I still can't believe the Patriots lost the Super Bowl. Leading up to the game, you kept hearing how an 18-0 season doesn't mean anything if they lose the SB and the talking heads were absolutely right ... no one is going to really remember the Patriots' 2007 season now. Yeah, Patriots Nation will, but the shine is definitely off of the apple.
Speaking of the apple, my cousin Joe, a hard core NY Giants fan, emailed me yesterday (I was surprised it took that long) to gloat (albeit gently) and my wife had a great reply, "(This) must be what it has felt like the past few years with Yankees doing so poorly...." LOL ... nice! Yes, Joe is a NY Spankees fan, too.
As badly as it feels for the Patriots to lose, I can be glad for the Giants because a player like DE Michael Strahan, a 15-year vet, finally has the Lombardi hardware to add to his impressive resume. I read the other day that he had actually considered retiring at the end of last season.
In thinking about SB XLII, I had come to the same conclusion as my friend Kevin (he beat me in posting it to his blog), that if the Patriots had won, this would have only fueled the "cheaters" fire even more, so maybe, in a very strange way, it's almost better that the Patriots didn't win ... almost ... OK, not really.
Some random thoughts:
- Now I know how Rams fans felt after Super Bowl XXXVI when the Patriots (two-touchdown underdogs) beat the Rams by three points.
- I will never forget the look on Junior Seau's face as he walked off of the field. I really hope he doesn't retire because the guy deserves to win a Super Bowl after the career he's had.
- Needless to say, the Patriots I'm sure will be focusing on upgrading their defense in the off season. Let's face it, New England's D line is getting older and needs new blood. The offense is fine ... I'm sure the draft and off-season signings will heavily emphasize the defense.
- It's a little thing, but I'm still really bummed that there likely won't be a DVD about the Patriots' season. I could see NFL films releasing one because the Patriots are the only team to ever go 18-0 (there was a DVD about their 21-game winning streak a few ago, after all). There were so many great moments from this season, it would be great to get them on a DVD.
- I didn't realize until this week how the Patriots losing would affect my daily habits. No, I don't mean personal hygiene. The first section of the Boston Globe I look at is the Sports section ... not so this week. I just can't bring myself to open the pages. Same with espn.com ... just can't do it.
- Still trying to figure out what the hell happened to the Patriots offensive line. They were so dominant all season and the one game in which they fall apart is the Super Bowl.
- The biggest shock for me was the fact that the Patriots didn't adjust at half time. If nothing else, a Belichick-coached team always makes the adjustments it needs to make at half time. Not this time. Bizarre.
- Pitchers and catchers report in about another week or so.
1 comment:
After the Chargers game Pats players finally started talking about "ever" and "undefeated" and "doesn't mean anything unless".
All season long they had focused on "one game at a time", and "We're just trying to win football games".
With one game to go they started looking at 19-0, and put too much pressure on themselves. I think if they had said, "We don't give a damn about 19-0, we're just trying to have fun and win the game", they would have put less pressure on themselves.
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