Cameras or no cameras, this team is the cream of the crop
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by NFL-MLBGuru
Ok people, admit the truth.
The New England Patriots are the best football team the NFL has seen since Troy Aikman's Cowboys.
They are one of the best teams ever assembled right now.
They are almost certain to run away with the Lombardi Trophy, barring injuries.
Cameras or no cameras, they are by far the best team in the NFL.
I'm sure most of you are now well-informed of the circus that went on last week about Patriots' coach Bill Belichick illegally taping the New York Jets' defensive signal calls during a 38-14 win. He was caught, fined half a million dollars, and stripped of a 2008 first-round pick. Of course, since the Patriots are the most proflific- and thus most hated- team in the NFL, everyone started undermining their success over the past 7 years, dubbing them as cheaters, and stripping Bill Belichick of his Master of All Football label. Media started accusing New England of taping illegally for a long time, and most of the public started attributing New England's dynasty to illegal taping of signal calls. Well, if you're one of those people, I have a sad story to break to you.
If there was any doubt about New England's quality of smashmouth football, it was answered on Sunday when Tom Brady marched his boys into Gillette Stadium and completely discombobulated the NFL's best team in 2006... the San Diego Chargers. Brady and his Pats soared to a 38-14 win, in which Brady threw for 279 yards on 25-31 passing, including 3 touchdowns and only one interception. Randy Moss collected 8 more passes for 105 yards, and Wes Welker had 8 catches for 91 yards as well. Defensively, Adalius Thomas had a 65 yard interception return touchdown and the Pats held one of the best runningbacks of all time to 43 yards rushing and NO TOUCHDOWNS. This is the same guy who set an NFL record with 31 trips to the paydirt last year, and New England, without taping, stuffed him and his heralded Chargers offense to 201 net yards and only 14 points, all of which came in the second half.
Now let's analyze this specifics of this week's win... without the taping... to last week's win, with the taping. First of all, we need to realize something most people don't. THE TAPING DID NOT AFFECT THE GAME AGAINST THE JETS! You may think that Belichick was watching the signal calls all game, but that is what the media WANTS you to think. Reality is he couldn't view the tape until AFTER the game. He was taping for future reference. He just flat-out plain kicked old student Eric Mangini's butt. The Pats cruised to a 38-14 win over New York without watching any calls during gametime. Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and the rest of the Pats were just plain unstoppable.
The momentum carried over into midweek at first , but with Belichick getting accused and found guilty of the taping, a circus was surrounding the Patriots and they were under serious scrutiny. How did they respond? Good ol' Bill and Tommy kept their players focused on the task at hand, the Chargers, and went on to completely humiliate San Diego in front of a national audience without taping and through many distractions. The Pats were bombarded all week with the aftermath of the taping... example, quote from LaDanian Tomlinson: "I think the Patriots live by the saying if you not cheatin' you not tryin'." The public showered these types of comments on the Pats all week long, and New England just simply took the beating quietly and turned all the criticism right back around by spanking the Chargers even worse than they had spanked the Jets.
What is the point of this article? Simple. The New England Patriots are plainly and simply the best team in the game, whether you like it or not. They have the best quarterback in the game, whether you like it or not. They have the best coach in the game, whether you like it or not. How many other coaches do you know of who is able to keep his team focused and ready throughout a week of verbal and public harrassment to crush one of the top teams in te NFL? Bill Belichick did more than just keep his team ready. He and the Patriots quietly responded to their critics by their actions. If you haven't noticed, they beat the Chargers even worse than they beat the Jets, even through the entire circus of the cameras and despite the fact that the Chargers are better than the Jets by lightyears. They came out of the gate in their home opener and stepped it up a notch to completely dismantle the NFL's top franchise last year. That is a mark of a champion.
