There is a distinct benefit to being the only game on national television as the Pats were at 1:30 on Saturday. The rest of the league, including the pretenders to the crown in Indy, were watching. Mindful of this, the Pats never took their collective feet off the necks of the heralded Buccaneer defense. Up by three scores, they engineered one final drive in the fourth quarter with their now characteristic precision. Take that, NFL.
Oh, and in the process, the 2-time defending World Champions just happened to wrap up their 3rd consecutive AFC Division title--smoking Tampa Bay, 28-0. The much-maligned Front Seven reeled off 7 sacks--including a Mike Vrable-induced turnover--and both Vince Wilfork and Roosevelt Colvin were massive run-stoppers. On the other side of the ball, Brady was again MVP-like, and David Givens had one of those games that make you wonder why he is a so-called "no-name" receiver in this league.
This was a text-book message that--just as was the case over the last several years-- you do not want to face these guys in a winner-take-all tournament game. The swagger is back, NFL. Take note.
No comments:
Post a Comment