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Jets 17-Patriots 14

There's no more dangerous analytic tool than the evidence of one's own eyes. I hadn't seen the Patriots in person since Super Bowl XXXIX, and yesterday, my professional responsibility at Gillette Stadium was to cover the Jets. Therefore, I learned nothing about the Pats beyond what I could see on the field, and what I took away were impressions, not conclusions, with one exception.

Impression One: Tom Brady had the hell beaten out of him. In a directly related development, Brady was ineffective for long stretches of the contest, just as he was against the Broncos, the team that delivered his other horrific pounding of 2006. That's a big Code Blue for New England. The Pats not only can't afford to lose Brady, as we saw in 2002, they can't even afford to have their meal ticket limited by a nagging injury, the kind quarterbacks tend to develop on four-sack afternoons.

Impression Two: With about two minutes to play in the game, I realized I hadn't thought about the Pats' linebackers at all. The quartet of Mike Vrabel, Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi, and Roosevelt Colvin had had no visible impact whatsoever. The stat sheet revealed they'd made a passel of tackles, especially Bruschi, but in the Pats' system, that's a given. Anyway, almost all plays end in tackles. It's where they happen that matters, and the Pats' backers made no plays of note yesterday.

This may well have been no more than part of the game's overall pattern. The Jets were the aggressors. They pushed better than the Pats could shove. But it's always struck me that the linebacking corps was a potential weakness in Bill Belichick's defensive philopsophy.

Belichick has said "you always try to get younger" when building a roster. He didn't add "except at linebacker" but he should've. He ALWAYS selects veterans at that position, the more veteran the better. After losing Willie McGinest and Ted Johnson, the Pats didn't draft a rookie linebacker, they lured Junior Seau out of a one-day retirement.

It's the coach's carefully unstated belief that a high degree of NFL experience is necessary to meet the ever-changing responsibilities his defensive game plans put on his linebackers. Given the spectacularly successful results, it's hard to disagree with Belichick's conclusion.

There is, however, one obvious difficulty with an all-veteran approach to an important position. What if they all get TOO experienced at once? If just one or two of the LBs are wearing out, there's no scheme on earth that'll hide the fact.

Conclusion: Whatever the cause of Belichick's animus towards Eric Mangini, he needs to drop it-now. It doesn't matter how many Pats' personnel Mangini tried to hire when he went to New York. Either file a grievance with the league office or forget it ever happened. Sulking is not an option.

Belichick's pre and post-game demeanor towards his former assistant made the Pats' head man look like a complete jerk, especially after Mangini's team WON the game. There was the moment Belichick needed a brave smile and a hearty handshake for Mangini, maybe even a friendly hand on Eric's shoulder for the world to see. It didn't have to be sincere. Instead, Belichick came as close to dismissing the post-game ritual as he dared.

This made the Pats' coach look small, as Belichick to know it would and didn't care. His image is his problem alone, so that's fine. What Belichick should care is that the whole Mangini riff made him look distracted as well as peevish. For the first time in my memory, the coach let a rivalry get personal. The Jets, or at least their coach, were under his skin.

Belichick's won justified fame for NEVER letting personal emotions interfere with his single-minded problem solving approach to his job. Not for nothing does he usually identify an opponent's biggest stars by number rather than name. Whether they admit it or not and they never will, it had to be disconcerting for the Pats to see their coach indulge in the sort of pregame feud he forbids them on any grounds.

Worse, since the Jets won the game, the rest of the NFL is on notice Belichick can be knocked off his detached genius pedestal, if only a little. In pro football, a little is all it takes.

posted by Michael Gee @ 9:58 AM