Tag: Super Bowl

Dan Le Batard Takes a Shot at the Crown, Implies Tom Brady is On Steroids

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NESN – What Tom Brady is doing at age 40 defies all logic. The New England Patriots quarterback has a very real chance of finishing his age-40 season with an NFL MVP award, a Super Bowl MVP award and yet another Super Bowl championship. Most people attribute Brady’s incredible longevity to a combination of alternative wellness, all-time great coaching and, of course, skill. Some, like ESPN’s Dan Le Batard, wonder if there’s a more cynical theory, however. During Monday’s episode of “The Dan Le Batard Show,” the popular radio host essentially asked whether Brady is using performance-enhancing drugs. Le Batard tip-toed around the topic, and never specifically said “steroids” or PEDs,” but it was abundantly clear what he was talking about.

So Dan Le Batard took some time off from ugly crying on his own show to take a shot at the crown and insinuate Tom Brady is popping PEDs.

“And this is what I want to ask you: … When faced with a quarterback who is aging in a way that has no precedent in the history of aging, is there any particular reason that people aren’t questioning that?” Le Batard asked co-host Stugotz. “Man, we climbed into Peyton Manning … Peyton Manning doesn’t look the part on pharmaceuticals, and Al Jazeera was climbing around in his wife’s stuff, trying to get at the hormones. “And so what I’m asking you is, is it an unfair question to wonder whether, when facing something that has literally no precedent in the history of football or aging, to be like, ‘how?’“

What is Dan Le Batard even talking about here? We climbed into Peyton Manning? NO YOU DID NOT. This is exactly why people around here hate Peyton Manning. Guy got a total free pass from the media. The Peyton Manning comparison makes absolutely no sense. It was an absolute NON-STORY on ESPN, ya know Le Batard’s network, because the Manning Mafia hit the wrap it up box on that whole story real quick.

ESPN barely mentioned it and when they did they basically said, no you see Peyton wasn’t taking anything, his wife was just getting HGH shipments to a since-closed facility in a fucking strip mall in Indianapolis, even though they live in Denver.

And for the record, I don’t care if Peyton was taking horse tranquilizers from the Eastern Bloc. Do what you gotta do, especially if said remedies have you tossing 50+ TDs a year after a debilitating neck surgery.

I just know Brady would be on the cover of the New York Times and every other media outlet in the world would be screaming some nonsense about cheating if it came out he was having boxes of HGH shipped to Giselle.

Its times like these I need to remind myself and everyone around me to not do exactly what I’m doing right now and get all riled up. Tom Brady has 5 Super Bowl rings and people want to poke holes anywhere and everywhere they can. So Dan Le Batard, Rob Parker, and Max Kellerman can all go take a fat hike.

 

Six Thoughts From Championship Sunday

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After yet another Patriots comeback and an epic Eagles beatdown in Philadelphia the matchup for Super Bowl LII is set. For the Patriots, the Blitz for Six is fully on.  For the Eagles, it’s a chance to cap off a Cinderella run with a back-up quarterback as they look to claim their first Super Bowl championship. Now that I’ve had a a few hours to digest both games from yesterday, here are a few thoughts from championship Sunday.

Tom Brady’s Hand Is A-OK

Like Belichick said, Brady’s injury didn’t require open-heart surgery but you wouldn’t know it by the way the team talked about it during the week. Especially with Brady wearing Hamburger Helper gloves to his Friday press conference and telling reporters “we’ll see” when asked if he would play. As a Patriots fan I understand the need to control the flow of information to prevent the opponent from gaining any advantage, but this smug routine does get old at times. I can’t blame the rest of the country for getting sick of it.

Back to Brady, he looked great yesterday. Even with the early deficit Brady looked great out of the gate. He completed 26 of 38 passes for 290 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. The zero interceptions stat might get underplayed this week. Despite his better than 3-to-1 TD-to-INT rate during the regular season, it’s just better than 2-to-1 in the postseason. The first two games of this postseason might just be the best two games he has ever had to open a postseason.

