Posted: January 4, 2020 by datechguy in nfl, Sports
After last week’s game vs Miami a lot of people all over the sport world started proclaiming the NE Patriots doom and the end of the dynasty but everyone seems to have forgotten one thing.
Going into week 17 to reach their goal of the Superbowl (which really is the only goal they have) they needed to win three games in a row.
But now after losing to Miami on that final drive the Patriots instead of being in a position of having to win three games in a row to reach the superbowl are now in the much more challenging position…of having to win three games in a row.
Are we still after last year seeing sports casters saying that even if the New England Patriots win against the hapless Dolphins today that the only question in the playoffs is: “Do the Patriots lose to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs at home or in Kansas city?”
Now don’t get me wrong, Kansas City is a good team and as demonstrated earlier in the year they are quite capable of beating any team including the Patriots, but I can’t think of anything that is more likely to motivate an already great Patriots defense and Tom Brady back into “Deflategate revenge tour” mode than stuff like this.
It’s still very early in the season but I’d like to point out that last year the Brooklyn Nets finished the year at 42-40 with a .512 winning percentage without Kyrie Irving as the 6th seed while the Boston Celtics finished at 49-33 with a .598 winning percentage as the 5th seed in the east with Kyrie irving.
This year Irving left the Celtics and the team is currently the #3 seed at 22-8 with a .733 winning percentage and even with the #2 Miami Heat in the Loss Column. Irving signed with the nets who are currently 16-15 with a .516 winning percentage and 7th seeded in the conference, but more importantly is 12-8 with a .600 winning percentage since an injury sidelined Irving after a 4-7 start.
This man is the anti-Brady
Last year in the NHL during the Regular Season the Tampa Bay Lightning simply dominated the league in a way we hadn’t seen in years until the playoffs came around. I remember driving home after game one listening to sports radio as they declared that despite that loss Columbus had no chance right up until they finished the lightning off.
It’s a year later and the team that managed 128 points, a solid 20 above every other is now currently at 42 points five points behind the last wild card team. Now there are still 46 games to go but it’s an important reminder that you have to take advantage of any opportunity you have because you just might not get another chance.
Speaking of not getting another chance as the year ends and the 2020 season draws near we are still getting “the trade or don’t trade Mookie Betts” debate in Boston.
It’s been a pretty quiet off season for the Red Sox with three players from last world series win (Brock Holt, Mitch Moreland, Rick Porcello ) currently testing free agency and Catcher Sandy Leon traded to Cleveland for minor league pitcher Adenys Bautista. As of today their current offensive depth chart looks like this (via redsox.com):
With the exception of Pedroia this is pretty much the Red Sox offence that tore up the league last year but was betrayed by injuries in the rotation and weakness in the bullpen. Or to put it another way, this team is one closer and perhaps one healthy rotation away from fielding a team more than capable of dominating the American league with a monster offense, a zipper outfield and a rotation as good as any other in baseball.
So to those who say forget 2020 and trade Mookie let me remind all these people who have forgotten the lean times of a little history.
Exactly 100 years ago another Red Sox had an off season at 66-71-1 (one game called after 10 innings never made up) where they had dropped to sixth a year after winning the world series. They decided to get rid of their star right fielder, who could also pitch a bit, before the start of their next season selling him for a price higher than the entire payroll of the the previous year’s team. More money than the combined salaries of the top 8 players in the league.
That team had won five World series in the 20th century at that point, they would not win another.
Now Mookie Betts is no Babe Ruth but the point of the story is when you have a chance to win a World Series take it, because it might be another 86 years before you win another.
Finally as I mentioned before the old table top face to face fantasy baseball league that I started 32 years ago (the year before I got married) was revived this year. Going into Friday I had a record of 8-4 having won my 1st 4 series with a pair of series coming up against two relative newcomers with one season of experience between them both with losing records.
Over the next two days I lost 4-6 including a 9th inning blown save by Kimbrel, a 14th inning marathon, and had a team with Mookie Betts batting 1st and Anthony Rendon hitting 3rd shut out for the final 20 innings of the last two games against a sixteen year old kid who was playing in his 1st baseball simulation league 50 years after I had gotten my 1st baseball simulation game, Milton Bradley baseball for Christmas in 1969 (great game btw you can get it on eBay here) at the ripe old age of six.
