Hegemony restored

Thanks to a field goal and a safety, of all things, by Ty Warren following Faulk's catch. In postgame press conferences Bill Belichick actually seemed in good spirits, joking with reporters and actually full-on laughing at one point.

I want to point out, as the talking heads are already ranting about it, that when the Patriots were booed coming off the field in the first half it was because they weren't going for it with little time remaining in the second quarter, not because of how they'd played overall. If they were going to get booed for playing poorly, it would've started on the first play of the game. I mean, yeah, the fans in this town are a little on edge thanks to the baseball team, but give us a little credit.

One of said talking heads was also gloating on his predicted final score of 17-16 being closest to correct. He was doing a nice little smug jig on the postgame show about how the Patriots are missing some personnel, and we should all just "get used to this." WTF. I am the freakin' media, okay, just in another field, and I cannot stand the sports media in this town. I understand not wanting to appear as if they're in the teams' back pockets, but there's a difference between that and gloating at misfortune.

Or gnitpicking about details in order to cling to one's talking points for dear life. Said talking head, I think it was Michael Felger, kept repeating that the Patriots need Ben Watson to be a special player for them without Deion Branch, and that he was not a special player today.

Jesus Christ. In the aftermath of that first play, I didn't even think we'd win. The Pats have now won 6 home openers in a row. They've still won three of the last five Super Bowls. They've gotten a crucial first win off the ground against a team that was clearly playing with no holds barred right out of the gate. If there's anything you can fault them for, it's being knocked back on their heels a little bit in the first half. But that Buffalo team was playing to win today, from the very first second. You have to give them credit. And give the Patriots even more credit for still beating them, despite how likely an upset looked heading into halftime.

Yet Felger's entire analysis is that "The Patriots were only two points better than a bad Buffalo team today." I really wonder if he was watching the same game I was.

See what happens when, because of a desire to watch Bill Belichick's press conference, I allow even two minutes of the pundits to sink in? This is why I normally avoid them.

P.S. My heart goes out to Trent Green and his family. Nobody deserves what happened to him today. Here's hoping he has a speedy recovery.

P.P.S. Troy Aikman and Joe Buck keep calling Deion Branch's name during the Jacksonville-Dallas game on FOX, but I can't find anything about our Deion Branch going to the Cowboys. Are Aikman / Buck just messing up? Or did something happen here?

Comments

[Couch Potato]

A win's a win and all the glitches in the first half are just grist for the practice field mill.

I started to say that the sports media don't realize that it's the score at the end of the game that matters but that's not entirely true. They know what matters but choose to focus on the negative aspects of the game only. To me, that's what makes their behavior so repulsive.

[ChrisClark]

They were talking about Deon Grant, a DB for the Jags. I remember doing a double-take everytime I heard his name in a game a couple of years ago.

[ChrisClark]

Ah, but now we know where Deion really was traded: The Seahawks.

This front-office of this football team disgusts me right now. We refuse to pay Adam, we cut ties with Willie Mac, and now we refuse to pay Deion. Like Maroney now kids? Just wait five years (or whenever his contract is up) and he'll be gone, too.

Arghhh.... it's been a rough couple of weeks at work and this bad news was just more than I could stomach. Is there anybody on this team besides Tommy and Seymour who they actually value and are willing to pay?

[beth]

remember lawyer milloy? how about terry glenn? or ty law? curtis martin? antawain smith? what about jermaine wiggins? miss them? players come and go. that's the nature of the beast.

to your more specific points: the rationale for adam is a) he's old b) he's been hurt (last year, and this season already) and c) the kicker should not be one of the most crucial, high-paid players on a well-constructed team.

willie mcginest is OLD. old old old old. the downside on him is growing with each passing week.

also, if maroney wants $20 million against the cap after five years and he's not worth that, i *hope* he's gone.

finally, the way this team has won the championships they have is that at the end of the day, no player is bigger than the team--period, end of story, no exceptions. hence the branch situation. and the lawyer milloy situation. and the willie macginest situation. it's all a part of this team's culture, the culture that has brought them success. i really don't know what else branch could have been expecting to happen--or anyone else, for that matter.

[ChrisClark]

I know, I know... I was an idiot for being hopeful that they'd work this out. But the team is stupid themselves if they think they'll get anywhere this season with the receiving corps they have now. If they knew they weren't going to get Branch back then why didn't they go out and find somebody to take his place?

Oh, and I don't miss Lawyer, Terry, Curtis, Antwain, or Jermaine. I do miss Ty Law quite a bit.

[beth]

If they knew they weren't going to get Branch back then why didn't they go out and find somebody to take his place?

maybe they're going to?

[ChrisClark]

Maybe... I don't know. I'm sorry for my random outburst. I've just been having a really bad day.

I was actually really pleased with how things turned out on Sunday. They may have sucked in a couple of bits of the game, but they won and that's what's important. I love Watson, I love the Dillon-Faulk-Maroney triumvirate in the backfield... I just wish we had a receiver (aside from old reliable -- the key word slowly becoming old instead of reliable -- Troy Brown).

[Sammy]

Is it just me or are these types of stories just so mundane and a distraction from focusing on winning football games? Is it the media just having to produce stories so their bosses are happy to fill the paper, or is this really news? This story, plus the other day's news about the spy vs spy signing just to get into the Bills' playbook...are the coaches really investing that much energy into that type of thing? I doubt it.
[from CNN/SI today]
In addition to the tampering charges against the Jets, the Patriots intend to collect the full amount of fines that Deion Branch totaled during his holdout, a figure that tops $600,000. The Patriots say that while the Jets had permission to negotiate a contract with Branch, any trade talks were to be solely between the teams. They claim that because Branch and his representatives had knowledge of what was being offered in a trade, the Patriots' negotiating position was compromised.
-- Boston Globe