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Patriots revenge served cold, and not on the scoreboard

By Beth | December 17th, 2007

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Welcome to Richard's house. Photo by Beth

Far be it from me to look too critically on another win for the Patriots, especially one that makes them just the second team in NFL history to go 14-0 (the other is the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and we all know what else that team is famous for), and that’s not what I’m trying to do here. But this was definitely not the type of game I’d expected the Pats and Jets to play.

Despite the weather, I and my fellow Patriots fans had been anticipating an offensive shootout, a 72-point romp over the green and white just to remind everybody who’s who in the AFC East. Maybe because of the weather–or maybe because of the game plan, how can we outside the mind of Bill Belichick be certain?–the punishment served up on the Jets yesterday was not a bevy of points, but rather, a bone-crunching defensive approach.

The prime example of this was Richard Seymour’s hit on ~~Roger~~ Kellen Clemens (as if we needed any more motivation in New England–the starting QB for the Jets yesterday was named Clemens.) in the first quarter. Backed up into his own end zone by stellar special-teams play on the Patriots’ side, Clemens was dropping back to pass across his body to a receiver on his left side, and Seymour smashed through the line just as Clemens drew his arm back to release the ball. Clemens got the ball away in time to avoid a sack, but not in time to avoid the Pain Train that Seymour was driving, as New England’s monstrous DE lifted Clemens into the air and slammed him back down to the cement-cold turf with 310 pounds of punishing force.

The better to get a good grip on the helpless quarterback, Seymour pinned his left arm down with his shoulder flexed on Clemens’ left side; when he landed, it looked like Clemens sustained a separation of the shoulder, but his injury has been listed as his ribs (no further detail has been given). Either way, that one hit on Clemens meant it was time for Chad Pennington to suit up for the hot seat.

I think there was more to that hit than sheer viciousness–I think that hit not only demonstrated loud and clear to the Jets’ offensive line that they were not stacking up against their opponents, and it also forced what might have been a totally unprepared bench-riding QB into the fray. It’s no secret I’m not much of a Pennington fan, but he did acquit himself well when he was tapped to take over for Clemens. Especially for a guy who could have taken a vacation while sidelined, he was very well prepared and led the team to a respectable point margin against the Patriots.

So it wasn’t the blowout we were hoping for, but the hits just kept on coming, until by the third quarter it was clear that defense, and not offense, was the weapon of choice for both parties in this much-hyped tete a tete. The game finally ended with Chad Pennington’s face in the dirt not once, but twice, as the Jets made final desperation passing attempts with that tantalizing deficit of 10 points still dangling in front of them on the scoreboard. Maybe not a blowout, but demoralizing nonetheless. Despite the relatively lackluster offensive performance (Tom Brady had his lowest passer rating of the season of 43), after the game, both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were smiling to themselves like cats full to the brim with canary.

And so now we look to *gulp* Miami. Yes, I know, they only managed to pull out their single victory this season just last week, and otherwise have been beaten by every opponent, including the 52-7 shellacking at the hands of the Patriots earlier this season. But the Dolphins late in the season is a notorious trap game for the Patriots. As Kristen put it, “I know I pretend that the Monday night game against Miami where the Dolphins dressed as traffic cones and blinded the Patriots and Brady into a confusion and forced him to throw interceptions from his ass never happened but the truth is, I remember it.” I’ve adopted the same policy of denial, but I, too, will admit the memory of that game is seared deep into my brain stem. It may be tempting, but I won’t underestimate the Miami Dolphins, especially not when all-time glory is on the line.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Patriots Game Reviews, Richard Seymour, Kellen Clemens, Eric Mangini, Chad Pennington, New York Jets, Bill Belichick, Patriots Organization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 Responses to “Patriots revenge served cold, and not on the scoreboard”

TJ Mims says:

December 17th, 2007 at 2:06 pm

It was a hard fought game, and was entirely what I anticipated…Mangini and Belicheck know each other all too well for any game between these 2 to be a complete blowout, no matter how good the Pats are…

heres a interesting stat:

Tom Brady vs. Jets (2007) 3 TDs, 1 INT

Tom Brady vs rest of AFC EAST ( 3 games thus far) 15 TDs, 0 INTs

That pretty much sums it up. Again, a good game…I felt it was worth watching much more then that 72-0 blowout you probably anticipated. Yes, I know you are disappointed, but be happy with the win…

and Seymour will likely be getting a call from the league office for his drive to the ground. A good hit followed through with the “unnecessary” drive to the ground….that will cost him…
Beth says:

December 17th, 2007 at 4:26 pm

i’m not disappointed, it was just different than what i expected is all i was trying to point out. i realized rereading the post that isn’t what it sounded like and have edited accordingly, because that really isn’t what i was trying to say.

if seymour gets a call on that hit it’s complete BS. there was no penalty assessed at the time whatsoever–it was a well-timed hit, and the hit and drive to the ground were all in one motion. i don’t see how he could have stopped once he started.
Andrew Farrar says:

December 17th, 2007 at 6:41 pm

Looks to me like New England’s defence saved them - the offence hasn’t played well in recent games, save for the second half against Pittsburgh. It’s got to be a worry.
beth says:

December 17th, 2007 at 8:09 pm

your point is well taken, andrew, but i think in this game the weather also played a part.

why do you think the pats offense would be stumbling now?
Jamie says:

December 18th, 2007 at 7:11 am

Sunday’s offense against the Jets was definitely affected by the weather. There were drops that don’t usually happen and you could see where the wind played with Brady’s longer passes. Anytime there’s more of a focus on the running game the points will usually be down (Adrian Peterson and LT aside).

Another point to consider is that defenses now have almost a full season’s worth of tape to watch (of the illegal or legal variety hehe) and can better gameplan the offense. This team takes everybody’s best shot every week as if they were the Superbowl Champions.
Andrew Farrar says:

December 18th, 2007 at 1:45 pm

Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make complacent.
I think Belichick needs to fire some f’s into Brady and company. And dump that Maroney character who, facing facts, isn’t very good.
Unless the New England offence starts playing again, they haven’t a prayer of winning the superbowl - they’ll not even make it to Arizona.
beth says:

December 18th, 2007 at 11:00 pm

interesting, andrew. we’ll have to revisit your predictions at a later date. i try to avoid making them, myself.
Andrew Farrar says:

December 19th, 2007 at 8:39 am

But my prediction can’t be wrong, unlike your 72 point prediction, made on 10th December, for the New York Jets fixture.
If New England make it all the way, I’ll simply say it was because the offence got their behinds into gear again.
beth says:

December 19th, 2007 at 8:41 am

the 72 point prediction was a joke.
Andrew Farrar says:

December 19th, 2007 at 10:35 am

Perhaps you should avoid making predictions and jokes in future, since you don’t appear to be very good at either.
Brent says:

December 19th, 2007 at 6:06 pm

Andrew I liked your first comments and am not able to disagree except when the last half of the Stelers game was played just before the Jets….

If anything the Pats have been suspect for a while over the middle and even more so against the run since Colvin has been out.

Since I am not sure where you are from since you write offence incorrectly (it is with an s not a c), then maybe you missed the ironic (or cynical) New England humor.

If you are not from New England then look back to ‘Good Will Hunting’ and come back when you figure out the apples part.

Otherwise it is good craic and I look forward to future comments!
Andrew Farrar says:

December 19th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

You’ll have to forgive me, I come from old England (across the pond) and we spell offence with a “c”.
beth says:

December 19th, 2007 at 8:48 pm

andrew, perhaps you should write your own football blog, since you know so much about how i should write mine. or, given i’m apparently not very good at it, why not go elsewhere?

up until now, i thought we were having a civil and intelligent conversation. i’m disappointed to see you turning into just another troll.
Andrew Farrar says:

December 20th, 2007 at 8:21 am

I’m sorry Brent, but what do you mean when you say “the last half of the Stelers [sic] game was played just before the Jets…”?
As far as I can tell, there was a whole week between the fixture versus the Steelers and the fixture against the Jets. That’s a whole lot of time for complacency to set in.
The Pittsburgh fixture was a tricky one. And one a whole lot of people on both sides of the divide thought might go the way of the Steelers. In the second half, the Patriots offence stepped up a game and romped away. Then, it seems to me, back to their slumbers for the Jets game. No one expected the Jets to get anywhere near the Patriots.
I forget the exact timing, but did the New England bye week come before or after the Buffalo fixture? If it came after, then the Patriots offence hasn’t functioned properly, except for that half against Pittsburgh, since their bye week.