Danny Amendola Is A Playoff Beast

Can’t disagree with Dion Lewis. It’s hard to think of another player who has upped his game in the playoffs as much as Amendola has. While certainly a good player, he’s never been selected to a Pro Bowl. In 111 regular season games Amendola has averaged 3.8 receptions per game, 37.0 yards per game and has scored 19 touchdowns. In 12 playoff games, all with New England, he’s averaged 4.1 receptions, 46.4 yards and has scored 6 touchdowns.

In just this post season he’s got 2 touchdowns and is averaging 9 receptions and 98 yards per game. Without Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, it was Amendola who helped Brady pull yesterday’s game out of the fire.

James Harrison Came Up Big

ESPN.com – After totaling three tackles and a quarterback hit against the Jaguars, Harrison has 11 tackles in three games with the Patriots. He has shown a knack for pressing opposing quarterbacks late in games, in obvious passing situations.

Last Hurrah for the Patriots Second Triumvirate

The same exact thought went through my head when I saw that hug. It would seem all but certain that this triumvirate’s final act is coming up. Against the Eagles. To make it 3-out-of-4  for the Patriots.

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When it’s all said and done and they’re making the Brady/Belichick 30 for 30, I’d be interested to see Belichick compare this triumvirate to the Patriots First Triumvirate of himself, Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel. Weis and Crennel were Belichick’s contemporaries. McDaniels and Patricia have been his students, his prodigies. How does that affect their relationships, the decision making processes? Also, does it explain the 10 year gap in championships? The First Triumvirate was in place 2001-2004. The Second Triumvirate has been in place since 2012.

Did Case Keenum Play His Way Out of Minnesota Last Night?

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I certainly think so. It was a nice story and a fun run, but how can you hand him the keys to that franchise? With all the momentum the Vikings had from the game-winning touchdown against New Orleans the week before, Keenum hit Kyle Rudolph for a 25-yard touchdown to go up 7-0 on Philadelphia last night. Minnesota then gets the ball back up 7-0.

Keenum then proceeds to throw a pick-six and the rest of the game went to hell in a hand basket for the Vikings. Keenum would throw another pick and lose a fumble as the Eagles scored 38 unanswered points. His final numbers were 28-of-48 passing for a TD with 2 INTs.

Up until last night that Minnesota defense looked legitimate. Mike Zimmer seems like a solid head coach who doesn’t do stupid things to give games away (see Tomlin, Mike). If I were him, I’d take my chances and go quarterback shopping this offseason. It’s a formula that has worked well for other teams in similar situations before, most recently the Denver Broncos in 2016.

Which Nick Foles Will the Patriots See?

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In his three starts to close the regular season Foles completed only 47 of his 87 pass attempts (54.02%), but did throw 5 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions. In two playoff games he’s completed 49 of 63 pass attempts (77.78%) and thrown 3 TDs and no picks. Has he “figured it out?”

Blake Bortles went 13-of-15 for 155 yards and a touchdown in the first half against the Patriots yesterday, but just 10-of-21 for 138 yards in the second half. Will the Patriots be able to make similar adjustments on Foles? Will they have to?

 

Mr. Kraft Does It Again! Makes Fire Flames Sneakers Out of Super Bowl LI Footballs

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My goodness. Just when I think Robert Kraft has outdone himself with his footwear, he does it again. He’s created maybe the greatest sneaker of all time. Forget Yeezys, Bobby Kraft is the hottest footwear designer on the streets. JUST LOOK AT THESE.

The man has taken actual footballs from the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history and turned them into fire flames footwear. Incredible. I still need to get me a pair of RKK Air Forces, but at least those are available for purchase. These things are like a rare Pokemon; I know I’ll never get a pair yet I need them. It’s like acid in my mouth. Hook a blogger up, Mr. Kraft.

