Fumbling It Away

Here are my thoughts during the Patriots loss yesterday:

On their second drive, the Patriots went for it on 4th and 1 from Denver's 36 yard line. I really thought the Patriots should have punted here, even after Brady came onto the field I thought Brady might punt it because going for it here made no sense. In a defensive game like this field position is huge, you can punt it, hold them, and get good field position next drive. Anyway, the Patriots didn't convert, and they started their next three drives on the 4, 3, and 11 yard lines while the Broncos started their drives at their 36, 37 and 44 yard lines. Finally with under 4 minutes left in the half we drove down and got a field goal, but that 4th and 1 call changed both teams' field position for over 17 minutes of the game.

There were two plays in the first half where John Lynch blitzed untouched from the right side. On the first one, Brady fired to the left for about 7 yards to Christian Fauria. The second time, he tried the same thing and Fauria was double covered. Prertty good defense by the Broncos there.

In the second quarter, the Patriots accepted an offensive holding penalty after stopping the Broncos on third down to try to push them out of field goal range and it almost cost them as Denver drove to the 3 yard line.

Denver going for it on 4th and 1 from our 3 yard line. Plays like this are why football is better to wach than any other sport. There aren't critical decisions with huge impacts like this in other games. Football is a game of decisions.

Is there anything more exciting than a good defensive football game? Every point seems so valuable, every yard is so tough, and it makes every play seem that much more intense.

What a ridiculous pass interference call on Asante Samuel in the endzone.

At halftime, I was feeling good, our defense was shutting down Denver's O, our offense had gotten the ball moving, and the only way Denver was able to score was off turnovers, and we were only down 7. All we'd have to do is not turn the ball over anymore.

What a run the Patriots have had over the last 4 years. The third quarter of this game was the first time I can remember seriously thinking the Pats might lose a playoff game since the Oakland snow bowl game to start the 2001 playoffs.

What a huge play in the 3rd quarter by Champ Bailey. The have driven down the field and it looks like we might go up 13-10 or at least make it 10-9, but instead Bailey picks the ball off in the endzone and runs it back 100 yards. And what a play by Ben Watson to run him down! I start yelling that it should be a touchback and finally Belichick reviews it but there's not much on the video to overturn it. Meanwhile I keep saying "Our TIGHT END just ran down Champ Bailey from across the field!!!!" When CBS finally shows it, it is ridiculous. Did you see the extra speed Ben Watson put on when the ref almost blocked him?

So our D stops Denver, it looks like we might have a chance to do something here, and then Troy Brown muffs the punt. Could these turnovers come at any worse times?

Our defense played great in this game, shutting down Denver's running game, holding them to 96 rushing yards (19 in garbage time), which is the second fewest Denver's had all year. We held Denver to 286 yards total, but can't turn the ball over 5 times and win a game. Denver scored 24 points off 4 turnovers, and only had to get 24 offensive yards (plus a questionable 39 yard pass interference call) to get those points. So its really too bad that the D played so well and we lost the games on turnovers like that.

Key Plays:
Obviously the Champ Bailey pick and return was huge in the game, being a ten or 14 point swing, but I think that decision to go for it on 4th and 1 really setup Denver in great field position for most of the first half, really making it tough for us to do anything there.

A great run by the Pats and I'm sure they'll be back next year. Remember the offseason after the 2002 season? We got rid of Lawyer Milloy, Tebucky Jones, and Victor Green, and signed Rodney Harrison and Rosevelt Colvin through free agency. So I'd expect to see some good moves this offseason and the Pats to come back even hungrier next year.



Quick comment on that Colts game:
Who didn't see that Vanderjagt choke coming on that kick after all the trash he's talked in the past?