2006 Season at Week 8
The Patriots play the Vikings tomorrow night, and then host the Colts next Sunday. So two big nationally televised games in two weeks for the Pats. This is nut-cutting time, though. If they win these next two games they’ll be 7-1 and no worse than tied with Indy for the Conference. And a lot of other teams will suddenly take them seriously.
But this has been an interesting week in the NFL. So many of the “mighty” have fallen. KC beat the injury-riddled Seahawks, who may have a tough time getting back to the playoffs. Atlanta beat Cinci; for all the Bengals bluster and trash talk they’re only 4-3. Philly lost to the Jags; Jacksonville always play strong defense and McNabb can only do so much. The damn Tuna and the Cowboys beat Carolina; Romo did well but for how long?
In the AFC, Denver let the Colts steal one. They just kept running their standard defense and let the Colts march down the field time after time in the second half. No adjustments, no blitzes until it was too late. But this game did show that the Colts can’t stop the run – certainly not in the 4th quarter. The Browns did the Pats a favor by beating the Jets.
But the amusing result was in Oakland, where the Raiders beat the Steelers while managing only 5 receptions to 51 yards and a whopping 98 yards of total offense. Unreal. How’d they win? Strong defense and 4 INT’s thrown by “Big Ben.” I actually predicted this outcome about three weeks ago. All the fanfare over Roethlisberger by the media and the league neglected to point out that during his winning streak they had a running game and he was rarely put in a position where he could lose the game. Now they don’t have that running game and when you put the game in his hands, he throws it away.
I have nothing against Roethlisberger per se, except that the league’s media machine is so hungry for a good story that they completely overlook Brady who does more with less and doesn’t lose games for the team. Manning at least deserves most of his accolades as he comes through for the team. But Peyton also has a lot of advantages that Brady does not – plays indoors, same coordinators and receivers for years and years, and so on. All things being equal, Brady is better – but the league likes Manning and the Colts, and Roethlisberger and the Steelers. So they get all the attention.
Is this your typical New England paranoia at work? Well, look at the promos for Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football – the league’s two big showcases. Then look at that “Our Country” truck advertisement they are perpetually. How many times do you see the Colts, Steelers, Packers, and Raiders? How many times do you see the Patriots? The answer to the latter is twice in all three combined.
The Pats have won 3 SB’s in 5 years – and without players getting shot, stabbed, suspended for drugs, or having mental breakdowns of various flavors in front of the media. They’ve been a class act all the way and done what the NFL says it’s all about – being a team. Yet the NFL seems to go out of its way to ignore the Patriots.
Why bring up the weird bias of the NFL? Well, because of other things going on. Like fining coaches and players for complaining about officiating, but doing nothing to improve the quality of the officials. Like suspending players for substance abuse and then banning them from the facility and thusly contact with their team-mates, who form an important part of their support system.
And ther things are weird. Like the rash of kidney and appendix problems for starters. I have to wonder if the dietary “supplements” that the NFL “approves” have some kind of cumulative effect.
Oh well. We’ll know more after the next seven days. If the Patriots take care of business the NFL media machine will do a complete 180.
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