Consider this fickle Boston and pink hat wearing fans: the stock you put into Tommy’s comeback has fallen short today. Again.
And fickle is the appropriate word, because you-know-who-you-are have repeatedly (but cautiously) used how the (almost) Team of the Decade are winners, because they play as a team. You boast loudly how there are no legends here like Brett Favre and Peyton Manning; no stars to lean on like Terrell Owens and Tony Romo; and no media-whoring coaching personalities like Bill Parcells and Brian Billick to distract us from our team-first approach.
But as those championship teams have faded away, you watched on as the glowing and growing accolades endowed on Billy and Tommy from those past successes got more and more over-hyped by the media (ala Jim Nance) — to the sickening point now that we are awed whenever Tommy throws a pass that actually carries more than 15 yards in the air. Or Tommy does the Daunte Culpepper chuck for a 5th or 6th TD to Moss when the game is clearly over. Or Tommy is the recipient of a gracious blown call (tuck rules and touching the passer), or any of the slew of real bad plays made from their weak-ass opponents, aka, the AFC East — somehow Billy and Tommy both had something to do with that, too.
Yes, you hear it often repeated from those same clueless “fans” about how this team are still winners, because we have this stud in Tommy and this genius that is Billy Belichick. Really? Let’s review the 2nd half of this decade, after The Team had been dismantled to make way for cheaper, but talented misfits …
It started in 2005, Tommy’s first playoff loss at the hands of the Denver Broncos, which carried forward into the start of the 2006 season with the infamous perception of Tommy’s body language. The consummate playboy was caught sulking, because he no longer had that cast of skilled receivers that carried his screen passes for 10+ yards. Pioli took care of that in the offseason with a whole new core of gifted receivers.
But the team’s 2007 campaign showed me something about that coach & qb style of play. Yes, play. They certainly did not show any class defined by leaders of men, nor sportsmanship typically given by well-paid professionals. With the Kraft’s purchase of five new receivers, Billy and Tommy bought into their own hype from the surrounding talent they possessed and personally cashed in on it. But they got caught cheating. Still, they turned a negative into a positive, and they galvanized The Team by running up scores for all its statistical worth. Their Pursuit of Perfection (with an asterisk) escaped defeat in the regular season and then again by barely making it through the playoffs, despite suspect game planning and Tommy’s apparent slide in performance — but making it still to yet another Super Bowl appearance. Only this time there was no Ty Law or Adam Vinatieri or Troy Brown or Drew Bledsoe or bad calls from a ref to make up for that lousy game plan and poor execution. Perhaps The Team was showing some division by the snubs Moss got from not getting ANY individual recognition for his record-catching 23 TDs? Tommy got BOTH MVP and Offensive Player of the Year — and The Team got another AFC trophy for Kraft’s palace.
Then 2008, when I thought we all might see The Team re-emerge when Matt Cassel took over. Wow, a former starting QB — from high school — takes over The Team when Tommy went down clutching his knee in week one. Cassel’s play was a result of The Team’s effort that year — it proved that a capable QB on that Team can be winners. Unfortunately, The Team without Brady still had to contend with The Legend in New York named Brett Favre, which resulted in the 2008 Patriots becoming only the 3rd team in NFL history to get to 11 wins, yet not make the playoffs. Fortunately for Tommy’s return, Matt Cassel, Scott Pioli, and Josh McDaniels took advantage of other opportunities, perhaps knowing that this well has gone dry — I was getting a sense from the faithful that we were all hoping for Tommy to get traded away, if only Pioli was still around.
No doubt, both Tommy and Billy are destined for the Hall of Fame, for which they both should be eligible for in 2015 — if the Kraft’s have any sense and are really committed to getting back to championship football.
What The Team needs is a tough leader, that inspires with his play and emotions. Tom Brady has never achieved that status quo here with the New England faithful. Dink-and-dunk plays, choreographed footwork, sulking when things go wrong, and repeated appeals to refs — New England is not about the acts of a momma boy. And the drab we have to bear after every game, ugh. We are used to the kind of toughness seen in today’s QB like Ben Roethlisberger coupled with emotion that fires a team up like Brett Favre. Those men are special. In years past, we embraced Steve Grogan and Drew Bledsoe, while hating and respecting their rivals in Dan Marino and John Elway, because all of them were tough men, played the game, and lead their teammates.
I was not shocked that Tommy was allowed by Billy to finish today’s game, even after it was clearly out of reach. I expected Tommy to continue with the nice safe short completions to get his yards and completion% back up to a respectable number. But I was pleased to see The Team drop a number of those make-me-look-good-on-the-stat-line passes, after all, why take yet another hit for the playboy? Oh, yeah, The Team is in trouble, because it is in dire need of leadership.
As fans, we shunned Tommy Hodson and Hugh Millen, and we booed Tony Eason out of town. So why does Tommy get a pass when he was handed the keys to run our New England football team? I know I haven’t bought in to that hype, but then again, I live in Providence — in a state formed originally to avoid Massachusetts intolerance of religious freedoms — so I guess I will never understand the Boston-based faithful with their fickle fans.
Go VIKINGS!!
Tags: Pastime by Rob
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