New England Patriots Links 10/26/09 - Patriots Beat Bucs, Win at Wembley 35-7

And more good things happened, more sunshine, puppies, love, babies and gumdrops 1st Downs, Touchdowns and wins.

Gotta say, Tom likes his blanky. It makes him feel all secure.

At least the wife and kids’ teams aren’t in a bye, so there will be some reason to cheer on Sunday. Then there’s always division rivals to cheer against, except the Dolphins-Jets game. Cheering FOR the Dolphins, because it is AGAINST the Jets. And a tie seems quite unlikely, the Jets are closer, and well, they’re the Jets – I dislike them more than any division rival, and more than most teams in general.

Carolina stood a good chance to beat Buffalo, until Delhomme started handing the football to them in bucketloads. My middle son, and Panther fan, is major league bummed. He was hoping the Jets-Oakland blowout, would cause CBS to switch to his game instead. They didn’t and once again, it’s stupid CBS. I warned him, that I won’t stand for any Jets cheering in the house. If he’s going to say words like that, he’s going to have to go outside. I know he didn’t mean it, it was part of his Panther frustration. Stuff happens.

My wife’s Steelers made Favre eat grass and cashed his turnovers into TDs – all good, since I didn’t get to see the Pats. I doubt it will do anything to slow the Favre love on TV, but it’s a start. I really have nothing against the Vikings, except I think Chilly is an idiot, but I really can’t stand Favre anymore. I used to like the guy, but now I am sick of seeing him, sick of him taking credit (or credit being given to him) for the play of his teammates, and sick of the prospect of facing another will he / won’t he off-season. My oldest son, despite his protestations to the contrary is a Vikings fan (When you say, “Did you see how we did?”, it’s a dead give away). I’m sorry for him, but I don’t want Favre to do well at all. I want him to go far, far away. I’ll support my son in other ways, without supporting Favre. He’s 22, and parenting has its limits.

Youngest son has an Eagles game tonight (he thanks me whenever we give them a cornerback). It’s against the Redskins, so they should win. After that fiasco in Oakland, all bets are off. Hopefully, for his sake, they actually show up for this game. That is the frustration that is McNabb, and Reid. You know your quarterback doesn’t have his head in the game when he takes a time-out that you don’t have. Of course, your coach shouldn’t have been getting rid of time-outs like Halloween candy either. When they click, they’re as good as any team in the league. Then you get a game like that, and they’re strictly bottom tier. Kids have to learn.

There are still three undefeateds. Miami did a good job against the Saints, and set down the blueprint for every one else (including us) to follow. We still have the Colts on the schedule, but there is nothing we can do about the Broncos. We had our shot. The weight of being undefeated is difficult to bear, and most locker rooms break under the strain. Of the three, I give the Broncos to best chance of weathering it. Manning can focus through it, but I’m not sure the rest of the organization can. Brees is focused, but their organization has never weathered anything like this. McDaniels has been through this before as have some of the guys. I think that experience will help them focus. After that, is it just performing. We’re a long, long way from a repeat of 2007. Or even a repeat of the Titans last year – see what happened to them.

Also, I don’t know how McGowan is in coverage. I’ve just seen him wreak havoc and force fumbles with his hits. Possibly move him to LB, like we wanted to do with Tank, and allow Sanders/Springs play cover Safety? McGowan has a nose for getting the ball and maybe putting him at LB will give him a better chance of getting involved on more plays? I know he’s WAY too light for LB, but perhaps they’ll keep him involved more with the short/middle range plays? Play him closer to the line?

And in Reiss’s article:

Safety Brandon McGowan has dropped down to the box against Winslow at times, playing a linebacker-type role.

Those are the little things that make me happy :)

…on how Cincinnati’s running up the score on the Bears is going to be overlooked? Some Yahoo! (literally) wrote an article about how BB was getting revenge on Jeffy from Tennessee for his comments. Is there going to be an article about Benson bashing the Bears?