NFL Follies

Bill Belichick

Couple of things from the NFL this weekend... Sunday night Bill Belichick made a gutsy call and it backfired on him. I'll leave that for last. Let's start with the Jets and supremely confident Rex Ryan. His defense needs to go back to the drawing board... Whenever they needed a big stop Sunday against the Jaguars, they came up small. Second quarter... 4th and 4... David Garrard throws to Mike Thomas. Keeps the drive alive. Then in the 4th on the Jags winning drive... 3rd and 9.... again, Garrard finds Thomas. Another crucial conversion. Then there was the Maurice Jones Drew play and you know the rest.

I don't blame the offense for the loss. I thought they played pretty well... except for Mark Sanchez's interception that should have been a pick 6 if the guy didn't trip over the 10 yard line... But Sanchez after the game was ridiculous. He actually read from a piece of paper in the post game presser. I guess his line of thinking was that if he touches on subjects that are of interest, then the media will not ask him those questions, thus taking "The Hammer" away from the media. He should know better and if he doesn't someone should tell him. Just go up to the microphone talk to the media, answer their questions and go on about your business. When did he have a chance to prepare this little cheat sheet anyway? Maybe during the Jags final drive because the defense did nothing to get their offense back on the field.

And a lot has been made about Bill Belichick's decision to go for the first down when the Patriots had a 4th and 2 at the Patriots 28 yard line. There was 2:08 left on the clock. I can't kill Bill on this one. Let's think about this now. Conventional wisdom would be to punt the ball away and ask your defense to stop Peyton Manning and the Colts from driving for the game winning score with the remaining time on the clock.

Belichick is looking at it this way: How many times has Peyton Manning driven his team down the field in less than 2 minutes to win the game? The answer: A lot!!! He's also thinking that his defense probably will have a hard time stopping him this time around, given the fact that Manning used 2:04 and 1:49 respectively in his last 2 scoring drives. So he's thinking that his offense led by Super Bowl Quarterback Tom Brady can get 2 yards for the first down. If they get the first down, they can sit on the ball and waste out the clock, thus stopping Manning. It didn't work so Belichick looks bad. But I don't think it was such a bad strategy. By the way, it was really close to a first down. Belichick will have to mend fences with his defense. He didn't show much confidence in them and that might not sit well with them. By the way, the Pats should be a happy bunch when they host the Jets this Sunday.