That was a great game, and Patriots nation should be proud of the make-up win played out in front of Monday Night Football’s national audience. To those who would rain on their parade (i.e. Dan Shaughnessey) by saying New England looked so good mainly because Denver looked so bad, I say that’s a load of hooey!

If any opponent plays lousy, a good team takes advantage of the opportunities handed to them, and it results in a lopsided blow-out like what occurred last night. The Broncos rolled over? So what! That doesn’t mean the only way we can win is against teams that will cough up the ball and commit as many penalties as they did.

Did Matt Cassel throw bullets with surgical precision all night? Nope. Did the o-line in general, and Billy Yates in particular, resemble “the invisible man” on occasion? Yep. The Pats are a work in progress, and will have to work even harder now that team leader Rodney Harrison is out for the season. But I went to bed smiling last night and refuse to give up on them.

…can’t end soon enough for this fan. I was lucky to be in attendance on Monday, but even from the upper deck (Hello Section 335!), I could tell those two were a trainwreck. That said, MC’s learning curve is still rather flat. He holds the ball way too long, and still seems to doubt what his eyes are telling him. The near-interception at the goal-line (overturned after review) was a prime example as he double-pumped on the open Faulk (the only receiver in the area).

Noted: Stephen Neal got some PT late in the game and looked pretty solid on his run-blocking (also possible to see from the coach’s angle viewing of the nosebleed seats).

One of the challenges for this team, I think, is that they lack a true #2 receiver. There’s no other deep threat than Moss, so there’s always the potential of safety help. (Which reminds me—there were a couple of times Cassel had Randy in single coverage and simply didn’t see it.) Wes is great, but he’ll never be a threat to stretch the field.

I have to agree w/MPF: I did not expect that. But that seems to be the league this year: mediocrity is the new parity. The Titans are the only team that seems to be playing with any real conviction.

… that one of the greatest improvements this week was in the pass pressure that we generated. It is the amount of time that qbs have had to throw on us that has made our secondary look so incompetent. Ellis Hobbs and Deltha O’Neal are really good players and our safeties are fine. Any qb will nail passes with 9 seconds to throw and they’ve had as much time as they needed except for Monday night. So that was good to see. Somebody get us one of those padded thingies as it might be more effective at blocking than our offensive line though. As always, GO PATS!

First off, congrats on the win. You whipped us good. We definitely had more than our share of bad breaks in the first quarter, but the Pats took advantage and did not let up all night. A well deserved victory, but one I hope the Broncos get to avenge in the playoffs.

I came over here to ask a question, but saw this post and had to comment as well. 39F is a warm autumn day in Winnipeg. I was there for a funferal and it was -40 to -50 the entire time. Granted, that was a particularly cold spell and they had to close schools because the diesel gas in the buses was turning to jelly. But if you make it to adulthood and stay in Winnipeg (instead of running away to somewhere warmer like my mom and aunt) you can handle pretty much any kind of cold weather, especially if the water is not cold enough to freeze.

Anyhow, now that I’ve bored you with that, my question is this: Coach Belichick is “infamous” for his short, terse post game handshakes but he and Shanahan had a decent chat after the game on Monday Night. Was that a sign of the respect the two have for each other? Or is Belichick’s reputation overblown by the media (and what a shock that would be)? Or some combination of the two?