Points made
Pats pile on with chip on their shoulder
By Karen Guregian | Tuesday, October 23, 2007 |
http://www.bostonherald.com | N.E. Patriots
There?s a growing sentiment around the NFL that the Patriots [team stats] are piling on, needlessly tacking on points at the end of games to flog their opponents to a much greater degree.
Some of the evidence is fairly compelling.
Did Bill Belichick really have to bring Tom Brady [stats] back into Sunday?s game at Miami, his team still up 21 points after backup Matt Cassel mistook Jason Taylor for one of his own and tossed an interception that the defensive end returned for a score in the fourth quarter?
Was it entirely necessary to tell Brady to put his cleats back on with 10:30 remaining to add to a three-touchdown lead?
Or how about the week before against Dallas, when Kyle Eckel plowed in from the 1-yard line with 19 seconds left to play on fourth down, the team already ahead by two scores? Wouldn?t taking a knee have sufficed?
While Belichick eloquently has defended those plays, there?s still a pretty good case to be made against him. The Pats could very well be found guilty of running up the score in more than a few of their first seven games.
But the Pats aren?t about to make any apologies, nor should they. I say, who can blame them?
Camera-gate put a chip on their collective shoulders. The mere suggestion that any of their Super Bowl victories weren?t legitimate, that the wrongful filming of the Jets defensive coaching signals on the sidelines was reason to taint their legacy, appears to have this team driven to bury every opponent into the ground.
The Pats merely are proving a point and delivering it home every chance they get. This wasn?t over after they dismantled San Diego the week following the Jets victory. They?re still reminding their naysayers and stone-throwers not to toss out all of their hard work and sweat just because the coach was caught breaking the rules.
Every game they?re making a statement, so we?re at seven and counting. They?re telling all those who questioned their wins that it?s a load of garbage to challenge what they?ve accomplished.
They?re not telling you with words. They?re telling you with points, with margins of victory, with complete and absolute drubbings.
For the record, the Dolphins weren?t crying about Brady coming back into the game or the Pats going into the two-minute offense just before the half, even faking to spike the ball despite a 21-point lead.
?One more score for us, and we were down to 14,? Miami cornerback Will Allen said of Brady?s re-entry in the fourth quarter. ?Eleven minutes left, it?s a new ballgame.?
And while the pile-on rumblings struck a nerve with Belichick during his postgame press conference, he is being defended in some corners. Former NFL coach Dan Reeves, now a commentator with Sirius NFL radio, didn?t take issue.
?I know there are some coaches that probably would have kneeled down at the end of the (Dallas) game,? Reeves said when reached yesterday, ?But there?s also some coaches who feel they need to score the points. I?ve been in Bill?s position this past week where he took his quarterback out because he had a comfortable lead. (Trouble was), it was against San Diego and they had a guy named Dan Fouts. So I had to tell my old veteran quarterback Craig Morton I was putting him back in the game because they were making an unbelievable comeback.?
Reeves, meanwhile, was at the Houston-Tennessee game Sunday doing commentary and watched the Texans, down 32-7 early in the fourth quarter, score 29 points to nearly pull out the win.
?There?s no way you?d say Houston was in the game. They were being completely dominated. It was 32-7, but it can turn around that quickly,? Reeves said. ?I don?t think you?ll hear any coaches out there saying Bill?s trying to pile on. If anything, he?s trying to win football games, and that?s the way it should be.?
Belichick and his players are trying to win football games. That?s first and foremost. But there?s more to it. People were taking shots at them during Camera-gate. This is how they?re choosing to shoot back.