Ep 013 of The 300s Podcast: FOOTBALL IS BACK!

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Don’t close down the grill and certainly don’t stop drinking because yes thats right, FOOTBALL IS BACK. Listen and subscribe to Ep 013 of The 300s Podcast on iTunes. More specifically Football Sundays are back. Sure we had the Pats on Thursday night, but yesterday was the first time we all got to watch football on the couch for 10 straight hours. And it was glorious. In Ep 013 of The 300s Podcast we’re talking Patriots, the rest of the NFL, the Draftkings Ponzi scheme, Fantasy Football, NCAA Football (Baker Mayfield is a bad, bad man) and a Red Sox update (probably still will get swept in the first round). SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES!

The Patriots are Back Tonight to Light the Biggest Fire the North Has Ever Seen

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LETS GOOO. LETS GOOO. Your Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots are back tonight after 7 months without football. Tonight they’re gonna light the biggest fire the north has ever seen.

The last time we saw this team they were lifting the Lombardi Trophy after completing the greatest comeback in NFL history and giving Roger Goodell and the league a gigantic middle finger. As Robert Kraft once said, this one is unequivocally the sweetest.

The Pats had to literally redesign the goddamn stadium to make room for Super Bowl Champs banner No. 5. That is preposterous and tonight we get to see Tom Brady and the boys drop another banner on the rest of the NFL.

It sucks that we lost Julian Edelman for the year with a knee injury, but this team is still stacked. We’ve got Gronk back, added Brandon Cooks, and brought in Rex Burkhead and Mike Gillislee. Another year in the system for Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell. Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola, Dont’a Hightower, Malcolm Butler, Devin McCourty, Stephon Gilmore, GET OFF THE TRACKS BECAUSE THE TRAIN IS LEAVING THE STATION.

We’re on to Minneaposix. See ya in February.

Las Vegas Boldly Predicts the 2007 Patriots Would Beat the 2017 Patriots Head to Head

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ESPN – The 2017 New England Patriots are the overwhelming favorites across Las Vegas to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but are they better in bookmakers’ eyes than the 2007 team? ESPN spoke with seven Vegas bookmakers and asked them to make a line in a hypothetical matchup between the two teams. Six of the seven had the ’07 team favored, with lines ranging from “a small favorite” (William Hill US) to 11 points (Frank Kunovic at Caesars).

Well, no shit. The 2007 Patriots went 16-0…and then I don’t really remember the rest…but they legit didn’t lose a single game in the regular season, routinely BLOWING teams out, all while setting multiple offensive records along the way. That squad vs the 2017 team that hasn’t even played a single game together? I mean who would you take? Not to mention we have players dropping like flies and our front-7 is starting to resemble swiss cheese.

But this is exactly why video games exist. Just putting old school juggernauts against the latest and greatest. NBA2K is awesome for that exact reason. Putting Larry Bird and the Celtics against Steph Curry and the 2018 Warriors. Or playing the Shaq and Kobe Lakers against Bill Russell. I don’t know if this year’s Madden has Classic Teams like it used to, but if it does, this 2007 Pats vs 2017 Pats matchup *needs* to happen. Not only that, it needs to be played out in traditional, painstakingly full 15-minute quarters. If thats still an option then that will be my cross to bear.

Imagine Malcom Butler trying to shut down 2007 Randy Moss who had 23 touchdowns that year? Or 2017 Tom Brady trying to rifle in some slants through that forest of Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Vince Wilfork et al? Now that would be a goddamn game and that is why Twitch is a billion dollar business.

Jets Are Now 1,000-1 Odds to Win the Super Bowl; the Worst Odds Ever

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1,000-1. Those are the Jets odds of winning the Super Bowl. The same odds as the Warriors NOT making the playoffs. Insane. Just for comparisons sake, the Patriots odds to win the Super Bowl are currently 11/4. Just slightly better.

