game that they should have won, and went through my explanation on what they have to do to turn things around to win, but I wasn't expecting such a quick turn around since everybody and I other than my son Tyrique, and two Kevin's I know were the only people I had talked to who had the Pats winning this game. I feel like I need to send a card of apology to the team, since I had wrote this game off from the day the schedule was announced, after yesterday I took the wet noodle lashes from my girlfriend, and packed the crow I must eat till next weekend.

So what happened on top of  the Bengals being sore losers? The Pats repaired their issues, and exploited the Bengals in which I will take my quotes from last week and show you the differences this team made in their win.

"On Sunday night, Brady threw 31 of 55 for 320 yards with no interceptions, which to most sounds impressive, but I was there with the masses and Tom Brady was 'shook'."

Last night Brady was 15 of 26 for 188 yards with 2 TD passes and one pick that was off a tipped pass. The big difference here was the fact that Brady looked cool in the pocket, took his time reading the open man, made smart decisions with his passes and logged off a 22 yd rush when the opportunity presented itself. Brady was on point despite getting a much needed rest with threat of a tandem running game making a big return to the Pats arsenal.

"Which now brings me to the running game... A game that had been a monster the last two weeks came to an end when RB Corey Dillon (5 for 16) left the game with an arm injury, forcing Laurence Maroney (12 for 18) to take the bulk of the carries looking like a rookie because at times he seemed hesitant to hit the holes. I must give him credit whereas he was more of a threat when receiving (5 for 61)."

I don't think there was any injury that was going to keep Corey Dillon down for this matchup, and from what happened on his 1 yd TD run the team was also well aware of it. Dillon returned to the place that bad mouthed him to death by racking up 67 yds on 17 carries, a 15 yd penalty for his end zone dance with TE Ben Watson, and a $5000 fine for throwing the ball into the stands. A ball that was abruptly thrown back into the field of play by the Bengals fans who booed his TD with much hatred. Now this is something I don't understand. When Corey was there he voiced his opinion about how the Bengals organization wasn't committed to winning a Super Bowl, and was labeled as a trouble maker, and selfish. Corey came to New England has his share of Super Bowl rings, and has never once had any bad press about him in his time here. Shortly after Dillon winning his Super Bowls here it seemed someone in the Bengals front office felt his opinion of the team was true, and have now built the team into what they are today. So shouldn't those fans who threw the ball back be thanking Corey?

Laurence Maroney was a monster and exploited the fact that the Bengals have a horrible run defense amassing 125 yds on 15 carries and two TD's proving that this dual running attack is something opposing teams will have to be up for.

"And please hold the applause for WR Doug Gabriel (6 for 65) who seemed to be a savior for a receiving corps. By the time he made an impact the Broncos were well ahead, and very much in control of the game, with a secondary that was playing off the receiver to let the clock tick away knowing the Pats needed two possessions to win the game."

WR Doug Gabriel led the team's receiving corps pulling down 4 receptions over 57 yds and a TD. Doug Gabriel seems hungry, and if WR's Chad Jackson (2 for 9) and Reche Caldwell (2 for 20) can become consistent our financial savings will be a plus. As for the TE corps, Watson had 1 reception while Daniel Graham shined with a TD and 4 receptions over 30 yards.

"The defense played a tough game, and you have to expect the fact that they can't always make plays on days when the offense isn't putting the ball in the end zone. However, you can't let the defense entirely off the hook. This Pats defense can lay teams out, but they have some flaws, and that is giving up the big plays on third down week after week, not forcing as many turnovers (despite Saturday's refs), and not pressuring the QB again. I don't think Jake Plummer's back saw the grass once."

The defense set the tone early by holding the Bengals to two field goals, but the key to the defensive gain was getting pressure on QB Carson Palmer which was something noticed as the game progressed. The Pats DL was getting in on Palmer after the half, and when that begins to happen it signals a breakdown of your o-line and not before long the floodgates open and things like the fourth quarter happen where guys like DE Jarvis Green nails three sacks and forces a fumble that he also recovers while LB Tedy Bruschi and DE Ty Warren combine for sack causing a fumble which Warren recovers. There was also a sure six pick that was dropped by LB Rosie Colvin after hitting him in the numbers. The Pats D shut out the receiving corps and allowed only 71 yds on the ground.

"As for the weak link in this chain... Special teams! Two weeks in a row, the special teams allowed their opposition to block a crucial FG attempts. This is something that needs to be addressed."

Special teams also changed their ways somewhat providing the blocks that allowed RB Kevin Faulk to average 18.3 yds on punt returns including a 43 yarder. On kick returns Tully Banta Cain racked up a 16 yd gain while Faulk had 3 returns averaging 20.7 yds and a 22 yard return. K Stephen Gostowski missed a 48 yarder, that kept the game close until the defensive onslaught, but nailed a 24 yarder when it mattered.

So what about those Bengals? What do they have to say about the win?

