Dan provides the game story from the Patriots record-setting, history-making win over the Giants. Why Dan gets to lead the coverage is puzzling but then again, I sort of expected it.
As of 0934, the online version of the story had at least three typos/missed words...that is really more the editor's fault than it is Dan's though. Will see if they clean that up.
Shaughnessy's recap is fair enough but it is filled with the classic Shaughnessy formula.
- Calls the Patriots "Bill Belichick's History Boys"
- Bruce Springsteen reference or was it a mafia reference? (He liked that Boss scored a touchdown before half and says always "Beware of Boss in the Meadowlands")...
- Got a good rip in on Moss for the excess celebrating after the first TD. I agree with Shaughnessy to a large extent - I despise showboating but is Shaughnessy reaching by blaming the ensuing Giant's TD kickoff return on Moss's penalty?
- A reference to the Grumpy Old Men (72 Dolphins) and no champagne for them. If the Patriots are fortunate enough to win the SB, I hope that puts to end all champagne references for eternity. (Heaven forbid we hear about the Sons of Belichick sipping champagne in 2037)
Dave M
Moss was flagged for excessive celebrating after his Rice-tying catch. This is the type of bozo behavior many feared when the wildly talented Moss was acquired by New England, but we haven't seen Bad Randy this year. His silly spike dance proved costly, as Domenik Hixon took the ensuing kickoff 74 yards into the end zone.
ReplyDeleteMoss's actions were not what caused the penalty. The penalty was for a coordinated celebration. Maroney was the culprit. He should have paid attention at Belichick's press conference.
Seconds after Moss dropped a game-tying touchdown pass, Brady went back to his favorite target and found Moss wide open a second time. The result was the touchdown pass that shattered all the records and put the Patriots in the lead for good.
First, it wasn't a TD pass. Second, it wouldn't have been game tying, as Shank notes in the next sentence. What a dope.
This Shank piece was actually pretty good. The Boss reference is a little bizarre; I'm surprised there were no Jimmy Hoffa references to the stadium.
ReplyDelete"Boss scored a touchdown before half and says always "Beware of Boss in the Meadowlands"
ReplyDeletePapelbon's dog played last night?
*Everyone* spikes the ball after scoring a touchdown. The refs don't care about that, Dan. They DO care about spiking the ball on any other kind of play and will flag that for delay of game or whatever but they certainly allow it on TD's.
ReplyDeleteAnd, if a little wiggle dance in place is "excessive" I'll eat my hat.
BTW, anyone else see the NFL Films Game Of The Week on this game? Mike Carey and another ref explained why they flagged Moss to Belichick and Moss - because Moss and Maroney were dancing in tandem. The key aspect of that incident is that Moss was clearly upset but that's all he was - he let it go (at least from the clip NFL Films showed), huddled with Belichick for another play later in the game (this was during Hixon's kick-return touchdown) and basically acted exactly like Belichick-era Patriot players usually act.
ReplyDeleteShank, we haven't seen Bad Randy all yera, all right, and we're not likely to see Bad Randy, period.