I guess if you’re a Jets fan, the one saving grace is that this year they are intentionally bad. Sure if they had really tried they still wouldn’t have been great, but by getting rid of Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, Sheldon Richardson and other players they have basically punted on the season. And as painful as this season will be for those dummies in green, its a smart play long term. Especially with a pretty solid looking crop of top QB prospects this year. UCLA’s Josh Rosen looked like a goddamn stud this weekend.

But it is the Jets, so odds are they luck into like 3-4 wins and lose out on a franchise QB. It really is amazing to have witnessed three peaks and valleys in the Jets franchise all while the Patriots have remained consistently dominant the entire time. Think about it. We’ve witnessed the rise (and fall) of Eric Mangini, the Rex Ryan era featuring the roughly 3 year reign of Bart Scott and the mouthy assholes, and most recently the moderately successful 1-year reign of Todd Bowles and Ryan Fitzpatrick before falling back to earth and saying screw it lets be REALLY bad.

All sandwiched between a mere 5 Patriots Super Bowl victories. What a goddamn shadow over the New York Jets of New Jersey.

The Patriots Literally Had to Redesign Their Stadium to Fit All Their Super Bowl Banners

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With the Patriots season just a couple of weeks away, so too is the Super Bowl Champions banner unveiling. Only problem is, theres no more room at Gillette for any more banners. This is such a amazingly arrogant problem to have I love it. “So when we built this stadium we didn’t anticipate having nearly half a dozen Super Bowl banners just 15 years later.” If you remember the layout of the 4x Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots banners it looked like this.

Needless to say a very arousing photograph with a whole bunch of Super Bowl Champions banners. But alas, there is no room for the newly minted 5th SB Champs banner. And I would rather burn the place down then put it where that ill advised 16-0 banner used to sit.

So how do you solve the best problem to have in the NFL? You literally redesign the entire goddamn thing to MAKE room for the 5th banner (as well as a couple more).

I thank the good lord every day he made me a Patriots fan. See you guys in Minneapolis.

An Ode To The GOAT On His 40th Birthday

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I’ll admit it: I was a Bledsoe guy. Drafted 1st overall in 1993, as I became a conscious human being, the rocket-armed Washingtonian was the prototype of a QB1 and the guy I was sure would lead us to a Super Bowl Championship, getting us to the big dance once in 1996.

So, needless to say, when Mo Lewis, contracted by the football gods, landed the shot heard ’round the universe in 2001 and caused a near-death (seriously) Bledsoe to hand the reigns over to a young back up out of Michigan, I was none too pleased. More specifically I figured we were fucked. My guy was out and our season was over.

Well I was wrong. I’ll take that one. That’s on me. That backup, chosen in the sixth round the year before Bledsoe went down, was Tom Brady, and all he has done is rack up 5 Super Bowls, 4 Super Bowl MVPs, 12 Pro Bowl appearances, 2 MVPs, and 2 Offensive Player Of The Year Awards. He now also is both the winningest QB overall and winningest QB for a single team (208 wins). This is further astounding when factoring in the bust of a 2002 season when Brady was getting used to life as an official starting QB and that his 2008 season was ended half a quarter in. Oh and a quick side note: Did I mention he’s handsome as fuck and married to a kajillionaire Brazilian super model who seems like she’s a down ass PIC as well?

Now reread all the accomplishments I listed above, personal and professional. Take a glimpse into the California-sized chip taken out of #12’s shoulder in April 2000 and you’ll see a list of accolades and achievements that transcends modern football’s standards for longevity and consistency, especially when you consider those MVPs, etc. would probably be double in number if the media that voted on them didn’t quietly hate Brady for ruining their “Peyton Manning: America’s Golden Boy” narrative they had pre-written 20 years worth of stories for in 1998.

