The Redskins are NOT playing well against the Patriots (currently they’re down 24-0) and I don’t know why. The Patriots aren’t doing anything special, but the Skins aren’t showing up to play. That said, the Redskins headsets mysteriously stopped working, disrupting communications between the coordinators and the players.
“At one point we had a good drive going against the Patriots,” said one Lion who doesn’t want his name involved in this mess, but was willing to talk about it. “Mike Martz really had ‘em going. They were getting fouled up, lining up wrong, we were moving the ball. Then boom, the headset from the sidelines to the coaches’ booth goes out.
“Next possession we were moving the ball again and the same thing happened. You know it only takes two or three plays to mess up a drive.”
Matt Millen, the Lions’ GM, says he was talking to another team’s head coach at the league meetings. He started telling him the story.
“Yeah, I know,” the coach said. “Headset went out. It happened to me in Foxboro, too.”
UPDATE: 38-0. I knew there was a reason I support assisted suicide.
UPDATE 2: Ok, Bill Belichick, you go for it on 4-1 up by 38, on the 10yard line? Congratulations, your poor sportsmanship makes you the new Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees. I hope the Colts light your asses up.
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OW, did you make the Pats mad with those ads from Monday?
Seriously tho, I read about that “communication suddenly going out” story during SpyGate earlier in the season (the version I had read was a conversation between Rod Marinelli and Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis; “the same thing happened to us”) That, to me, if what we suspect it might be, is way worse than what happened with the video camera.
One is trying to get a competitive advantage (no one would’ve said anything if the Pats had someone there simply taking notes on what he saw). The other is a delibirate move to put the other team at a disadvantage.
If this thing is happening in his own stadium, then Robert Frost is the worst, most clueless or worst, most ruthless owner in the history of the NFL and the league should strip him of ownership (in college they call it ‘lack of institutional control’) and give it to the ghost of Victor Kiam.
Oh yeah, and I started Clinton Portis in fantasy today. Damned Pats.
If the Patriots keep running up the score, someone’s eventually going to take Brady out at the knees, penalties be damned.
Typical Liberal Moonbat conspiracy paranoia. If the outcome of a particular situation is not what you wished, there had to be some nefarious reason. See Al Gore, Randi Rhodes, 9/11 Truthers, Keith Olbermann and on and on ad nauseum. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
Typical Liberal Moonbat conspiracy paranoia. If the outcome of a particular situation is not what you wished, there had to be some nefarious reason. See Al Gore, Randi Rhodes, 9/11 Truthers, Keith Olbermann and on and on ad nauseum. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
Typical Liberal Moonbat conspiracy paranoia. If the outcome of a particular situation is not what you wished, there had to be some nefarious reason. See Al Gore, Randi Rhodes, 9/11 Truthers, Keith Olbermann and on and on ad nauseum. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
The 4th-and-1 decision was pathetic.
And why didn’t they take Brady out? Sore winners.
If only the NFL had a salary cap and revenue sharing to make things more fair.
Shorter Oliver Willis:
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.
Nothing better than watching a nice beatdown of the Washington [racial slurs].
There is no doubt that Bill Bellicose is monitoring the other teams communications. Add jamming to that. The league is too scared to let it come out. The way to deal with it is to purposely injure Brady and then have two linebackers crash into Bills’ legs and chest on the sidelines. I am not a Redskins fan but this was done as a fuck you to Joe Gibbs by Bellicose. This is the kind of thing that will get an owner frozen out at meetings and opposing players will play to injure long after a whistle. You brought this on yourself Bellicose.
Roundhead:
I gotta make one correction. Robert Frost is one of New Hampshire’s proudest sons, a great American poet. You wanna denounce Robert Kraft.
Other than first names, there really isn’t much to compare between the two men.
J.
It could be worse, Oliver. You could be a Niner fan. I’m about ready to switch from beer to Irish whiskey.
Oh noes, Oliver, those mean old Patriots must have cheated!!!1!!One!11
I bet the Pats would have only won by 30 points if they weren’t nasty bad old cheaters who stoled your radio transmissinzs!!…
The Redskins are obviously the much better team and history will remember that it was just an officiating technicality and a radio glitch that allowed those lying, dirty Patriots to win the game.
