Classless Coach Belichick

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I don't think anyone disputes that we played like shit, in fact we've been talking about that in other threads. That doesn't change the fact that one of the story lines from yesterday was the Pats running up the score.

If you don't have a problem with NE running it up, fine. Class and character are those things that people either have or they don't. You either understand it or you don't.

I had no problem with what NE did yesterday. It's pro football.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by dgack

If that's what you want to see from your team, you're rooting for the wrong football organization. Start wearing silver and black, and maybe in another decade or so of top-5 picks, the Raiders will be rolling again.

Yeah seriously, that's bush league shit.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

I had no problem with what NE did yesterday. It's pro football.

Then why doesn't every team do that?

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by dgack

Maybe the worst argument for Belichick's middle-finger statement I have heard yet. If they wanted to get Matt Cassell experience, they could have started in the third quarter and would have been able to do so safely.

This isn't baseball, you can bring your starter back in if anything "crazy" happens, you know, like if we had scored more than once on them.

At that point the game was not over.

[carbofisk]

Run up the score? ... What you're saying is, the Patriots were kicking your ass in every conceivable way, and so you wish they'd have just stopped playing. ... Maybe if you'd have cried really, really loud, they would have.

Here's an idea: Play some defense. ... And where was that defense of yours, anyway? ... Whatever -- thanks for dropping by Foxborough. ... And thanks for rolling over like the JV and getting blown out. ... Allowed us to leave early, get to a bar in plenty of time to watch the Red Sox win the World Series. ... It must suck not being a Boston sports fan right now.

[Dlyne8r]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

...

Did you happen to see the Georgia Fla game? The coach of Georgia sent the whole team out on the field to celebrate a Georgia TD. The whole bench ran out on the field to try and intimidate Fla. I loved it!!!! The Geogia coach had the I don't give a f*#k attitude and they took the 15 yard penalty. Actually they took two 15 yarders but he was sending a message to Fla. The Georgia coach has some major balls.

I did see that game. And I was pulling for Georgia. But, that too was yet another example of what I consider "classless." I live in Atlanta and even some Georgia fans were embarrassed by what Mark Richt did. Look, I am all for getting the team fired up and ready to play smash-mouth football. But there must be limits with sportsmanship always prevailing. Am I being contradictory in saying that the 'Skins should have "brought the house" on each and every play after the Pats were obviously running up the score and putting Brady on his ass? Maybe. But what the Pats did and Georgia did were two diametrically opposed situations. Georgia had just scored their own first TD. Florida had done nothing to warrant the entire Bulldog team to storm the field so early in the game. And finally, per my original post I never said anything about trying to deflect blame on our own team. The Redskins flat out stunk. There is plenty of blame to go around on our team. This thread was not started to discuss that issue, it is already being discussed on other threads.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by carbofisk

Run up the score? ... What you're saying is, the Patriots were kicking your ass in every conceivable way, and so you wish they'd have just stopped playing. ... Maybe if you'd have cried really, really loud, they would have.

Here's an idea: Play some defense. ... And where was that defense of yours, anyway? ... Whatever -- thanks for dropping by Foxborough. ... And thanks for rolling over like the JV and getting blown out. ... Allowed us to leave early, get to a bar in plenty of time to watch the Red Sox win the World Series. ... It must suck not being a Boston sports fan right now.

I thought Boston fans had some class, guess I was wrong.

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by carbofisk

Run up the score? ... What you're saying is, the Patriots were kicking your ass in every conceivable way, and so you wish they'd have just stopped playing. ... Maybe if you'd have cried really, really loud, they would have.

Here's an idea: Play some defense. ... And where was that defense of yours, anyway? ... Whatever -- thanks for dropping by Foxborough. ... And thanks for rolling over like the JV and getting blown out. ... Allowed us to leave early, get to a bar in plenty of time to watch the Red Sox win the World Series. ... It must suck not being a Boston sports fan right now.

I dont think the problem is the amount of scoring, the problem is how the points are scored...and if anyone thought the Skins had more than a miracle's chance to win yesterday is just lying to themselves.

