It’s been a long time since I’ve strained my voice like that. The next door neighbors, who I suspect are up to nefarious things by the way (another story for another day), probably heard my joyful noise. I suffered a nearly dislocated nose when my son ran full speed into my face to tackle me for a hug after Billy Cundiff’s game-tying field goal attempt from 32-yards sailed wide left.
It was worth it.
I’m here to tell you that if you said things like “we didn’t win that, they lost it,” or “I don’t feel like the Patriots deserved to win that one” that you need to check yourself.
The Pats won. There are no style points when it comes to professional football. Teams win or they lose, period. The scoreboard is used to account for the points, not how well a team played.
And for that matter the Patriots defense did play well. In my preview I said that they’d need to hold Ray Rice in check. He had 68 yards and never busted one for more than 12-yards. Vince Wilfork may have had his best game ever as a pro. The man was a beast, especially on that key fourth-and-six play in the fourth quarter that forced a turnover on downs. Sterling Moore made two of the best plays of his life when it mattered most, after getting burnt for that third quarter touchdown.
The only Patriot that stood out for not playing well was the one that you expected would be The Man, because he usually is, Tom Brady. Tommy had a bad day at the office, finishing with a QB rating that looked a lot like what Gronk’s Spanish scores probably were in high school (around 57). He still scored a clutch touchdown, going all Walter Payton over the top to put the Pats ahead for good in the fourth.
Sure, it could have been a lot easier if Brady had hit Gronkowski over the middle in the first quarter for TD, or hadn’t thrown 2 picks (that last one on the bomb after Spikes’ INT was especially infuriating). But the Patriots found a way to win the game, and that’s the bottom line.
If you’re seriously going to spend the next 2 weeks worrying about whether or not the Patriots “deserve” to be in the Super Bowl I feel sorry for you. At least it will help you pass the time while we wait out the rematch of Super Bowl 42.
I’ll be working on a full bag of cough drops, trying to get this beautiful voice primed up for February 5.
The views and opinions in the Enterprise blogs are those of the author and are not neccessarily shared by Falmouth Publishing.
