Super Bowl the Road to Perfection: N.E. Patriots vs. N.Y. Giants
February 2, 2008 by Jay McGillicuddy
Filed under Blog, Sports Talk
It’s late in the game and the fans are in a frenzy as Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are marching down the field with ease. It’s 3rd down and three, ball in Giants territory and Tom Coughlin and the Giants call time out.
Brady sets up in the shotgun as Randy Moss spreads left with Wes Welker in the slot and Laurence Maroney in the backfield. Brady takes the snap and drops back in the pocket. Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora put pressure on the pocket and Brady slips to the outside to evade Umenyiora. Strahan cuts off the run as Brady scrambles, He looks deep down field for Moss then left to Stallworth, Welker slides across the middle and Brady pumps and fires a perfect spiral to the leaping Randy Moss as he one hands the pass and stumbles into the red zone as he’s tripped up by a Giant’s defender.
New England Patriots vs. The San Diego Chargers
January 20, 2008 by Jay McGillicuddy
Filed under Blog, Sports Talk
New England Patriots are tough to beat. Go Pats.
New England Patriots vs. The San Diego Chargers
January 19, 2008 by Jay McGillicuddy
Filed under Blog, Sports Talk
Last year I hit the nail on the head when the Pats traveled to San Diego for their Divisional
match up to see who would go to the AFC Championship game against the Colts..
The 2007 season has seen the Pats go out and acquire some great new talent to stay toe to toe with the Indianapolis Colts.
They traded for Randy Moss and signed Wes Welker and Dante Stallworth to shore up the receiver crew. On defense they acquired Baltimore Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas.
New England Patriots in Search of Sweet Sixteen “16″
December 28, 2007 by Jay McGillicuddy
Filed under Blog, Sports Talk
The Patriots are one game away from “PERFECTION”. If they win tomorrow night they will become the first team in NFL history to reach the pinnacle of 16 wins and 0 defeats in the regular season.
This game has brought a lot of discussion as to whether or not the New York Giants will or should rest their players for the playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
I think the Giants will play their hardest and their starters for at least the first half. If the Pats open the game up early and take a big lead look for the Giants and the Pats to rest their starters in the second half.
The Patriots are destined to break a few NFL records and I feel they will break the following records tomorrow night.
- Most points by a team in a regular season 556 (held by the 1998 Vikings Randy Moss was on that team: They need a TD to break it.
- Most Touchdown passes by a quarterback 49 (held by Peyton Manning) Tom Brady has 48 and will break this no problem.
- Most Touchdown receptions 22 (held by Jerry Rice) the amazing thing about this stat is that Jerry Rice did this in the strike shortened 1987 season in 12 games. Randy Moss has 21 and Brady will get this stat out of the way early on.
The Patriots last week broke the record for most touchdowns in a season ironically against the team that held the record, the Miami Dolphins who had 70 and now the Pats have 71.
If you are a Pats fan don’t take this game lightly as the Giants are a good team and have a couple of great defensive ends in Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora who collectively have 22 sacks between them. The Pats know how to prepare as they have defeated all the rest of the teams in this division.
Look for the Pats to open the game up early in the air as Brady will march down the field and score the first touchdown with a pass to Randy Moss. The Pats will need to stop the Giants running attack but the Pats defense against the run ranks 10th in the league and the Giants are ranked 4th in rushing on offense.
The Pats rank 4th in total defense and the Giants 6th.
This won’t be that easy but it will depend on what happens early on. The Pats will go for the records and will go undefeated and the Giants will not be able to stop them.
New England Patriots 34
New York Giants 17
Weather forecast is dry and 44 degrees at game time and breezy and 37 by the end of the game.
GO PATS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
New England Patriots vs. the Miami Dolphins a recap
December 23, 2007 by Jay McGillicuddy
Filed under Blog, Personal, Sports Talk
The now 15-0 New England Patriots have one game left to play to be the first team in league history to go undefeated. Although that is not their ultimate goal, I would bet that they are thrilled to be able to play for the record.
View my pre game synopsis at the Active Rain Real Estate Network.
The Pats started off pretty well as they stopped the Dolphins on their first possession. Then Brady and the Pats marched down the field and Brady hit Moss on an 11 yard pass play for their first score.
