Six Downs of Doom

Throwing 50 touchdowns isn’t as easy as it looks. Just ask Tom Brady whose dream season has stalled of late. Don’t misunderstand me, the record is not a big deal. As we’ve said all season, if Brady breaks it then he deserves congratulations. But it wasn’t a big deal when Manning broke it (except to ESPN) and it won’t be a big deal if Brady does it (except to ESPN). That said, it won’t mean quite as much if Brady needs the 16th game to do it. Stay tuned.

I’m not going to comment or whine much about last night’s Patriots – Ravens tilt. Improbable ending. You can’t give any team six downs to get 10 yards. I also thought the flag on fourth and five was a questionable call at best. The last two weeks proved that the Pats are as beatable as any of the contending teams, especially outdoors. The D looked iffy. At one point, McGahee had Junior Seau turned completely around, facing the end zone. Seau looked like an elderly person lost in the mall. It was precious. Their day is coming. The potential for comedy just keeps going up.

I want to take a moment to point out that DZ and I were both shut out of our Fantasy Football playoffs thanks to the Ravens mammoth choke job in the fourth quarter. I had Kyle Boller and he had Willis McGahee. The Ravens got ultra-conservative and it cost them the game and us the playoffs. I ended up about 10 points short of the total points tiebreaker, while DZ needed less than 1 point more last night from McGahee. Unreal. On some level, though, I don’t feel sorry for him. He was rooting for the Patriots to score that last touchdown so McGahee could get some garbage yards on the ensuing desperation drive. Just shameful.

DZ comments: Dr. Z had a good breakdown of this game. It pretty much mirrors exactly what I was writing Demond last night:

DZ (11:41:44 PM): it was weird on that drive
DZ (11:41:50 PM): EVERY TIME they blitzed
DZ (11:41:52 PM): it was inc
DZ (11:41:59 PM): every time they rushed 3 it was a completion
DZ (11:42:11 PM): it made no sense why they insisted on rushing 3

Last night’s game was entertaining, but didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. Again, style points don’t count, only wins. It’ll be interesting to see if the Ravens get up for two straight games, or come out flat on Sunday night. Should be a great game.