AKC

"Make someone look foolish by using actual, rather than fabricated, comments" It's always amusing to see trolls come into this forum and lie about stats; the problem for the trolls is that the facts are irrefutable. Now you've rested your reputation on your lie that Donovan McNabb was, in your words, "the '05 league leader in deep pass attempts". Perhaps you'd like to explain to everyone in this string how it is then that other quarterbacks threw far more deep balls than McNabb last season? hint- An alphabetical list of those Quarterbacks throwing deep balls more frequently than McNabb in 2004 will start in the B's. Now was "foolish" your word? Do come back anytime you want to have your incredibly limited grasp of football exposed.

And I give Madden praise for pointing out the TD run right over Bruschi (We're not worthy!)'s chest. The field last night wasn't even as bad as it was a week ago when they claimed it was due to a soccer tourney or match they held prior to our game. Clearly the coaching staff in NE doesn't want their boys playing on a fast field.

Memories......

You're still hummin' Auld Lang Syne while the more observant among your "base" are shopping for Bengal jerseys ;-) One of those teams will be in that MNF match mentioned- tune in and you can have a look at what it's like to convincingly whip the snot out of a football team like an actual dynasty does with regularity!

The Pats dominated no one and nothing. They were in fact the least dominant champion of the Super Bowl era, playing against the weakest NFC in well over a decade while living by the 3-point win of their kicker's toe in each championship game and also many of the critical games along the way. Dominance is on display with regularity in the NFL. You'd want to tune into the next MNF broadcast to establish a measure for what dominance is all about.

You're ignoring the silver lining- The Pats, a team who has regularly ridden the Zebras in the recent past to stave off elimination in the playoffs have reached a new low- needing the referees to help them eke out a home win against a divisional lackey who will likely be picking among the top 8 come draft day. Hope they sold a lot of jerseys during the run- history shows their fan base won't be too hot for their gear for the next 50 or so years.

I'll buy that, even considering it's only BB who has succeeded post divorce. This might be one reason why: Something that struck me was Romeo Crennel's first interview after taking the Brown's job. Asked "after playing for BB and BP, what is the most important thing you'll take from those experiences to your new role as a head coach". I was stunned when Crennel, without any mention of BB and the still hot hardware from the '05 Super Bowl, "Without a doubt it's Coach Parcell's ability to relate to his players, to get the most from each of them every week. I believe it's the most important thing for a head coach who wants to succeed". All I could think was that at least in Crennel's opinion, he figured he was taking that exact strength away from the Pat's organization with him. While it may not have surfaced yet in Cleveland, it would be easy to argue that there's little of it going around in Foxboro these days ;-)

Oh, I'm becoming a HUGE fan as his D is falling apart and they're having trouble protecting him. Should be a spot in history for him right there beside Kurt Warner , Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson.

I think the opposite- a guy like Parcells, a real players coach, would have mediated a situation like the Milloy separation no matter which way it had to play out. If you remember at that time Belichick floundered all over the place when that happened, similiar to the Bledsoe separation. I've always gotten the feeling that players consider Belichick the booger-eater who keeps drawing 21 at the table- they're absolutely tolerant of having him around and they'll listen to him as long as they're winning. In contrast Parcells is a guy whose players want to drag him out partying with them. I've never noticed any indication of the type of collegiality Parcells gets between Belichick and his players. And the "Players Coach" tag seems more constent with the type of coach who goes to bat for the players with the team; in Belichick's case he seems to be almost completely hands off on personnel issues, surely publicly.

I'd say there's a mounting body of evidence that suggests this should read: "during their run the Pat's OLine scheme proved exceptional at picking up the blitz" What I saw Sunday was more of what I have seen when Brady isn't getting the best protection in the league- poorly thrown balls being dug literally out of the turf by the best hands WR corps in the league. We frankly applied some pressure, hardly equal to what half the QBs in the league face every Sunday, and Brady needed to be bailed out of his skittish perfomance by the exceptional work done by his receivers on multiple plays.

Along with the internal tacking by each team of missed tackles (data you won't see released), STATs and I believe TwoMinute Warning track MTs also. In the segment on our LBs after week 2 (6 Days to Sunday?) on the NFL Network you could see that it was a stat used by our guys for an independent "fine" pool. Crowell could go broke before the end of the season ;-)

Sorry for posting a redundant thread Hammer- just caught this string-

We're right on the cusp of conflicting goals between the fan base and the management team. Surely for the Head Coach and his primary people there is only a win now motive since a 6 win season will almost surely spell "changes". Our management has left us a shell of a roster in comparison with the top 1/3rd of the league and they are also feeling the pressure to win now. I'd think it would be the fan base, unless ownership jumps onboard, providing the push to give Losman the QB reps. The lesson Losman was supposed to be learning (sit in the pocket under all circumstances and let plays develop) has been absorbed to whatever degree you can get it from the pine; it's probably time to say get back in there and play some games. But I expect Mularkey to feel he has a better chance of winning more games with Holcomb.

