The Belichick Call

Dan sent me this excellent post by Joe "Perhaps the Best Sports Columnist Not Named Simmons" Posnanski. He points out the two bad timeouts preceding the play, as well as the questionable spot of Faulk's catch: two key pieces of the story somewhat glossed over in the criticism.

I love the call, not so much for the football strategy, but rather for what it does to Belichick's legacy. He was always more willing to go for it on 4th down than any other coach. Now we have a definitive memory to tie that characteristic to him. I suspect it would have been more forgettable if they had succeeded. The Belichick-haters wouldn't have something to pile on about.

Finally, I haven't seen many people discuss the brief live shot on NBC that seemed to show Brady talking Belichick into going for it. I am fairly certain Belichick said something like, "OK, let's do it," and then Brady turned and ran back onto the field. They may have been talking about the play call, though. Also, it's ultimately on Belichick as the head coach. Still, it's interesting.

Fantastic football game.

Pats v. Cowboys

Are you ready for some disappointment? This game is going to be a blowout. The Patriots are as good as we think they are, and the Cowboys are not.

Here's another prediction: Dallas will NOT have the best record in the NFC come playoff time. They might win their division, but they won't be playing in the NFC championship game. As we will see this afternoon, their defense is seriously flawed in defending downfield passing. And more importantly, Tony Romo might just suck.

OK, so Romo got off to a great start this year before last week's debacle. But recall the opponents. In week 1, he had 4TD/1 INT against a Giants team that, it seems to me, was not quite ready to roll. Week 2: 2/0 at awful Miami. Week 3: 2/1 against the falling apart Bears. Week 4: 3/1 versus awful Rams.

But last year he was great, right? Well... Here are his regular season numbers in five games against teams that made the playoffs (NYGx2, IND, NO, PHI): 4TD, 10 INT. Then of course there was the disastrous loss to Seattle.

So I'm asking the jury in the case of "Tony Romo v. Super-Stardom" to return to deliberation for the rest of this season at least. Today, for instance, we are going to see how a brilliant defensive coaching staff can destroy him.