Reread all that Tom Brady has done, all that he has earned through skill and grit, patience and perseverance, and then think of this: He did all that before he turned 40. Every last thing listed above happened before Brady reached his 5th decade. That changes today. Today, he turns 40 – coming off his fifth Super Bowl win but seemingly as competitive and driven to win as ever. He has a restocked arsenal with which to work, as Brandin Cooks, Mike Gillislee, and Dwayne Allen have been added to his toolbox. He works with a guru of sorts with whom he monitors every last work out down to the smallest of motions and every last meal down to the tiniest of morsels. Make no mistake about it, Tom Brady isn’t still here to just win, or even to be considered the GOAT, a title which, although earned, he has stated he is uncomfortable with. No, He is still coming for complete and total domination. He wants no corners of the map unconquered and no prisoners taken. He wants it all.

So Happy 40th Birthday to Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, the guy who replaced my guy, the 7th QB taken in 2000, destined to ride pine while Bledsoe played for another 5 years, at least.. For 16 years we’ve watched you prove you belong, then that you are great, then excellent. The only gift we can give now is to end the ever-changing perceptions of what we are observing and simply state – you are the Greatest of All Time.

 

Now can someone give him a fucking high-5.

 

 

I Am Offended at the Lack of Patriots Fans That Want to Go for 19-0

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It seems like the topic du jour around the local sports media is whether the Patriots can realistically (or should even attempt it) go a perfect 19-0. Except there seems to be less people talking about if they can do it and more people just straight up refusing to talk about it and saying its stupid to do so. USA Today thinks its doable. But basically every other media personality wants no part of it.

As a Patriots fan, the lack of people that want to go for 19-0 personally offends me.

Guys, I know it brings up bad memories. We almost had it in 2007. It was in the palms of our hands, less than 2 minutes to go and the 07 Patriots would be crowned the greatest team of all time.

If Asante Samuel makes that interception. If David Tyree plays like the insurance salesman he really is, if Rodney Harrison somehow jars that ball lose from his fucking helmet, if the refs actually called holding on the Giants offensive line on that play. The list goes on and on.

That shit used to kill me. Used to. But I noticed something recently. The 07 Super Bowl highlights come on….and I watch them. It doesn’t make me physically ill anymore. I can watch those clips and say ah man that sucked, without smashing a pint glass off my wall like I would have done a few years ago. Winning two Super Bowls since then goes a looong way in healing that pain. Brady’s 5-2 in the SB for christ’s sake. That will always be the most painful loss of my life. I was a freshman in college and my direct roommate was a Giants fan, not to mention half my hallway. So losing in that fashion, surrounded by that many Giants fans in neutral territory as a young, inebriated boyish man, that was a tough pill to swallow.

But like I said, one of the greatest Super Bowls EVER against Seattle with the Malcolm Butler pick to seal the W was cathartic; the greatest comeback of all time against the Falcons in 2016 gave us all our swagger back. You can’t say shit to us. You can’t hurt us.

The Patriots have 5 Super Bowl rings, Tom Brady is a 2x MVP, a 4x Super Bowl MVP, he had one of his greatest seasons ever during the Deflategate saga, and then was suspended the following year only to come back, tear it up and win another fucking Super Bowl. Belichick and Brady are the. Greatest. Of. All. Time. So…what do you get the men who have everything? The only thing left. Perfection

Its the ultimate. Its the only thing left that the Patriots don’t have. And there will always be the Felgers of the world saying we as Patriots fans all have a persecution complex (is it paranoid if its true though?) and theres nothing left to prove. But, tell someone they can’t do something or don’t need something and what do they want? Exactly. We’ve conquered the AFC East, we’ve conquered fan bases in St. Louis, Carolina, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Atlanta, we’ve taken on the league and the commissioner himself and come out with one for the thumb. TB12 is 40 years old and playing better than anyone has ever played the position. Minneaposix™ is the goal, but 19-0 will always be the ultimate.

PS – Plus if the Pats do go 19-0 I can get my fucking t-shirts back stateside.