The NFL announced on Monday afternoon that the New England Patriots game in Buffalo against the Bills on November 18th has been moved from a 1 p.m. kickoff to an 8:15 p.m. kickoff. The moved also bumps the game from the CBS TV schedule and gives it to NBC who owns the rights to the prime time Sunday evening games.
This will mark a stretch of three consecutive weeks in which the Patriots will play in prime time. They will play the Pittsburgh Steelers at home on Sunday November 25th and the Baltimore Ravens on the road on Monday December 3rd.
The game between the Chicago Bears and the Seattle Seahawks, which was supposed to the Sunday prime time game on November 18th, has been moved to a 4:15 p.m. kickoff and will be shown on the FOX network.
Per the NFL TV contract this is the first week of flex scheduling which allows NBC, the network with the prime time Sunday game, the chance to change the previously scheduled match up for a potentially better game. It also allows FOX and CBS, the non-prime time networks, the chance to protect a number of games each week from the flex scheduling and it only allows teams to be flexed into prime time once a season.
Here is head coach Bill Belichick’s weekly appearance on WEEI’s “The Big Show”. The people interviewing the coach are Glenn Ordway, Pete Sheppard and former NFL players Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie. DeOssie was a linebacker under Belichick with the New York Giants.
The Patriots are expected to remove wide receiver Troy Brown from the PUP list making him eligible to practice with the team. They have three weeks to activate him, place him on IR for the season or release him. If they activate him someone from the 53-man roster will have to be cut.
Wide receiver Chad Jackson and cornerback Eddie Jackson have been practicing for three weeks and either need to be activated this week or placed on the IR ending their season.
In case you were wondering why Tom Brady was yelling at an official on the final plays of the game Sunday in Indianapolis here is the story. Colts linebacker Gary Brackett was trying to simulate the offensive cadence in order to draw the team offsides. Brady was upset because the officials could hear him and didn’t throw a flag. This is the same offense that rankled Baltimore head coach iBrian Billick in Week 2 when the Jets attempted it against the Ravens. See the Colts aren’t so lily white and legal themselves.
For all the soccer moms whining about the Patriots running up the score of their games on innocent, out manned opponents, lets take a look around the NFL from Sunday. With the Dallas Cowboys winning by 25 points with ten minutes to play against a Philly team that averages less than 20 points per game they still had all of their starters on the field. With Detroit pummeling Denver by 41 points they are still throwing the ball late in the game and kicked a field goal on fourth down instead of trying to turn the ball over on downs and run out the clock. And with Minnesota killing San Diego late in the fourth quarter the Vikings kept their top running back on the field so he could try to rack up the last 35 yards or so he needed to set a single game NFL rushing record. Funny thing though, I didn’t hear one word nationally by John Clayton, Mark Schlereth and the other soccer moms about sportsmanship and running it up.
“If you are among those who, after the Spygate scandal, questioned the validity of their championships, questioned their ability, or if you’re even just on their schedule, prepare to be crushed or do something about it.” – NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long.
Howie Long you are my hero.
Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated writes this about running up the score:
As for hanging up 48 points on the Cowboys, 49 on the Dolphins and 52 on the Redskins, it’s pretty safe to say that all of these decisions were influenced by Spygate and the Patriots’ sense that the rest of the world is a bug on their windshield.
By the way, I don’t have a problem with the Patriots running up scores. Number one, it’s professional football; go cry on somebody else’s shoulder if you can’t hold a good team under 50. Number two, it’s great theater watching the likes of Joe Gibbs brush off Belichick in the post-game handshake. You can have parity; I’ll take a powerhouse like the Patriots and I’ll take them even more willingly when they’re nasty.
Don’t forget while you’re here at Sox & Dawgs to vote in our poll about the Patriots going unbeaten. Several national writers and analyst are also on the bandwagon and are saying that the Pats will finish 16-0.
After the Patriots have meetings on Tuesday they will have the next five days off before returning to work on Monday to prepare for the Buffalo Bills.
Quarterback Tom Brady set a NFL record yesterday by throwing 3 or more TD passes in 9 consecutive games.
Of Brady’s 25 late game winning drives 19 have come in the regular season, 6 in the playoffs and of those 3 were in Super Bowls. No QB in NFL history has led his team on three 4th quarter game winning drives for the Super Bowl title.
Take a second and read that last sentence again. Not too shabby for a 6th round draft pick.
Wide receiver Randy Moss had 145 yards receiving Sunday in Indy. It was the 52nd game of his career with 100 or more yards receiving. He is third all-time in NFL history behind Jerry Rice (76) and Marvin Harrison (56).
Three times the Patriots have played in a game between teams at least 5-0. They have won all three times beating the 5-0 NY Jets in 2004, Dallas (5-0) and Indianapolis (7-0) in 2007.
When running back Kevin Faulk scored the game-winning touchdown against the Colts on Sunday he became the 18th Patriot to score a TD this season and none of them are named Laurence Maroney.
Brady to Moss for 55 yards was the 2nd longest pass completion for the team this year trailing only the 69-yard scoring strike to Donte` Stallworth at Dallas.
More on Brady: With the win on Sunday he is now 27-5 in games decided by four points or less. He is now 11-1 in domes.
“I definitely think we showed the country that they’re beatable,” Indy defensive end Dwight Freeney said afterward in the subdued home locker room. “Compared to what they were winning games by, 52-7 and all that (expletive), this was a much different story. At least we showed there is a formula to beat them. Now we’ve got to figure out how to finish them off.”
Hey Dwight I don’t mean to nit-pick here but YOU LOST.
The game between the Patriots and the Colts drew the highest regular season Sunday afternoon game rating in 20 years with a 22.5 rating and a 39 share.
NFL Network will re-air Sunday’s Patriots-Colts showdown on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. on its “Replay” show, which condenses choice games down to 90 minutes. Unfortunately I do not get the NFL Network and that will be a problem as the seasons final game against the NY Giants is on the NFLN.