Please remember all this as you cry yourself to sleep tonight, Oliver.
“If the Redskins’ headset radios had worked then the Redskins would totally have won the game. That is A FACT, YO!.
Suck, suck, suck… snore, snore”
Poor sportsmanship? For.. gasp.. scoring points.. in a game?
I was under the impression that that was the whole point of a game like football; to score points and make touchdowns. Perhaps the Redskins just missed the *other* point of football which was to, you know, stop the other team from scoring?
oliver, remind me again why the redskins would be so much worse off this season if brunell were the starting QB.
You know, last week Brian Griese’s headset gave out on the Bears 3. He drove the team 97 yards for a winning touchdown. Isn’t that amazing? A quarterback was able to play the game of football without a headset in his ear? I don’t know how all those quarterbacks from all the years before wireless headsets ever scored a touchdown at all.
Whine, whine, whine. The Skins didn’t show up. They had a fifth-ranked pass defense, which might be why Brady had to rush two of his touchdowns in instead of throwing them, but the Skins got made to look like a scrub team out there. They couldn’t even stop Matt Cassel from scoring.
“Typical Liberal Moonbat conspiracy paranoia. If the outcome of a particular situation is not what you wished, there had to be some nefarious reason.”
Uhhh…. The Pats have been caught cheating in the past, so it isn’t a bizarre suggestion to say they might be cheating now.
And how are the Yankees and the Cowboys examples of poor sportsmanship? I’m a Giants fan, so I hate the Cowboys as much as anyone, but, seriously…poor sportsmanship?
Jay Tea — thanks. I realized my mistake about two minutes after I hit the ‘post’ button. I’m so enraged by what the Pats are said to be doing that I confused the owner with the poet.
They probably could’ve beaten the ’skins today without the intentional sabotage. Another reason why Belichick is the Richard M. Nixon of the NFL.
Belichik is one of the best coaches in NFL history. Everything he does is for a reason. He was not running up the score to be a prick.
He has to have his team, particularly on offense, running like a machine. They have to have it in their heads that they should score every time they have the ball.
Please recall that the last time the Patriots played the Colts at Indianapolis, they blew a 21-6 halftime lead.
Belichik knows what he is doing. He is trying to win the Super Bowl.
Belichik is one of the cheatingest coaches in NFL history.
Fixed!
I don’t like the Redskins or the Pats, so I don’t have a vested interest in either team. But to go for it on 4th and 1 with about ten minutes left in the game and a 38-0 lead is pretty pathetic. There’s a big difference between being up by almost 40 at home in the final quarter than being up 21-6 at halftime against the Colts at Indianapolis.
It’s like Belichick needs to compensate for having been busted cheating by running up scores as if to say, “Look! We don’t need to cheat!”
Would somebody explain to me why football is the only sport where people complain about the other team “running up the score”? When the Orioles got pasted by the Rangers 30-3 earlier this year, or when any number of basketball teams have run over their opponents in the past, you don’t get nearly the outcry you get over a lopsided football score like this one.
What was Belichick supposed to do for 12 minutes? Stop playing the game? Did Ron Washington tell his players to stop swinging at fat pitches across the plate because clearly the O’s had “had enough”?
The onus is not on the offense to stop itself, it is on the defense to stop them. As I mentioned before, the Redskins couldn’t even stop Brady’s backup.
What an bunch of whiners, Oliver especially. If the ‘Skin’s were putting a beat down on the Pats, he’d be rubbing his hands together and talking about karma. What if it was the ‘Skins versus Dallas? Tell me you wouldn’t want them to run up the score on T.O.? Brady has a shot at some all-time NFL records – why not go for it? I don’t recall Gibbs showing much class against the Broncos in Superbowl XXII, or did you forget the score in that game. Waaaaaaaaaaaaa !!
I think the NFL has become almost too much of a fraternity with the closesness shared between the players on each team for this to happen, but I would love to see every team that plays the Patriots for the rest of the season turn the game into a back alley fight. If you can’t beat the Patriots and they are going to rub it in your face like a bunch of J.O.’s, then have a little pride and start landing some serious blows and putting some licks on them so that they at least have something to think about in the locker room after the game, like “how am I going to walk up the stairs to go to bed when I can barely move?”
