I wonder what the percentage is for teams winning the toss in overtime winning the game (fairly high I would imagine). If the winning tossers score on their first drive surely the losing tossers should get an opportunity with the ball.

I heard it was 50-50 surprising enough.

Crenel chooses not to go for it on 4th down again, and his team loses again. To be fair, it was a 4th and 7 situation this time; but I just don't understand why he doesn't give it a go. Instead, the Browns lose again and the fans are again left disappointed.

Some massive scores and some great matches yesterday. Bring on the Cowboys this evening :p

My Seattle pick gets me out of the survival league. :sob:

And the Fins, amid various other farcical developments, manage to have twelve men on the field, go offside and still concede a 20 yard pass play.

They're like Palace, but without any of the associated fun whatsoever.

For a while last night I thought that the Fins had only won one game since my daughter was born. Then I realised in my nearing hatred of the Fins I'd actually forgotten she was born in 2005, not 2006. :clown:

They're actually 12-27 in her lifetime, but that's only because they won five in a row in the weeks after she was born. I think 10 or 11 of those wins were before her first birthday.

Another victorious weekend for Carolina! :lux: Against what looked a very decent Chi Town team last week!

Jake's taking us to the Superbowl... ;) I can feel it!

Don't know what has happened to the 'hawks, but awful start to the season! :eek:

Wish I'd stayed awake to watch the rest of the Chargers v Broncos match. I was watching the Pats game which sent me to sleep ... ;)

Incidentally the Metro tipster said:
Saints to win in Washington... oops
Jets to beat the Patriots... oops
Chargers to win in Denver... oops

And their Super Bowl tip, the Jaguars, are now 0-2.

Purewinners isn't just back, he's got his own newspaper column.

(From the poster who said that Seattle were the sure-fire certs of week 2. :clown: )

I saw the last 10 mins of the Chargers vs Broncos game... Pure Entertainment at it's best (unless you're a Chargers fan). Infact I'd show that to prospective fans to try and lure them in. I was on the edge of my seat and I'm not even a fan of either team!

Jay Cutler has an awesome arm though! :p

:lux: :lux: :lux: :lux: :lux:

Indeed I did, what a cracking day out and a deserved win for the Skins.

Met three fellas from Virginia who had sold the ticket to me - they were top lads and great hosts.

They did all that high-five stuff Ben refused to do with me during the Skins v Dolphins game last season ;)

I have major sunburn as it as about 97 degrees and sunblock was sweated off in a matter of seconds - one fella a row in front of us was so pissed he didn't even make the second half, he kept on getting up to run to the loo to vomit, and everyone would shout out 'he's gonna blow!' :D

As for the game, well what can I say - amazing entertainment

Ben was on here laughing at how poor the Redskins were last week against the Giants, but this week everything worked like clockwork - the kicking game aside

It's a shame we missed two FGs and a two-point conversion as we dominated the game. The scoreline flattered the Saints - even Payton has said he couldn't believe his team were 24-15 up with six mins to go.

A fumbled punt return by Randle El which set up an easy 27-yard drive for the Saints and Bush's punt return for a TD made the Saints look better than they were.

Big shout to Skins rookie safety Chris Horton - he has Troy Polamalu's hair and played like him yesterday, with two INTs and a fumble recovery.

And a big shout to Jason Campbell, who proved he can run the West Coast Offense - he looked fantastic, poised and has such a great arm

Oh and rookie head coach Jim Zorn - his play calling was awesome, so impressive, and very gutsy. With two mins to go, the Skins had a 4th and 2 on the Saints 34 - he didn't punt, he didn't run it, he called a slant pass to Moss for eight yards.

After the game the Redskins band did an impromptu samba in the stadium by the food outlets which was quite surreal - 100s of people just dancing like crazy :)

Then we watched Campbell being interviewed on TV.

I then spent two hours chatting to two ladies from Virginia in Skins jerseys :love: and the fellas that took me to the game before getting the Amtrak back to Baltimore, exhausted, burnt as a lobster and very merry.

A fantastic end to my weekend of sport :)

Glad you saw a win Nookiebear. :p

Cheers fella

And Ben - for future reference

If we ever go to Camden Yards again, we must go to a bar called Pickles opposite the ground. Seedy as hell, spit and sawdust Irish pub :D

If we travel from DC to Baltimore, let's get the Amtrak - bit more expensive but so much less hassle

There's supposedly a barbecue stand at Camden Yards which is meant to be fantastic. Did you pass it at all?

