The National Football League-that was the week that was

Are they really -12 right now? I would think that pros would be all over that spread. It'll be closer to 6 on game day.

 

I doubt it. Pats already beat Jags and SD, both of which are a lot better than the Giants. Super Bowls tend not to be too close. I see Giants as happy to get there and not expecting to win.

Giants' strength is their D line, and it is certainly no better than Jags or SD, most would say worse. Their D backs are not nearly as good as SD. Their nickel back was on the practice squad. I see them having a lot of trouble with the Pat's receivers, unless they can put Brady down. If the Jags and SD couldn't, I don't see the Giants doing it.

The Giants will need to put up some points, and they have a decent offense, but again, they haven't faced a defense like the Pats in the playoffs. If Manning can make plays against the Pats blitz, they may have a chance. Otherwise, it could get ugly. Couple of early turnovers and you can switch over and watch golf.

I have been dead wrong on almost every playoff game, so maybe the Giants roll, but the Pats have covered enormous spreads pretty easily all year. They are 0-2 against the spread in the playoffs, which is probably why this is not bigger.

 

Redskins update.

The Redskins fired both assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who had been heir apparent to Joe Gibbs, and offensive coordinator Al Saunders. They hired Jim Zorn, former Seattle QB, as the new offensive cocordinator. Zorn, 54, has never coordinated a pro squad. He was Seattle QB coach. A new head coach will apparently not be named until after the Super Bowl. It's anyone's guess who will be hired.

To say fans are upset would be like saying the Civil War involved some violence. The team's own message boards are filled with utter dismay and hatred for the owner. The fans feel like everything that gibbs accomplished has been destroyed and that the team will have to go back to zero again.

I have to wonder why anyone would take the job. They are highly likely to be fired after a couple of subpar seasons. The team has mediocre personnel and now an enormous morale problem. Zorn has said he will install a version of the West Coast offense. Only problem is the offensive personnel are spectacularly unsuited for it. West coast offenses need big receivers who can block, the redskins receivers are smurfs. You need a quick reacting QB, Jason Campbell can throw the long ball but has a slow release and is not all that accurate. The linemen are old and injury prone.

Snyder still doesn't get it. You win in the NFL by building a team around a philosphy, not by changing coordinators and systems every couple of years if something doesn't go right. The Redskins have become the Baltimore Orioles of the NFL, a once proud franchise done in by a stupid owner who confused money and ego with insight.

 

Life ins. policy on kitchen table.

We're taking pistols down off the shelf here.

 

What a game!

Couldn't be happier.

 

Woooowwwww!!!!!


Who'da thunk it?!?!?

Highlight of the game for the Pats was Moss touchdown reception followed by his parting the red sea routine.

I was thinking, "Dude, the game is 3/4 over and that is only your 3rd catch. Get back on the sideline and get your head right before you come back out."

In all fairness though, Brady couldn't do anything against the blitz.

NY highlight was obvious. Eli gets smothered and somehow emerges long enough to get the ball in the air. Tyree pulls of the miracle catch.

Two worst moments for the officials.

-NY fumbles a hand-off on like their own 20 yard line. Defensive tackle falls on it and gets piled on. Somehow 10 seconds later NY has the ball and the officials give it back to NY. It was clearly NE recovery as the play was dead for 3-5 second before he had the ball pulled out of his hands. I'm amazed that wasn't challenged by the booth.

-NY first scoring drive they face something like 3rd and 14. Eli passes up the sidelines about 20-25 yards just as the receiver grabs the DB's facemask and gives him a big shove. Receiver makes the catch by dragging the toes before falling out of bounds. I guess there's no such thing as offensive PI anymore?

 

I had same reaction to those two calls or non calls. Pats clearly recovered that fumble and that was about as clear a case of offensive pass interference as you will see.

 

Wrong. Watch it again. Bradshaw got one arm around the ball right before they both got possession of it on the ground.

The facemask call though, yeah they missed that one. Can't complain though, patriots have always been lucky in terms of calls. Ravens vs. Patriots this season. How disgusting was that game?

 

Well, the Redskins finally concluded what has to have been one of the longest head coach searches in history. After passing over then firing the guy everyone thought was in line for the job, defensive boss Gregg Williams, owner Dan Snyder incited a fan rebellion by nearly hiring former Giants coach Jim Fassell. There were flirtations with Jim Mora, Steve Mariucci, Giants defensive coordinator Stev Spagnuola, Pete Carroll, Bill Cohwer, plus who knows how many others. Finally, Snyder surprised everyone by announcing that recently hired offensive coordiator Jim Zorn would instead be the head coach.

Zorn seems like a very decent man, and got high praise from Seattle QB Matt Hasselback, to whom Zorn had been QB coach for several years. Still, here is a 54 year old guy who never rose above QB coach in the league after a fairly illustrious playing career. That doesn't mean he can't coach. Witness Philly coach Andy Reid, who was the GB QB coach when he was hired for the Eagles job. It does raise eyebrows, particularly when the owner is known for wanting big names.

Zorn takes over a team that made the playoffs, largely because their starting QB was injured and a career backup played brilliantly the final four games. The team has holes everywhere and little cap space, thanks to Snyder's frequent free agent spending sprees. In some ways, it's easier to take over a terrible team with low expectations. The Redskins fans still think of the team as one of the league's elite franchises, even though they have won one playoff game in 8 years.

I hope this all works out for Zorn, but if it doesn't the fans will want Snyder's head.

 

This is a disgraceful postscript and it's serious. Pats fans will want to hear from the Krafts what's going on here.



