Somewhere right now, Bill Simmons is throwing an absolute fit. He’ll be drunk and pissed off all night long. Starting tomorrow, he’ll be very, very depressed, a glumness that will last for days if not weeks.
This makes me incredibly happy.
LT post-game interview made me smile. He seems like the nicest guy, and I’m happy for him and the success he has had this year.
Go Jets!!! I’m so glad to be spared from having to pick a side in a Steelers/Patriots AFC championship.
What was the bigger difference-maker in the game? The dropped TD, the interception, the botched fake punt, going for it on fourth down (and failing) instead of trying for a field goal (albeit of the 52-yard variety), failing to recover two onside kicks…
mono
4764
I think the Jets locking down NE for 3 quarters and coming through with big plays down the stretch was the difference maker.
You sillyhead. That would mean that someone could BEAT the Patriots. Don’t you know the only team that can beat the Patriots is… the Patriots?
Haven’t gotten a chance to watch this game yet. Looking forward to enjoying it when I get home from work. Colts beat, Patriots beat, Bears still in and playing GB at home for the NFC title… this playoff season couldn’t go any better, as far as I’m concerned.
(Speaking of weird play calls, why the hell did Seattle settle for 3 when they were down by so much in the 4th? That doesn’t make sense!)
mdowdle
4766
NE is quickly becoming the All-Blacks* of American football.
- The All-Blacks are New Zealand’s national rugby team, and they are famous for being the most invincible team on the planet except when the World Cup comes around every five years.
Sarkus
4767
It’s interesting how we think of the Patriots as this dominating championship dynasty when in reality they really aren’t. Sure, they have lots of regular season success. But since they lost in the Superbowl to the Giants at the end of the 2007 season, they haven’t won a playoff game. Since they last won a Superbowl (2004), the Steelers have two titles and the Colts have been to the Superbowl twice as well, while the Patriots only appearance was in 2007.
In other words, we hate them and they aren’t even the most dominating team in the AFC the last several years.
olaf
4768
The Patriots are far from unbeatable but today was a surprising result given the 45-3 ass whipping they gave the Jets the last time they met, on the same field.
And painful, most of all painful.
The Steelers have had a bunch of mediocre years mixed in with their successes. The Colts and Pats have been the most consistently successful teams in the NFL since 2003. We like the Colts because they aren’t the Pats (and didn’t get a bullshit win over the Rams in Superbowl XXXVI). If the Pats stopped being good we’d probably turn on the Colts, but it looks like the reverse has a better chance of happening. I’ve already turned on Pittsburgh a bit but they still aren’t at the Pats level of consistency.
Well, it just goes to show, if you play the Jets, you have to stay on your toes, or they’ll knock you back on your heels, and then you just look like you’ve made a faux paus.
Brady really didn’t look like himself in that game. A couple of stories I read said he wasn’t seeing open receivers – it’s hard to tell that from the TV angles we get – but he sure couldn’t seem to find receivers. He threw several mysterious passes that weren’t even close to catchable, like he was worried about getting sacked. Sanchez was the better QB yesterday.
I wonder if there’s any chance the Pats will re-sign Moss? Probably not since they made Branch take a pay cut to get a new contract, but it looked like they missed Moss’s ability to stretch a defense yesterday.
The Colts are generally inoffensive. It’s hard to dislike Dungy, no one knows much about Caldwell, and there aren’t any real loud mouth guys causing problems. Peyton Manning appeals to a lot of people because of his aw shucks demeanor and his widely advertised work ethic (“such a student of the game!”). The biggest personality they had for a while was Edge and he’s been gone a long time. They also seem to catch the injury bug excuse every year, so everyone assumes they’re limping into the playoffs, but I’m not sure if they’re actually more injured than any other team.
Contrast this with the Pats and Steelers that have various personalities that taint the rest of the team (Belichick, Big Ben).
So now there are stories about the Patriots using their own version of tripgate, and that the Jets became aware of it after they signed a player from the Pats practice squad:
Of course, that’s to say nothing of Marvin Harrison…
I thought it was an 8 -8 season going in, but these assholes made me believe and become emotionally involved in the season.
Fuck them. Football is over.
(actually I’ll watch the rest, but I’m gonna root for the NFC for maybe the first time in my life.)
Heh. Thing is, none of that ever really showed up on the field or when he talked to the press. He only went nuts when he was back home in his old neighborhood, threatening people with guns.
Okay, I have to ask. How in the hell could you think New England, winners of at least 10 games per season for the last 10 years (minus 2002, where they went 9-7) would be 8-8?
I can understand thinking they weren’t Super Bowl-bound. I can understand thinking they’re slumping, which wasn’t unreasonable to think. But I don’t see how you look at New England prior to the start of the season, with Brady now two years removed from his Pollarding, Welker well ahead of schedule, and Randy Moss still believed to be a functional human being, and think, “Yeah, we’re going to be mediocre now.”
Had you said Indianapolis, I could have believed it. But not New England.
Yeah, I don’t know what was up with that, but it was almost like the media swept all that under the rug FOR him. Prior to that incident he came off as super soft spoken, humble, hard working, etc. Didn’t trash talk, no massive holdouts, just played the game. Hell, probably the worst I heard about him was that he was soft because he ran out of bounds all the time instead of taking a hit.
Well, ouch. I will console myself with the knowledge that this was always supposed to be a rebuilding year, and the success of the Pats during regular season was unexpected. Well done to the Jets, though, it was a well-earned victory.
But I will still be rooting for the Steelers (as much as it pains me) and, ultimately, the Packers (whom I actually like).