Yes, it's right outside Pickles. I was stuffed full of crab cakes from elsewhere though :)

Oi, he saw one last year, over the Fins no less!

Stupid Saints. :grrr: :p

I know, I remember, and saw the photos. :)

Just pleased for someone on this thread to go and see his team win.

Saxoneagle doesn't count in this regard, obviously. ;)

You won't have to spend the whole of next Saturday hearing him sing that bloody Redskins bam bam bam bam bam hail to the donuts song at you. :( ;)

:D

I'm sure you'll sing your version back at me as well :)

There was a lot more 'Let's Go Redskins' yesterday though - might start singing that at you instead. Finally, a decent team sings that song ;)

I'll be watching NFL Gameday this evening .. :p

ESPN have replayed Cutler's fumble about 50 times already today

And defeat at the hands of the mighty Eagles!!! :p

Now I would be a bad winner if I laughed at Brett Favre and the Jets after yesterday.

But is this not the greatest sack of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp0wNYcb0N4

He takes Favre and the blocker back 20 yards :D

Adalius Thomas, take a bow son.

So, two weeks down (Well, we still have the Eagles @ Cowboys tonight) but what are people's early season thoughts?

Who are flattering to deceive?

Who are looking very strong early contenders?

I think Rogers has slotted in fantastically well in Green Bay. He seems to be running that offence like he has been doing it for years.

This is probably what hasnt yet happened with Favre & the Jets. Still laking that fluidity and understanding which will come in time I guess.

That was a good win for them yesterday in Detroit.

I think the Cowboys will win tonight, and it makes for a interesting game next week when the Packers take on Romo & Co.

Was very impressed with Darren McFadden yesterday for the Raiders. Very raw, but showed yesterday his great potential. Certainly a top NFL RB in the making.

Two wins for both Bay area sides; very rare to see that happen! Big shout out to the 49ers! Impressive win in Seattle, despite the Seahawks having a injury crisis right now.

Giants and Pats seem to be doing their jobs without much fuss. If Pats defence can continue to perform like that, it will still be a good 13-3 season for them.

And then onto the Broncos v Chargers game; WHAT a finish. Very brave call to go for the two pointer; you look like a complete mug if it fails, but when you pull it off, you are deemed brilliant!

Fins look poor again. At one point yesterday the Fins had too many players on the field. You would have thought when lining up for the play someone would have noticed (preferbly another player) and made a point of 'What the hell you doing here man?!'

No doubt though; great start to the season. Some great matchups and more to come; tonight should be interesting. Havent seen much of the Eagles but many are tipping them for success, so will be interesting to see how they get on against the Cowboys, who looked incredibly strong last week.

Predictions From my blog:
Bears @ Panthers 13-17 ----- 17-20
Packers @ Lions 14-10 ----- 48-25
Bills @ Jaguars 21-14 ----- 20-16
Raiders @ Chiefs 21-24 ---- 23-8
Giants @ Rams 24-9 ----- 41-13
Colts @ Vikings 20-14 ----- 18-15
Titans @ Bengals 13-10 ----- 24-7
Saints @ Redskins 17-14 ----- 24-29
49ers @ Seahawks 6-31 ----- 33-30
Falcons @ Buccaneers 17-24 ----- 9-24
Chargers @ Broncos 17-16 ----- 38-39
Patriots @ Jets 23-20 ----- 19-10
Dolphins @ Cardinals 7-21 ----- 10-31
Steelers @ Browns 31-13 ----- 10-6
Eagles @ Cowboys 17-20
Ravens @ Texans 13-7 :(

10/14 and some close results there :D

Richard Dent's one-handed sack on Phil Simms, opening Monday night of the 1987 season.

Sadly not on YouTube. :(

According to Peter King's column this week Shanahan saw his defence was exhausted, and thought that going for overtime would decide the game on a coinflip. Makes it an even better move in my book.

Rubbish, the secondary was fine all game. The Jets seriously sucked BIG time. To think, some people tipped them to win the division with Brady gone.

Yeh, no chance.

Pats and Bills to both finish 10-6.

Oh, and Paul - Cutler and Welker outperformed Warner and Moss. Don't say I didn't tell you so ;)

I was wrong on Moss, but Warner was fine, only a couple of points if that.

