Pats Game Draws Massive Rating

In a news story that should come as no surprise to anyone who even casually follows football, the Pats/Giants game drew a massive TV rating of 34.5 million viewers on Saturday.  This was the largest viewership for a non-playoff NFL game in a dozen years.  The Pats wrapped up their historic regular season by setting records for regular season wins, points scored in one season by a team, QB touchdown passes for Tom Brady, and TD receptions by a wide receiver for Randy Moss.  Kudos to the Giants for putting up one heckuva fight when they had nothing to play for but their pride, but in the end the Pats were just too much.

This was perhaps the best regular season game I have ever seen.  It has all the feel of a playoff contest, and It went down to the wire.  I still can’t get over how much pride and gamesmanship the Giants displayed by not rolling over for the Pats - even when their playoff fate was already sealed.  Of course, if the Patriots don’t win it all, these records will all be bittersweet.  However, given the impressive display the Pats put on in the Meadowlands - winning after trailing late in the game, on the road - I believe the Pats will be extremely hard to beat at home in the playoffs.

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

Patriots Game to be on Multiple Channels

For all those Patriots fans spread out across the country, there is good news about tomorrow’s game against the New York Giants.  The game, which was originally to only be televised on the NFL Network, will now be simulcast on the NFL Network, NBC and CBS.  The game no one was going to be able to see as of earlier this week will now be impossible to get away from.

While there are lots of little nuances to this story in terms of how it affects the NFL, the NFL Network, and lots of other cable companies and such, none of that has anything to do with the Patriots.  At the end of the day, all this means to your average fan is that they will get to watch history in the making, one way or the other, this Saturday.  And I think that any time more fans are able to see a great game, that’s a very good thing.

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at stubhub.

New England Tops after the Holidays

Happy belated Holidays!  I’ve been out of town celebrating with the family and all that the past few days, and I took some time off from the blogs during this time as well.  I hope everyone reading these blogs had a lovely holiday season of their own, but now with the holidays behind us, it’s time to shift our focus to the next winter holiday - The NFL Playoffs.

The Patriots enter the last week of the NFL regular season at number one in the NFL’s Power Rankings.  The Patriots are only one win away from the first 16-0 regular season in NFL history.  Much has been written about these great Patriots, but the fact remains that this is all for nothing if they do not win the Super Bowl.  And no one knows that more than the Patriots themselves.

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at stubhub. 

 

Patriots Beat ‘72 Dolphins (in Madden)

ESPN.com put together a great little dream match-up pitting the New England Patriots against the 1972 Miami Dolphins.  Those Dolphins were of course the only team in NFL history to run the table all the way to an undefeated season and Lombardi Trophy.  The Patriots, already 14-0, are being crowned the greatest team of all time by everyone and their mother, and with a game this Sunday that almost no one is taking seriously, I guess ESPN.com just thought this was a more compelling game, even if it was only truly happening in our imaginations.

While I see the point and I think the idea of the Pats playing the 1972 Dolphins is great, I’m not sure the Patriots should be looking past anyone right now.  The Dolphins just finally won a game, and while nobody on the outside is taking the game seriously, I can almost guarantee you that the Patriots surely are.  They’re preparing for this game like it’s the Super Bowl, and they will likely come out and try to annihilate the ‘Fins as quickly as possible on their way to yet another victory.  You don’t get to 14-0 by looking past opponents, and I don’t expect the Patriots to make that mistake this Sunday.

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

Patriots Top Power Rankings Again

The ESPN.com Power Rankings are back once again to tell us who is the best and who is decidedly not the best in the National Football League this week. With only a couple of weeks left to go in the season, these Power Rankings are now especially important for two reasons. First of all, they are a good indicator of where each and every one of the playoff-bound teams stands heading into the final push of the season. Secondarily, the Power Rankings allow fans to assess their team’s place among the non-playoff teams. Is your team right there on the verge, in need of just one more piece of the puzzle? Or is your team rebuilding, in dire need of an epic draft or four to get you back into contention?

For the Patriots, the answer is clear and simple. They are by far the best team in football, and no one has figured out how to beat them yet. In fact, the biggest opponent the Patriots have had to overcome so far has been the weather, as only swirling winds and driving snow have been able to slow their brilliant offense up to this point. The Patriots running game and defense have been more than up to the task of picking up the slack as their air game battles the elements, and the Patriots have continued their dominant run. While the teams below them jockey for position, the Pats remain firmly in control leading into the postseason.

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

Patriots to the Pro Bowl

The Pro Bowl ballots are in, the votes have been counted, and the rosters have been announced.  The New England Patriots will field no less than eight players at the Pro Bowl.  The Pats will send fiveoffensive players, and three men from the defensive side of the ball.  The defensive players named to the Pro Bowl for the Vince Wilfork, Mike Vrabel, and Asante Samuel, all starters.  The offensive players named to the team are Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Matt Light, Logan Mankins, and Dan Koppen.  Congratulations to all these players on their selection to the Pro Bowl.

