And people wonder why Bill Belichick is widely regarded as the biggest asshole in the NFL:
The Patriots [team stats] offered a harsh reminder last night that the NFL is still a business. Often, a cold business.
The night before Super Bowl XLVI, the team released receiver Tiquan Underwood and promoted defensive end Alex Silvestro from the practice squad. Underwood would not have figured prominently into the game plan, and the team likely plans to use undrafted rookie Silvestro as part of a defensive line rotation.
In addition, this makes it all but certain that receiver Chad Ochocinco will be active for tonight’s game.
Wait till the guy spends a week with the team in Indy, shaves a patriots symbol into his hair, and has his whole family at the game with SB tickets and then cut him. Total classlessness.
Also, I find it mind-boggling that people are trying to turn Welker into a goat for not catching a pass that was high and to the wrong shoulder when he was wide open. It was a shitty throw. Besides that, it wasn’t Welker who, on the first play of the game, made the play that led directly to 9 Giant points.
rlrr
That’s almost like laying someone off a week before Christmas…
Blackfrancis789
You do know this is Tuesday, right? The rest of us read about this three and a half days ago. Welker makes those catches. The team made enough mistakes to go around. Twelve men on the field. Ninkovich penalty. People like to focus on one play, but there were so many small things that lost them that damn game.
eric
hey but he still got the losers’ super bowl payout, same as brady, but without the safety, the interception by the substitute teacher, and the wife-emulation. I call that a win for him.
butler
I think you must have missed this sentence:
So they didn’t need one guy and did need another. 53 spots, 45 active, that’s all you get.
Lots of reasons to hate Belichick, but doing a completely normal thing to help his team try to win isn’t one of them.
Blackfrancis789
@rlrr: laid off a week before Christmas? How about the day you leave to go away for Christmas break? Happened to my wife, college professor. Happy effin holidays.
Lee
@butler: But doing it the day before the game? Did he just pull his game plan out of his ass the day before the game and realize he needed to make that personnel decision?
r€nato
absofuckinglutely. If there is anyone to blame, it’s Brady who put them in that big hole. Yes, he did a masterful job digging them out of it, but it would have been better to not dig the hole to begin with.
Rommie
Eh, it’s just the Patriots Way. You can’t argue with success.
Oh.
Players put up with the asshat coach when the team is winning. NE could fall apart real fast if the pixie dust has expired.
geg6
Well, I never had to wonder why that cheating asshole Belichick is regarded as the biggest asshole in the NFL. He simply is. He embraces it.
Pretty Boy Tommy needs to tell his wife to just keep her mouth shut (not that she wasn’t right to be pissed about the asshole Giants fans). She must have forgotten about the whole first quarter.
Blackfrancis789
Look back over the course of the season. These movements were done all the time the day before the game. The super bowl is still that. Just a game. So I keep telling myself, anyway. The wound is still fresh, no need to pick at it.
4tehlulz
Wes Welker and Giselle conspired to make Tom throw that shitty pass to Gronk.
ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WILL BE SHOUTED OVER
Skipjack
@butler: I’m reading that as Underwood was fired rather than made inactive. Isn’t that what released means?
It really is an incredible dick move, and a decision he should have made two weeks prior at the latest. I wonder what it does for morale when your coach treats fellow players like that?
Oh man it’s even worse, look at this from Underwood’s wikipedia page:
On August 29, 2011, Underwood signed with the New England Patriots. On September 3, five days after signing with Patriots, Underwood was cut. On November 8, 2011, Underwood was signed to the 53 man roster to boost a beleaguered kick return squad. He was released on November 12[5] and re-signed on November 23, 2011. On February 4, 2012, the night before Super Bowl XLVI, Underwood was released.
Mudge
One discussion I saw about the Underwood business concerned Casey Stengel, who had no loyalty to any player, but said he had the responibility to do what he felt necessary to help the team win.
And Leo Durocher said “Nice guys finish last.”