Here's a link to ESPN, send them a note of appreciation for the quality work they did Sunday as I have below: Tell ESPN What A Great Job We're Doing! Your Broadcast last night of the Pats/Bills game is without doubt the single worst effort by any network since I began watching football on television in 1964. The incessant coverage of Teddy Bruschi, a linebacker getting knocked senseless all over the field for the full duration of a tight game, verged on hysterical. Clearly your staff went into the evening hoping to find some intrigue into a game you incorrectly assumed would not be interesting, but in the end the one thing that proved of very little interest was the non-story you over-pursued. You might learn something from the sport you're covering by forcing an adjustment during a game when your preparation shows to be so seriously flawed, even if that adjustment is to send someone into the booth to shove a sock down Joe Theisman's throat so a majority of the viewing public are able to suspend the "Mute" feature that is a normal pre-requisite for any Sunday Night Football broadcast.

I agree Moulds earned the flag- on the other play the network offered us just one angle but even on that it appeared very clear to me that the ball visibly moved when he hit the playing surface. I can't believe there wasn't any other look at that play with it being ESPN's one big viewership shot each week.

I'm hardly one to make excuses for Lindell's wet noodle of a leg at critical junctures, but that field was inexcusable in a league that has removed the weather factor from its premier event. If New England can't support a stadium without allowing every soccer league, polo club and Shriner tryout to mess up the playing surface, perhaps their team should be among those mentioned for a possible move to L.A.

I'd hardly start with the defensive play calling on a night when our glaring weakness looked to me to be our awful tackling. The coaches can design 'em and the players can make the calls, but in the end someone has to tie up the opponent. On too many occasions when we could have smothered the little bit of life the pathetic Pats showed last night we instead allowed them to hang around close enough to have a chance to win if we faltered.

Oddly, I can't seem to locate the stat the ESPN built their whole game strategy upon- "Plays Participated In". I've checked with the league, STATS and Elias and yet no one seems to be able to tell where ESPN came up with it.

Hear-Hear! In the contemporary NFL DT has become arguably the most important position in the game, and the depth mix you have rostered up there determines your ability to play 60 minutes on Sundays. We came into the season with half an NFL DT depth chart and we'll pay for it through the rest of this year. Let's just hoep there are a few inspired Sundays where the guys left playing the middle of our D can hold up long enough to allow some of management's prized toys to give the bulk of the fan base something to look forward to next year.

After much lobbying by my buddy Johnny "The Burro", as of next week you'll be able to order up a full draw of Labatt's Blue at Barney's Beanery.

I'll go along with the "ploy" strategy since he's on pace for 2.1 INTs, the lowest in his career and hardly the type of number the biggest CB contracts are awarded for. Playing in a declining D can also decrease the free market value of a cornerback. At this point it appears his value int he offseason will have dropped by a substantial margin and the idea of a one-year contract could very well be the leverage the team wants to actually negotiate a new long-term deal with him under these circumstances. I'd like to know something about his agent- is he the same Todd France who kicked for Philly a couple games this year?

5 Feet seems slightly generous- I can tell you that of the maybe 6 times I've been out on the trestle when the train was approaching NOTHING about "waiting it out" on that little walkway sounded like a good idea!

A trip to Letchworth is incomplete without a walk out onto the trestle, only to be chased off by the whistle of an oncoming train. That south entrance also takes you out to a great little bar in Portageville- you go left off 19A to the 436 and there are two places there, it's the further bar in town but the name escapes me right now. It's actually the old bar in the downstairs of a hotel and it's a classic old building.

The one thing Belichick has become consistent in since his embarrasing firing as a head coach in Cleveland is to bring out his defense every week focused on taking away the strong suit of his opponent. And while it can be argued that Buffalo hardly has a strong suit on offense, the reality is the ONLY danger to the Pats Sunday is our running game. Our current coaching staff has shown the propensity to allow opposing defensive schemes to dictate how we play on our side of the ball, and what I'm expecting is that every possible enticement will be used to draw the Bills into passing the football. On yet another Sunday of the 2005 season it's likely that we'll be throwing more than running the ball, a recipe that so far this season has attracted few appetites- unless we consider those of our opponents. At the same time Mularkey has proven that he's in love with gimmick football. To see JP Losman finding some duty on the field Sunday shouldn't surprise Bill's fans since Mularkey would probably consider it confusing to the Pats. Some might argue it would be most confusing to our QBs. We've opened games well, if you can consider the first drive the "opening" of the game. That's something else that won't miss the keen eye of one Bill Belichick. Back in NE their D is probably being fed a pretty steady diet of our initial drives this season in the hopes their D makes our first drive the major priority of the day- kill off the strength of your enemy and your enemy will most easily succumb. Watching our first drive Sunday night should tell us much about the week of prep and which staff got into their players heads more effectively.