Re: (NDC) As the NFL Season Begins........

Neil X. wrote:
On Jul 24, 11:56 pm, Avant Grape <avantnograpec...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Neil X. wrote:
JC wrote:
Neil, your trot this stuff out every year. It's your way of playing
down the chances of of NE winning a title, so that if they do, you can
proclaim what a magical and unforeseen event it all was.
Well, no, it's an attempt to placate the Football Gods, who are widely
believed to punish teams with fans who declare their teams champions
before the games are played.
I don't think 'Billicheat' will be going for a perfect record
this season, which works in your favor.
Isn't every coach in the league "going for a perfect record,"
No, not in the way 'Billicheat' pursued it last season. Coaches like to
win, but I imagine they are fairly aware of the various situational odds
that exist in the game. Personally, I think the odds for playoff
success are far greater in a team that has 2-3 losses than none at all.
It's always the last step that's the hardest when it comes to achieving
perfection after all.


I agree that being undefeated puts a lot of extra pressure on a team.
The answer to the question I asked in my previous post is that a lot
of coaches might have rested their starters in week 15 and 16 after
the Patriots' #1 seed was clinched. So you're right, he may go for a
perfect record less hard this year. I doubt that Bill will have to
make that call again, but it would be interesting to see if he would
handle it in the same way at the end of the season if it came up
again. Somehow I suspect that he would. He's one of those folks that
really hates to give the impression that any previous decision he made
was incorrect. I think some of his decisions are based on not having
to answer to the "gotcha" element in the news media, and that is one
of his weaknesses.



Yeah, that would be interesting. I mean, if you hit 12-0, what do you do? Another item of interest to me is whether is whether the Pats will run up the score as they did a few times last season. Now, I'm imagining that Belichick might have learned a thing or two from losing the Super Bowl and all the flak that's come his way. But, as you point out, Belichick's stubbornness may rule the day.

My opinion: Belichick needs to understand that Moss is a huge asset in a playoff game and make sure the ball is thrown his way early and often, whether he's being double-teamed or not. I thought he was way under-used in the playoffs. You don't use Randy Moss as a decoy.

-JC
.

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