Phlash
Footballguy
http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/wilbur/s...log/2007/12/10/
Whats the consensus on this? It seems like he's giving up before the game even starts... this isn't something you want to hear a team leader like Rhodes say. He probably should have said "We're gonna play our best because they are the best" or something along those lines, but "...hopefully not get beat bad." isn't something I want one of my best players saying.It won't quite be reminiscent of the 1940 NFL Championship Game, when the Bears beat the Redskins, 73-0, but ... well, actually maybe it will.
The Patriots are an early 24 1/2-point favorite to beat the Jets on Sunday in Foxborough, and a few Internet sites had the Patriots as much as a 27-point favorite. You'd still be crazy to lay cash on the Jets.
Fourteen weeks ago, Eric Mangini sold out his former master, tarnishing the name of Bill Belichick and the Patriots in the wake of spygate and bringing upon the NFL the merciless team of perfection that anxiously awaits his arrival.
As the New York Daily News' Gary Myers puts it, "Eric Mangini and the Jets will get a greeting in Foxborough next Sunday in the Revenge For Spygate that's going to make A-Rod feel like Red Sox fans throw him a ticker tape parade every time he steps to the plate at Fenway Park."
It's not a question of whether the Patriots will win, but by how much. At what point does Randy Moss pick up the phone and call in the National Guard, a la Shannon Sharpe?
Now that the Steelers and Anthony Smith's worthless guarantee have been cast aside with yesterday's 34-13 Patriots victory, only a trio of teams stand in the way of the NFL's first perfect regular season since the 1972 Dolphins (have you heard?), and the next two are a combined 3-23 on the season.
Three of those wins come from the Jets.
"Somebody from Pittsburgh made a guarantee and that didn't work out too well for them," Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said yesterday after his team fell to the Cleveland Browns, 24-18, a game after which we imagine Romeo Crennel wished Mangini luck with a grin that expressed a knowledge of the carnage to be. "We're just gonna come out and play hard and hopefully not get beat bad."
Notice, not "hopefully win," it was "hopefully not get beat bad." Bad grammar or not, you've got to appreciate Rhodes' realism.
If the Patriots get all bent out of shape over silly little guarantees, imagine what awaits the Jets coach, a man who single-handedly launched the NFL investigation that in some eyes threatened to tarnish the reputation of the three-time champion Patriots. One slipup or lack of respect, and the Patriots have proven they will bury you. What awaits the Jets after everything this team has done in the Belichick era was called into question?
To say this game will be a blowout is ignoring the significance of how brutal a blowout can be. I fear Bob Kravitz might start shaking uncontrollably around the seven-minute mark in the first quarter with accusations of running up the score.
"So what's the over-under on how many points Belichick and Brady want to score next Sunday?" asks Fox's John Czarnecki. "I say the number opens at 56, the Patriots' season high this year. New England will pass New York silly and possibly get Moss to Jerry Rice's single-season touchdown record."
Probably. But what's on tap for the second half?
Tom Brady needs just four touchdown passes to tie Peyton Manning's single-season record, and Moss needs just three to tie Jerry Rice for most receiving TDs in a season, personal goals that no doubt would come as an added bonus against Mangini and the Jets.
Despite what he spouts about team goals over personal accomplishments, it's obvious that singular achievements hold some grain in Belichick's football mind, evidenced by layup opportunities given to folks like Vinny Testaverde and Doug Flutie. Think he wouldn't like to see those highlight reels played for the rest of NFL history with the man who ratted him out on the other sideline?
Not to mention this is the man with whom he had a frosty relationship before the videotaping scandal entered our consciousness, evidenced by the initial handshake-gate last season after the Patriots lost to the Jets, a game that might as well have been played in 1841 for all its current relevance. Now that Mangini has turned the tables on his former boss ... well, it's debatable whether Belichick offers him a debt of gratitude.
Without spygate, the Patriots would still be the class of the AFC East and a Super Bowl contender, but would they have this ultimate chip on their shoulders? Think about how a number of talking heads not only questioned the integrity of the head coach, but the veracity of what those players did in winning three Super Bowls. If you're Brady and Co. and some desk guy has just simplified videotaping hand signals as the reason you've touched Lombardi three times, how badly do you want to show up the rest of the league?
Belichick cheated and got caught and penalized by the NFL, a league that apparently will nowadays penalize you for chewing with your mouth open, putting your pants on one leg at a time, and voting Libertarian. The Patriots lost their first-round draft choice for 2008, a pick that wouldn't have been nearly as good as the one they get from the 3-10 49ers.
And Belichick is laughing all the way. No matter what, the Patriots always win. Always, always, always.
Mangini tried to disrupt the season that awaited his former employer and all he has done is ensure NFL history. In the matter of a few months Mangini has gone from cameo on "The Sopranos" to maybe a bit role in Mercury Morris' latest rap. Mangini managed to give Belichick a few weeks of grief with his accusations, but I think the Pats coach is OK with the 13-0 mark he enjoys rather than the 3-10 of Mangini.
After building up a nifty little resume for himself in New York as savior of the Jets, Mangini has watched his sophomore season backfire, highlighted by the one move that might ultimately mar his own career.
In the days following the incident, the New York Times' Selena Roberts wrote:
There is Coach Hoodie, and then there is Coach Hoodwink.
Coach Hoodie is the Patriots' Bill Belichick. He answers with growls, is hardwired to be ruthless, and would have lost a congeniality contest to the dearly departed Leona Helmsley. He comes as is: obsessive, cold, and brazen enough to have cheated with his video spy games out in the open of a sideline.
Coach Hoodwink is the Jets' Eric Mangini. He replies to questions in his library voice, visits Sesame Street in his downtime and readily reveals his soft, fatherly side. He comes off as duplicitous: paranoid, brutal, and nakedly ambitious enough to have double-crossed the organization that nurtured his career.
Mangini didn't just flip on Belichick, costing his former mentor a celebrated image that has been reflected in a shelf-full of Lombardi Trophies, as well as a $500,000 fine and a prime draft pick. He did more. He also humiliated the respected Patriots owner and league power player Robert K. Kraft.
That sin has left Mangini toxic to some team executives. After all, would you trust him? Is there anyone - a player, assistant, general manager, owner or mascot - that he wouldn't betray in a pinch?
Of course, this story line will be beaten to a pulp by the time Sunday rolls around, but any lingering question as to whether the Patriots will actually be able to put up 50-plus on New York is already dead. It will be one of the rare instances in the NFL in which "Any Given Sunday" is tossed away prior to the game. A forfeit would probably be better served -- and less embarrassing -- for the Jets franchise than actually showing up on Route One.
The 1998 Broncos and 2005 Colts both fell in their attempts to go 14-0, losing to the 5-8 Giants and the 8-5 Chargers, respectively. With a win Sunday, the Patriots can join the Dolphins and the 1934 Bears as the only teams to make it to 14-0, crush Manning's and Rice's records, and rub Mangini's face in the trouble he sparked. As for 73-0, well, let's not get crazy. They've set every other record this season, but it remains illogical to expect such an output on Sunday.
Of course, I wouldn't discount it either.
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