There is no reason whatsoever for the starters to be in the game with a blowout as late in the 4th as they were. The backups score, so what...however, for a team up as much as the Pats were yesterday, and go for it on 4th down twice, when a field goal puts points on the board, that's classless. But so be it. The league as a whole saw what Belicheck wants to do, and other teams will adjust. Sometimes being the goat isn't a bad thing. I kinda feel bad for the Jets next week...or I feel bad for the Skins because if they don't show up next week, it sets the tone for the rest of the year.

And if the tables were turned, you being a Boston fan, I can't imagine what would be have been left on Pats message boards...All I'll say is what goes around, comes around. The Pats may be the best team in the NFL right now, but once you're on top, you have to fight to stay there...the bullseye is bright, big, and every team from here on out, including the Colts, are gunning to take the Pats down.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Then why doesn't every team do that?

Because they are different from most teams. It doesn't come down to a character issue cause they are trying to score more points. That is what they are paid to do!!! They don't stop coaching until the game is over and I just don't have a problem with it. Indy does the same thing. They keep throwing when they are comfortably ahead. Those two teams never ever try and burn the clock out like we do. They are always trying to score more points.

It would be a character issue if NE was playing dirty like the old Raider teams did. I don't ever see NE's players getting flags thrown for personal fouls or unsportsmenlike conduct.

[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I thought Boston fans had some class, guess I was wrong.

Boston fans are among the least classy fans out there, always have been, always will be.. Don't be fooled by the Eastern Seaboard Programming Network to think Boston is a sports utopia filled with kittens and lollypops..

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Because they are different from most teams. It doesn't come down to a character cause they are trying to score more points. That is what they are paid to do!!! They don't stop coaching until the game is over and I just don't have a problem with it. Indy does the same thing. They keep throwing when they are comfortably ahead. Those two teams never ever try and burn the clock out like we do. They are always trying to score more points.

It would be a character issue if NE was playing dirty like the old Raider teams did. I don't ever see NE's players getting flags thrown for personal fouls or unsportsmenlike conduct.

Exactly. You know we talk a lot about playing until the whistle blows, but that's just lip service when your team is on the other side of the ball, isn't it? And this is this is why the Pats are head and shoulders above the rest this year, they have a "no mercy" attitude. Are they still pissed about the whole Spy Gate thing, you damn right they are. They are sending a message loud and clear, we're the best team in football cameras or no cameras.

But to your point, if they were playing dirty then I would have some issues with them, but they are just guilty of playing hard-nosed spirited football week in and week out.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Because they are different from most teams. It doesn't come down to a character issue cause they are trying to score more points. That is what they are paid to do!!! They don't stop coaching until the game is over and I just don't have a problem with it. Indy does the same thing. They keep throwing when they are comfortably ahead. Those two teams never ever try and burn the clock out like we do. They are always trying to score more points.

It would be a character issue if NE was playing dirty like the old Raider teams did. I don't ever see NE's players getting flags thrown for personal fouls or unsportsmenlike conduct.

I don't think you've watched the Colts very closely, because they definitely do not keep piling on when ahead.

[MTK]

PFT's take on the game:

SportingNews.com - Your expert source for NFL Football stats, scores, standings, blogs and fantasy news from NFL Football columnists

Last week in this space, I raised the question of whether opponents of the New England Patriots might be thinking that the team is running up the score -- and whether such opponents will be looking for payback for the full duration of Bill Belichick's tenure with the team.

This week, it's even harder to make the case that the Patriots didn't run up the score against the Washington Redskins and Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. Apart from yet another fake-spike play late in the first half, the Patriots amazingly eschewed a field-goal attempt while leading 38-0 with 11 minutes to play and went for it on fourth-and-short from the Redskins' 7-yard line.

Let's get this straight: Belichick would have been uncomfortable with a lead of only 41 with 11 minutes to go? Please. The Redskins hadn't scored a point. Even if the Patriots had pulled 11 guys out of the stands to play defense the rest of the way, the gap would not have been closed.

And then, leading 52-7 with less than a minute to play, New England still had numerous starters on the field. That's simply inexcusable.