“Well, if you’ll stop trying to score, then we’ll stop trying too.”
The 4th-and-1 decision was pathetic.
How so? You would have rather the Pats kick a field goal? Isn’t them scoring more points the whole reason you guys are whining to begin with? The 4th and 1 IS sporting — stop us and you get the ball back. Don’t and we’ll score. Pretty basic.
And spare me the boohoo with your cute little racist (oh, I mean “heritage”) team. Some scores from the Joe Gibbs eras Mark I and II:
>
> *1983: Was 51 LA Rams 7 (play-off game)
> Was 45 STL Cardinals 7 *
> * 1985: Was 44 Atl 10
> 1986: Was 41 Phi 14
> Was 41 Dal 14
> 1987: Was 42 Den 10 (Super Bowl)
> 1991: Was 45 Det 0
> Was 45 Det 10 (NFCCG)
> Was 56 Atl 17
> Was 41 Pit 14
> 1992: Was 41 Pho 3
> 2005: Was 52 SF 17
Why can’t that nascar-luvin’ christian guy play nice?
Every team in the league has been caught cheating. They’re called penalties. Look it up.
When the Orioles got pasted by the Rangers 30-3 earlier this year, or when any number of basketball teams have run over their opponents in the past, you don’t get nearly the outcry you get over a lopsided football score like this one.
Spider, blowouts like that in baseball are an anomaly. It just doesn’t happen enough in order for their to be a patter. Also, guys can police themselves in baseball. If one team feels they’re getting shown up, they’ll plunk somebody.
In basketball, you will see from time to time coaches and players getting pissed when the game is a blowout and the other coach still has his starting squad on the court.
How so? You would have rather the Pats kick a field goal? Isn’t them scoring more points the whole reason you guys are whining to begin with? The 4th and 1 IS sporting — stop us and you get the ball back. Don’t and we’ll score. Pretty basic.
First of all, I’d like to see some statistics on how often football teams go for it on 4th and 1. I’ll bet money you’ll find a lot more times they punt and kick field goals than go for the first down. Second of all, if it’s all about scoring points and its no big deal, why not throw an on-side kick in there for fun? Or throwing hail mary passes instead of taking a knee at the end? Or some flea flickers?
Second, they didn’t go for it once…but TWICE.
Also, guys can police themselves in baseball. If one team feels they’re getting shown up, they’ll plunk somebody.
You’re right! If only there was some way for a football player to show their displeasure at players on another team! If they only were able to physically engage each other or something, maybe then those dastardly Patriots would know the wrath of the Redskins!
First of all, I’d like to see some statistics on how often football teams go for it on 4th and 1.
Wholly irrelevant to why the Pats ‘went for it’ but even Crazy Gregg Easterbrook thinks too few coaches go for it on 4th and 1. It’s almost always the better percentage play than punting.
I’ll bet money you’ll find a lot more times they punt and kick field goals than go for the first down.
Probably. And they do it for a lot of different reasons, many of them dumb. But if your main complaint is that they are ‘rubbing it in’ by severely outscoring their opponent why wouldn’t you be mad about a meaningless field goal? Or do you think the Pats should have just handed over the ball out of pity?
The Skins could get the ball back if they stop a 4th and 1. That’s the sporting proposition. They didn’t. Simple as that.
Second of all, if it’s all about scoring points and its no big deal, why not throw an on-side kick in there for fun? Or throwing hail mary passes instead of taking a knee at the end? Or some flea flickers?
Isn’t the fact that they didn’t do these things proof that they played the game pretty straight up? Except for the fake spike (which they did the WEEK BEFORE in case Gibbs actually preps his team for the game, it was in the tape…), they didn’t do anything tricky, or exotic.
Second, they didn’t go for it once…but TWICE.
Those were two chances the Skins had to get the ball back and they couldn’t do it. Seriously. I know I can’t convince you that the totally unfair fact that the Patriots were giving the Skins a fair chance to stop them on 4th and 1 (both times with the QB running straight ahead) — but say you are the opposing coach (say Joe Gibbs). Would you rather have the Pats tack on field goals or have a chance to drive them back and take the ball over on downs? Or should we just make special rules for teams that can’t stop teams from running the ball down the middle?
