I kinda enjoyed having a stress-free Sunday yesterday, especially with all the holiday stuff that has to get done this time of year. But now, staring down the barrel of a full busy work day that will be capped off with a major Patriots-Ravens game on Monday Night Football and I’m starting to feel the stress.
Right now, it’s all in the Patriots hands. Win the next two and they could very well lock up the top seed in the AFC. And after yesterday is there really anyone who truly believes the Patriots don’t have an excellent shot at not only getting to the Super Bowl but beating any NFC team once they get there?
But there’s still four games to go, a quarter of the season, and there could be plenty of twists and turns awaiting us, especially against our two biggest rivals…the two teams that stood between us and the Super Bowl four of the last five years in the AFC Championship.
Yes, the Patriots have three games in the next 13 days. In that time the expectations for their playoff run will be set, and I just can’t wait to see tonight how they come out. Is this a peaking Patriots team that we’ve seen for many of the last 15 seasons? Or is it a fading one like injuries dictated last season?
Few thoughts from the Sunday action and Deflategate Part Deux…
Deflategate 2? @jayglazer explains that the #Giants alerted the NFL on #Steelers deflated footballs last week. https://t.co/jcebCVMxMN
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 11, 2016
— Deflategate 2 happened Sunday but was quickly brushed aside by the NFL. Really, this was kind of the perfect thing to happen, the perfect thing to force the NFL into the corner, and though it hasn’t caught as much fire as we’d like, it’s great at pointing out the NFL’s hypocrisy. Florio broke it down well:
The league wants to ignore the situation because there’s no way to explain that the footballs used by the Steelers on a cold day in December naturally would be under 12.5 PSI without conceding that the footballs used by the Patriots on a cold day in January naturally would be under 12.5 PSI. It’s the same reason for the league’s stubborn refusal to release raw data from PSI spot checks conducted the past two seasons; surely, there have been games during which external air temperature caused internal air pressure to plunge below a mandatory minimum about which the NFL never even cared (and barely even noticed) until it provided the template for punishing the Patriots.
And then this nice reminder from FoPP’er @PatriotsSB49 after PFT also reported the Steelers balls were measured at 11.4 and 11.8:
8 of 11 #Patriots footballs measured at halftime of the 2014 AFCCG were HIGHER than 11.4 psi.
What a fucking joke you are, @nflcommish. https://t.co/mZ7xF6X95k
— PatriotsSB51 (@PatriotsSB49) December 12, 2016
So I’m not so sure this is going to fade away like we think it is. Sure, there won’t be a million dollar investigation or years of court battles, but this is a strong new arrow for the quiver of those on the wall. The low information Deflategate truthers often love to pick stupid troll arguments with us, but now we have the perfect example for a stupid troll retort.
Because ultimately this all just goes back to what we’ve all known — FOOTBALLS DEFLATE IN COLD WEATHER. Measure any football tonight and guess what, it’s going to be illegal. But the NFL can no longer acknowledge this scientific fact, as was just proven yesterday, or else all the faults with the Patriot witch hunt will be revisited and exposed.
Maybe the mainstream national football punditry is so sick of ball inflation levels they’re just going to tap out on this one, which isn’t surprising. The whole Mara-Rooney angle to it certainly stinks highly of preferential treatment and I wonder how much Mr. Kraft is stewing about this one this morning.
One thing that is once again being ignored though is that it’s illegal for teams to measure the balls themselves like this. It was illegal when the Colts did it and it was illegal when the Giants did. But you know, integrity.
— Seeing the Seahawks and Cowboys lose yesterday was just a reminder that in a one-game scenario you have to like the Patriots’ chances against anyone in this league. There are certainly teams that scare me, especially on the road — the Chiefs being the biggest one, but at home or in Houston (SB51), it will take a perfect game to beat the Pats like it usually does. How many teams out there are capable of a perfect playoff game?
— I am fascinated to see what the defense does tonight. We all still remember the 2014 AFCDG when the Ravens came out and shredded what we thought was our best defense in a decade on the first two possessions. Five plays, 71 yards and 11 plays, 79 yards. Both for touchdowns. And the Ravens really had little trouble moving the ball that whole game, putting up 428 yards. It’s a different year and different teams, but it will be impossible not to stack this game against past performances against the Ravens. The D has had three weeks of cupcakes. Now this is the proving ground.
— Offensively my focus will be on the red zone. I expect a lot of spread attack early and I think they’ll have no problem moving the ball on multiple drives (there will be some that stall too). But can they finish without Gronk? This is a big test against a very tough defense.
— It’s hard not looking forward and imagining how good it would feel to put a nail in the Broncos’ playoff coffin next Sunday. Hopefully we can turn to that page tomorrow.
Huge game tonight. Let’s try to enjoy it.