Unlike in my PFW fantasy league, I lost by 0.23 because Yahoo wouldnt let me in to change my TE (Owen Daniels from Texans/Ravens game), I could have had anyone, just for one reception and I would have won :sob:

And the Secondary quote was when Favre was throwing his hit passes, I am really impressed by Ellis Hobbs, stepping up at the right time. LaMont Jordan, great effort. Maroney not so good. Faulk great with running and receiving as always.

Moss, worried about his attitude if he stops getting passes. He possibly should have got hold of Cassels wobbly bomb to him. 2 for 22 for Moss. I think it was 7 for about 70 for Welker, those short passes killed the Jets.

So Saxon, on board for a Superbowl run ;)

Paul I have to ask...

Do you actually ever give any praise to any other team? It's like you only actually ever acknowledge NE's existence in the NFL! :confused:

I wonder where he was when they were shit. :D

great game so far.

dumb ass play by jackson though for phili.

Wow. What a scoreline, especially after only a half of football. Second highest score ever in a first half of football.

DeSean Jackson's mistake was hilarious :D

Wow, what a game and the wonders of Sky+ this morning ;) . Chuffed that the Cowboys came through in the end. The rest of the game lived up to the first quarter, the TO touchdown and Felix Jones punt return, what a star! :lux:

Finishes off a great weekend of big scorelines ...

Sounds like a great game. Good start for Dallas.

Just wait until they're crap again....

:o

Greatest sack of all time - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mql6BEt6hX0

Superman Vela.

Frankly, only watching the entire game does justice to this. One of the best games of football I've ever seen.

You can always bank on the daily e-mail of new topics from Finheaven to cheer me up. Among the new topics today are:

• Ginn JR is a poor mans Desmond Howard
• Fins REGRESSING under SPARANO
• Pennington=Fiedler
• Who was responsible for the two 12 men on field penalties?
• It's still not too late to sign Quincy Carter

We need the bash smiley back. :sob:

Oh, and it doesn't seem right to see Zach Thomas in a Cowboys uniform. Still, for me that's another reason to hope the Cowboys win it all this year.

I know the Jags haven't started so well, but watching one of their pre season games I found it quite amusing how Cleo Lemon actually looked fairly decent for them.

Looked a totally different QB to the one who was being slated week in, week out at Miami last season.

I was talking to Saxon about it.

And yes I do, I acknowledge how bad the Rams are and how good the Cowboys have been.

Well, I wasnt born when they were incredibly awful.

I started watching NFL in 97 and supported the Pats from 98/99.

Oi, we're every bit as bad as the Rams are. :hi: ;)

Didn't actually realise that the Rams haven't had a red zone possession so far this season until catching a bit of last night's PTI this morning.

To be fair, this is the Cleo who also looked very reasonable in pre-season for Miami last year. Is that a reflection on Cleo's ability, or the meaninglessness of preseason football though?

On the latter point, is that it for the Cowboys now then? :o

And where is Edenbridge Exile when you need him ... ;)

I'm at work at the minute, but when I get home I will be giving my Week 2 thoughts on my blog ;)

And its completely unbiased as always.

I am pretty new to watching NFL (about a year). Now I am loving it, in fact I think at times I prefer it to the Premier League, however every so often I have a question and today is one of those days.

My understanding is the worst team in the league that year gets first pick in the draft. All well and good, but if a team is say 1 and 8 after nine games and has no chance of making the play offs, what is the incentive for them to win their remaining games rather than lose them and get a high pick in the draft?

Couple of piccies from my weekend taken with my camera phone

One from my seat - nice view of the victory :)

Another of that rubbish quarterback who can't handle the West Coast Offense ;)

Arguably none. In fact "tanking" is part of the reason (from what I understand) that the NBA has a draft lottery. The lottery is weighted so that the teams with lowest records have a chance of getting the top pick, but they're not guaranteed it like teams in the NFL are.

There is the matter of professional pride, for what that is worth. A few years ago Houston and San Francisco played a game on the last day of the season where the team who lost would be guaranteed the first pick. We had quite a debate about that on here at the time. :)

Personally I think that deliberately trying to lose would be difficult to do. Too many players fighting for too few jobs in a career where there is no such thing as a guaranteed contract.

Also the wages/bonuses paid to high draft picks in recent years has led teams to shy away from trading for these picks, so the value of these seems to be diminishing somewhat. If a proposed rookie salary scheme (again similar to what the NBA has) comes into place I suspect that will change again.

