We start the week with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and his visit with “The Big Show” on WEEI in Boston. He talks about the game with the Jets and the upcoming game against Miami.
With the win the Patriots are just the second team in the 88-year history of the NFL to start a season 14-0 joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Those two teams plus the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers are the only teams to win 14 consecutive games in one season. Pittsburgh reeled off the 14 wins after losing the second game of season and finished 15-1. Miami only played a 14 game schedule in 1972.
Someone alert Mercury Morris, the Patriots just paid the toll on the turnpike and are entering the neighborhood.
Depending on who you talked to after the game on Sunday the weather was either great or lousy. Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas loved it saying:
“I thought it was great,” he joked. “Didn’t you see all those bikinis out there?”
While the New York Jets kicker Mike Nugent after he missed a late 35-yard field goal attempt said:
“The wind was going everywhere the entire game and toward their bench. I had to change direction, and on that field goal I didn’t change enough.”
Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker went over 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career while Randy Moss went over 1,300 for the year and 12,000 for his career.
The Patriots have been absolutely incredible this year in red zone offense. They have put points on the board 38 times in 39 trips into the red zone this season. Their only red zone failure was a missed Stephen Gostkowski 32-yard field goal attempt against the Philadelphia Eagles. Gostkowski has missed two other FGA’s this season but the team had not entered the red zone.
Wide receiver Kelly Washington has been very good this year on special teams. And Sunday against the Jets was no different as he blocked a Ben Graham punt just before halftime that led to a Patriots touchdown by Laurence Maroney. Washington, who came over from the Cincinnati Bengals in the offseason, got New England’s first blocked punt since 1999 when Larry Whigham blocked one against Philadelphia. Washington also downed a punt at the Jets 3 yard line after Willie Andrews kept the ball out of the end zone.
Washington on his blocked punt:
“It wasn’t just me. I might have blocked the punt, but there were other guys around that got their man and made it easy for me to block the punt. I think, overall, we had a good performance as a corps on special teams.”
It is very possible the New York Giants could be fighting for their playoff lives and head coach Tom Coughlin’s job come Week 17. And if that’s the case I don’t think they’re coming out alive.
There’s been a lot of speculation about whether or not Belichick will rest his starters the next two weeks. Knowing they have a bye week between Week 17 and their first playoff game I highly doubt it. Belichick and these guys play to win the game which has been very evident this season. They’re not saying it but I think 16-0 is a big deal to the coach and the players.
How important is that bye? The Patriots have had a playoff bye four times since the current playoff system was adopted in 1990. All four times the team went to the Super Bowl.
Despite a 104 yard performance on 26 carries (4.0 ypc) on Sunday several media members are still all over Maroney. Tom E. Curran says “he runs like a guy trying to get through a subway door, he’s always running into people” and Mike Felger questions his run vision saying that “a lot of times there a big cut back lanes that Maroney fails to see.”
This week the Patriots have the #5 pick in the 2008 draft courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers. There has been some talk about trading the pick for either an established player and another 1st round pick or for multiple draft picks. While some of you are going to sit here and say they’re crazy I need to remind you this is why this team is constantly at or near the top of the league every season and is a bona fide dynasty. They know how to manage personnel, the salary cap and the draft like no other franchise.