The last minute cut was certainly unfortunate, but no one has yet said it was vindictive. Belichek did what he felt was best. He can easily be called an asshole, but probably doesn’t mind that as much as being a Super Bowl loser.
dr. bloor
@Lee: He was waiting to see if Gronkowski would be able to play.
eric
@r€nato: by masterful, you mean the lack of a score for the final 26 minutes of the game? In truth, the lack of ANY meaningful running game and ANY deep threats is why they couldn’t beat the Giants…that all falls on the Dark One for his personnel choices. A healthy Gronk would have helped, but that doesnt change the fact that they can run for first downs or throw deep with any consistency.
butler
@Lee: They probably were waiting till the last minute to see what their needs for an extra reciever versus extra d-lineman were. You know, basic strategy of not making a move until you absolutely have to.
Napoleon
We in Cleveland figured that out about Bill a long time ago. You have no idea how unpopular he became here.
Maude
@Blackfrancis789:
#2 John has had insomnia. It’s prolly all one day since last week.
The Moar You Know
The NFL is a business. They don’t give a fuck about your sentimental needs and in this case I can’t imagine why they should.
Platypus
BTW, speaking of being assholes, I’m surprised that there has been no mention of the Giants putting 12 men on the field to eat up half the remaining game time with a penalty that didn’t hurt them. Cheap. At least when the Patriots put 12 men on the field it didn’t cost anyone any time that mattered.
butler
@Skipjack: Yes, he was cut and his spot was given to a player who the team decided they needed more at that moment in order to have the best chance to win. He still got his game share, he still got to play the same amount he would have, he still got to go to the Super Bowl and had they won he still would have gotten a ring.
The NFL is a brutal business where guys are cut every week, sometimes multiple times over the course of a season. All NFL players know this and know its a possiblity at any time, and most have been through the process themselves.
slag
Wow. Doesn’t that then make him the Mr. Universe of Assholes?
The Bobs
When I saw the Rush was in the Patriot’s owners box during the game, I knew that the right team won.
Skipjack
Can’t edit my above comment anymore but I really think it’s worse for being so routine. He was signed and cut three times in one season, and the last was just icing on the injury. So much for thinking you might ever make a difference to someone in the organization. I feel bad for him.
ETA I get exactly why Belichick did it. I’m not saying it should be banned or something and a team’s roster frozen before the game. I’m agreeing that it’s a mark of true shabbiness in a person.
butler
So in other words he’s a standard NFL journeyman roster filler. Every team has them. After any of those releases he could have been picked up by any of the other 31 teams, but he wasn’t.
burnspbesq
Steelers fan going off on Belichick has a fundamental credibility problem. Lack of objectivity is presumed, and rightly so.
burnspbesq
@Platypus:
The rules are what they are. Deal.
Also too, there is not a shred of evidence that the Giants staff deliberately sent 12 men on the field. It is at least as likely that a player blew an assignment. If it was a deliberate attempt to trade yards for time, you would want to be sure the officials made the call, so why wouldn’t you have 14 men on the field, or 17, or 23.
Max peck
Blaming Welker? Only Brady’s wife is doing that. The rest of us blame Brady
Paul in KY
@Napoleon: He certainly wasn’t a genius when he was with the Browns. Just a mono-slyballic asshole who no one wanted to play for.
Lee
@dr. bloor:
Is Gronkowski a defensive lineman? (I have no idea I don’t follow football).
Dave
I must have missed the story about him assaulting a woman in a bathroom. Because that would definitely make him an asshole.
Dave
@Lee: He’s a tight end. And one of the best in the league. With him at 100%, the Pats likely win the game.
Mudge
I definitely am finding a use for “slyballic” if not “mono-slyballic”, which sounds like someone who has been cleverly half castrated.
Mudge
@Paul in KY: I definitely am finding a use for “slyballic” if not “mono-slyballic”, which sounds like someone who has been cleverly half castrated.
Steve
What’s impressive is that the kid who got cut had a super-classy response, talked about how he still really hoped the Patriots would win, etc. Nice to see.
