"One mistake can ruin a play. One play can ruin a game. One game can ruin a season."
Football wisdom never sounds so wise as when it comes from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. And during Monday night's game against the Baltimore Ravens, it seemed absolutely prescient. With their backs against the wall, and New England's undefeated season on the line, it took nothing less than perfection for the Patriots to leave M & T Bank Stadium with a win.
"That Brady is a baaaaad man," my dad said, calling after Tom Brady led the Patriots to another come-from-behind victory in the 4th quarter. But Brady's 31st comeback victory since 2001 (the highest such, league-wide) didn't proceed smoothly. Had Bill Belichick chosen to sit Tom Brady in all those situations the Patriots were ahead and not to be caught, it might have gone worse.
They say, that to have a perfect season, a team must be both great and lucky. The merely great invariably slip, even if only once (1998 Minnesota Vikings) and even if they end up winning it all anyway (1985 Bears). And the unlucky (think the 2005 Indianapolis Colts, 13-0 before James Dungy's suicide sent the team on a two-game losing streak) are befallen by injuries or tragedy too numerous or severe to make up on the football field.
The greatness of this group is unquestionable. Its roster, stacked, on both sides of the ball. Its coach, the best ever. Its work habits, above reproach.
And although the Patriots have been hit by tragedy themselves — Marquise Hill's preseason death made the Patriots, joining the Broncos and now the Redskins, one of only three NFL teams to lose a player this offseason — they've done just enough each week to make it to 12-0.
But I'd feel a lot more uncomfortable, looking towards the playoffs, with a Patriots team that beats every team by 23 points during the regular reason, than with a team that can win ugly, win close, and plays great situational football in the fourth quarter. You simply can't blow-out every team in the playoffs; the teams are too talented, the competition too severe, the stakes too high. That New England is getting plenty of practice playing tough, close games, this late in the season, bodes well for its Super Bowl chances.
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Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
"Woody Hayes's admonition that only three things can happen on a pass play, and two of them are bad"
I liked Bill Cowher's take on this, saying passing has only one bad outcome:
• Completion
• Incompletion
• Pass interference
He says an interception is NEVER an outcome.