Well, Oct 28th was quite a day in sports. Although the NFL match-ups weren’t too good this week, there was one that truly stuck out in my mind. That game pitted the New England Patriots against the Washington Redskins. All I have to say is WOW.
Now, you might think that when I say “wow,” I do so because of the amazing talents that compose this team and the severe beating that they gave the ‘Skins. To an extent, yes, that’s part of it. But the rest concerns the fact that while they possess the most talent, the trade-off is that the New England Patriots do not possess any class or sportsmanship.
When a team is winning a game 38-0 in the 4th quarter of a football game, they are usually expected to run the ball and waste some time in order to just get the game over with and leave with a victory. Sure, this is not an absolute rule, but it is an “unwritten” rule nonetheless. But do the Patriots do this? No way. 4th and 1 around the Washington 10 yard line. Most teams would kick a field goal and be done with it. Do the Patriots do this? No. Troy Aikman made a point that maybe they did not want to run up the score, so they would just run the ball, get the first down and keep running. Or maybe they wold just run the ball right up the middle and if they don’t get the first down, it still gives the ‘Skins terrible field position. Well, they did run the ball, and did get the first down. But then, what does Tom Brady do? He THROWS a touchdown to Wes Welker. It’s now 45-0.
It doesn’t stop there. The Patriots get the ball back after stopping Washington, and put in backup QB Matt Cassel. No problem with that at all, give the scrubs some playing time and run the clock out… I mean, you’re already winning 45-0. But nope, Cassel comes out THROWING. He lines up in 4 WR sets and ends up running the ball (on a pass play) for a touchdown. 52-0. Necessary? Absolutely not. Nice one Coach Belichick, way to make a complete mockery of the Washington Redskins. Washington finally did score one touchdown to make it 52-7, but that’s all they could do.
A couple of my friends had some good insight into this game. One commented on the fact that you put your scrubs in, and RUN the ball. If they score a touchdown, so be it, that’s the defenses fault. But run the ball and waste time, it makes you look like you respect the other team and gives the league some integrity. This isn’t the XFL. Also, when Joe Gibbs doesn’t really want to shake your hand at the end of the game, you know you are wrong. One of my friends pointed out that he is one of the most respected coaches in the history of the NFL, and he’s right… Gibbs was/is a great coach and deserves more respect from Bill Belichick and the Patriots that he received yesterday.
Granted, this has been done more than once this year. We get it New England, you guys are stacked, but you can win with some class too. You don’t need to run up the score to show people how great you are, you can do so by just winning every week, whether it is by 2 points or 30…. a win is a win. You can still go undefeated by winning every game by 1 point, so this is not necessary. Show some respect… because what goes around comes around. If the Pats lose next week to the Colts, I bet Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy would not run up the score. Take a knee sometimes… it may be boring football, but at least it’s not a total embarrassment to your opponents, and you’ll be respected around the league and with fans. The Pats aren’t helping their cause this year… they may be talented but have shown to lack class and were also found to be cheaters already, and it’s only been half the season.
This isn’t to anger New England sports fans, and since I know a lot of you, no offense should be taken from this post… but I ask, just for one time in your lives, accept that one of your teams is wrong!
Posted by Kevin 
Posted by Kevin 
