Monday, January 17, 2005

Who's Your Daddy?

This is a phrase that has become pretty common to hear around New England. Though, up until the Patriots domination of the Colts in Sunday's playoff game, it was not always a positive phrase. It was made famous by one Pedro Martinez talking about the hated New York Yankees, but it has been perfected by Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Because you see, even when Pedro decided to share with the world that the Yankees were his daddy, it wasn't true. It was evident during Game 6 of the ALCS in Yankee Stadium that Pedro might have been, well, lying. He might just have been engaging in a little bit more of the propaganda war with the media that he has become so adept at doing.


But make no mistake, now in New England, it is not a propaganda war anymore. It is merely the truth. The New England Patriots are Peyton Manning's daddy. No matter what he does, the poor guy just can't seem to beat Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Granted, the game was outdoors, it was snowing, and it wasn’t 72 degrees like it would have been in the RCA dome, but not all of the victories have come in the cozy confines of Foxboro. Twice the Colts have gotten a shot at the Patriots at the RCA Dome in their last six meetings, and twice they have come out with nothing to show for it.

But as the Patriots players will tell you, the weather and the stadium are nothing but excuses. And excuses are something that the Patriots do not know very well. They play football, end of story. It didn't matter that all the football minds at ESPN and The Sporting News and everywhere else picked the Patriots to finally be exposed. It didn't matter that the Colts were supposed to run over their depleted defense with their record setting offense. It didn't matter that the Patriots were missing both their starting cornerbacks, including one of the best cover corners in the NFL, and Pro Bowl defensive lineman Richard Seymour.

All that mattered was that the New England Patriots were the better team on Sunday. It was a chess match between two very well coached teams, it was beauty on the field and for one team, it was a complete domination. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have cemented their places in history by now, but they are far from done. With the victory today, Bill Belichick coached teams are a gaudy 8-1 in postseason play. Vince Lombardi is 9-1. Read that again, Belichick is two victories away, from compiling a better playoff record than the very man the Super Bowl Trophy is named after. And Tom Brady, well he didn't throw 49 touchdown passes this season, but he's got other numbers that I'm sure make Peyton Manning jealous. Two Super Bowl rings, two Super Bowl MVP's, and 7 playoff victories without a loss. With a win next Sunday over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tom Brady would break Troy Aikman's record for most playoff victories to start a career without a loss since the merger.

But let's not forget the rest of the team. The QB always gets the glory and the girl, that’s just how it goes. And in New England, the coach gets a lot of the credit. But don't take anything away from the players either. Sure the Patriots aren't sending 9 players to the Pro Bowl this year like the Eagles. And the general consensus is that they play a better team game than any other, well, team in the NFL. But these guys are good. From Tedy Bruschi recovering two fumbles, to Rodney Harrison icing the game with an interception in the final seconds to Corey Dillon pounding out 144 yards on the ground at a clip of 6.3 yards per carry, the Patriots were the better team. The players are more than the inanimate objects analysts and writers have made them out to be. They are not mindless bodies that Belichick sends out to fulfill his mission. These are 53 football players who simply played better football than the 53 players on the other side of the field.

The critics might have been right about one thing on Sunday though. There was a dominating offensive performance turned in. Only, it wasn't by the Colts. The fourth highest scoring offense in NFL history was held to three points on Sunday. A team that scored almost at will during the regular season, averaging over 32 points per game, could come up with nothing more than a field goal in the end. And it wasn’t for lack of chances. The Patriots controlled the ball for nearly two thirds of the game, but during the regular season, the Colts only averaged about six minutes more of offensive possession because they scored so quickly. In fact, each team got ten chances with the ball on Sunday; the Colts simply couldn’t get anything done when given their chances. The dominating offense on this day came from the side of the field nobody outside of the Patriots locker room expected it to come from. The offense sputtered in the first quarter, with drives of fifteen and negative two yards to start the game, it looked as though the critics might be right. Then, they kicked it into gear before the end of the first half and engineered field goal drives of 78 and 48 yards. In the second half, it was more of the same. Only the end result this time was touchdowns. With 88 and 94 yard touchdown drives in the third and fourth quarters respectively, the Patriots offense ate away 15 minutes and 21 seconds off the clock. Or, just over a full quarter of football.

The victory was a dominating performance in every facet of the game by the New England Patriots. With no Richard Seymour to anchor the defensive line, and no Ty Law and Tyrone Poole to cover the Colts prolific receivers, it was no worries for the Patriots. The linebacker corps of Tedy Bruschi, Roman Phifer, Mike Vrabel, and Willy McGinest simply went to work like they had all season long. They hit receivers, knocked them off their routes, they confused Peyton and the pressured him all at the same time, they forced fumbles, and recovered them, and they anchored a stifling defense all game long. Walking off the field after the game ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio asked Bruschi about rattling the Colts early in the game. To which the usually soft spoken leader replied, “Rattled them early? We rattled them all day. Does it really matter? How many points they score? Three? Come on now.” And that was the story of the game.

Maybe one of these days Peyton Manning will play in a Super Bowl. Maybe one day he will even win one. Nobody will dispute that he is the best passing quarterback of this generation, but as Dan Marino will tell you, most does not equal best. My hat goes off to Peyton for the 49 touchdown passes he threw, the 4557 yards and the 121.1 passer rating he compiled. Truly a remarkable season. But when it comes down to crunch time, when it comes to big games and when it comes to the playoffs, Tom Brady once again showed, that he is your man. He threw for only 144 yards against the Colts, but he was cooler than the underside of the pillow when he needed to be. He was the maestro of four scoring drives, and had a part in both New England touchdowns by rushing for one, and tossing the other on the run to a wide open David Givens.


If we are going to play backyard football, give me Peyton Manning. If we are going to have a deep ball contest, or maybe even an accuracy contest, give me Peyton Manning. If we have to win a game, give me Tom Brady. His contract may not have been as lucrative as Manning’s. But if you would like to measure greatness by numbers, let’s not look at TD passes, passing yards or QB rating. Instead, we should be looking at the numbers that define greatness. The numbers that Tom Brady has. And while Brady might not get the praise outside of New England that Manning does outside of Indianapolis, should he ever need vindication for what he has accomplished, he need only look out at his driveway and smile at the two Cadillac’s parked in it.