Patriots Monday

I only have enough time for quickie today so I'm going to bang out as much as possible in the 35 minutes I've got.

The Patriots won yesterday but hardly so in my mind. How do you allow the 3rd worst team in the league to be within one play of sending the game to overtime? I know it's overstated at this point but that defense is just atrocious. Aaron Brooks passed for over 300 yards, throwing his hat in the race for the, "Worst Quarterback to Look Solid Against the Patriots" award for 2005, (although I think Gus Frerotte has it locked).

The offense did enough to win, but after starting the game with 2 touchdowns on their first 2 possessions they should have mustered more than 24 points. This game should have been 42-7 or at least more convincing than it was. A lot of their momentum was lost on a Brady fumble on their 3rd possession but a good offense recovers from that. The blame this time falls not only to the defense but also to the offense. This should have been put away early, not on an interception on the last play of the game.

All the credit in the world has to be given to Bill Belichick for coaching his team to a victory just a few hours after the death of his father. This is just further proof of how utterly superior a coach he really is and that his dedication to the team and to the game are unparalled. Jim Haslett couldn't beat him under these circumstances and he probably never will. Belichick is so tough that he didn't even tell the team what had happened until after the game, and he's so stoic that they didn't realize that something was wrong until he brought it up. The man is simply a machine. Obviously the B-Slant's condolences are sent to the Belichick family.

Anyway, back to the game, I fear what will happen when this team plays a decent quarterback. Actually we saw what happened, Manning tore them apart and literally was not stopped even one time. I think that was not an aberrition, this defense could potentially not stop a team once in a game...like say...Kansas City. Luckily the division is pretty much in the bag, if it were up for grabs the playoffs could be a stretch. I think we'll learn where this team is headed next week in Kansas City, always one of the toughest places to play.

Other Football Stuff:

- Reggie Bush is your Heisman Trophy winner. Don't even mention the name Vince Young in my presence again. 513 yards is more than most players, even great players account for in 3 games. It's absolutely the most impressive college football performance of the year and his dominance when his team needs it the most (i.e. Notre Dame) makes him easily the best player in the country. Not giving it to him would be blatent east coast bias. You can't punish a kid because his team plays late at night, he doesn't make the schedule. Stay up later sports writers and watch him play, it's worth it, plus you're writers what the heck do you have to get up early for anyway?

- Donovan McNabb is done for the year. As the B-Slant predicted last week, following their loss to the Giants on Sunday the Eagle's quarterback decided to have season ending surgery on his sports hernia. This is a good move, the season is over anyway, now he'll have a full 8 months to recover and find a new favorite target.

- For Mike McMahon's sake it's a good thing that T.O. is done for the year. Can you imagine him playing with a third string quarterback? He couldn't handle the inconsistent play of Jeff Garcia. Mike McMahon is no Jeff Garcia. Owens may actually have killed him by week 17.

- The exodus off the "Colts defense is the strength of the team" bandwagon has been swift this morning. Even the ESPN guys, who love the Colts more than you love your children, are pointing out the fact that if you give up 37 points on almost any other Sunday you lose. I wouldn't say they were exposed here but it's obvious that they aren't going to beat you like the '85 Bears. You might just have to score everytime you touch the ball.

- The Colts are still 10-0. The offense is ridiculous. They might go undefeated. That's the last time this year I'm saying something nice about them. I hate them. HATE them.

- Ben Roethlisberger needs to get back on the field now. This Steelers team is remarkably ordinary without him. Or maybe Tommy Maddox is so bad that they are remarkably worse with him. Or maybe it's a combination of the two. Either way losing to the Ravens is bad, real bad. Throw the Steelers into the discussion of pre-season Super Bowl contenders that might not make the playoffs and I'm not kidding. If you think they're beating the Colts like this you're out of your mind. That notwithstanding, I'm still rooting for them in that game.

- Aaron Brooks became the all time leader in touchdown passes in New Orleans franchis history with is 116th. Who cares? He topped Archie Manning who was so by far the worst quarterback in that family that it's like comparing Bill and Cal Ripken. Just because his last name is Manning does not mean that he was any good. It's cool to set records but do you really want to be the best quarterback in the history of the worst franchise?

- Tonight's Monday night matchup is exactly the reason that in the future the network has the right to change the schedule at any time. Pre-season this looked like a great game. Culpepper against Farve in a crucial divisional contest at Lambeau. Now it's a matchup of the Packers starting Sam Gado at running back instead of Ahman Green against the Vikings and their signal caller Brad Johnson. Yikes, you're telling me the Cincy v. Indy game wouldn't have been switched? Still, if the Vikings win this one they're at 5-5 and not totally out of the picture in the NFC North. That being said, I can't see the Bears collapsing that bad. Either one will lose in the first round of the playoffs anyway.

- Did I mention that Reggie Bush should win the Heisman? 513 #$%!ing yards! Thats like a quarter mile of offense!

Okay time's up. This will be a light week for posting since I'll be spending a good amount of it on the Cape with the family and without internet access. Yeah I'm sure that breaks your hearts...both of you.