Skipjack
Ah wait a second, I have to admit there was a good reason for releasing him at the last minute rather than two weeks earlier. I was wrong. He was released at the last minute because he could have been picked up by the Giants off of waivers and they could have picked his brain for what he knew of the Pats game plan. Still, it was a marginal benefit for the Pats and of course they would take it, but it really would have been “nicer” if they just let him play in the game. Bad karma for Belichick and co.
Martin
Underwood made $480K in 2011. It’s not like he’s a janitor wondering how he’s going to pay for those presents under the tree.
Pay me half a mil a year, and I give you full permission to fire me at will. For Brady’s $18M per year, I’ll further give you permission that if we’re in the middle of a game and I blow a play leading to us losing the Superbowl, you have my permission to walk out onto the field, take the refs microphone and broadcast my immediate firing and perp walk out of the locker room to the whole stadium and the world.
We just spent 4 years bitching and screaming that the rules for guys that make millions are supposed to be different than the rules for guys that make minimum wage. Their responsibility is commensurate with their salary. They should go to jail when they royally fuck people up. They should pay more in taxes, and so on. Are we now going to pretend none of that happened and now cry rivers because his wife packed her nicest players-wife dress, flew out to the crown jewel of Indiana (knife twisting there), only to arrive to not see hubby play in a game? Fuck that. Underwood deserves no better than any other $480K wall street trader, CEO, member of congress, or charitable organization VP of public policy.
Skipjack
Oh man it keeps coming, the guy he was released to make room for didn’t even play in the game. One of only two defensive players for the Patriots who didn’t play. Wow. And also I should read other sources before I make up my mind and write it down.
fasteddie9318
That pass to Welker wasn’t well-thrown, but it was not to the wrong shoulder. Where the safety was on that play, if Brady had thrown to the inside shoulder Welker would have been lit up like a Christmas tree, with likely the same incompletion or possibly a pick being the result.
PTirebiter
I don’t pay much attention to the Pats, but a more benevolent interpretation seems pretty reasonable to me. It is likely that Underwood had been on the bubble for awhile but he still had a chance of playing. He got to travel with the team and stay in the mix, his family still received the free tickets and a pretty exciting few days with their son. I doubt they would have travelled him if they thought he had zero chance of being used. Belichich may be a dick but I don’t think this was necessarily a dick move. also ditto on Welker even though he threw himself under the bus right after the game.
Bondo
Brady was failing to lead his receivers all game and I’m sure he’d be the first to say that is his fault. Welker usually catches that kind of pass anyway, and he’s been the first to say it is his fault. Both of those guys are, so far as I can tell, classy players. Brady’s wife on the other hand…
Martin
@Dave:
Dude, Belichick isn’t the quarterback, he’s the coach. You’re reading from the quarterback asshole scale, which is an entirely different scale than the coach asshole scale. Can you imagine the chaos that would result if we applied the quarterback scale to the coach? In the middle of the game you’d have coaches reaching up the cheerleaders skirts, using their cell phones to take pictures of their dick hanging out of their pants, and waving firearms around at the umps. We can’t have that. We’ve got standards of conduct, dude.
Skipjack
@Martin: Of course he deserves better. Are we just going to damn people to perdition because of how much money they make now? The problem with Wall Street guys isn’t that they make money, it’s how they make it and there are good CEOs and bad CEOs as people. Wall Street deserves better than your blanket condemnation as well. Way to lose sight of the whole argument of fairness in the first place. It’s not about Underwood it’s about Belichick.
Dave
@Martin: I know, I know…It’s more a commentary on the fact that Steelers fans should hardly be throwing the “asshole” label around when a large one runs their offense.
snoey
If you’re looking for a reason to hate on Belichick look at this as one more example of him thumbing his nose at the rules – in this case the roster limits. He keeps several extra guys floating between roster, practice squad and cut but times the moves so that they all get checks. Ross Ventrone averaged a transaction a week this year.