Good response SE. I was waiting for someone to answer that one ... :p

OK, let's look at week three match-ups

Kansas v Atlanta should be a cracker ;)

Jags need a win at the Colts but won't get it

Steelers v Eagles should be also be a cracker

As for the Skins, I'm hoping they will dismantle the Cardinals - the Cards might be 2&0, but they've not played a decent team yet ;)

Thank you Strathclyde. Appreciated.

Good post. Good use of the phrase tanking too!

I find it quite interesting really. In Aussie rules (which operates a similar draft system) teams that have had a rubbish start, shamelessly "tank" after about 8 weeks.

A few years ago didn't Detroit win in the final week to lose their first pick of the round? Talk about a Pyrrhic victory!

Predictions wise, I can't go with many away teams. In fact, only have two down to win away ....

I have 3 away teams down for next week.

fantastic game last night!

Think I have two, being blinkered by the Cowboys being one ...

Apparently Monday night's game had the biggest ever audience for a program on cable TV!

From looking at Romo's errors in the first half I think that Simpson woman was in the crowd fluttering her eyelashes at him! :o ... just lucky they didn't decide the game, very close though ... what was he doing by not touching for a safety in the end zone?

Prime example of someone trying to do too much I'd say.

If anyone else is looking to setup a blog please setup one which purely catalogs safeties scored in NFL games. I find them oddly fascinating for some reason.

Agreed.

The Fins somehow rank 28th on Will Leitch's rankings, somehow ahead of the Lions, Chiefs, Bengals and Rams.

Not one of his better articles. And sadly "Life As A Loser" appears to be out of print, as I was hoping one of my friends would have the outright nerve to buy it for me for Christmas.

At a mediation yesterday :p

Regarding the result ......... A**E :grrr: :veryangry

I hope Mrs JM was not too upset!

Anyway lets wait for the return at the Link and revenge (hopefully) :)

PS it was close though :p

Yes fella, very close, too close even. Was Romo playing for you guys? ;)

Mrs JM only realised late on when we scored teh final points of the match that was the team she chose ... :D

I hope Mrs JM will keep the faith ............ revenge (hopefully) will be sweet :p

BTW Is any other division as tough as the NFC East? ....... For Debate!

Anyway a grudging well done to your lot ....... that was tough to type :(

I will have to remind her from time to time I'm sure ...

And I would say no to that, it's a very tough division, generally has been ....

:D ... great match though, shame there had to be a loser (see that was easy to type! ;) )

In honour of DeSean Jackson today instead of putting things on my desk I am instead dropping them on the floor a yard away from my desk.

The things you do when redundancy is on the horizon. :)

Just found some old Patriots songs on a "legal" site. (cough) Limewire. Have any other teams had songs adapted for them.

i.e Patriots have Flo rida - Low adapted to 18-0 before the Superbowl and Outkast - Hey ya changed to having Pats lyrics.

Looking forward to this weeks matches, its not like a normal match with a big win for the Pats against the Phins, we still have to worry about Cassel until he has played 5/6 matches.

This week is going quick thankfully.
Trying to remember my 3 away wins. Cowgirls, Steelers and possibly the Cards I think.

Ooh,

For the Dolphins fans.

The Spread is giving the Phins 12.5pts head start for some reason.

I thought it opened at 13? Too little in my opinion, anyway.

And those songs sound mince. :D

Actually yes, those are my three .. :p

Sometimes, Paul, jeeeez....

Who was the last team to beat the Pats during the regular season?

It's like you think the NFL was created in 2007.

I'm just yanking your chains :D

Wow, never thought I would say that.

The Phins arent that bad this year, when you compare them to the Chiefs who have a bunch of rookies, the Raiders who really dont like their coach, the Rams who in all reality arent that good.

You wont be picking first next April in the Draft :p

http://chriscooley47.blogspot.com/

A vote for Idiot of the Week. The winner must be Chris Cooley.

Only an idiot could expose themself and their playbook on the Internet. :D

What a doushbag

We still beat em though!

As he says, he was too busy winning a big game.

According to the Patriots podcast who mentioned it, it (cough) wasnt something to be proud of, if you get what they are saying...;)

Flattery will get you everywhere. :D

I didnt say they were good.

