Playoffs, Here We Come

Of course, we knew last week that we were headed for the playoffs, but the win this week just made it sweeter. 12-4. That's a good record. Not outstanding, I suppose, but pretty darn good. A 75% win rate with so many injuries is impressive. (Speaking of injuries, Rodney Harrison had BETTER not be seriously hurt! We just got him back, and it was such a morale booster.)
A great game, all in all. And the win didn't feel ruthless at all, ruining another team's playoff hopes while we were already headed for the postseason, because of all the fighting and animosity during the game. All those fifteen-yard penalties just made me want the win more.
It was an interesting game, too, despite the fact that the final outcome didn't matter for us. Asante Samuel came up with two more spectacular interceptions, to add to his eight; his ten now lead the league (as I write this post). Vinny Testaverde came in and threw a touchdown pass, making it 20 consecutive seasons for him with at least one TD pass. Twenty! Another record--that's a staggering number. Matt Cassel got to come in too, and he did really well after his first unsucessful drive (although, I admit, I might be slightly biased because he's cute). Lawrence Maroney and Corey Dillon both had some great TD runs, most impressively the latter with two touchdowns, one of them being a 52-yard run.
A great end to the season, and a great mindset in which to begin the postseason--as if we needed help.

An Early Christmas Gift

The Patriots signed a new punter!
Thank you soo much.
Ken Walters endangered my health every time he stepped on the field.

I <3 Pats

So, in a much better mood than last week...
Yeah Pats!
I just finished watching my recording of the game, and basically, we had everything.
Despite injuries. New guys, hoping to make their mark, brought their A game. Veteran guys, even those switched to different positions, did what they do best.
And it showed. Forty beautiful, well earned points. Everything was working for us. Offense was excellent. Defense was great. Interceptions were awesome. Punt return was terif. (-fic. I like to shorten words.)
It all came together for this game. Two more wins and we'll have been 4-1 in our last five. The best we could be is 12-4, the worst 10-6.
We're headed for a fun postseason.
And, the deeper we go in the postseason, the shorter the wait for Spring Training with my Sox!

Bad Luck

I hate when you write an entire post and your browser crashes and you lose it. I hate turnovers. I hate penalties, especially stupid ones that obviously never existed before today. I HATE stupid announcers who talk for 23405973456897 years about the other team's awesomeness.
And if there's anything I hate more than all that, it's injuries. And clearly somebody annoying figured that out, because everywhere I turn, they stalk me. Every sport I follow, they're there. Like, what do you want from me?? It's the most obnoxious thing ever.
The 2006 Red Sox' catastrophic downfall can be credited to the loss of Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Tim Wakefield, Jonathan Papelbon, and basically everyone else on their forty-man roster. So when the Sox' season was over, it was time for football. Brand new sport. Brand new season. And we looked so good; warriors, men of steel -- until the injury train hit. Rodney Harrison. Junior Seau. Josh Miller (we replace him with Ken Walters? Seriously? Every time the guy kicks the ball it goes a maximum of two feet. They might as well just add seven points to the other team's score the second he walks on the field). And the average key player loss is about two a week. Last week, most importantly, was Lawrence Maroney. Whom I love. This week it was the rather portly Vince Wilfork -- you just can't duplicate the effect of him smashing into someone with his 325 pounds of, ahem, muscle -- and Ben Watson, who's pretty much just awesome. And even the guys playing out there are playing through pain, fighting nagging injuries.
I hate injuries. I hate hate hate injuries. Especially because there's no one to blame for them. You can blame stupid calls on the refs. You can blame penalties on guys. You can blame turnovers and stupid announcers and virus-infected computers, but injuries are just bad luck. And if anyone has been given an overdose of bad luck, it's me.

Jon and JD

Here on a Tuesday night when I should be in bed. Here I am. Reading up on baseball.
The Sox signed JD Drew. What a surprise. Honestly, I can see both sides of the argument over Drew. On the one hand, he's a productive #5 batter with good speed, defense, power, protection for Ortiz and maybe Manny, etc. But on the other hand, he seems to have no passion for the game, and in passion-soaked city like Boston, that's not gonna fly. The choice is performance or passion. Personally, I want to win another championship. So I'm gonna err on the side of being happy we signed him. But at the same time, I hate the fact that he doesn't seem to care at all, while I spend hours and hours of my life learning every detail possible about the Red Sox. This fan base won't tolerate Drew's attitude very long.
In other news, JON LESTER IS CANCER FREE! I prayed for him every night, and now my prayers have been answered. He plans to report to Spring Training on Feb. 16! He'd better recieve the loudest standing ovation baseball has ever seen. My reaction to the amazing news was total euphoria. I'm so happy.

A Sloppy Win

MATT CASSEL


















STEPHEN GOSTKOWSKI




























And now that my girly moment is done...

We can't keep on living like this. Giving away games. Kicking ourselves with penalties. Underestimating teams. Handing the other teams fumbles and interceptions. Hurting core players.
Sure, it worked these past two weeks. We won because our quarterback is a veteran and our guys finally woke up in the fourth quarter.
We should have won today by a huge lead. We should have won last week without playing volleyball.
We're winning, but at what cost? Junior Seau (Matsui memories, anyone? It was excruciating just to watch). Rodney Harrison. Ryan O'Callaghan. Now possibly Mike Vrabel and my homie, Lawrence Maroney. And even the guys on the active roster are so banged up. What is with my teams being plagued with injuries?
I'm not suggesting a direct connection between our poor play and our injuries, but merely noting that because of our injuries we need to work even harder.
And I'm so tough on my team because I know they're champions.
The Colts are 10-2. (Yayyy! They lost!)
The Bears are 10-2.
And we're 9-3. We're not so far behind.
We are in the heat of the race. We are going to the Super Bowl.
We just need to keep our focus.
And stop getting hurt.

I leave you with a question I was debating with some Pats friends.
Asante Samuel's contract is over after this year.
He's awesome. But he's gonna demand a whole lotta cash.
With the payroll cap, should we sign him again?
I think yes. But then again, I would have said a thousand times yes to re-signing Vinatieri. And I don't miss him a bit.