In this case they needed Silvestro to replace Gronkowski on special teams. Underwood knew that this was part of the deal and surely got his offseason workout instructions in the “severance” package.
FlipYrWhig
@Skipjack: Nothing you documented has anything to do with Belichik, though. It’s what the NFL is like for guys at the bottom of the roster. Remember the heartwarming tale of Chase Blackburn, who was substitute teaching and then summoned back to the Giants? Someone was cut for that, for no fault of his own.
BTW, has anyone ever seen intentional grounding called on a pass that went 50 yards downfield? I’m surprised that there wasn’t more of a to-do about that penalty. I don’t remember having seen that before.
FlipYrWhig
@snoey: Do other teams not do that? I have no idea.
butler
So… he’s like every other team in the NFL? Hell, I take it as a positive that he wants all his guys to get their checks.
Lurking Canadian
@FlipYrWhig:
I was surprised by that, too. The ball was in the air long enough that all it would take is a receiver zigging where Brady expected him to zag and there’d be nobody around when it landed.
I’ve seen enough quarterbacks get away with “accidentally” throwing passes four or five feet above the receiver’s head and out of bounds that this one surprised me.
Bill H.
@FlipYrWhig:
No, but I’ve never seen a quarterback idiotic enough to throw the ball away in that manner, at least not without running out of the pocket first.
snoey
@FlipYrWhig: Yes, but Belichick likes to rub it in.
lonesomerobot
@Dave: Wait, you assaulted a woman in a bathroom? Because there’s as much evidence for that as for what you’re insinuating.
lonesomerobot
@Dave: No they don’t. The Patriots are frauds and always will be, as long as Belichik is the coach. If you can, remind me when they actually won a Super Bowl where they didn’t cheat to get there.
Dave
@lonesomerobot: Right … Roethlisberger is nothing more than a poor target. The fact it has happened three times to him is pure coincidence. Or that he was suspended for six games after the latest occurrence.
Keep fucking that chicken.
Ed in NJ
New England fans justified this for days, using the Gronkowski injury and special teams and Ochocinco’s readiness to contribute as their out, when it was just another example of Belicheck having to prove himself as the master strategist. Silvestro never played and Ochocinco had one catch.
But there could be more to it.
I’m a Rutgers guy (both Underwood and Silvestro are RU grads) so there’s been alot of chatter around these parts. While the move is still pretty douchey, there is speculation that the Patriots needed to add Silvestro to the 53-man roster by the Super Bowl in order to retain his rights. He is supposedly well-regarded by the organization. According to people close to Underwood, he is also well-liked by the organization and will be resigned.
FlipYrWhig
@Lurking Canadian: @Bill H.: But I’ve seen plenty of misfired and uncatchable passes, never one called for that flag. No one complained about it at the time or since, so maybe there’s nothing odd about it. But it struck me as HIGHLY odd, and it pretty much determined the game.
Legalize
Yes, it’s Tom Brady’s fault that the Pats defense can’t stop ANYONE. Brady’s fault that his biggest play-maker, Gronkowski, was hurt. Brady’s fault that Chad couldn’t learn the playbook. The BUNGLES let Chad go for a song. Brady’s fault that his biggest deep threat is Deion Branch – a guy who wouldn’t PLAY for the Giants or any other playoff team. The Giants’ third or fourth receiver, Mario Manningham, would be a star for the Pats. Wes Welker makes that catch 99 out of 100 times; it’s what he does. Brady’s fault that the team drafted Ryan Mallet with their first pick in 2011.
I’m no Tom Brady worshiper, but Jesus. Perspective helps sometimes. If Wes makes that catch that hit him in both hands, we’d likely be talking about Eli being a bum for blowing two time-outs early and never getting the ball down the field.
