The Defense Rests...AGAIN!

Sure, four Tom Brady interceptions didn't help. But you just got the feeling on Sunday that, once again, this defense can be scored upon at will by virtually any team in the NFL. The result of this dilemma was another Pats loss, this time to a tough, but not overly intimidating, Kansas City Chiefs squad, 26-16.

Just as the Pats looked like they might make another patented 4th Quarter comeback, Brady gave up two huge interceptions--killing any chance of redemption. All of the picks were of the cheap, tipped variety, but turnovers nonetheless (a commodity the Pats cannot seem to come by at all this year). By the way, as is pointed out by Cold Hard Football Facts, Brady has had ONE obligatory 4 pick game in each of his five seasons. No more allowed this year, Tom. OK?

Next week, the AFC East comes to the rescue once again as the Patriots take on the New York J-E-T-S. Thank you, Mr. Schedule Maker.

The Big ('Shoulda Been) Easy

That the Patriots put up another "W" in this SeasonThatCannotBeNamed (pardon the gratuitous Harry Potter reference) is the truly important fact to emerge from Sunday's 24-17 win over the Saints in Foxboro. Far beyond this in importance is the sad passing of Coach Belichik's father on Saturday night--a fact that was withheld from players until after the win.

Back to the game itself, one can't dismiss yet another fact: the World Champs should have blown away this inept bunch of Katrina-jinxed Saints. After going up by 17 points in the fourth quarter, there was no excuse for letting this team back into the contest--and within one play of forcing OT! While it's true that the Pats won many such games in the seasons leading up to their first two titles, that wasn't the case last year, when, occasionally, they blew away opponents (they were near the top of the NFL in point differential last season). So, this is still a troubling element of the '05-'06 squad: they need to learn to bury weaker teams.

Kudos to our new two favorite Patriots: Heath "Dewey" Evans (who chalked up 74 more tough yards) and Ellis "The Rim Man" Hobbs (who continued to cover and hit well in the secondary).

Finally, a shout-out to our friends from the UK Pats website who proudly displayed their banner at the game yesterday (appearing several times on the JumboTron). Hope you guys all had a great time!

Turning Up The "Heath"

They had it all the way. The patchwork Patriots ended yesterday's 23-16 win over the host Dolphins with 7 of 11 offensive starters out with some sort of injury. Never mind the defense, which has more holes in it than the Democratic Party's Talking Points on Iraq.

Once again, Tom Brady put together another 4th Quarter comeback (the 21st of his career), ending on a sweet strike to Ben Watson, for the under-used tight end's second TD of the day. Some of the other memorable events in this one were: Tedy Bruschi's diving break-up of a sure Fish score; former Dolphin Heath Evans (who?) rumbling for 84 yards out of the backfield, and Assante Samuel laying out Ricky "Am I Still On Vacation?" Williams with a vicious hit.

All in all, your defending champs still sit atop the woeful AFC East, looking ahead to 7 very winnable games (even with their depleted ranks).

The 70% DIS-Solution

There is but one stat that tells you all you need to know about why the Pats were sucker-punched last night by the Colts: 70% of the time an opponent enters the sacred Red Zone this year against your defending World Champs, they celebrate. Not good.

And for all the quaint optimisism that was generated by the Pats quickly answering Manning's easy roll to a 7-0 lead, it really shouldn't have been there at all in the lop-sided 40-21 loss at Foxboro. Not exactly the kind of international display you want on Monday Night Football.

What can you say? No Harrison, no Seymour....no Mas!!!!! Thank God for the AFC East.