Tag Archives: brady

8 Pats to the Pro Bowl

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I was doing my hourly check of ESPN.com and was pretty surprised to see that the Pats found a way to land eight – yes, eight- players in the Pro Bowl. The fact that this team has been pretty make-shift since day 1 and found a way to send the most players to the Pro Bowl is a testament to how well prepared and why the Patriots have the best front office in the game. This also illustrates how Tom Brady makes everyone around him that much better. Besides Brady, they will be sending Wes, Gronk, WIlfork, Andre Carter, Waters, Mankins and Matthew Slater (he’s a special teamer so the Pats only actually send 7.5). I think that Hernandez should also have been sprinkled into the mix, but I guess you can only send one behemoth TE per team.

Nonetheless, the Pats have created a winning team with an eclectic mix of players on all sides of the ball. This organization flat out knows how to win and I have a feeling will be making a deep run into the playoffs, and that’s a lot coming from a Steelers fan.

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Brees Sets Single Season Passing Record

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Late last night Saints signal caller Drew Brees passed Dan Marino to set the NFL record for yards passing in a season, a mark that Marino held for nearly three decades. Brees set the mark with 5,087 passing yards, and still has a game left next week to add to his total.

Finally Brees is being recognized this season and it is well deserved. All year I’ve been hearing about Aaron Rodgers, rightfully so. The guy is an incredible quarterback. Brees seemed to just fly under the radar until the past couple of weeks. All the talk was about how Aaron Rodgers was by far the best QB in the league, and the hands down favorite to win the MVP award. I’m going to have to respectively disagree. I don’t see him as the unanimous choice. Brees is averaging just less than an unheard of 340 passing yards per game and has completed over 70% of his passes. Drew Brees is such a rare talent. For a guy that is only an even 6 feet tall and can put up the numbers he does is just amazing.

Rodgers has a shot to break Tom Brady’s mark of 50 passing touchdowns this season, (which I don’t think he will) but if it does happen I’m sure he will be a near lock for the MVP. Rodgers does have the overall better numbers, and his team nearly went undefeated this year so seeing him win the award would come as no surprise to many, but there are at least a few others in the discussion. Even our own Tom Brady has to be in that discussion. I know I might be in the minority here, but my vote would have to be for Brees.

 

Will the Patriots Make the Super Bowl?

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It’s that time of year again… The Patriots are 11-3 and in sole possession of first place in the AFC after having clinched the AFC East last week. The question most of you are wondering is as follows: Can the Patriots make it to the Super Bowl? It looks like the Patriots should have earned themselves a first round bye and potentially home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The latter part I see to be very important.

Going to Heinz field and facing a Steelers team that isn’t depleted by injuries is not an easy task and that was proven earlier this season. That doesn’t look to be the case though. If the Patriots do meet the Steelers in the playoffs they will have to come through Foxboro and it’s a whole different atmosphere for them. Roethlisberger looks very hurt and an injury like that can keep most players out for a few weeks. The Ravens could be a tough game, but Joe Flacco looks average at best, and even the Ravens defense can get beat by a good offense as that was shown Sunday night. The Texans don’t have the passing game to really take advantage of the terrible Patriots secondary like most teams can. As far as the rest of the AFC goes there isn’t any other team in the conference that would really scare me; especially if they are coming to Gillette.

The Patriots secondary is clearly their weakness and at times has been exposed but it works into the Patriots favor that the list of potential quarterbacks they could face in the AFC playoffs are headlined by Big Ben and followed with QB’s like T.J. Yates, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, and Matt Hasselbeck.

Anything can happen in the NFL, but if I had to put my life savings down on a team to come out of the AFC, it would be the Pats.

