It’s the play that every football fan is talking about this Monday morning.
The Situation? Up by 6 with 2:08 left to play in the game. 4th and 2 from your own 28 yard line. Peyton Manning on the sideline, drooling to get the ball like Pavlov’s dog hearing a bell.
The Choices? 1) Punt the ball, giving Manning and the motivated Colts offense 2 minutes to drive approx. 75 yds for the win with 1 time out remaining. …or 2) go for the first down, knowing full well that if you do not make it, the pressure will be put squarely on the shoulders of a defence that had already been devoured by Manning twice in the 4th quarter.
The Decision? Bill Belichek did the best to outsmart himself, and succeeded. the call was a 2 yard out pattern to Kevin Faulk who proceeded to bobble the ball on his way to the ground, leaving the ball, the entire Patriots offense, and Belichek’s ego about 2 feet short of the first down.
The Editorial? I, for one, am in favour of the call. By punting the ball away, every fan of the game knows full well that Manning would have marched down the field and scored anyway. It was the way the momentum of the 4th quarter had gone, and it was the history of the rivalry that told us this. It also told Belichek this, and he knew he needed to go for the heart. Instead, his team whiffed with the dreaded heart punch and the Colts remain undefeated and heading into Baltimore next week.
It’s one of those plays that are completely make-or-break. It’s going for 2 for the win, instead of kicking the XP and going into OT. Hell, the distance was even the same…2 yards. You make it, and you are enshrined as a genius. You miss it, and you are the new Rich Kotite.
Bill Belichek, you are Rich Kotite. For one week, anyways.
Bits and Pieces:
- 5 more picks, Cutler? That is 17 through 9 games. You are a long ways from breaking George Blanda’s single season record of 42, but when is the last time you remember someone throwing 30 in a season? That is 2 games you single handedly lost for the Bears, most likely costing your team a shot at a wild card berth.
- Yup, Denver is a fraud. Ok, maybe I am being a bit harsh, but losing to the Redskins is just downright embarrassing. Chris Simms did his best to make Kyle Orton look like Joe Namath. 3/13, 13 yards and a INT in 1 half of football is somewhere between Jamarcus Russell and Derek Anderson in the spectrum of ineptitude. It’s downright JaBad.
- Anyone catch the TD from Hunter Smith to Mike Sellers? It might go down in history as the slowest developing, yet successful trick play of all time.
- T.O explodes on the sidelines? Just like the man himself, his escapades have become irrelevant, too.
- Is Steven Jackson the best player to ever play for a REALLY crappy team? I dare you to find me a more talented player that plays for a one-win team.
- Yup, the Bengals just swept the season series with the Steelers. I wonder what odds I could have gotten on that in August.
- Sanchez? Sanchiez? Who cares…Take a look at MJD. It’s been said many times before, but that kid can play. Just another ho-hum day of 145 yards and a TD. The knee at the one yard line was a thing of beauty, too. How can you not like this guy!
- Fantasy Player of the week? Sidney Rice. 7-201. The only negative to his game was not getting to pay dirt himself. I guess when your team finishes it off for you, who cares. His year-long coming out party continues.
- Josh Freeman reminds me a little of Byron Leftwich, and a lot of Vince Young. Leftwich for his size, his (lack of) speed, and his delivery. VY because of the fact he give his team a chance to win every week, even with the lack of talent around him. This kid could be a real player in a few years.
- Oh Matty Ice…. Your nickname is now a description of how you have been playing lately….Ice Cold. Just over 50% completion percentage, and 2 costly picks. Yikes, if M. Turner misses any time (and if the diagnosis of a high ankle sprain is right, it could be a few games) this team is in deep trouble.
- KC-Oak. Did Anyone outside of the Black Hole watch this game? Me neither.
- Philly and Dallas both had a chance to pull away from the idle Giants this week. Instead, the Cowboys coughed up a fur ball in Green Bay, and the Eagles choked on it in San Diego. Say it with me: The NFC East is OVER-RATED!
- Lastly, the Seahawks have one positive that came out of another disappointing game in the desert: Justin Forsett proved he is the man at RB for this team. 17-123 and a TD against a pretty stout run Def. Tack on another 26 yards in the air, and you have your man in Seattle. I know it, and you know it. Now, if only we could make Jim Mora Jr. know it.
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Wasn't Kevin Dyson the only receiver taken before Randy Moss in the draft. I'm just saying….
By the way, before you ask who the Colts took, it was a little known quarterback named Peyton Manning.
Barry Sanders won only 5 games a few times with the Lions. I'd say he was a better player on an equally sh!tty team.
Poor Kevin Faulk. Kevin Dyson would have got that extra yard !