@Bill H.:
What pocket? He received the snap in his own endzone.
lonesomerobot
@Dave: Um, three? Can you please cue me in to the third time because I’m not seeing it. First time, Vegas, was a clear cut example of gold-digging and that case went nowhere (even her friends disavowed her). Second, Georgia, absolutely was stupid behavior, but still blown way out of proportion by the media with innuendo and hearsay rather than actual facts and solid reportage; plus something about underage girls with fake IDs at a bar wearing DTF tags — “down to f*ck” — makes me feel like it wasn’t exactly an instance of him being predatory. The fact is no charges were pressed.
Nevertheless, I’m not saying Roethlisberger wasn’t, or isn’t, an asshole. But you’re deflecting by saying what you say. Belichik is widely regarded as an asshole, he was caught cheating, and that basically makes those 3 Super Bowls a fraud. Get back to me when they win one without cheating, kthxbai.
Jay
On the surface, this move looks classless, but when one considers how coaches think, it appears to fall more along the lines of cold -blooded strategy. According to various nerds who cover the Patriots, (Boston Globies and such) Underwood has enough support within the organization to guarantee his return next year. Heck, he probably has more love than Chad “15 Catches” Ochocinco. I’ll bet Underwood will wind up with 800 yr. old Kevin Faulk’s spot, and Ocho will be replaced by someone like Brandon Lloyd, who’d be a quicker study because he’s worked with the new Offensive Coordinator.
butler
Oh please. I hate the Pats as much as anyone but to deny the health of their best reciever had any impact on the game is just childish. Maybe with Gronk 100% they still lose, or maybe he’s healthy enough to make one more play and put them over the top. Or maybe he tears his ACL because he was able to run and cut at full speed.
butler
It was a pretty easy call. I had the game on with the volume off and I saw it right away and predicted a flag.
Paul in KY
@burnspbesq: They would have whistled the play dead before the clock started if the refs had seen 17 players out there.
cromagnon
But I bet BB has never raped anyone
Paul in KY
@Mudge: Please be my guest.
Legalize
@butler:
Seriously. Maybe a healthy Gronk gets up to prevent that interception. Maybe he gets up and comes down with the ball in the endzone on the hail marry at the end. I mean, it’s what he’s done all year – get balls that no one else can because of his size and hops.
lonesomerobot
Ahhh, I love the smell of Cheatriot tears in the morning…
honus
@burnspbesq:
“Steelers fan going off on Belichick has a fundamental credibility problem.”
But not quite as bad as a Dookie diparaging Carolina.
“The rules are what they are. Deal.”
Spoken like a true alumnus of the school that produced Richard Nixon and Ken Starr
Paul in KY
Developing a theory that the Patriots are now cursed (since 2007) to never win another Super Bowl, so long as Belichick is their coach.
This is the fallout from the cheating saga. They may get close, but they’ll never win it.
Have a version of it that you must read like a crazy, cackling ancient mariner (always good for curses).
Aaron
Belichick tries to do what he thinks will win games, which is, I think, exactly what he’s supposed to do.
Paul in KY
@Legalize: He was definitely hobbled during the game. Maybe 60 percent.
lonesomerobot
@Paul in KY: I’ve been saying this since the 2007 loss to the Giants. When the Patriots cheat, they win Super Bowls; But since they can’t cheat anymore, they lose. It’s the So-Called Genius Curse™
Cromagnon
I wonder how many coeds Big Ben rapes this off-season? Bets anyone?
Paul in KY
@lonesomerobot: I was going the supernatural-entity-cursing-them route, but your idea has more merit and logic.
bob_is_boring
Aaron:
“Belichick tries to do what he thinks will win games, which is, I think, exactly what he’s supposed to do.”
This.
SFAW
Maybe it’s just ’cause I’m an old fart, and am mixing up one play with another, but didn’t the Giants stuff the Patsies on the play where they were called for 12 men? I seem to remember being pissed that they wasted a perfectly good stop.
Of course, it may just be because I’m a dork of very little brain.
FlipYrWhig
@butler: Have you seen intentional grounding called 50 yards downfield? It seems to fly in the face of the whole reason it’s a penalty in the first place, to wit, throwing the ball to the ground intentionally. Whatever he was doing with the ball, it wasn’t throwing it to the ground on purpose.
