Now that we have that out of the way

The Patriots will go undefeated. I was hopeful of this before last night's game. Since they withstood some of the most one-sided officiating known to the NFL and came back from the edge of defeat to gut out a win, I think they really can go all the way.

Wes Welker is now my favourite Patriot. How the Dolphins traded this guy who led their team in most offensive statistics last season to their division nemesis is beyond me. Welker showed the multi-dimensional rushing, returning and receiving skills at key times in yesterday's game, as he has a number of times already this season. It should be noted that Troy Brown (even though he isn't playing right now), Tom Brady and Randy Moss round out the top 4 of my favourite Patriots. That's just on the offence! Then there's Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel... OK, OK, they have a lot of good players, we get it.

The Patriots built their team with the best combination of acquisitions ever, with Moss, Welker and Donte Stallworth and Adalius Thomas rounding out the talent that the Pats needed and didn't have for the past few years.

I still hope that Brady gets the TD passing record and league MVP, he is well on the way with 33 so far and 7 games to go. That is on pace to complete 59 TDs which would obliterate Peyton Manning's 2004 record of 49 passing TDs. Randy Moss has 12 TD receptions this season. This is slightly below the pace he needs to break Jerry Rice's 22 TD reception record, but I figure the Pat's second half of the season will provide more than 10 TDs for Randy. This will go well with Randy's rookie TD reception record from 1998 of 17 scores. Those milestones will really complement the Super Bowl rings that I expect these gents will have, come next February. Not to mention the 19-0 season and playoff record that they will produce.

How will I get through the next 2 weeks with no Patriot games?!?

The Patriots will go undefeated if...

They can get through the next few games. This Sunday, the Pats play the Cowboys (who are also 5-0) in Dallas, where the Pats have never won. Having said that, the current era Patriots have beaten the Cowboys in their last two meetings, in 1999 and 2003. The Pats have had a good record against NFC teams, with 7 straight victories since 2005, including going 4-0 last season with a combined score of 111-41. I think Tom Brady can continue to air it out all over the field, with a number of targets including Randy Moss (who I hope gets the TD record as well as a long-waited-for Super Bowl ring this year), Donte Stallworth, and Ben Watson. The Pats defence should be able to take it to Dallas QB Tony Romo, who is almost like Rex Grossman with his interceptions and collapses amidst some great plays. The difference between Romo and Grossman is that Romo can get it together with confidence, which Rex just doesn't seem to have. Anyway, I can see more interceptions than touchdowns for Romo on Sunday, courtesy of Asante Samuel, Junior Seau as well as some bone-crushing hits by Adalius Thomas. If I was Tony Romo, I would not be looking forward to this game.

The week after that, the Pats play the Redskins, who seem to be doing well this year. The Redskins's demolition of the Detroit Lions last week may say more about the Lions than it does the Redskins, since they are now 0 for 21 in Washington, a record that dates back to 1934. The Lions's number-one passing offence had made up for its woeful 29th-ranked passing defence, until the game against Washington. The Redskins kept Jon Kitna to 144 total offensive yards! It's hard to win a game when you only cross the 50-yard line twice. Redskins QB Jason Campbell had a fine showing, but I think the Pats will eat him up for breakfast (or maybe supper, since it is a late-afternoon game).

In between is the classic "trap" game, that the Pats may go into thinking they have already won it, since the Miami Dolphins are winless this season. However, the Patriots have had trouble beating the Fish on occasion, so with the bookends of the Cowboys and Indians (Washington Redskins), the Patriots may choke on a bone they find in the Fish.

After Washington, it is off to Indy, to face the next-strongest team in the AFC, if not the NFL. The Patriots have some revenge to exact on the Colts, after the loss in the AFC Championship game last year, if they have the fire in their belly(-chick), the Pats can get past their toughest challenge of the season.

After Indianapolis, the Pats have a rest with their bye week. The second half of their season looks to be fairly easy, with only Pittsburgh standing in their way of a perfect season. At that point in the year, injuries will have taken their toll on players. I think New England has the deepest pool of talent in the league and they have proven themselves flexible enough to substitute position players and have strong enough second-string guys to be able to finish strong.

Bottom line for the next few weeks, I am glad that Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison are back in the lineup. Those defensive players haven't been missed too much, but they can only add to the force that is the Pats's D-line and secondary.

I think the off-season additions of Randy Moss (who is the most talented receiver in the NFL, even at the ripe old age of 30), Wes Welker (who is now in contention for my favourite player on the team), and Adalius Thomas (who provides a menacing threat to any QB) were all genius, adding even more rounds in the gunbelt that Belichick wears each week.

As strong as the past Super Bowl champion Patriot teams were, I believe that this year, they are the most talented they have ever been. If they don't go all the way, I will be shocked -- shocked! -- and deeply disappointed.

Once the Patriots go undefeated this year, it will finally knock off one of the oldest and hardest streaks to beat: the 1972 Dolphins won all of their 14 regular season games as well as three post-season wins, including Super Bowl VII, in what has been called the Perfect Season. The urban legend is that the '72 Dolphin players still get together to celebrate when teams are now beaten late in the season, like the Steelers and Colts were a few years ago. They deny the rumour, but I wonder if these contemporary streaks go completely unnoticed by the '72 Dolphins players.