Well DB Kevin Kaesviharn had nothing to say despite getting flagged after laying WR Reche Caldwell out with a vicious helmet to helmet hit, but I was wondering after seeing this guy on the sidelines without a helmet if Vulcans really do exist... Has anyone seen this guy's ears? Even his name sounds Vulcan!  Instead of shaking hands at the end of the game I was expecting him to hold his hand up and say, "Live long and prosper."

And too prove my point further...

QB Carson Palmer was vocal though...

"It's tough to say after a loss like this, but hopefully well be able to look back in a month or two and say we needed this," Palmer said. "I don't know if we were too cocky or too confident, but I know this is a team that we should've beat. Hopefully, well get another shot at them. I know if we play our best football, we can beat them."

He's right, but he's forgetting about the fact that this team only exploited what the Steelers did last week with their run defense, and if it doesn't get addressed Palmer will be in a lot of these woulda, coulda, shoulda games.

As for WR TJ Houshmandzadeh...

"They knew they couldn't stop us, but you need the team as a whole to succeed, there aren't any (defensive backs) on that team that can cover us. That's why they played the coverages they did. They did a good job of mixing it up."

He's also forgetting it's hard for QB to complete passes when he's spending too much time on his back or running from defenders. I'm sure the Pats game plan was to get in and test his mobility, and it may have worked because most of the time Palmer ran backwards to try and elude defenders. I didn't see him roll or sidestep which may also be a sign.

Next Week the Dolphins come to town, and the masses will be pumped before heading in to the bye week... And speaking of bye weeks that means my yearly bye week article is on it's way!

"You can't win them all..."

No team has been able to beat the Patriots in 10 consecutive playoff games, but tonight someone finally did...

Themselves.

Tonight the Patriots out played the Broncos drawing up 420 yards total to Denver's 286, but when the time and game mattered the most this team took the gun, and shot themselves in the foot with 5 turnovers. Turnovers that not only gave the Broncos possession, but great field position.

Turnover 1: RB Kevin Faulk fumbled on the Patriots 39 and two plays later the Broncos score after a VERY questionable pass interference against CB Asante Samuel. (Broncos 7 - Pats 3)

Controversy 1: The flag on Asante Samuel was 3-5 seconds late for it to be interference, and one of the few questionable calls by tonight's refs even in Bill Belichick's eyes and the game announcers. The call should have been offensive pass interference making it Denver's ball, 2 and 20 on the 50.

Turnover 2: On the kick after the previous TD, Denver kicker Todd Sauerbrun made the hit on CB Ellis Hobbs that jarred the ball loose. Denver took over on the Patriots 39 again. Three plays later K Jason Elam nailed a 50 yard field goal. (Broncos 10 - Pats 3)

Turnover 3: QB Tom Brady who had a few bad passes tonight finally threw an end zone pick after marching 78 yards down the field to CB Champ Bailey. Bailey returned it 99 yards, but was knocked out at the Pats 1 by TE Benjamin Watson who came from cross field stealing Bailey's thunder on the play. From 1 yard out RB Mike Anderson scrambled in after LB Larry Izzo missed the tackle leading to an altercation between him and LB Willie McGinest on the sideline. (Broncos 17 - Pats 6)

Controversy 2: Benjamin's hit on Bailey jarred the ball loose, but the question was if the ball went out of bounds or out of the end zone. The refs ruled it inconclusive, but Belichick felt differently after the game. If it was ruled out of the end zone it would have been Patriots ball on the 20.

Turnover 4: Adam Vinatieri missed from 43 yards out letting the Broncos take over on their 33. After a Seymour sack the Broncos are forced to punt. WR Troy Brown calls fair catch, but ended up muffing it away. The Broncos recovered on the Pats 15 and scored three plays later. (Broncos 24 - Pats 6)

Turnover 5: Backed up on the their own 11 Brady unleashed a bomb to WR Andre Davis who was triple covered. The pass was intercepted by FS John Lynch and brought the game to and end as the Broncos ran the clock out.

From my perspective this is a tough loss to swallow. This team was a good team, and they should have beaten the Broncos when they came out onto the field for the second half. Belichick had a great game plan in place. The offense was picking up the blitzes and converting short passes while the defense was keeping Denver's running game on the back burner. But because of the miscues it didn't happen and now we as fans have to wait for next year.

As for the Broncos, I'm not taking anything away from them because they capitalized when given the opportunity. Now they have to wait to take on the winner of tomorrow's Colts/Steelers playoff game. I'm sure their coach Mike Shanahan will use this game as a motivational tool. The Broncos had several things go in their favor tonight; crowd noise (several Patriots false starts), on field calls, and some great field position off of opponents mistakes. These things won't happen if the Steelers lose to the Colts tomorrow then they'll have to be ready to play in that dome.

Seattle won as I said (Told you so Mr. Creavin), and they now wait for the winner of the Bears/Panthers match up.

Well, before I go I have some news for those of you who live in the New England area. Beginning next Saturday you'll be able to hear me on WBET AM 1460. I'll be appearing on Mark Chauppette's Radio show "On the Mark" from 11AM to 1 PM, and Thursday between 3PM and 5PM.