Paul in KY
@FlipYrWhig: Probably should be called ‘Intentional Incomplete’.
SFAW
Yes. Maybe not 50 yards, but certainly well over 25. It’s how it was often done, some years ago – for example: receiver runs a 15-yard out pattern, has double coverage, and the QB lets it fly NN yards up the middle.
I think it’s more frequent that they throw it to the sidelines with no one around (to prevent an interception), but what Brady did is not unheard-of by any means.
Jamey: Bike Commuter of the Gods
I was not aware that there are still people who wonder why Belichick is considered the biggest asshole in the NFL.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Jamey: Bike Commuter of the Gods: That puzzled me as well. I thought it was a known thing.
But then I live in southwest Ohio, so I figured everyone would twig to the notion that Rothsliberger has a rather liberal view of what constitutes consent to sex. That was a known thing when he was at Miami.
FlipYrWhig
@SFAW: I’m pretty confident I’ve never seen it called a penalty, even in the situation you describe. I feel like it happens once a game! Admittedly, I haven’t seen an aerial view of the play; maybe that would make it obvious that there was just NO ONE who could have been being targeted.
@Paul in KY: Intentional incomplete out of bounds is a routine occurrence. I don’t quite understand why intentional incomplete far downfield would be a penalizable offense in the first place. Isn’t the reason for creating that penalty to prevent the QB from being able to avoid a loss of yardage by throwing the ball to the ground? If Brady had a Herculean arm and managed to throw it all the way past the other end zone, that wouldn’t be a penalty, would it? Something’s screwy about the way the rule was written, IMHO.
RosiesDad
@Dave:
With Gronk in the game and at 100% on Nov. 6, the Giants beat the Pats in Foxboro 24 – 20.
The Super Bowl was exactly what most observers expected it to be–a closely fought battle won on one of the last possessions in the 4th quarter.
Belichick did what he thought he needed to do with his personnel going into the game. End of story.
DLew On Roids
Call me crazy, but I think rape is worse than cutting a guy the night before the Super Bowl.
gene108
Slightly off topic, but with this loss people are throwing holy Joe Montana as the greatest QB ever, now that Brady has 2 Superbowl losses.
People forget Montana’s Superbowl runs were accompanied by very good defensive teams.
Superbowl XVI Number two ranked defense in the NFL
10th ranked defense against Marion and the Dolphins.
The 1989 rematch with the Bengals, the 49’ers had the 3rd best defense in the NFL.
Montana was good, but he wasn’t carrying the team on his arm. Even before Rice, Craig, Taylor and Rathman got to San Fran, the 49er’s had good defenses to fall back on.
I think that aspect of the 49’er teams of the 1980’s and 1990’s gets overlooked too often.
The rant’s just a product of not being a Montana fan growing up and getting tired of people talking him up the last few days.
Anon
@FlipYrWhig: The rule is simple: in the pocket (between the hash marks), under pressure, and the ball not thrown towards an eligible receiver.
The nearest player to where the ball landed was a Giant 5-10 yards away. No matter what pattern the receivers were running, there was no Patriot downfield near that ball. Brady got hit just after throwing the ball (but not a late hit), and he was still in the pocket. That’s a clear case of intentional grounding (grounding does not mean a spike right in front of him).
Had Brady run a a few yards to the right, he would have been outside the pocket and could have let it fly with no risk of a penalty.
Intentional grounding penalties happen a probably about once a game or so. The only reason this one is getting discussed is because it led to a safety in the Super Bowl. Make everything the same, but move the line of scrimmage 10 yards forward to pull the play out of the endzone and make the game be in week 3, and no one would bat an eye.
Jay
@DLew On Roids:
“Call me crazy, but I think rape is worse than cutting a guy the night before the Super Bowl.”
And “Spygate.”
Really, who gives a shit? How is it different from stealing signs in baseball? That happens routinely, and no one loses draft picks over it.
