Monday, January 24, 2005
Three in Four Years?
Pittsburgh's Ben Rothlisberger really picked the worst time of year to start playing like a rookie. On the other hand, if he'd have played like a rookie in the first two games of his pro career, he wouldn't have gotten to start the next 14 winning 13 of them.
As easy as it is to put the blame on a rookie QB, Pittsburgh simply got beat by the best head coach and best big game quarterback in football. Even with the Steelers defense playing like so many great Pittsburgh defenses of the past, Brady was able to make the plays when he needed to, the Pats' D stymied the run all day and caused Rothlisberger to look like the rookie he is. I said it before, if there's a way for one team to beat another, Bill Belichick will find it. He found it on Sunday. He'll find it again in two weeks.
Philadelphia looked phenomenal yesterday. I'm even a bit surprised by how good they looked. Brian Westbrook ran with authority against a tough Falcons defense and Donovan McNabb was simply in control of the whole game. Truth be known, if given the choice between having McNabb or Brady on my team, I 'd look on it as a toss-up, you can't lose in a situation like that. Philly's D was even better than expected, holding Vick in check for the entire second half, containing the run and just not allowing big plays by anyone. This has been the strenght of he Eagles for years now, even if McNabb and Owens got all the press this year. A healthy Terrell Owens makes this team formidable, but the heart of Philadelphia is a staunch defense.
So how is Belichick going to beat Philly? The Eagles are a more flawed team than the Steelers. They may play great defense and throw the ball as anyone, but all year long, yesterday not withstanding, they've had trouble running the ball. When they could, like yesterday, they blew people out. With that glaring weakness, Belichick will develope a gameplan to beat them. Remember, the Patriots have two weeks to look at game film and develope their tactics. In Super Bowl history, that two week layoff has caused good teams with flaws to be exposed in the film room. As a Broncos fan, I've seen it enough times in the Super Bowl.
The Patriots only flaw is a lack of depth in their secondary. A healthy Terrell Owens could mean Pats WR/DB Troy Brown would be matching up with Freddie Mitchell or Todd Pinkston in the slot. And while that is a frightening proposition, we saw Brown matched up against Brandon Stokely last week and Brown performed admirably. And if you don't think this out of position player is protected in the Pats defensive scheme, you haven't been watching closely enough.
Andy Reid is a great coach. I thought he got a bad rap because he lost 3 NFC title games in a row. Some of that was coaching, the rest seemed to be circumstance. Remember, he got to 3 NFC championship games in a row, not many coaches have done that. It's a rarity for Reid to get out-coached in a game, but in two weeks that's what we'll see.
I'm predicting a New England win. I've got two weeks to come up with points, though the points haven't been my strong suit while doing this. How close it ends up is going to come down to a couple of injuries. If Owens is back and healthy for the Eagles, that will tighten the gap. If DT Richard Seymore is back for the Pats, Philly will have not chance of running the ball inside and it will just make Belichick's job that much easier.
BOJ
As easy as it is to put the blame on a rookie QB, Pittsburgh simply got beat by the best head coach and best big game quarterback in football. Even with the Steelers defense playing like so many great Pittsburgh defenses of the past, Brady was able to make the plays when he needed to, the Pats' D stymied the run all day and caused Rothlisberger to look like the rookie he is. I said it before, if there's a way for one team to beat another, Bill Belichick will find it. He found it on Sunday. He'll find it again in two weeks.
Philadelphia looked phenomenal yesterday. I'm even a bit surprised by how good they looked. Brian Westbrook ran with authority against a tough Falcons defense and Donovan McNabb was simply in control of the whole game. Truth be known, if given the choice between having McNabb or Brady on my team, I 'd look on it as a toss-up, you can't lose in a situation like that. Philly's D was even better than expected, holding Vick in check for the entire second half, containing the run and just not allowing big plays by anyone. This has been the strenght of he Eagles for years now, even if McNabb and Owens got all the press this year. A healthy Terrell Owens makes this team formidable, but the heart of Philadelphia is a staunch defense.
So how is Belichick going to beat Philly? The Eagles are a more flawed team than the Steelers. They may play great defense and throw the ball as anyone, but all year long, yesterday not withstanding, they've had trouble running the ball. When they could, like yesterday, they blew people out. With that glaring weakness, Belichick will develope a gameplan to beat them. Remember, the Patriots have two weeks to look at game film and develope their tactics. In Super Bowl history, that two week layoff has caused good teams with flaws to be exposed in the film room. As a Broncos fan, I've seen it enough times in the Super Bowl.
The Patriots only flaw is a lack of depth in their secondary. A healthy Terrell Owens could mean Pats WR/DB Troy Brown would be matching up with Freddie Mitchell or Todd Pinkston in the slot. And while that is a frightening proposition, we saw Brown matched up against Brandon Stokely last week and Brown performed admirably. And if you don't think this out of position player is protected in the Pats defensive scheme, you haven't been watching closely enough.
Andy Reid is a great coach. I thought he got a bad rap because he lost 3 NFC title games in a row. Some of that was coaching, the rest seemed to be circumstance. Remember, he got to 3 NFC championship games in a row, not many coaches have done that. It's a rarity for Reid to get out-coached in a game, but in two weeks that's what we'll see.
I'm predicting a New England win. I've got two weeks to come up with points, though the points haven't been my strong suit while doing this. How close it ends up is going to come down to a couple of injuries. If Owens is back and healthy for the Eagles, that will tighten the gap. If DT Richard Seymore is back for the Pats, Philly will have not chance of running the ball inside and it will just make Belichick's job that much easier.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 9:39 AM 
