Passing Fancy

OK, present Bill Belichick with a challenge: beat the best run defense in the NFL. What does he do? He picks that defense apart via the pass, of course. Long passes. Short passes. Passes to tight ends. Passes to wide receivers. Passes to backs. Passes to the water boy. Seems simple in retrospect, but it's not really what the "experts", or the fans, predicted.

The New England Patriots and Tom Brady delivered a slap-down of epic proportions to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football on ESPN. Tom Brady passed 43 times, and completed 29 of those puppies for 372 yards. Oh, and did I mention the 4 TD passes to 4 different guys? Minnesota WHO? Felger WHO?

In addition to Brady, the Pats got huge efforts by Moroney, Watson, and Caldwell. On defense, Vrabel, Harrison and Scott had picks and Tully Banta-Cain nearly had three straight sacks in one series. Mercy.

This blow-out (31-7) reduced the boys in the booth to yakking about the commercial endorsement imbalance among Brady, Manning The Elder and Donovan The Choker. In the first half!

Any further doubts about the chances of this team returning to the Big One?

Cool Domination

The Patriots handled the Buffalo Bills today with a detached coldness that makes you think--in spite of the obvious flaws on this team--that they may be headed back to the Promised Land.

Tom Brady (typically) was disappointed with his 18-27, 171 YD, 2-TD performance, terming it "Lucky". This is what you always loved about Brady and the Pats in the Championship years--the understated, never-quite-perfect harshness on themselves. It may be back.

Oh yeah, and Corey Dillon scored 2 TDS with only 47 total yards. Classic Pats. Hold on, it may be a bumpy ride, but it also could be on a "ring" road.

Win Intercepted

One mark of a championship caliber football team is that, occasionally, they steal a win which they have absolutely no business claiming as a "W". Such was the case this Sunday at Foxobro in the Pats' 20-10 victory over the Miami "most-hyped pre-season team in NFL history" Dolphins.

Two key interceptions by sometimes maligned Assante Samuel turned what could easily have been a classic "trap loss" into a lethargic, albeit opportunistic, win. Tom Brady was once again just "OK" (16 for 29, 134 yards, 2 TDs), although his dynamic drive at the start of the fourth quarter was vintage MVP quality.

If you look at the stat sheet, about the only thing that Pats can feel positive about is the interception edge. They were out-rushed, out-passed, out-possessed--you name it. Again, these are the wins that future Super Bowl winners tend to grab. So, we'll take it. Especially against the Dante Culpepper/Joey Harrigton/Nick Saban juggernaught that was supposed to turn the NFL on its ear. Yeah, right.

Rush To Judgment

The New England Patriots made a statement about "body language" to the national media on Sunday. There's only one language spoken on this team: WIN-glish. By systematically dissembling the vaunted Bengals at home, they ran like they had never run before (or at least since 1993) and kept Carson Palmer off the field in a convincing 38-13 drubbing.

The three-time champs rushed for 236 total yards in making the Cincinnati D-Line look hapless in their attempts to stop them. Laurence Maroney alone rumbled for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns, while returning native Corey Dillon delivered an "in-your-collective-face" 67 yards and a TD of his own. Tom Brady, he of the shrugged shoulders, was a workman-like 15-of-26, for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns. But it was Maroney who stole the spotlight, stiff-arming his way into the national consciousness.

For over 3 years now, the Pats have not lost 2 in a row --hardly the demeanor of slouching incompetents. So, national media, keep dissing them. We like it.