It’s time we stopped pretending football is clean. I’m not a relativist, (I believe, for example, that the game needs clear – cut measures at every level that protect the health of players without diminishing on – field action. I want a hard cap on the number of full contact practices at every level and a slight cut in the number of NFL games, albeit only through the elimination of the Pro Bowl and at least one exhibition game on each team’s schedule) but Spygate is pretty weak sauce when set against the backdrop of a game that often turns people into vegetables and whose competitors, until very recently, faced about as many restrictions on drug use as pro wrestling stars.
gene108
@SFAW:
Intentional grounding is one of the most under called penalties in the NFL. The refs just ignore it.
From what I understand, if the QB is trying to avoid a sack and throws the ball to avoid the sack, they must get it “close” to a receiver, i.e. a good faith effort to complete a pass.
Usually, if a receiver is anywhere in the general vicinity it gets overlooked, whether or not the pass was catchable, so QB’s can usually chuck the ball up to avoid a sack.
gene108
@Paul in KY:
Considering their 3 Superbowl wins were by 3 points each, I’m not surprised they’d lose Superbowls, if they can’t cheat.
They weren’t blowing anyone away, when they were winning.
Take away whatever advantage they got by cheating, such as being able to make a play on offense or defense because they knew what the play was going to be and one or two plays not going their way in those 3 Superbowl wins could’ve made a big difference in the outcomes.
RJ
I love the morons who call Brady a “pretty boy” — last time I checked, he was a 6th-round pick who worked his way into getting into five SBs and winning three of them. He wasn’t the whiny-baby who got his daddy to help put pressure on the nfl to make sure he got to play in New York instead of San Diego.
I think we liberals should be more impressed with a 6th-rounder making good than a privileged silver-spooner. You’re making the classic mistake of being mad at someone who’s actually worked his way to success.
SFAW
FlipYrWhig and gene108 –
I think we’re all in violent agreement. Just to be clear: I agreed with the call on Brady – there was clearly no eligible Patriot near its terminus.
And, the example I gave earlier was meant to illustrate intentional grounding as it used to was, not to illustrate a “legit” pass. And I agree it’s under-flagged, but I imagine that it’s part of the protect-the-QB-at-all-costs set of rule changes that have taken place over the last 20 years.
gene108
@RJ:
When you publicly start knocking up models and marrying supermodels, your story of a humble kid, who worked his way up goes out the window.
Brady’s the best 6th round pick ever.
After he got success, he started to live large.
As far as I can tell both Eli and Peyton are much more family oriented than Brady. There’s no public info on either of them having a baby mama’s, unlike Brady.
SFAW
That’s because Eli was waiting for the Prop 8 overturn before he introduced his family, if you know what I mean. (Yes, I’m kidding.)
What I think is especially super-neato-keen is that Eli has more rings than Peyton. Peyton’s a truly great QB, but I get extremely tired of his non-stop audibles, stand-up-and-directs, and so forth.
SFAW
Yeah, I get that a lot.
Joel
Mountains, molehills, etc.
The Patriots presumably went with Silvestro because they were taking Gronkowski off the special teams blocking units. I don’t know how it shook out, because the level of in-game analysis in the Superbowl is sub-basement, and now that the Giants have won, I don’t care to go back and find out.
But christ, if we’re going to bitch about jerks and disappointments, let’s talk about Rush Limbaugh, Eric Cantor, and Donald fucking Trump being in the owners boxes of this game.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
meanwhile this blog ought to at least contain a mention of the passing of sharon ilkin, wife of broadcaster and former steeler tunch ilkin
FlipYrWhig
@gene108: Yeah, it must be that there was so obviously no one in the area that the refs couldn’t even justify their usual cavalier attitude towards that penalty. I never saw an aerial shot. Still, I feel like in my football-watching life I’ve seen dozens of passes flung way far away from any receiver without incurring a penalty, and this one changed the whole course of the game.
