January 1, 2010 by
Law Murray |
1SKILLZ Gameplan,
2009 NFL Week 17,
Andre Johnson,
Bernard Pollard,
Bill Belichick,
Gary Kubiak,
Houston Texans,
LaMarr Woodley,
Matt Schaub,
New England Patriots,
NFL playoffs,
Pro Bowl,
Randy Moss,
Reliant Stadium,
Tom Brady,
Wes Welker
The first game in the year 2010 will be the last game of the regular season as the 8-7 Houston Texans host the 10-5 New England Patriots on Sunday, January 3, at Reliant Stadium. While the Patriots have locked up the AFC East already, this happens to be the biggest game in Houston Texans franchise history. The Texans still have a chance to make the AFC playoffs, but they do not control their own destiny. In addition to a win, the Texans need at least two losses from these three teams: the Baltimore Ravens (at Oakland), Denver Broncos (hosting Kansas City), and New York Jets (hosting Cincinnati). I don't like the Texans' chances, but I'm not here to talk about the Texans' playoff hopes, just their matchup with the Patriots. Now, the Patriots also have something to play for, as [...]
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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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December 26, 2009 by
Law Murray |
Andy Katzenmoyer,
Bill Belichick,
Drew Bledsoe,
Kevin Faulk,
New England Patriots,
Pete Carroll,
Spygate,
Team of the Decade,
Tedy Bruschi,
Terry Glenn,
Tom Brady,
Willie McGinest,
Y2K Decade
With a week left in the Y2K decade, there have been many who wish to ponder which team should stand as the representative of the NFL team of the 2000s. I honestly don't feel like writing that article right now, at least not until this season ends. What I will say now is that unless the Pittsburgh Steelers win this year's Super Bowl (and call me crazy, but I think they will if they get that Wild Card), no team will have as many Super Bowl wins in this decade as the Patriots' three (2001, 2003-2004). Even since then, the Patriots have defined this decade as the team to beat. QB Tom Brady (6th round draft pick by New England in 2000) and head coach Bill Belichick (hired from New York Jets in 2000) didn't lose a playoff game until 2005. The Indianapolis Colts finally won a playoff [...]
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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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After the New England Patriots’ 35-34 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football, I said this about Belichick’s plan going forward in how he [...]
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Sunday afternoon marks the 6-3 New England Patriots' first divisional rematch of the 2009 season when they host the 4-5 New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. It is a pivotal game for both teams, as the Jets won the Week 2 matchup 16-9 at the Meadowlands, their first home victory against the Patriots since 2000. If the Patriots lose this week to the Jets and next week to the New Orleans Saints, and the Jets defeat the Carolina Panthers next week, the Jets will reclaim the AFC East division lead they held to start the season until their Week 6 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The moods are flipped compared to when these two teams played for the first time this season. The Jets are coming off a [...]
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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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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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October 10, 2009 by
Law Murray |
1SKILLZ Gameplan,
2009 NFL Week 5,
AFL Legacy Game,
Bill Belichick,
Denver Broncos,
Josh McDaniels,
knowshon moreno,
Kyle Orton,
Mike Nolan,
New England Patriots
A big late afternoon game this Sunday, October 11 as the 4-0 Denver Broncos host the 3-1 New England Patriots at INVESCO Field at Mile High. It is an AFL Legacy game, meaning there may be some scary colors being worn. This is exciting; but this game has some legit notability to it. The most obvious is that Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels was on the Patriots coaching staff under Patriots head coach Bill Belichick from 2001-2008, most recently as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach. McDaniels has seven former Patriots on his roster (RB Lamont Jordan, WR Jabar Gaffney, TE Daniel Graham, OT Brandon Gorin, G Russ Hochstein, DE Le Kevin Smith, and LS Lonie Paxton), and a major reason former Broncos QB Jay Cutler is in Chicago is former Patriots QB Matt Cassel, now in Kansas [...]
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It was a gloomy skied afternoon at Gillette Stadium Sunday as the New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons 26-10. The win moves Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's record after following a loss to 22-1. But the game still had a weird vibe, as if the Patriots were playing against the Patriots. That's because the Falcons' offense had the ball only 20:11, and the Patriots offense featured some great things (balance!) and some not so great things (Joey Galloway). On the surface, they played a great game and won. The Patriots coaching staff came through with a winning game plan on both sides of the ball with very few mistakes (no turnovers, two penalties). From an optimist's view, the missed opportunities of the Patriots big play passing offense (especially Brady to Moss [...]
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