For Saxon, I have offered you a trade on the Fantasy league :D

In the offseason, Minnesota expressed little interest in trading for Brett Favre. It insisted it had its quarterback of the future in Tarvaris Jackson. But now Vikings coach Brad Childress just announced that Jackson has been benched.

Effective immediately, Gus Frerotte is the Vikings’ new starting quarterback. His first start will come Sunday against Carolina, in a game the 0-2 Vikings badly need.

Starting Sunday is one thing. But now the question becomes what the Vikings do at quarterback long term. Jackson has not been the answer so far, and his benching would indicate he will not be any time soon. Minnesota also drafted John David Booty, and he could be groomed.

But Minnesota is searching for an answer at quarterback. For now it is hoping it is Frerotte. For the future, it is wide open.

Its a shock, but not a shock. It wasnt expected but really should have been coming.

And the other bit of news:

Once again, the Colts will be without safety Bob Sanders, the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, who will miss four to six weeks with a high ankle sprain. When Sanders has failed to play, Indianapolis’ defense has turned from one of the best in the league to pedestrian. And now it will have to overcome his loss yet again.

Losing Sanders for at least a month is a blow to the Colts defense. But the Colts offense has its own worries.

It has been playing this season with a beaten, battered and inexperienced offensive line that has contributed to nullifying Indianapolis’ rushing attack and limiting Peyton Manning.

Left tackle Tony Ugoh injured his groin Sunday at Minneapolis and left the game. The line already was missing center Jeff Saturday, out with a knee injury, and guard/center Ryan Lilja, on the Physically Unable to Perform list with a knee injury. The Colts have asked an awful lot of linemen that, until this season, few had known. But now, Colts rookies Jamey Richard and Steve Justice have had to step in and play before the Colts would like.

And tight end Dallas Clark also is out. The Colts have a big game Sunday versus Jacksonville. They need to get well in a hurry.

-----------------------------------------

So Jazman, that means you dont play Clark this week ;)

Interviewing two more Brits playing for practice squads today. Marvin Allen from the Steelers and Jermaine Allen from the Saints.

I'm also going to be talking to Aden Durde of the Kansas City Chiefs and both Rhys Lloyd and Shaun Smith of the Carolina Panthers tomorrow :p

Mate, would you be up for heading down to San Diego for the Chargers v Pats game next month?

Been looking on stubhub for tickets...

Any good? If you buy them through the Chargers, you need to buy them as a ticket package with two other games, including the Colts I think. The package is expensive though.

I'd be up for it (so long as I have money!)

Well, the cheapest tickets would be classed the 'Up in the heavens' tickets.

Chargers only have one home game in October which is a bummer. After that, its 9th November at home to the Chiefs, which are cheaper and you can sit somewhere lower!

On the other hand, tickets for the 49ers are a tad cheaper, and from where we are, its only a additional 2 hours or so onto the drive! From the LA Valley, its a good 2 hours or so to San Diego. 4 Hours to San Fran from here.

Three of us are planning on heading to a game so we have a spare seat in the car for you when we head to a game if you want it!

The Pats are on the road to the 49ers the week before they play in San Diego.

Depends how desperate we are too see the Chargers/Pats. 49ers have home games in October as well to the Eagles and Seahawks (Again, tickets cheaper than against New England).

And then I see the Raiders...Haha, guess who they play NEXT Sunday? San Diego...Tickets not bad priced, but most of the decent ones are up high in the Coliseum.

Very much depends on what we want to see; A NFL game for the experience or a Chargers game regardless?

Some would say I don't need any help after my great start but thanks all the same ...

Just seen the bonehead play of the century in the MNF game .... :D :D :D How funny is that?

Two interviews down, three more to go :D

JA is a thoroughly nice bloke. Very down to earth considering. I know a few people that still stay in daily contact with him.

Yeah, Jermaine was a bit quiet, but a good bloke. He was very passionate and he has a lot of self belief. I hope he makes it.

Marvin was excellent too - a Croydon boy (but an Arsenal fan - unfortunately!) and very mature and (from what I could fathom) experienced.

I've enjoyed talking to all of them so far. Hopefully we can piece something together to get them a bit of exposure in the UK.

Some speak of blogs doing the rounds... and whilst I don't have one, I wrote three "blogs" when bored on my training course this week. Once I've typed them up, I'll post them. Should be by the end of the day.