Peter
Tiquan is back with the team, and there are no hard feelings.
John
So the Patriots can have an undefeated regular season, and be one of the best teams in the leagues for years without cheating, but the Super Bowl is a bridge too far? You people are morons.
Nom de Plume
@gene108:
It’s actually just another example of the often weird, nonsensical rules that prevail in football. It’s perfectly okay to throw the ball to the 20th row, for example. That’s “smart”, because there’s no chance of an interception. Or spiking it at the line of scrimmage to stop the clock. That’s perfectly fine. But hurl it down the middle of the field like Brady did? Grounding!
In any case, there was absolutely no objection from any Patriots player or coach to the call, so far as I could see.
FlipYrWhig
@Nom de Plume: Spiking it to stop the clock is a relatively recent innovation. I’m pretty sure that constituted “grounding” in my football-watching youth (’70s and early ’80s).
vanya
Only a Steeler’s fan could be stupid enough to call Belichick an asshole for thinking of the team first. You don’t even know the whole story – Underwood may well have been aware he was on the bubble. And do you think Silvestro thinks Belichick is an asshole?
Vlad
@Jay: “How is it different from stealing signs in baseball?”
Well, one is against the rules, and the other is not. That’s the main difference.
MoeLarryAndJesus
@Vlad:
Actually, Vlad, it depends on how you do it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/sports/baseball/13phillies.html
Jay
@Vlad:
Both examples strike me as equally shady, with the “main difference” being that the Patriots had fancy – pants technology for their little scam.
Oh no pirates
I don’t comment here often, but this post is so profoundly stupid I feel the need to.
Gronkwoski normally plays in the wedge on kick returns, if he was injured the patriots needed someone who could do that. Silvestro can, this is why he was brought up.
Underwood receives full super owl pay and, had they won, would have received a ring as well.
He’s also already resigned with the patriots by his own choice. Underwood wasn’t going to be used in the game and, due to injuries, they needed to protect another position. Underwood understood this and said as much.
It was a great game with some mistakes on both sides. Both quarterbacks played well, but not great (127 dyar for Brady, 129 for Manning). In the end, one team Won. Anyone who thinks the Patriots are run by “assholes” or that they will soon fall apart is deluding themselves. There is a reason Vegas has them as the top odds to win the superbowl next year. There’s also a reason they have two first round and two second round draft picks – they’re well run. Period.
different-church-lady
Would it not be interesting to discuss that first play of the game with some people who understand football?
I mean, some people who might possibly understand that had he not heaved that ball up Brady would have been sacked a moment later. And those people would know what being sacked in the end zone would lead to.
Pat In Massachusetts
I am not a big Patriots fan, although I do live with one. But seeing the discussion is about they way the Patriots go about doing things, I found it a little bit shocking that Jack Kraft would have the biggest racist and bigot in all America, Rush Limbaugh, as a guest in his viewing box.
What’s that saying about learning a lot about a person by the company they keep? Do I need to even say where my opinion of the Kraft family now lies?
I didn’t think so.
Paul in KY
@FlipYrWhig: I think when it goes out of bounds, there’s an eligible receiver somewhere close by. I’ve seen them throw it out of bounds from pocket & there be no one around & they get a penalty.
There was no one within 20 yards of ball & he was getting ready to be sacked, so that was why ref threw the flag (IMO).
Paul in KY
@gene108: In the 1989 game, the Bengals best defensive player (Tim Krumrie) broke his leg on first play of game.
Sorta set the tone.
Paul in KY
@John: How do you know they weren’t cheating then?
Vlad
@Jay: “Fancy – pants technology” is what defines whether or not sign stealing is legal in baseball. A runner on second base reading the catcher’s signs is fine. A guy in center field with a camera running a feed to the dugout is not.
Using technology to steal signs has been considered wrong and unsportsmanlike for more than a hundred years. See this example from 1899: http://phillysportshistory.com/2011/04/07/phillies-caught-stealing-signs-in-1899/
Even Belichick ought to know better than that.