Random Thoughts – October 28th
The Rams Take Their Turn Acting Like Babies
Pro Football Talk: Looking at the box score from Sunday’s Rams-Patriots game, one stat sticks out: The Rams got nine penalties for 63 yards, while the Patriots got zero penalties for zero yards. The Rams have a problem with that.
Rams coach Jim Haslett said Monday that the Rams will send a tape to the league office containing several calls that he thinks the officials missed. Those include three different times when he thinks the Patriots should have gotten a personal foul (a facemask on quarterback Marc Bulger, a late hit on Bulger and a late hit on cornerback Fakhir Brown on an interception return), as well as a punt out of bounds that Haslett thinks was badly spotted.
“We did commit some penalties,” Haslett said, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I thought there should have been some calls on the other side."...Said Rams guard Richie Incognito, “Never ever, ever, ever played a perfect team before. That’s all I am going to say on that one.”
First of all sorry it took so long for us to address this latest Patriot transgression. Pres had is his paper route yesterday and I have a job. But it's safe to say this was the #1 story emailed to us this week.
Anyway, about eight or so years ago, back when Boston was "Loserville," all I ever wanted was to see a local team win another championship before I died. Obviously I've gotten my wish a half dozen times over and undoubtedly more are on the way. So now I've got another wish. One that I'm afraid I probably won't ever see come true. Once... just once... just one goddamned time before I shuffle off this mortal coil and go to my great reward, I'd like to see the Patriots beat someone and have the losing coach, players, front office and fans say "We got beat by a better team. The Patriots are real good football team. They're well coached. We gave them everything we had, but they stepped up and made the plays when it counted and our hats are off to them. Congratulations."
It's not unheard of. It goes on all the time in sports. Without looking up the exact quote, that's more or less what Terry Francona said about the Rays after Game 7. Why is no one in the NFL capable of the same? The Rams got beat by a team minus the best QB ever, their starting RB, their No 2 and No. 3 RBs, their Hall of Fame Safety and with the rest of their secondary dropping like the troops at Antietam. But don't give the Pats credit. Nooooo... They only won because the fix was in. It had nothing to do with the fact that when you're playing proper technique there's no need to commit penalties. It's because Bill Belichick gives Roger Goodell a case of the warm fuzzies that the commissioner had the refs put the whistle away. Like Quintas tells Maximus before the opening battle in Gladiator, "A people should know when they are conquered."