One may argue that the 16-game season is harder to complete without a loss, and one would be correct in that assertion, but it remains that unless a team goes without a loss in their regular season and through to win it all, the '72 Dolphins will always have that bragging right as the sole owners of the Perfect Season. I think this is the Patriots's best chance for the Perfect Season. Let's hope that it come true!

Not so much a football post...

Here is a link to Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith's inspiration as coaches who are able to achieve so much and get their players to do the same. I was touched by Tony Dungy's comments after the Super Bowl when he was presented with the Lombardi Trophy. So many athletes thank God for their success, but this time it felt real. Congratulations to a Godly man - Tony Dungy - and his team.

Thanks to Matt Whitman for the link.

Manning can get rid of that monkey now

Quite a game, especially the 4 turnovers in the first half. I was on the edge of my chair for most of it. Watched the game with my brother-in-law Gord, we ate way too much (OK, just me) but that is part of the ritual with Super Bowl.

I figured Manning would get MVP because the voters love Manning and want to help him dispel those critics of the past 9 years. Certainly his stats show he deserved it, although I don't think the would have won without the Addai-Rhodes show.

I was not surprised by Grossman's performance. How he has stayed in the starter position for this long is beyond me. I guess this is one case where the QB is saved by his team again and again and the coach is staying with "the one who brung" him, even though "the one who brung" him actually had a 0.0 passer rating in a game earlier this year. You want your QB to have a passer rating of at least 80. Over 100 is good. The highest possible rating is 158.3, while 0.0 is ridiculous. More on Passer Rating.

One of the reasons that both football fans and non-fans watch the Super Bowl is for the advertisements. A bonus feature of having HD cable -- beside watching the game in HD -- is being able to watch the American ads and not have to sit through innumerable airings of Greco Pizza and Perma-Crete foundation repair ads. Here is a fun way to decide which was the best ad during the Super Bowl. I ended up choosing CareerBuilder "Jungle", although the Emerald Nuts "Goulet" ad was pretty good too. Of course the Bud ads were funny, especially "Slap".

Even though the Pats weren't in it, I had a good time. Enough with the football posts for a while now.

Hardly going to be a "Super" Bowl now

Well, the Patriots' defence blew the AFC Championship game yesterday. Giving up an 18-point lead to lose 38-34 was pretty hard to watch. With the Chicago Bears and Indy Colts in the final, it hardly seems like it will be a Super game. While both teams have good regular season records, the Chicago QB Rex Grossman is uneven and could turn in a terrible game. Indianapolis has its own shortcomings too, but I suspect they will prevail because they are the better team of these two.

The Patriots' weakness of so much player turnover from last year -- losing their two main receivers (Deion Branch and David Givens) as well as key defence players such as Willie McGinest -- was amplified last night as their receivers didn't make much happen and their defence was run off their feet by Joseph Addai. What would have happened if Junior Seau hadn't been injured a few weeks ago? His talent on the D-line would have made a big difference. I have not seen too many opposing RB's get as many yards as the Colts' Addai (a rookie, no less!) managed to get on almost all of his rushes; he was able to bust through the Pats' defence time after time.

Indy's offence was able to throw short passes because New England was worried about the long bomb. Chicago's Cover Two defence and MLB Brian Urlacher should get rid of that threat. I figure it will be a close game, with Vinatieri winning it with a late field goal like he did for the Patriots.

Colts 23 - Chicago 20

Patriots beat the Chargers!

How great was the game last night? As usual, Belichick and Brady had us on the edges of our seats and they came through in the end. While not the literal last-minute field goals that have won them two Super Bowl championships as well as other games, Tom Brady looked every inch the chosen one to lead the Pats to another victory, despite being behind in the score. Here is Peter King's article on how the Pats beat the Chargers.

The more I read King's stuff, the better I like it.

Here's to another drubbing of the Colts this Sunday as a warm-up to Super Bowl Sunday with my new 42" plasma, with HDTV hooked up today! OH YEAH!

Super Bowl XLI - Patriots vs. Saints

You read it here first. The Super Bowl teams will be the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints. The Saints will win, but not because they are the better team.

Just like the Patriots won the Super Bowl after 9/11 and boosted American morale after the first attack on their soil since Pearl Harbour, and the first winner of Survivor was named Richard, who Jeff Probst called "Rich" for the first time in the season finale so it would sound better "The winner of Survivor is Rich", the New Orleans Saints will win the Super Bowl to restore pride in the city after Katrina. I know this isn't the first Super Bowl after Katrina, but it's the first one with the Saints in the Superdome since Katrina.

What with U2 and Green Day selling (out) a single of their song The Saints Are Coming at the Saints' home opener at the start of this season, and a legitimate chance at winning the Super Bowl thanks to Reggie Bush and Drew Brees (to name but two players who have got them to where they are) it's too good of a feel-good story for the Men Who Control Media to pass up. Also, the U2/Green Day song will sell even more copies. I wonder what MWCM had to give Bono for U2 to make that song? Maybe MWCM had to live up to the promises they made to Bono while on the campaign trail regarding foreign aid? But that's another story.

Final Score: Saints 28, Patriots 24. I would say the Saints will win it in a last-minute touchdown, similar to how the Patriots have won two of their Super Bowls.

That is my conspiracy theorist speaking. My Pats fan in me says Patriots 27, Saints 17. Let's watch and see...