As the first quarter neared the end Laurence Maroney scampered for 51 yards to the Dolphins 28. Maroney’s longest run of his career. A few plays later Brady hit Moss from 1 yard out to bring Moss to within one catch of tying Jerry Rice’s record of 22 Touchdown catches.
The Dolphins go three and out as they start the second quarter. The Pats have a third and one and Brady hands off to Laurence Maroney and he jets off tackle and rumbles for 59 yards this time and scores. Breaking his career long 51 yards just a few minutes earlier. He sure did cover a lot of real estate so far in this game.
On the Dolphins next series they went three and out again and were forced to punt. In is first game back and probbaly his last regular season game at Gillette Troy Brown was to receive this punt. I don’t know what happened but the ball hit his face guard and was ruled a muff as the Dolphins recovered. Thank goodness the Dolphins went three and out and Wes Welker went in to field this punt.
A little more than half way through the second quarter Brady hits Jabbar Gaffney for a needle threading 48 yard touchdown pass. The Dolphins defender missed the interception by a whisker. Credit Gaffney for keeping his eye on the ball.
At the half the New England Patriots 28 Miami Dolphins 0
The second half was boring as all get out. The Pats could barely muster a decent drive.
The Dolphins barely threatened the rest of the game except for a drive that left them on the one inch line as quaterback Cleo Lemon tried to get the ball over the pilon at the goal line but failed. The Pats made a great oal line stance again.
The Dolphins finally mustered up a score to make it 28 to 7. Cleo Lemon hit Greg Camarillo for a 21 yard touchdown pass.
After that the game was quite boring. The Pats took Brady out at aound the 2 minute warning.
The Pats broke the single season touchdown mark with 71 breaking the Dolphins record set in 1984 with 70. Tom Brady has tied Dan Marino’s 48 touchdown passes and needs one more to tie Peyton Manning’s 49 and two to break it.
The Pats have scored 551 points this year and only need 5 more to tie the Vikings. Weather permitting next Saturday night this should not be a problem. All they need is two field goals or one touchdown to break the record.
The road to perfection travels to New York on Saturday evening at 8:15 PM on the NFL Network. Most New England fans will be able to watch the game on local TV. Thank goodness we have Direct TV.
The Pats can lose this game and still save face as their goal is to win the Super Bowl.
I will be really bummed if they lose to my childhood team Giants. The Super Bowl is the ultimate prize.
New England Patriots vs. the New York Jets a recap
December 16, 2007 by Jay McGillicuddy
Filed under Sports Talk
The New England Patriots 13-0 faced the 3-10 New York Jets this afternoon in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots fans were anticipating a walk over against the Jets. Some were hoping for 70 - 0 shellacking.
The Pats received the opening kick off and really didn’t do to much with it on their first series. The Pats punted and pinned the Jets to their own 3 yard line. On the next play Richard Seymour broke free and drilled Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens and forced him to throw an errant pass and Eugene Wilson snagged it and took it in the end zone to score the games first touchdown. The first quarter ended with the Pats ahead 7-0.
The second quarter saw the Pats kick a field goal and go up 10-0.
Then about half way through the second quarter Patriots punter Chris Hanson had his first career punt blocked and David Bowens returned it 34 yards for a Touchdown.
The Patriots were nearing the end of the half and with a minute and five seconds left Laurence Maroney plowed in the end zone from a yard out.
At the half Patriots are ahead 17-7.
The third quarter was sloppy as neither team was able to put points on the board.
The fourth quarter saw a see saw back and forth as the Jets kicked a 33 yard field to narrow the score to 17-10. Then with a little over three minutes to go in the game Steven Gostkowski kicked a 34 yard field goal to pretty much ice the game. The Jets threatened in the waning moments but Junior Seau sacked Chad Pennington to clinch the game.
Final Pats 20 Jets 10.
There had been so much hype before the game as to whether or not the Pats would run up the score. The other controversy was whether Bill Belichick would shake Eric Mangini’s hand or not. He did it with a great big smile. He also hugged Kerry Rhodes and a coach from the Jets.
See there is a soft side to Bill Belichick. Next up the 1-13 Miami Dolphins at New England.
View my Pats Jets pre-game report.