Sunday, January 18, 2015

Indianapolis @ New England live blog...

8:30) So, it's a Patriots/Seahawks Super Bowl 49 (XLIX, traditionalists!). Seattle's an early 2 1/2 point favorite, which jibes with most systems we've seen. More about that in the next two weeks (it's the only game of consequence in the meantime...), but now, let's look one more time at the AFC championship game just concluded...

45-7 is a beat-down. It was nice to see Belechick not only take his starters out late in the game (having Brady get crunched on a sack is a powerful motivator), but give his partner in crime and paduwan Tom Brady a curtain call. He deserved it. If, as it seems, his erstwhile "nemesis" (and friend) Peyton Manning is either done or fading away as a top-line QB, Brady's ascendance to that throne deserves at least that acclimation from his (rain-soaked) home crowd.

Speaking of Brady, he's about to start his sixth Super Bowl, which means he's started about one-eighth of ALL THE SUPER BOWLS EVER. Pretty good considering he wasn't alive for the first third of them... He won his twenty-first playoff game (as did Belechick, setting a record for both quarterback and coach, let alone partnership). To put that in perspective, excluding the Patriots of course, only ten of the other thirty-one teams have ever won that many playoff games in their franchise histories! That's an amazing fourteen year run for a sixth-round QB who subbed for an injured Drew Bledsoe and a cast off coach who failed at Cleveland and started his career doing bedchecks for the Colts and coach Ted Marchibroda in 1975 in Baltimore.

7:10) Haven't had much to say for a while...but that's because New England's just making the game boring for everyone who's not a Pats fan. 31-7, and they're just wearing the Indianapolis defense out, while Andrew's just having no Luck against his opposite side. Don't expect another thrilling ending here - and since it's past nine Boston time, that's just as well for anyone with a bedtime. And the weather's let loose in Foxboro...

So....Seattle/New England. Who ya got?

6:00) Haiku 4...

Laugh when I hear that!
After the score, the F-bomb
Got the mic slammed off!

5:55) Haiku 3...

If the Colts EVER
needed an interception,
THAT was the moment!

5:35) Haiku 2...


Hey, Packer faithful!
See the touchdowns the Pats scored?
THAT'S how it's done, folks!

5:25) Before getting TOO excited, Patriots fans, remember that YOUR team was down an early 14-0 last week. 

Ah, an unbalanced line, eh? You DO realize that the rule ONLY says "seven on the line - only the outside two are eligible receivers", right, Colts? (Right, Ravens?) At FF, we happen to like things like the A-11 formation, similar to the Patriots/Alabama set up, except even stranger, maybe closer to the Oregon Duck extra point formation. Go for it, Belechick....

5:05) Haiku 1...

Touchdown, Patriots.
Though it took a second try,
Blount still ran it in!

4:55) First oops of the game - the punt bounces off Cribbs' face mask (a la Bostick last game) and New England recovers! Wind and rain couldn't have helped.

It's 6:50 pm Eastern, and the game's just starting, thanks to overtime across the country, thanks to the miracle of transcontinental television broadcasts. Take a step back from sports for a moment and respect that for a moment. 


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