While the offensive playmakers of the Patriots have been lauded all season, their Pro Bowl selections show them to be the complete team they truly are.  The offense has gotten all the publicity, but the fact remains that without the very significant contributions from their defensive playmakers and offensive line, this team’s big guns never even get a chance to fire at all.  The Patriots are now 14-0, and have absolutely no shortage of good news coming their way, but when it rains it pours, and the Pats are in the middle of the perfect storm right now.

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

Which Patriot Will be MVP

ESPN.com has printed up an “end of the season awards” preview, dealing with the offensive MVP, defensive player of the year, coach of the year, rookie of the year, etc.  The funny part is that the two MVP candidates listed by ESPN.com are both Patriots.  The biggest question being posed by the analysts and pundits is “Tom Brady or Randy Moss?”  This is both amazing and hilarious at the same time, considering the neither man even made the Pro Bowl last year.  It’s especially funny when you consider what the Patriots gave up to get Randy Moss in the first place.

This just speaks to how loaded the Patriots are this season.  I personally cannot remember another year in recent memory in which the two most viable MVP candidates were on the same team.  I’ve never seen anything like the 2007 Patriots.  After their most recent win, half the experts are wondering if the team is even remotely beatable, and the other half is claiming they’ll never defeat a true contender in poor weather.  One thing is certain, though.  This Patriots season will be historic, no matter how it ends.  With only two more games until the playoffs, things are about to really heat up .

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

Pats Win SnowGate

In a game I have proclaimed now and forever more to be known as “SnowGate,” the Patriots defeated the New York Jets by a score of 20-10.  The Pats air game was kept in check not by the Jets, but by the elements.  Snow, sleet, freezing rain, and gusting winds kept Tom Brady without a touchdown pass for the first time this season, much to the chagrin of men and women well-ingrained in fantasy football playoffs across the globe (myself included).  However, the Patriots don’t play fantasy football.  They play professional football.  And nobody plays it better than them right now.

At 14-0, the Pats have a real shot to run the table in the regular season.  This win is more disconcerting than any other, for the rest of the league.  After so many weeks of hearing the pundits, analysts, and experts claim the Pats had no running game, the Patriots came out and won a game in horrid weather by keeping the rock in the hands of their running backs.  This battle was fought primarily on the ground out of necessity, and New England was up to the challenge.  While they will be facing much better competition in the playoffs, the Patriots have proven they can win without their air attack, and that must chill the rest of the NFL to the bone.

You can get all your New England  Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

Pats Pre-Game News and Notes

From the “It’s really hard to say anything that hasn’t already been said about the Patriots” file, we have a nuts and bolts article, going over a few different things about the Pats.  First of all, we have Bill Belichick’s praise of nose tackle Vince Wilfork.  Wilfork has been the heart of New England’s 3-4 defense, and since being drafted in 2004, he has grown into exactly the team-first, always-come-prepared type of player that Belichick loves so much.  Beyond that, Rodney Harrison addressed the SpyGate scandal.  He claims that it has not had an effect on his personal relationship with his old D-Coordinator, Mangini.

The article then goes on to cover the impending blizzard that should add and extra wrinkle to the game this Sunday.  While much is being made of the snow storm that should blanket Gillette Stadium this weekend, I maintain that it simply creates a problem for every single player on the field.  The playing field is no less level, but is rather just different.  I believe that in such conditions, the true playmakers will shine.  Expect Brady to still have an amazing day.  Expect Moss to destroy the poor corner assigned to keep up with him in the snow, and expect a game for the ages (as far as blowouts go, this one could be historic).

You can get all you New England Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

Brady Named #1 QB

ESPN.com has created a list of 64 active QBs in the league, ordered from the best to the… well the worst, to be honest.  Either way, the point is that Tom Brady was named the #1 active quarterback in the entire NFL.  While this may not be surprising, given the MVP season he’s having, this is important for many reasons.  First of all, Tom Brady wasn’t voted onto the Pro Bowl team last year.  There were rumblings that he may not be as good as Peyton Manning.  The Colts won the Super Bowl, and then people even began to talk of the Pats dynasty being totally over and done.

Oh what a difference a year makes. After every expert and pundit was proclaiming last year that Peyton Manning had solidified his position as the best QB in all the land, here we are now, anointing Tom Brady the undisputed best active QB in the universe.  I happen to believe that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are likely on just about the same level, in terms of ability, and that comparing them is like apples and oranges.  But this year, Brady is the one making headlines, so in our rapidly-changing world of media, right now Tom Brady is king of the mountain.

You can get all your New England Patriots tickets at www.stubhub.com.

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