December 28, 2009 by
Law Murray |
AFC East,
Bill Belichick,
David Garrard,
Fred Taylor,
Jacksonville Jaguars,
Maurice Jones-Drew,
New England Patriots,
NFL playoffs,
Randy Moss,
Shawn Springs,
Tom Brady,
Wes Welker
For all of the talk about the New England Patriots' struggles this season, they put together one of their most complete games of the season Sunday, defeating the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars 35-7 to clinch the AFC East division. They will host a playoff game at Gillette Stadium in January, where they went a perfect 8-0 this season.
Less than two years after completing 26 of 28 passes for 262 yards and three TDs against the Jaguars in the 2007 playoffs, Patriots QB Tom Brady completed 23 of 26 passes for 267 yards and 4 TDs! There's just something about the Jaguars secondary that makes Brady want to throw more TDs than incompletions. The Jaguars had no answer for WRs Wes Welker and Randy Moss, who accounted for 69% of Brady's yards. Welker caught 13 passes for 138 yards; [...]
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The New England Patriots lead the AFC East with a 7-5 record, but that might be the only good news the Patriots have after losing at Land Shark Stadium to the Miami Dolphins 22-21. It was the Patriots' third loss in three games. It was QB Tom Brady's first December loss since 2006, a 21-0 loss at Miami. A week after losing to an NFC team during the regular season for the first time since September 2005, the Patriots lost two straight games for the first time since November 2006. They are 1-5 on the road, and that one win was in London against the 1-11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They even got bad news via other teams! The 12-0 Indianapolis Colts beat the 5-7 Tennessee Titans 27-17, not only ending the Titans' pipe dream winning streak, but also tying the New England Patriots' record [...]
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I went into work this morning knowing I had to eventually write an article trying to make sense of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's decision to leave his offense on the field on 4th and 2 at their own 28 yard line with no timeouts ahead of the 2:00 warning. You've all at least heard about the play by now: QB Tom Brady lined up in shotgun, emptied the backfield by sending RB Kevin Faulk out in the slot on WR Randy Moss' side of the field, and threw a quick out to Faulk. Faulk caught it, but not cleanly enough to be given forward progress on the play after Indianapolis Colts SS Melvin Bullitt hit him as the ball arrived. The Patriots couldn't challenge the play, and Colts QB Peyton Manning ultimately threw the game-tyingTD pass to WR Reggie Wayne with 13 seconds [...]
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There is no doubt about it anymore, the Buffalo Bills are one of the worst teams in the NFL.
This is a team that is going to miss out on the playoffs for the tenth straight year, which is unacceptable. So many things are wrong with this team, and the fans are starting to get impatient with all of these years of rebuilding.
Apparently the Bills have been rebuilding for the past decade but no good has come of it. They have had only one winning season as a team during this time. One. Let me just repeat it for a third time in case it is not sinking in, this team has had one winning season in ten years.
Sometimes you just want to laugh out loud at how bad this team is.
Don’t get me wrong, I have the up-most respect for the players on the team. They put themselves [...]
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For all intents and purposes, the Trent Edwards era in Buffalo is over after this season.
It is really simple, Edwards just hasn’t been any good. After watching him play this year, it has just helped draw the conclusion that many people were forming after last season; Edwards should not be starting in the NFL.
He isn’t a rookie anymore, which some people like to argue. He has played in 30 NFL games, and still hasn’t shown any signs of improvement. Sure he has games where he puts up solid stats, but they are usually against sub-par defenses and are few and far between.
In his three years as a starter, he average 177 yards per game, which is absolutely pathetic. Throwing one more [...]
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After a good night celebrating Ashalloween (a better version of Halloween, ask for more details), the month of November is here, and I'm happy to be back writing the 1SKILLZ Gameplan. For the first time in three weeks, I've got a working computer as well, so I'm excited to get started here. The New England Patriots are on a bye this week along with five other teams: the early surprise Cincinnati Bengals, the talent-starved Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the dysfunctional Washington Redskins. Looking at those descriptions, you can't use any of them to describe the New England Patriots. At 5-2, they're not surprising anyone. They definitely have enough talent, ranking in the top ten on offense and [...]
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So, last week you might have remembered me revisiting the Tennessee Titans (http://www.nfltouchdown.com/something-tells-me-there-wont-be-a-patriotstitans-playoff-game/). I more or less went to bat for them. Decided they aren't as bad as their record. Resigned to the fact that they aren't going anywhere, but still thought they were playing well in most areas. A funny thing happened after I released last week's 1SKILLZ Gameplan picking the Tennessee Titans to upset the New England Patriots (http://www.nfltouchdown.com/nfl-week-6-2009-titans-at-patriots-the-1skillz-gameplan/): [...]
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As we are all painfully aware, there was no Dolphins football this weekend. Sometimes, say when your team is riddled with injured players or is playing inconsistently, you can at least appreciate the bye week as a time to heal up or work on some issues. But I hate getting into a bye week when the team is on a roll like the Dolphins are. I know we have some strains and bruises that could stand healing, but this team had finally gotten some momentum going and I kind of worry that this may slow us down a bit. The fact that we are playing the Saints, who so far look unstoppable, probably won't help. . . but I'll get to that later. For now I'd like to take a look at the division, and how we are measuring up so far.
Patriots marching -In first place, we OF COURSE [...]
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The defense looked like they didn't want to win this game. When they made plays, the refs were sure to step in and "correct" it (seriously- that pass interference call on Allen was bush league). If you told me the Dolphins would surrender their first 100+ yard rushing game, would only get to Sanchez one time, had zero turnovers, and had 112 yards in penalties, then I would tell you we lose this game big time. Instead, after 5 lead changes in the 4th quarter, Henne thoroughly outperformed his rookie counterpart and delivered the W in a game that rivals the first time the Phins broke out the Orange Jerseys for excitement and satisfaction.
This defense held:
the Matt Schaub/Andre Johnson combination to 166 yards, a 54.5 completion %, 0 TDs and 1 INT.
Tom [...]
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This wasn't just a win; this was a statement. This game said, "We are not the same old Dolphins." It said, "We will no longer fold in the face of adversity." Most importantly though, it said "so long last place!" With the win on Sunday afternoon, we are now officially in third place in the AFC East with a 1-3 record (and of course, the tie breaker over the Bills), with a chance to climb a little further against the Jets on Monday night.
I felt pretty confident that we could beat the Bills, but I would never have predicted the ferocious beating that actually took place- simply because of all the "firsts" taking place in the game. For example:
It was of course Chad Henne's first NFL start
Henne's first NFL touchdown throw
Brian Hartline's first [...]
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