https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwZo1Qh7h9g
America’s Game: 2016 New England Patriots premiered last night (embedded above until the NFL kills it), marking the final bit of Pats porn that comes as a bonus to winning the Super Bowl. Previously we’ve gotten Three Games to Glory 5 along with Do Your Job II, which were both excellent, revealing so much from behind the scenes about the magical journey that the 2016 Pats had.
America’s Game has turned into the fluff piece of them all. Of course I enjoyed it, but nowhere near as much as I did Do Your Job II. The America’s Games used to have every bit as much unseen behind the scenes stuff as DYJ II, but it was far more down the middle, focused more on the players talking about the team than the team itself. We didn’t learn a lot of new information, but of course it was fun to hear the perspectives of Julian Edelman, LeGarrette Blount and Dont’a Hightower.
Here are 10 Posits on what I liked and what I missed.
- The whole thing was wrapped around the narrative of Julian Edelman’s children’s book, which was cute but not really what I was looking for when it comes to talking about a Super Bowl championship run. I guess part of that speaks to how this Patriots team wasn’t really all that interesting until the Super Bowl. They lost one close game with Tom Brady under center, a game that was barely mentioned. They didn’t really face that much adversity until 28-3. There were some games that were momentarily close and interesting, but in retrospect it wasn’t one of those epic up and down seasons. Hence the need for a device like the kids book I guess.
- It was certainly a major reminder of what Edelman meant to the Patriots, making his recent injury even more worrisome. You see how much heart and soul Jules pours into this team. And it’s more than clutch catches, it’s clutch blocking and tone-setting. He really won’t be easily replaced this year. One other thing about Edelman is he sure seems pretty nuts, in a good way.
- Felt like this was the first real sense of Dont’a Hightower’s personality that we got to see. He’s certainly a man of action, not words, and his love for his Mom is just the coolest thing considering he’s this big serious badass linebacker, and then there he is after winning the Super Bowl just sitting with his Mom and family on a bench on the field. And we even found out his real name is Qualin! His special bond with Matt Patricia was clearly apparent for the first time, as we got to hear Matty P congratulating him after the Super Bowl. Very cool moment.
- Blount is such a likable guy, this certainly made me miss him. He has such a good energy about him, you can tell why teammates said everyone just enjoys being around him. This just adds to what will be an interesting personality shift for the team this year. It was also fun to relive some of Blount’s great runs from last year. I was harder than most on him, but the Patriots will certainly be less fun without him.
- Not sure how they could completely skip over the Julio Jones catch and defensive stand at the end of the 4th quarter. That was just such an epic moment, when it once again looked like they were gonna lose but came through with three big plays to push the Falcons out of field goal range. If you’re recapping the season it seems ludicrous to me to leave out that sequence. Perhaps it was just because those three narrators weren’t involved? Again, could’ve cut some of the Jules book time for that.
- It was great hearing the player’s perspective on Tom Brady and just how cool the quarterback is even to them. Yes, we all love Tom Brady, but there’s just something cool hearing these other great players talk about him with the same respect that the fans do. Blount had a good point about Brady not getting blasted after lead blocking a run Blount reversed as a pure respect thing from the opponent. Anyone could’ve taken a shot at him, but didn’t.
- Love hearing Hightower call playing for Saban and Belichick “hell” but then saying they’re the same person. Hightower has been at the pinnacle of the sport for so long now, making so many huge plays, if he stays healthy he could easily be on a Hall of Fame track. Just don’t forget, I didn’t like him in the draft because we already had Brandon Spikes (bad job Mike).
- I’m glad they jumped on Jules “it’s gonna be a hell of a story” but in truth I found his ceaseless repeating of it kind of annoying during the game. Maybe I’m just more like Hightower, less talky more force fumble-y. Credit to Jules though for coming through and really being one of the key players to make that “hell of a story” come true, especially after having a pretty below-average (by his standards) game until late in the third quarter.
- The Jamie Collins trade made for some kind of interesting moments, with the players expressing how a lot of them didn’t agree with it. It’s fascinating to see them just as surprised as we the fans were. Still, they must’ve at least had some sense of why Collins was shipped out. The post-mortem outside Gillette was that he was simply “freelancing” too much and thus causing holes in the Patriots “do your job” defense. Whatever it was the defense didn’t miss a beat without Collins which is truly remarkable.
- Lastly, I just would’ve liked more Belichick in this one. He narrated one of the earlier America’s Game and simply made it one of the best because he offered some real insight from his perspective which is of course the most interesting of all Patriot perspectives. There wasn’t much new overall, especially as far as BB is concerned and I think that knocked the whole thing down a peg in my book.
I’m never going to complain too much about a Patriots America’s Game. We’re lucky to get each and everyone. Still, this one left me wanting a little more that I luckily got with the Do Your Job special. Together they really cover the spectrum for the 2016 Patriots.
Now the parades, celebrations and specials are almost over. Banner number five goes up tonight and then it’s all about the 2017 Pats.