It's all about the game

I’m an addict. No, it’s not a case for rehab to kick the booze and the drugs. It’s not THAT kind of addiction. It is sports, and rehab is not required. My wife might say different.

Now I must clarify – it’s not all sports. Well, not really. Sat in front of a TV, I’m a little more choosy but give me a live event and I’d watch anything.

As a youngster it was football – I’d go every week and I’d watch intently on TV. Until 4 years ago, I was still going to games regularly but my TV viewing was on the slide. Was I falling out of love with “soccer” or, heaven forbid, was I falling out of love with sports?

The turning point isn’t evident right now but a change of scenery strengthened my love of sports, but only some.

A move to Bermuda meant my live football was removed and my sport watching turned more to American sports. I’d always enjoyed and watched the NFL and NBA but I now found myself watching MLB and NHL, albeit to a lesser extent. I had access to Premier League and Champions League but, quite frankly, I just wasn’t bothered.

Surely, you must be thinking, you can’t be much of a sports addict if you happily won’t watch football? Well, maybe, maybe not.

As the last 4 years have progressed I’ve watched less and less baseball and hockey but watched more and more and MORE American football, even attaching myself to the college game.

And then it comes to vacations. In 2003 I went to Australia for the rugby world cup. Now, pretty much every holiday or trip includes a sporting event, some even revolving around them. Even where it didn’t I looked to include some (I even took my wife to a Mexican wrestling event in Mexico City on our honeymoon!)

Whenever a trip was in the planning, I’d immediately look at the schedules for ANY team in the city I was visiting. June 2006 was a soccer match in Buenos Aires, November bought a 49ers match in San Fran and a Lakers match in LA. I even cut short a weekend with the wife-to-be in Miami to fly to Baltimore for a Ravens game.

She’s understanding, bless her. She knows, she moans, she gives in. Mostly. And I love her for it!

I asked her if she wanted to go to Paris on holiday in 2007. She said yes, I booked rugby world cup tickets. Maybe saying she is understanding is an understatement!

I guess that shows some addiction but when think of addictions, we often think of withdrawal symptoms. Like that weekend in Miami, when the Dolphins weren’t playing, I had to fly elsewhere. Anyone wanting to visit BALTIMORE has to be pretty desperate! I get sent to NY for the week and both the Yankees and Mets are on the road (rare, but it happened to me once). I’m not even a big baseball fan but that annoyed me.

And it is not just live, either. Sundays from September to January are TV days. 2pm to the early hours of Monday morning. Anything else planned is an annoyance.

Recently, we won a charity auction. It cost $400 and we won a home cooked South African BBQ with wine from the region. I was looking forward to it. WAS. Until my wife arranged it for a Sunday evening. I have to admit, my first thoughts were “which games am I going to miss?” and “I wonder if I can get out of it!” Of course, I’m not going to get out of it and really, deep down, deep DEEP down, I don’t want to and I’m looking forward to the BBQ. But surely those initial thoughts show an irrationality that only an addict would think.

Maybe the fact I’m missing the match shows my rehab is underway. This isn’t Fever Pitch (I hate Arsenal, not to be confused with the Red Sox/Drew Barrymore Hollywood version…) as I am no longer obsessed by one team. I’m obsessed by a whole sport and a whole world of balls…

Maybe our hosts will have a nice big TV and I can sit in front of NBC on Sunday night…

J-E-T-S! Suck! Suck! Suck! Favre v Brady?

Once every two weeks, Giants Stadium turns green. At the near end, a man of an age where he should know better sits on the shoulders of a friend wearing a fireman’s helmet with the Jets emblem emblazoned on the side. On the big screen, his face comes up and he waves his arms in an effort to quiet the crowd. Over 80,000 people follow his command. Seconds later, his face grimaces, his arms go up and his congregation yells “J! E! T! S! Jets! Jets! Jets!”

Noisy? Check
Fun? Check
A little cheesy? Check
Intimidating? Get outta here…

As a man in Patriots blue surrounded by a sea of green, the party piece of the Jets did little to worry me but sure as hell kept the NFL circus rolling.

The day started early. In fact, it started so early it started the day we got the tickets, which happened to be a few weeks back.

In the green corner, Brett “The Jet” Favre, holder of more records than Virgin Megastore, fresh out of a short retirement and now in a different shade of green.
In the blue corner, Tom “Ladies man” Brady, coming off a record season where a fourth ring just eluded him.