February 22, 2008
New Claim of Taping Emerges Against Patriots
By JOHN BRANCH and GREG BISHOP
INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots’ pattern of illicitly videotaping the signals of opposing N.F.L. coaches began in Coach Bill Belichick’s first preseason with the team in 2000, a former Patriots player said. The information was put to use in that year’s regular-season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Belichick’s debut as New England’s coach.

The secret taping of signals, which is against league rules, continued at least through three championship seasons to the 2007 season opener against the Jets, when the Patriots were caught and subsequently sanctioned by the league.

As coaches and executives gathered here Thursday for the N.F.L. scouting combine, many saying they were satisfied with the league’s investigation and ready to move on, new details were emerging about the history of the Patriots’ videotaping.

According to several executives in the league, the season opener against the Jets was not the first time the Patriots had been spotted taping another team’s defensive coaches at Giants Stadium. In the final preseason game of 2006, the Patriots were caught taping a Giants defensive assistant giving signals, the executives said.

The incident prompted a letter addressed to all teams seven days later from the N.F.L. vice president Ray Anderson that detailed the league’s interpretation of the rules. That letter was cited by Commissioner Roger Goodell when he punished the Patriots.

Belichick has said that he misinterpreted the league’s bylaws, telling Goodell that he thought it was permissible to use electronic equipment as long as the information was not used in the same game. That explanation has been greeted with disbelief by some peers and league officials.

In a news conference last week, Goodell said Belichick’s explanation led to the assumption that he had been videotaping opponents’ signals “as long as he has been head coach.”

The league’s nine-member competition committee spent three days this week discussing various rules changes that it might recommend for next season. After a 90-minute briefing on the Patriots’ videotaping activities Thursday by Goodell and three league vice presidents, the committee said taping rules would not be changed in the aftermath of the controversy.

“The rules are very, very clear,” said Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, a committee member. “There is no need to be more specific or clarify any rules whatsoever.”

Questions linger about how much of an advantage the Patriots may have had if they intercepted defensive signals. Under Belichick, the Patriots have often run a no-huddle offense, which forces opponents to quickly call a defensive play. N.F.L. rules allow quarterbacks to hear instructions from coaches — through a headset and into a speaker in the quarterback’s helmet — until there are 15 seconds left on a play clock. When the defensive play call is deciphered, the Patriots could call a play to counteract. The Patriots lost the 2000 opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when videotape of signals was used in preparation, according to the former Patriots player, who was among several former players interviewed by the N.F.L but said he did not want to speak publicly because the investigation is continuing.

The Patriots appear to have continued the practice of taping opposing signals for seven years. Last September, Goodell fined Belichick $500,000, fined the Patriots $250,000 and took away one of team’s first-round draft choices in 2008. After the sanctions were announced, the Patriots submitted six tapes, from games in 2006 and 2007, and some notes that dated to 2002, Goodell said. The tapes and notes were destroyed days after being handed to the league, because Goodell considered the matter closed.

But questions remain about how wide and deep the Patriots’ taping habits extended. Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who met with Goodell last week, is among those still questioning why the league was so quick to sanction the Patriots and destroy the evidence.

Goodell met with the competition committee Thursday to discuss his handling of the spying case. Committee members seemed satisfied and eager to turn the page.

“We were all satisfied, every one of us,” said John Mara, the Giants’ president. “All of us have our different opinions about the Patriots, but we were all satisfied that this thing was investigated properly and that they came to the proper conclusion.”

Bill Polian, the president of the Indianapolis Colts, said: “It’s behind us. It’s time to move forward.”

But emerging details continue to pull the league back in time. On Feb. 2, The Boston Herald reported that the Patriots might have taped a St. Louis Rams walkthrough practice the day before the teams played in the 2002 Super Bowl. The Patriots won, 20-17, on a last-second field goal. Belichick, speaking to The Boston Globe, recently denied that the practice was taped.

In the hallway at the convention center here, Mike Martz wanted to talk about his new job as San Francisco’s offensive coordinator. Instead, reporters peppered him with questions about the Patriots. Martz was the coach of the Rams when the teams met in the Super Bowl six years ago.

He took exception to the theory that the Patriots could not have gleaned much information from taping the walkthrough. He said indeed they could, but added that was not the point.

“For somebody to say that, it’s kind of disgusting,” Martz said. “The whole point is if they really cheated. To say he took some steroids and it did help or it didn’t help, that’s never the point. The point is, to all these high school coaches and high school kids and college kids, that if they did cheat, that’s the point.”

Martz said he assumed the walkthrough report was false. A similar sentiment was voiced by Chicago Bears Coach Lovie Smith, the Rams’ defensive coordinator that season.

“It’s just hard for me to fathom anyone would do anything like that,” Smith said. “I’m sure, if there’s something to it, No. 1, it will come out later. Time has a way of taking care of all things.”

Martz was asked if he wanted the N.F.L. to continue investigating the walkthrough. “Of course,” he said. “I was involved in that. I was responsible for a lot of people in that game.”

Executives dismissed any lingering notions that the Patriots’ taping opponents was a common practice around the league.

“I don’t want the outside perception to be, ‘Boy, there are all these teams and they’re all doing all these things,’ ” said Rich McKay, the Falcons’ president and a member of the competition committee. “Because it’s not true.”

Belichick was not seen in the hallways of the convention center Thursday. Representatives of 21 teams are scheduled to meet with reporters for news conferences from Thursday to Sunday. Belichick and the Patriots are not among them.