If the Pats were 4th and 1 in their side of the field, they would have punted.
If they only were able to physically engage each other or something, maybe then those dastardly Patriots would know the wrath of the Redskins!
It’s amazing that Patriots fans would become bigger asses than Yankees fans (of which I am one), but it has happened. Actually smartass, the risk is that a player is going to get pissed….to the point that they’ll intentionally try to hurt somebody. How well do you think it will go over if somebody runs their helmet at Brady’s knee because Coach B decided that a 41 point lead with 9 mins left in the game wasn’t enough?
Wholly irrelevant to why the Pats ‘went for it’
Not in the context you placed it:
The 4th and 1 IS sporting — stop us and you get the ball back. Don’t and we’ll score. Pretty basic.
If that were the case, they’d go for it every time.
But if your main complaint is that they are ‘rubbing it in’ by severely outscoring their opponent why wouldn’t you be mad about a meaningless field goal?
First off, my complaint is not that they are severely outscoring their opponents. There are big scores all the time that aren’t the result of a team unnecessarily throwing up points on the board. When you have a 38 point lead and it’s 4th and 1, the prudent thing to do is kick the field goal. To go for it to get the score up to 45-0 is done merely to embarrass the other team and their coaching staff.
Isn’t the fact that they didn’t do these things proof that they played the game pretty straight up? Except for the fake spike (which they did the WEEK BEFORE in case Gibbs actually preps his team for the game, it was in the tape…), they didn’t do anything tricky, or exotic.
They didn’t have time. Between fake spikes, going for it on 4th and 2, as well as throwing deep with a monster lead, they couldn’t find the time to work in a double reverse when leading 52-7.
If the Pats were 4th and 1 in their side of the field, they would have punted.
Why? What’s the difference?
Okay, Jay, let’s look at it two other ways.
First of all, The Patriots are playing for the records this year. Everybody said in the offseason that the Pats were building a team to win this year, which is why they made the deals to give Brady an A-grade receiving corps and plucked Adalius Thomas from the Ravens.
At their current rate of offensive production, Brady is going to obliterate Manning’s single-season TD record (and he’s already passed his own personal best) and the Patriots are going to pass the Vikings for total points scored in a season. If they also win a fourth Super Bowl in seven years, it finally cements the “dynasty” label that many have avoided granting them.
The Patriots can talk all day long about how they’re not eying these records, that Only The Win Matters, but only a fool believes them. And perhaps that’s not a good enough reason to assert this kind of dominance, perhaps it’s not “noble sportsmanship.” But somebody keeps track of those records, somebody decides that they’re important, and they don’t happen because a QB or an offense decides to show mercy.
Secondly, while it’s possible that Belichick ran up the score just to stick it in Joe Gibbs’ face, it’s also possible that he was using the cushion of the lead to experiment in a low-risk, high-return situation. Peter King pointed out an interesting Patriots maneuver in this game wherein the WR formations got spread around specifically to mask the quarterback sneak that was called…and both times it worked like a charm.
Again, not a very respectful move, but nonetheless a move designed to better the team for the only goal that matters. I’m sure the Redskins don’t appreciate it in either case, but if they didn’t want to become a case study they should have made the game competitive.
“Every team in the league has been caught cheating. They’re called penalties. Look it up.”
To even equate the two shows you are too dumb to debate.
If the Pats were 4th and 1 in their side of the field, they would have punted.
Why? What’s the difference?
Also, I’m going to assume you were tired when you snarked this, because surely you understand the difference between possibly turning over the ball on your own 10 than turning over the ball on your opponent’s 10.
OW…I think more of Joe Gibbs than most people. I also know that back in the day…he would have done the same. Look at what he said…look at what the players have said. Running up the score happens in Little League. The Pats are just plain focused on the goal…winning.
Become the yankees or dallas cowboys? You mean wildly successful? Bring it on!
(neither the cowboys nor yankees have ever been known for running up the score. You have no idea what your’e talking about)
“Become the yankees or dallas cowboys? You mean wildly successful?”
No, he means hated by most people.