This demonstrates a sports rule that extends even to games on paper. No matter what the betting line or the prognosticators say there is a reason why you actually play the games.
On Saturday the NE Patriots beat a Buffalo team that despite almost being shut down in the 1st quarter held a lead going into the 4th to clinch their 11th straight AFC East title.
When you’ve got a a guy who has won 6 superbowls a division title might not seem to mean much so to give you some perspective consider the following
The last time the Patriots did not win their division George W Bush was president and Tom Brady was injured and out for the year.
Not counting Tom Brady there are four Patriots with 10 years experience who have played their entire careers in Foxborough Devan McCordy (10 years) , Matthew Slater (12 years), Julian Edlman (11 years) and kicker Stephen Gostkowski (14 years) of those only Gostkowski and Slater have played on a Patriots team that has not won the AFC East and that was the year Tom Brady was injured in game one and out for the season.
Not counting Tom Brady Ben Watson is the player on the Patriots with the most NFL experience playing in his 16th NFL season. He started with the Pats from 2004-2009 and then going to the Browns, Saints, Ravens and Saints again before returning to the Patriots this year. Other than the year that Brady was hurt in game one he has never played in an NFL season that the New England Patriots have not won the AFC East.
Question: What to Josh McCown (QB Eagles) , Drew Brees (QB Saints) , Matt Bryant (K Falcons) and Adam Vinatari (K-Colts) have in common with Tom Brady?
Answer: They are the only active players in the NFL to play during a season where Tom Brady as the Patriots starter did NOT win the AFC East (2002).
The last time Tom Brady failed to win an AFC East title for the Patriots Spiderman staring Tobey Maguire was the #1 movie in the country, the 1st Harry Potter movie was released, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was not yet complete How you Remind me was the #1 song of the year and Michael Jordan was still playing in the NBA.
Tom Brady has won more division titles as a player than the following franchises have won in their history.
Buffalo Bills
New York Jets
Miami Dolphins
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Houston Texans
Tennessee Titans\
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland Raiders
Denver Broncos
Los Angeles Chargers
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins
Detroit Lions
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Seattle Sea-hawks
Arizona Cardinals
There is likely no current college football player who has a living memory of an uninjured Tom Brady failing to win an AFC East Title
Tom Brady has won more division titles than the University of Alabama since division titles were introduced in 1992.
In this year’s postseason people are thinking that Lamar Jackson is the man to beat in the East with Patrick Mahomes and Deshawn Watson behind him. All three have beaten Tom Brady’s Patriots this season.
But if when the dust settles in the AFC, if Russell Wilson, Jimmy G. Drew Brees or Aaron Rogers or whoever comes out of the west finds that their path to Superbowl Glory runs through Tom Brady, while there will be a lot of people upset and disappointed, not a single one will be surprised.
Here’s a list of great flops in recent times. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.
Here we go.
Trump impeachment. Battlefield Earth movie. The XFL. (Yes, a revival is planned.) Jussie Smollett’s hate crime. Joe Walsh’s Republican primary challenge against Trump, as well as those of William Weld and Mark Sanford. New Coke. Cop Rock TV show. Watermelon-flavored Oreos. Heaven’s Gate movie. Bernie Madoff. Jar Jar Binks. The Cleveland Browns firing Bill Belichick. ESPN becoming woke. Theresa May’s call for a snap parliamentary election in 2017. Cheetos lip balm. Paris Hilton. The Big Ten conference inviting Rutgers to join. Anything related to Anna Nicole Smith. Mars Needs Moms movie. Manimal TV show. Jeremy Corbin’s term as head of the Labour Party. Pontiac Aztek. The San Diego Chargers move to Los Angeles. Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign, “I was born to be in it.” Google Glass. CNN’s decision to become the impeachment network. Rosie O’Donnell on The View. Michael Avenatti’s presidential run. Enron. Motorola Rokr phone. (I was given one of these by my employer at the time. It was truly a dreadful device.) Heinz purple ketchup.
Now some of these debacles can also double as hoaxes, such as the “racist assault on Smollett. And of course the impeachment of Trump, which of course is stumbling along despite the lack of evidence that a crime was committed.
Witch-hunter in chief in the House, Adam Schiff, dabbles in screenplay writing. Perhaps a Schiff-scripted movie might make it on a future list.
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