Three questions, three answers, three consolations for Pats fans

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, November 09, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

New England Patriots
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!
The questions and speculation continues to reverberate outward from Massachusetts, a neatly enumerated list of grievous concerns.

1. Why didn't the New England Patriots run the ball against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday?
2. How poor was the play-calling?
3. Might Bill Belichick be (gasp) human after all?

Let us all now take a deep breath, sit back, relax and allow RealFootball365 to address the above three questions. The answers are:

1. Ah, but they did.
2. Not as poor as is publicly perceived.
3. Well, let's not get crazy here.

Ah, now isn't that a nice refreshing blast of chilled (out) air now emanating across the internet?

A bit more specifically. Common wisdom called for New England to run, run, run like Forrest Gump against the notoriously weak Indy run defense. It's interesting that faith in the nigh-worshipped Belichick is shaken after the coach seemingly did not adopt the expected game plan, when the same believers love Belichick for his surprises. (It couldn't be because the Patriots lost, could it?)

But hold on a second there. Going into the fourth quarter, 30 of the 53 plays by the Patriot offense were runs. Even after Indy went up by 10 in the fourth quarter, the Pats ran the ball two of the first three plays on the subsequent drive - and benefiting from a sweet 17-yarder by Laurence Maroney. The final tally reads 33 run plays, 35 pass, nearly an even 50 percent ratio.

As for the play calling, it appears even Belichick, who has game plans in the freaking Pro Football Hall of Fame, can be second-guessed and nearly universally dissed in the wake of a loss. Of course, 'round New England way, the dissatisfied are grumbling about poor offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels in order to avoid heretical sins. Belichick and McDaniels had Tom Brady throwing 11 plays out of 15 in the fourth quarter, perfectly normal behavior for a team playing catch-up essentially from the go. What was perfectly abnormal was Brady throwing two picks in the fourth and four for the game. As video-game Madden says, "I don't think that was part of the game plan."

Finally, there are the ponderings of Belichick's humanity. Well, the Patriots have been brought quite a bit closer to Earth now. While still seemingly a shoo-in to take the AFC East, an all-important home-field advantage bid has been derailed for the time being. Having lost to both the Colts and the Denver Broncos puts the New Englanders in a firm No. 3 spot. If the Broncos manage to continue holding off the miraculous rise of the Damon Huard-led Kansas City Chiefs, history will say this was a must-win game for the Patriots. And by the legend, Belichick isn't supposed to lose the must-wins.

Yes, Patriots backers, it was a soul-wrenching, faith-shaking loss. Again, now, deep breath while we offer three consolations.

1. The Belichick/Brady era Patriots are 19-4 when facing a team for the second time in a season.
2. And 3-0 when facing the Colts the second time around.
3. Hey, you get the New York Jets this week.

Three times the New England Patriots stuff at RealFootball365.com
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report