The Patriots Keep Me Up Late

It was not a stunning display of football, but the Patriots' win over the Ravens was at least a tense and interesting game down to the last minute of play. New England looked awful, but pulled it together on the last drive, picking their way down the field for a game-winning touchdown with 44 seconds left.

It didn't hurt that the Ravens went into total meltdown, of course, with 13 penalties for 100 yards in the game, with thirty yards' worth of unsportsmanlike conduct penalities handed out to Bart Scott for throwing a tantrum after the final touchdown. New England kicked off from the Ravens' 35 yard line. It couldn't happen to a better bunch of assholes, as far as I'm concerned.

The Ravens are blaming the officials, with Samari Rolle quoted at length in Michael Wilbon's column about how the refs screwed them over. Given that Samari Rolle pitched a fit when he got called for illegal contact for grabbing Randy Moss by the head and taking him to the ground like a rodeo star roping a calf, I have approximately zero interest in hearing Samari Rolle's sad tales about the officiating.

Next week figures to be another tough game for the Patriots, who have to play the Steelers. The game's in Foxboro, so it will at least be played on solid ground, rather than the sucking swamp that the Steelers call a field. If they get through that, they get the Jets and Dolphins, and then my Giants, so they ought to be able to coast right into the playoffs...

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Swamp??

That's the way the game is supposed to be played.

Several of the interference/illegal contact flags looked suspect, but you don't help your case when you on two separate occasions tackle the receiver you are covering.

As an unbiased observer (I'd rather watch college ball) I'd have to say that the Ravens both were screwed, and got what they deserved.

Several of the interference/illegal contact flags looked suspect, but you don't help your case when you on two separate occasions tackle the receiver you are covering.

Yeah. I think they got away with at least as many holding and pass interference violations as they were flagged for. I don't object to the physical play-- it's a violent game, after all, and that's what got them their reputation as a great defensive team. But if your game is built around thugging it up at every opportunity, you can't turn around and cry like a toddler when you get penalized for it.

This pats suck, the steelers will kick their asses. They didnt deserve to win that game against the ravens, they had it lost were not for that stupid time out, and the last tdown wasnt a catch. Anyways, same as indy, the black and gold will win :)