Pats Light Shines On

As the Pats prepared a fourth and 1 quarterback sneak, their fragile gem of a perfect season on the line, a jumpy-handed Ravens assistant coach signalled the time out. At that moment the future fractured into two paths, What Might Have Been, and What Is. The attempted quarterback sneak by Tom Brady only existed in the land of What Might Have Been, but in that land Brady got popped! Halted in his tracks a yard behind scrimmage, he toppled over, defeated, the Pats perfect run ended. Demoralized, the Pats lose their mojo, lose to Pittsburgh, lose to Indy in the playoffs again and see the reputation of their cantankerous head coach sullied by their epic collapse as the rest of the league delights.

But none of that happened, because in the Land of What Is, the Pats are protected by a glowing light, a mysterious force which guides them and made the Ravens call timeout. It doesn't matter whether this magical light is in the "T"-shape of that Ravens coach's hands, in the eye of the referee who ruled Jabar Gaffney's hot potato routine in the endzone was a TD catch, or in the mouth of the back judge who rattled Ravens defender Samari Rolle with his alleged in-game epithets. Any one of these ripples in the space-time continuum might have been sufficient to derail the Ravens upset bid by itself.

On a night where the Pats were outhustled and outplayed, and looked far from dominant, its amazing that they always seem to have just enough pixie dust to sprinkle on the field when they need a little luck. One thing is clear, the Pats "We're not on a quest" quest for a perfect season has taken on a life of its own. Emboldened by a chance at football immortality, Pats opponents are taking aim at The Streak itself and coming up with the games of their lives.

Unheralded, uncelebrated and most would say unskilled QBs A.J. Feeley and Kyle Boller had career days chasing anti-Pat history on consecutive weeks. That is a clear indication that The Streak is exerting a powerful influence on Patriot opponents, an influence which is growing exponentially as the season approaches its final chapters.

Next on the Pats agenda are the Steelers, in great shape to end the perfect season and have their efforts live on for years of NFL Films glory. Steelers are no 25-point underdog like the Eagles, the Steelers have a revitalized Big Ben, Steelers have that D, Steelers have something to prove for their youthful new head coach who bravely declared "This is no Appalachian State vs. Michigan." All of which would only lead one to the conclusion that this time the Pats are REALLY going down.

However, until the spell is broken and someone finishes a victory to the final second, its hard not to believe the orb of light will rescue the Pats once again. Furthermore, Tom Brady's desire to silence the annoying Mercury Morris of the 72 Dolphins has gotta be considered another exponentially growing force.

Lightning Will Strike Pats

I have to give props to the Boise State Broncos for the most exciting moments in football for a long time. Imagine an old black and white football film from the 50s, the Boise St. players with their perfect hair listening to the coach on the sideline. “We’ve run the fumblerooski. And we’ve run the hook and lateral.” The coach is pacing. “Now we need a play to get this two point conversion.” Silence. Then, little Frankie pipes up. “Hey coach, they’ve never seen the Statue of Liberty play, have they?” The coach is puzzled, then his wrinkled brow melts into a mischievous grin. “The ol’ Statue of Liberty….”

Three brilliant trick plays in one game, all of which resulted in scores and all of which left the Oklahoma Sooners looking flat footed and stooge-like. Climaxing in the most perfect Statue of Liberty, the ball magically hidden behind Boise QB Jared Zabransky’s back after the “follow through” of his fake throw, grabbed by the RB for an easy walk to the endzone and a game winning 2-point conversion. The tricks provided a larger than life, courageous, nothing-to-lose victory which allowed the lowly Smurfturfers to capture the hearts and fancy of a nation. May the NFL deliver a fraction of that excitement this weekend.

In the words of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven: “Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; - This it is, and nothing more.” The Colts will be nothing more than a visitor scraping at the door of their abandoned city of Baltimore, and will be rebuffed by McNair and Co. The Colts fled their native Baltimore in a fleet of trucks loaded in secrecy, under cover of night, and were already in Indianapolis by the time anyone noticed. Now its time for the good people of Baltimore to savor some revenge. Ravens 27-Colts 21.

Philadelphia fans consider themselves “long suffering.” Go to a Phillies game in your Mets gear and you’ll quickly find the fans will gladly take out their suffering on you. Nawlins has suffered too, in life not sports and in a much more meaningful sense. They also have only won one playoff game ever. What gives? The rules of karma say the Phila underdog card gets trumped in the Big Easy by the strong arm and leadership of Drew Breezy, and a crowd that will be off the heezy. Saints 34-Eagles 27.

All the talk about New England is about the intangibles, the x-factors, the Brady factor, the Belichick factor, the Brady playoff record, the Brady sex appeal, the Belichick playoff record. Everything except the actual X’s and O’s. A few years ago Brady got his first playoff victory in the swirling snow, with a “tuck rule” call that robbed Da Raiduhs. Sunday, the streak of good luck will end, and Cali gets its revenge. La Danian lightning will strike the Pats, and QB Philip Rivers will be good enough. Brady can go back to complaining about the Deion Branch trade after they fall to earth. Chargers 40-Patriots 31.

The long layoff is not good for the Bears. Too much time to contemplate. The layoff wasn’t long enough to bring the return of two of their defensive stalwarts, Mike Brown and Tommie Harris. Rex Grossman will try “extra hard” and that right there will doom the Bears. Seahawks meanwhile, have some mojo working after the way they defeated Dallas. Seahawks 20 - Bears 17.