Patriots Coaching Blows the Game

 

I think the Patriots Coaching staff deserves the blame for their shocking upset.  I know they have some young, "genius" offensive coordinator, but that genius made two major errors.  First, he fell in love with what should be the second or third option - short pass to Welker - and he was scared to force things to Randy Moss and second, he did not prepare the offense for the one situation which could cost them the game (the Giants pass rush dominating).

 

I love Wes Welker because I think he provides

 I'm surprised to see that in the ESPN Sportsnation poll only 61% of fans have the Patriots beating the Giants.  This game is a classic case where people pick based on how the teams have played vs. pre-conceived expectations and not objective facts.

 

The Giants obviously have pulled off 3 upsets in the playoffs.  They have totally exceeded expectations 4 games in a row.  They outplayed the Bucs, Cowboys and Packers, but the fact is the Cowboys and Packers did have the ball with the chance to win the game.  The Giants got two close wins over good teams

 

I'm still processing West Virginia's demolition of Oklahoma.  I know most people think this season was one of the best in history because of all the astounding upsets, but my personal opinion is ... this season sucked.  I hate College Football.

 

Last season AccuScore's point spread prediction accuracy was 59% (386-268).  That's pretty impressive.  While college football totals have been good all season (56% for the year), I am pissed about this season's point spread performance.  This season was humming along just fine until

 

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

 

My prayers have been answered.  Brian Bilick was fired today. Thank God. 

 

Now the Ravens just need to:

 

1. Draft a big WR who you could catch a ball thrown 9 or 10 feet in the air. Our midget wideouts (Mark Clayton, Derrick Mason) cannot go up and get these passes which totally eliminates a major option in the passing game.  Personally, I like Indiana's James Hardy.

 

1. Try to find a veteran QB a la Todd Collins to start / backup Troy Smith.  I know Smith is

"Tebow may be the Heisman Trophy winner, but Darren McFadden will definitely be the better NFL player."

-- Quote from every single Football Analyst / Expert

 

This seems to have become a definite fact in the mind of everyone who ever thought about this year's Heisman Trophy race.  Most people did not come up with this thought themselves.  It just sounded good and people decided to go with it. 

 

I think that Darren McFadden will be one of the Top 3 NFL rushers from 2008-2015, and make at least 4 Pro Bowls

 

For 59 minutes I thought I'd have to change my name to "The Cooler".  I am a huge Ravens fan, but the horrific play of my favorite team this season caused me to hop onto the Patriots bandwagon.  I then watched the Ravens nearly beat the Patriots and realized that only my jinx could have caused such an amazing near upset.

 

In the end I'm glad the Patriots won.  Here's why:

 

• 1. I was born in 1973 and don't care what the 1972 Dolphins did. I think Mercury Morris is very annoying and I'd love to see the

 

This blog has nothing but a few random thoughts primarily focused on things that have disappointed me and things that have pleasantly surprised me this Fall across sports.

 

As a glass is half empty type guy, I'll start with the disappointments.  For the sake of my own sanity, I'm not even going to discuss my former favorite team, The Baltimore Ravens, since my feeling towards them goes way beyond disappointing.

 

 

DISAPPOINTMENTS

 

REGGIE BUSH - Is it just me, or does Bush not look very fast anymore.  His

Using total yards allowed as the primary statistic for ranking defenses the two worst defenses in the league were the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. 

The Baltimore Ravens played the Bengals at home last week and right now have played a half at home vs. the Browns.  Besides a total meaningless TD last week, the Ravens haven't scored against the 2 worst defenses in the league at home.

The Ravens offense hasn't even gotten a first down in an entire half against the Browns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh yeah, I didn't even mention the 9 turnovers the Ravens

"The Spygate thing has diminished what they've accomplished," Shula said in an interview with the New York Daily News. "You would hate to have that attached to your accomplishments. They've got it."

This statement by Don Shula aggravated the hell out of Mike Vrabel and presumably many other New England Patriots players and coaches.  I understand why they are annoyed by Shula.

Those "perfect" Dolphins always openly cheer against teams who threaten to go undefeated.  You combine that with Shula's statement and you can't help

 What I Think Will Really Happen in the Patriots-Colts Game

 

I would say my own opinion matches AccuScore Simulation forecasts around 6 out of 10 times.  In 3 of the 4 disagreements, the difference can be tied directly to AccuScore relying 100% on past performance statistics and myself relying on what I saw recently with my own eyes from the teams and players involved.  In these cases there are players involved that don't have a long track record of performance and the simulations simply cannot make a great judgment on their performance as a result.