homegame

Contentment and Peace of Mind, I Know Fans Hate Them Both, But Why?

Fans of and commentators on the New England Patriots football team should spend this week with a pronounced absence of fret. In fact, they'd better, or everyone of worth in the football world should remorselessly ridicule them.

There are few enough occasions in life where the news is 100 percent pure untainted good, you'd think people would be happy to revel it. That's what the news is in Patriotland right now. Or at least, the good news is so good the bad news doesn't matter at all.

Let's put this simply. It appears pass defense will be an ongoing concern for the Pats in 2012, just as it was in 2011. However, this concern has, or should be rendered null and void by the overwhelming facts about the Pats' last two victories. NFL teams that rush for over 200 yards in a game seldom do. NFL teams that rush for over 250 yards do so about as often as comets strike this planet.

That's ALL NFL teams. That includes teams that start Tim Tebow at quarterback. For teams that start Tom Brady, we can move those percentages up to "never" and "less than never" respectively.

Running the ball remains, as it has since 1869, the best, safest and simplest way of winning football games, since it relies on the sport's primal imperative of beating the other guys up. In the NFL, it's also the hardest way to win games, since coaches, no dopes, make stopping the run the most obsessive of their infinite obsessions.

Too sophisticated for ya? Let me bring the above analysis down to the "XX From Mass location Y" caller level. Teams that are running the ball are kicking ass. The team that kicks the most ass is invariably the winner. Until the Pats are stopped from kicking ass, they won't be stopped from winning.

posted by Michael Gee @ 11:17 AM