No answer. Just … no answer.

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, October 18, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

New England Patriots
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Objectively, you know the numbers are going to catch up with the New England Patriots. Quicker than you can say "Matt Cavanaugh," a dozen scenarios can be imagined in which these guys don't go 16-0 (and subsequently 19-0). Running down the schedule, it's easy to imagine scenarios in which the Pats (gasp!) lose:

Week 9 at Indianapolis. If there's one team that can play ball with the Patriots, it's the Colts. They're the defending champs, remember.

Week 14 vs. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is scary and could easily surprise New England if the Pats are forced to run in the cold.

Week 16 at Miami. Because when you've seen enough late-season, spoiler-special Dolphins-Patriots games, you learn not to wager on the outcome. (See "Week 15, 2004.")

Week 17 at New York Giants. Would even Bill Belichick sacrifice his players for glory against a team possibly scrapping for the final playoff spot in the NFC?

But when you're looking at Patriot ball in 2007, it's tough to be "objective." Utterly subjectively speaking, these guys are purely unstoppable.

The telling play in the Dallas game? No, not the effortless TD strike to Randy Moss in the first quarter, nor any call for a wide-open Wes Welker. It wasn't even any element of the no-more-messing-around drive after the Cowboys (gasp) took the lead in the third quarter: That was inevitable. The most revealing bit was a "busted" gadget play in the second quarter, surely immediately forgotten by most.

Rewinding a bit, this writer went into the Dallas game skeptical about anybody playing a 3-4 'D' against the Patriots. The offensive line looks as if it's sporting about 20 guys out there. The real secret to Sammy Morris stepping in for the Week 4 game against the Cincinnati Bengals and racking up 117 yards on the ground? Ten words: Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal, Nick Kaczur. In the old days, cheaper pitchman Dan Marino used to gift his wide receivers with Isotoner gloves. What do you suppose Tom Brady owes his linemen? A Ferrari each, say?

In any event, Dallas' rush actually hurried Brady a few times in the first half and had gotten to him once; no matter, New England was up by two TDs already by the time it got to manage the ball in the second quarter. On first-and-10 with under 11 minutes to play in the second, the Pats went for the early dagger with Brady going long to Moss, presumably for (ho hum) another score.

Brady handed the ball off to Morris, who flipped it back and got into blocking stance. Except he looked like a Madden character out there, blocking air while the offensive line could have held on all day.

Meanwhile, Terence Newman was doggedly attempting to stick with Moss on the long route. Moss appeared to have Newman thoroughly whupped at around the 12-yard line or so, Brady had all the time in the world, the 'O' line was out-dueling its counterpart. The pass went incomplete, but that's not the point.

The point is that there's just no answer for the Pats' offense this season. The Cowboys achieved the best possible result for the Brady-to-Moss connection: An overconfident Brady overthrowing. Seriously, had Moss been running a sprint route, that's a TD. If Moss had known Brady was going to have an hour and a half in which to throw, that's a TD. You get the feeling that Brady could have tossed it back to Morris or found the mostly ignored Welker yet again for long yardage, if not a TD.

With juggernauts such as the 2007 Patriots on the field, color commentators typically break out the meaningless "The only thing that can stop this team is this team" argument. Heck, these Patriots can't even beat themselves. On the subsequent play, the defense made its last grievous mistake of the game, allowing the sack/fumble/touchdown sequence. New England came back with a classic 72-yard, seven-minute, use-every-WR drive.

There's just no answer for this reality-defying offense. And while we know that the numbers should catch up with the Patriots this year and kill this run, watching this ridiculously slick football makes you doubt the sanity of a world in which the 1972 Miami Dolphins are forever emperors.

Anyone else waiting for Week 9? Maybe the defending champs have the answer...

Seeking answers all year-round at RealFootball365.com
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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...
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