Tebow Time is Up

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In the past week more than ever, Tim Tebow has been trending. And I’m not talking about Twitter (although he is). Tim Tebow is trending worldwide in everyday life. You can’t go anywhere without hearing a discussion about the mile high savior. With the Patriots – Broncos matchup this Sunday, everyone is putting Tebow up against Brady. Take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt because as much as I love the Pats, I am a Tebow fan (except this week). I like the guy’s competitive spirit and will to win. He’s done some magical stuff over the past few weeks, but there’s just no way you can put him next to Tom. I don’t see the fire staying lit beyond the New England Patriots. Let’s be honest, the Pats are going to put up numbers this week. They’re going to break down the Bronco defense and score points. We may not have the greatest defense out there, but Denver doesn’t put up points. They haven’t under Tebow all season. I mean last week against Chicago they had zero points entering the final few minutes of the game. There’s just no way the Pats lose this game Sunday. It was a good run Timmy, and maybe you can continue it next week. But for now, Tebow Time has expired.

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11′ Colts vs. 08′ Pats

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There is a reason the Colts are 0-11 this season and it is not all because Peyton Manning got injured. I’m not saying they are a playoff team without him, but they are not an 0-11 team. Tom Brady went down week one of the 2008 season and the Patriots finished 11-5. When you lose you’re All-Pro QB for the full season you are forced to change your offense, not keep it the same as the Colts have this year. The Colts pass/rush ratio is 32.9/22.5. A difference of over 10 more passes than rushes per game. Why would you revolve your team’s offense around the passing game with a quarterback you know can’t throw the ball? In 2008 when Brady got injured the Patriots pass/rush ratio was 33.3/32.1. A difference of just over 1 more passes than rushes each game. When you lose your star quarterback you must change your offense around your other strengths. The Patriots used a running tandem of Sammy Morris, Green-Ellis, Faulk, and LaMont Jordan. You can’t tell me that’s a better tandem than Joseph Addai, Donald Brown, and Delone Carter. We all know the Patriots as a passing team, but in 2008 they were forced to change their strategy and the results showed. When Jim Caldwell gets fired at the end of this season everyone will be saying it was undeserved because Manning was injured, and that certainly is not the case.

Saints vs. Pats Superbowl?

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Alright, let me start this post out by saying that this is not my prediction for the Superbowl. As good as both teams are, I just don’t see them getting past some of the more balanced teams in the league. With that being said, I would love to see this matchup come February because it has the ingredients to create one of the most delicious offensive showdowns in history. Looking at the figureheads of both squads, Brady and Brees, these guys are out of their minds this year. With both teams really using their entire wide-receiving core because each team lacks a Randy Moss / Calvin Johnson like superstar, it is truly incredible that these guys are both (yes, both) on pace to break the record for yards in a season. It’s a testament to their preparation and dedication to the game (if you watched the post-game last night, you could see Steve Young draw full as he described Brees). With that being said, this Superbowl matchup would be an all out slugfest. I legit think the over-under might be 409. With neither team possessing much of a secondary, players like Sproles and the super tight-end that is Gronkandez stepping up, the offensive display will be a masterpiece. Watching two of the best in the history of the game battle it out is something that I am undoubtedly looking forward to. That is unless Rogers continues to perform the same way he has in the last 11 games. In which case it will go down as the greatest QB performance ever (yes, even better than ’08 Brady).

Sunday Woes

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I’ve been putting off commenting on Sunday’s game vs. the Giants. It’s not that we lost that I’m aggravated. Although below our expectations, the Pats are still sitting atop the AFC East alongside the Jets and the Bills. It’s not that Brady threw three picks or that Stephen Gostkowski missed a field goal from 4 feet away. It’s the fact that we added to the ever growing ego of “Mr. Close Your Eyes Toss the Ball”. I despise Peyton Manning along with most Bostonians, but we can admit he’s a premier quarterback. I despise Eli Manning along with most Bostonians because he thinks he can fall in the same category as his brother and Brady (and because of some other minor event that occurred which I will chose not to bring up). Regardless, we need to step our game up. The first half was clearly a defensive battle, with the Pats showing signs of life on that side of the ball for the first time all season. Then finally once the offense decided to come around, the defense backed off yet again. It’s only a matter of time before Belichick pulls them together though. Pats vs. Packers in the bowl. In Bill We Trust.