A first time ballot hall of famer versus a first time ballot hall of famer. Two of the best QBs of all time.

Or not.

That matchup was sooooo last week. Well, it was so one crunching tackle last week. Favre v Brady became Favre v Cassel, a nice chap who hasn’t started a game since 1999… and that was in high school. Party like it’s 1999? Heck, young Master Cassel wasn’t even old enough to party way back then…

My disappointment at Brady’s injury was selfish. I’m a Pats fan and I felt for the team and their prospects. I felt for Brady and his future as a top QB. But most of all, I felt me for. I wanted to see Brady. This was Tom Brady, the leader, the hero, the bloke on crutches…

Come game day and this was all forgotten. I got up early and headed into Central Manhattan and purchased a Pats cap. I purchased a Jets one too for my collection but today that stayed hidden.

I met Phil, a fan of football from England, who follows neither team but living in NY, he had to follow the home team. Heading into Jersey, we caught our ride for the day – my colleague Blane and his son, previously Jets season ticket holders. Even amongst friends, I was amongst enemies.

I’d been to NFL games before but this was my first real experience including tailgating and all the trimmings. I just can’t imagine Palace fans lighting BBQs and drinking beer in the Sainsbury’s car park pre-game with away fans just wandering around.

The sun baked down, the beer flowed, the grill smoked and we chucked the ball around. For the record, I can throw the ball but my arm is more Pennington than Favre.

The game itself went smoothly from a Pats point of view. Cassel won’t win any awards for his play but no mistakes plus steady play calling could see something better than expected with you-know-who missing. It wouldn’t be the first time. Remember 2001?

The dissent in the stands came fairly early. The game was tight and only a missed FG stopped the Jets being level. Favre looked tied down – the play calling belied his ability and the “wow” plays came when Grandpa Brett evaded the rush and chucked the ball. Had Coles not covered his hands in oil pre-game, we might have seen a different outcome. At 3-0 to the Pats, the Jets found themselves at the 1 yard line…

First down – Favre hands off to Jones who gets stuffed at the line.
Second down – ditto
Third down – the offensive line collapses and Jones rushes for a two yard loss.

One of the best QBs ever, signed to make a difference and the play calls result in three consecutive hand-offs and a FG on 4th down. Two years ago, the Jets fans called the coach “Manginius”. Well, you can shove that tag somewhere, Eric.

On the other sideline, there stood a true genius. Love him or loathe him (as fans of 31 teams do), Bill Belichick was not tested in out-coaching the Jets. Slants to Welker, screens to Faulk and pretty much leaving Moss to his double coverage and keeping the “rookie” QB in his comfort zone.

Like the fans of 30 other teams, the Jets hate Bill. During the second quarter, the Pats and 4th and 1 and Hanson came on to punt. The Jets special teams D was in disarray and the genius-in-waiting called a timeout. After the time out, Bill sent the offense back out and the regular D came on for the Jets. As the clock wound down, the Pats sprinted off, Hanson sprinted on and punted into an empty field. The Jets fans booed and the original chants of “ar$ehole, ar$ehole” echoed around Giants Stadium.

Another Pats call designed to p*ss off Mangini but kicking into the wind and keeping Washington, the Jets dangerous return man, off the field is the sign of a man who thinks and lives the wrinkles of the NFL.

As time went by, the chants turned to baiting the few Pats fans. Chants of “ACL, ACL” and “18-1, 18-1” were the best they had. Boy, do these guys need some English imagination in their chants…

Having the last laugh is always nice but especially satisfying when planted in enemy territory.

2-0, the Dolphins up next, a new QB, same old Pats. Tom who?

I have all home wins except the Cowboys!

Where is everyone? I was hoping for some good chat today. How dare you all work...

I have retired from this thread :hi:

Hope you had a fun trip. Oh and gl with the wedding :p

:hi:

Great read fella, really enjoyed that .. :p

Ugh, meetings.

I'll read them at work tomorrow. ;)

What wedding? My one 3 months ago or my next one, as yet undecided? ;)

Oops confusing you with someone else. As you were.

Flounce ;) :D

Saxon the 2nd blog is brilliant, great review of the game and your dayout.

Did I not say it would be more pleasurable to win with Cassel against the "certainties" NYJets.

How did the fans react to Favre being sacked for a 20yd loss and the 3 basically consecutive penalties in the 3rd? Quarter?