Fellow Patriots Fans: Calm Down
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by Rawbeezeitz
Sunday’s 38-14 victory over San Diego was exhilarating. It was the most excited I’ve ever been for a regular season win. It felt like we had won a playoff game. There was so much buildup before the game, so much attention on it. Even the weather was like a sneak preview of January.
But then I realized that we are playing Buffalo next Sunday. This reality shock took me out of my playoff euphoria, because if it were the playoffs, then we definitely wouldn’t be playing the Bills.
The Patriots are the best team in the NFL right now. But it’s week 2. What do you get for being the best team at week 2? You get talking heads on CBS, Fox, NBC, and ESPN talking about you. And that’s it!
This isn’t college football where being ranked #1 or #2 early gives you an inside track on the National Championship. This is the NFL (baby!)
Don’t get me wrong. Things have gone perfectly for the Patriots on the field. We’re 2-0, and we’re 2 games up on everybody in the division. You can’t wish for a better start than that. Moss and Brady are clicking, the team isn’t getting distracted, Adalius Thomas looks great, Sammy Morris has been a pleasant surprise, and everybody seems happy.
Maybe it’s the pessimistic Red Sox fan in me that is trying to balance out the uber-optimism surrounding the Patriots. But let’s calm down, Pats fans, let’s just take it one week at a time.
Remember in years past when other teams were declared champions early in the season? Remember how mad we’d get? Our New England inferiority complexes would switch into high gear and we’d bitch about our team not getting respect.
And remember 2001, our first Championship year? We started 0-2. Remember 2003? We started out 1-1. I’m not saying the first two games are meaningless, but it is a long, long, long, long time until we should start even pre-planning any Super Bowl parades.
Who have we beaten? The Jets and Chargers both made the playoffs last year, but the Jets are 0-2, and the Chargers have looked horrible their first two weeks. San Diego is also adjusting to a new head coach, LT is not playing like LT normally plays, and Rivers looks like crap.
And before we all go out and buy Randy Moss jerseys, let’s remember who this guy is. He’s capable of the most brilliant WR play we’ve ever seen in New England. And he’s capable of taking plays off. The phrase “Brady to Moss” is the apparent slogan of Pats fans this season, let’s remember that it can easily switch to “Brady throws, and no one is there, Moss didn’t run his route.” I’m not saying it will happen, but it could.
And let’s not forget Laurence Maroney, who wore out like an overplayed Gwen Stefani song right around week 10 last season. Sammy Morris has taken some carries that would have been handled by Dillon, but Maroney is still taking hits. He still missed most of pre-season with a bad shoulder, and he still has to prove he can play a 17 week season, and let’s hope, a 21 week season.
We’re also very old at certain positions. What will guys like Bruschi, Harrison, and Seau give us at the end of a full season? Who knows?
We’re 2-0, we’re 2 games up on the division, we look good, but it’s still September. And we all should know by now that Super Bowls are won in January and February, not September. So maybe keep Super Bowl Sunday open, but don’t start making hotel reservations in Glendale.