Belichick could be telling the rest of the NFL that if a big deal is going to be made out of the Patriots breaking a signal-stealing rule that many other teams routinely violate, then Belichick will stay fully within the rules -- and obliterate anyone who crosses his path.

The backlash is going to begin. As the buildup begins to the biggest regular-season game of the year -- and possibly ever -- the media will probe the question of whether Belichick is bullying the rest of the league.

Even though the Colts are 7-0, this New England team is so good that, next week at this time, folks might be debating the question of whether the Patriots ran up the score against the defending Super Bowl champs.

[skinsnut68]

You don't need to taunt. And I wasn't really serious about going for the knees--you don't need to deliberately try to end someone's career. But you do need to take the gloves off, talk some trash, and hit some people on defense. Take your personal fouls, but rattle them up. The great Bill Walsh did it (did you hear Gibbs tell that anecdote about what he did to Dexter Manley?) Ditka and Buddy Ryan did it. On offense, you need to either keep pounding it up the gut like Grimm, Riggo and the Hogs used to do, or go all out downfield.

You gotta be ruthless.

I love Gibbs, but I don't go for this tight-lipped, take the high road BS--at least, not against this team. The Pats are already motivated to kill everyone they see, and you're not going to hold them off by being polite. CP tried to get his teammates going by talking about being the most talented team in football, but it wasn't enough.

It's too late to change yesterday. But the skins could take it out on the Jets, Iggles, and especially Dallas. I'm still looking for some of that ATTITUDE that used to be there in the 70s and 80s. The skins really need some attitude guys like Gary Clark or Dexter Manley to juice em up and start killing people.

[MTK]

And more:

'SKINS, GIBBS HAVE WON BIG, BUT HAVE CALLED OFF THE DOGS

It's a testament to the greatness of the New England Patriots that the dominant topic in the wake of their games is whether they left their starters on the field for too long while blowing out the competition.

Still, Patriot Nation is up in arms over the notion that anyone would dare to suggest that their team or its head coach needs a lesson or two in sportsmanship -- reflecting to a certain degree the attitude projected by said team and said coach.

Only a day after being flooded with e-mails from Colts fans accusing me of having a bias in favor of the Pats for criticizing Gregg Easterbrook's "Colts are good, Pats are evil" essay from last Tuesday, I'm now being flooded with e-mails from Pats fans accusing me of having a bias against them.

Sheesh.

My take on whether I think the Pats went too far on Sunday -- and, more importantly, why I think they're doing it -- is summed up at the top of the Ten-Pack posted at SportingNews.com. Check it out, and then come back for more.

Folks defending the Pats' 52-7 victory have been attempting to turn the tables on their most recent victims, pointing to a couple of past Joe Gibbs romps, in which the 'Skins scalped the opponents for more than 50 points. Specifically, the Redskins rattled the Rams, 51-7, during a 1983 playoff game, and they fricasseed the 49ers by the score of 52-17 little more than two years ago.

But there's a difference. A big difference. In both of those games, the 'Skins apparently called off the dogs well before the fourth quarter. For example, the Redskins led the Rams 38-7 at halftime in the 1983, and scored only six points in the third quarter on two field goals and seven in the fourth quarter on an interception return for a touchdown. In 2005, the Redskins didn't throw a single pass after the 3:30 mark in the third quarter, and Clinton Portis didn't get another carry.

On Sunday, the Pats led 38-0 with 11:02 to play in the game and converted a fourth-and-one from the D.C. seven en route to yet another touchdown pass from Tom Brady.

And that's the broader point here. It's not about scoring a lot of points early in the game. It's about when it's appropriate to pull back. For the 1983 Redskins, they apparently pulled back in the entire second half against the Rams. In 2005, the 'Skins coasted for more than a full quarter.

But the Patriots haven't eased up on offense until the final few -- and likely won't. On defense, starters will still on the field in the final minute on Sunday.

The criticism will only embolden Belichick, and it will make him even more determined to win every game by the biggest margin that he can muster. The only risk? Some crazy-ass defensive lineman eventually might decide he's had enough of it, deciding to gladly take the penalty, the fine, and the suspension for taking a free shot at the starting quarterback's knees.