The Latest Team To Quit On A Game This Year: The New England Patriots

We talked quite a bit about teams quitting in the beginning of the year but then that sort of faded as we got further into the year, well, it happened again and it happened on Monday Night Football to the team that won more Super Bowls this decade than any other team. That's right. The New England Patriots quit.

With 5:40 left in the game and down by 21, Bill Belichick pulled Tom Brady in favor of Brian Hoyer. Now surely he was not putting him in to start a QB controversy or he is even remotely thinking about starting Hoyer the next game. He wanted to put him in for mop-up duty or just to see what the kid has. Just one problem: the game is not out of reach at that point!

Now I know what you are saying, but JFein, down by 21 points with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter is surely a game over, no? Well, you're wrong That game is not over. How can I say that? There is precedence for such a comeback. I take you back to Monday, October 6, 2003. Down by 21 with 3:43 left in the game, Manning led a successful comeback to force OT, an OT that we all remember by one word: Leaping.

But the bottom line, the precedent was there not only at the end of the game, but how many times in general have we seen a team explode for 21 points in a period of 5-minutes in a game. Granted it does not happen every day, but it happens and who knows what would have happened had the Pats kept playing. Maybe Brady continues his dreadful day or maybe he rebounds, the world will never know as the Hoody decided to play Brian Hoyer and thus gave up on trying to win that game.

Congrats to the New Orleans Saints on a well-deserved win. Now here's hoping that they don't suffer the let down the next week as we see so many times when we see a team win a big game like that.

Colts Comeback To Beat Pats As Bill Belichick Makes Andy Reid Look Like Bill Walsh

That, my friends, is a statement that I never thought I would write. Ever. In a million years.

But alas, it happened. If you don't know the story by now, then welcome back from the rock that you just spent the last hour or 2 or under and let me fill you in.

The Patriots were up by 6 with 2:30 left with the ball at their own 30. They call a timeout. They ran a first play handoff for no gain. Timeout Indy. 2nd and 10 a pass to Welker over the middle. Timeout Indy, 1 remaining. 3rd down a pass to the sidelines nearly picked off and incomplete. 2:11 to go. The Pats then call their last timeout. The Patriots then decide to do the inexplicable, line up as if they were going for a 4th down. Okay, maybe this is an offsides draw or something (although the Pats have no timeouts; they might have been willing to take the delay of game) but no. They snap it. The pass to Faulk........and this happened.....



Caught but short of the marker. Pats fans everywhere are screaming that Faulk had that but in my view, he was bobbling all the way to the ground. And even if I am wrong and that should have been a first down, for all the calls that the Pats get and screw other teams with, this is karma giving them a big ole bite on the backside (reading all the Pats fans complain about the officiating is PRICELESS HILARITY). Regardless, no replay review because the play happened before the 2-minute warning. So surely the Hoodie can challenge as Michaels alluded to, but one thing, HOODY WASTED THE LAST TIMEOUT ALREADY!!!!! (sidenote: No one bothered to correct Michaels as he made that mistake on the other side of the warning). Manning now has the ball at the New England 33 with 1-timeout and 2-minutes to work with. Was there ever a doubt in anyone's mind that this would end up happening, despite the fact that Manning was not having his best game?



Manning to Reggie Wayne for the touchdown!!!!

Pats would get the ball with the time remaining and would attempt what appeared to be a hook and ladder type play, although there is no way to be sure as the execution of it was every bit of awful as you can imagine.

Bill Belichick going for it to begin with though makes no sense whatsoever. Even if they do convert, there is still the 2-minute warning and the Colts still do have a timeout so the Pats can't just run out the clock with a conversion. Colts could still hold, give Manning the ball back with 30 or so seconds left, and even though there would be no timeouts, that would not be a gimme for the Pats. You can't say that with every NFL QB, but with Manning and as quick and efficient as he can work, it's certainly a possibility. The best move would be to trust your defense to force Indy to drive the entire length of the field. As mentioned above, Manning was not having his best game and the New England D was making a lot of plays. With all the talk about Belichick having confidence in his offense, you have to have confidence in your defense to force that stop or else there ain't no way in hell the Pats will even come close to the Super Bowl this year.

I must say, though, I feel bad for the Jets. The Hoodie will surely hang 77 on them after the questionning and criticism that he gets this week.

And as if the hilarity of it all was not enough, watch as Bill Belichick's security guard misplaces some of his aggression, which in this case will also be known as shoving down a camera man!



Suck it New England. You deserve this.

Update: To preserve this moment forever on this blog (the YouTubes will be down soon enough), here's a link to highlights courtesy of NFL.com