Tom Brady and the Patriots

he has mastered the art of falling forward, jumping on top the pile, and slithering down the other side into the end zone...

He didn't get hurt in the process, though, right?

nothing on the interwebs...
he is one tough hombre, though.
most QB's would not have gotten right up after getting power-bombed

Yup, he sure is.

BTW, NFL should use Elvis hit on Brady as a training example of how to make a clean hit on a QB.

congrats to drew brees for breaking dan marino's 27 year-old record for passing yards in a season (5,084).

brady needs 188 in the season finale to also break the record...

the pates will be well-represented (8 players) this year in honolulu...
(espn)

(espn)

couple records of note to close out an awesome 13-3 campaign...

* 8 game winning streak
* brady ended the year with 5,235 yards passing (2nd most ever, behind brees' 5,486), and 300 career TD's (the sixth QB to do that)
* gronk set two TE records -- receiving TD's (17) and receiving yards (1,327)
* welker finished with 1,569 receiving yards, which i believe leads the league

also, coach bill is the first coach in NFL history with five seasons of 13 or more wins...

will need a new OC -- bill o'brien is jumping ship to be the new HC @ penn state.
good luck with that...

and brady has been named AFC offensive player of the month again...

rumor has it that josh mcdaniels will be returning next season as OC...

welker and gronk named to AP all-pro first team...

next week's opponent --
cincee, if they beat houston tonight.
if houston beats cincee, we get the winner of pitts v denver tomorrow...

with no apparent rule preventing them from doing so, the pates have already brought mcdaniels in.
whether he still has his old broncos playbook on his person remains to be seen...

I really chuckled when I read that. You better keep him away from video-taping equip't as he was fined $50K for the Bronco's little video-tapping fiasco when he was with the Broncos, though Both the NFL and the Broncos determined that McDaniels knew nothing about the incident.

This makes his current Pat's playoff role pretty muddy: "O'Brien will leave the Patriots after the 2011 season concludes to become head coach at Penn State, but will maintain playcalling duties until he leaves." I guess this means O'Brien is active in the playoffs.

So what the heck is McDaniels' role while the playoffs are on? Will he hold O'Brien's clipboard..or hose him down if he goes mad-dog on Brady again?

The interesting dynamic is that even if you have Broncos playbook in front of you is that their style of offense seems so impromptu and situational with the Option QB hijinks...that I wonder if having it is of any help?

it can't hurt having him there (up in the booth?), helping with the play calls.
he and o'brien worked together before mcd left in '09, and are apparently good friends...

the pates picked a great time to play their best all-around game of the year.
not too many mistakes on either side of the ball.
the D was especially impressive, holding denver to 252 yards.
the O was sharp, efficient, precise...

It was like watching surgery. So much for Tebow-mania! In this game the star and the focus is on Brady, Gronk, Hernandez and crew.

Wait, wait..Brady punted the ball 48 yards?

Very curious as to what the dynamics of the game with the Ravens is going to be like?


What a day of games! Loved the 49-ers-Saints game a lot.

here's hoping houston and baltimore beat each other to a pulp.
doesn't really matter which one we get...

lucky to be going back to The Show...