2008 Patriots wrap-up
As I feared, long before my trans-Pacific flight landed at SFO, the 2008 Patriots season had ended. Having avoided any NFL news for nearly two weeks (which isn't that hard when your in-laws don't have Internet, and the country you're in doesn't know what American football IS), I came home and flipped on the TiVo'd Pats-Cards game. As soon as I saw the 6 inches of snow on the ground, I felt pretty good. And after each team finished their opening drives, I could tell the Pats had the game won. Truth be told, I spent the rest of the 47-7 ass whupping watching the Dolphins-Chiefs score in the top right corner.
Since I hadn't been able to tape the final game of the season, I merely took a deep breath, booted up the laptop, and prepared for the worst. And indeed, the Patriots players had already packed up their bags and gone home for the offseason. In some sense, this was actually somewhat comforting. Though I no doubt missed a tense and exciting Pats victory against Buffalo, I was spared 3 torturous hours of having to root for the Jets to beat Miami (which obviously didn't happen). I really don't think I could have handled sitting in front of my TV dealing with those conflicted feelings of being a Jets cheerleader and knowing that they probably didn't have enough to beat Pennington and the Dolphins.
I do, however, feel a little bit cheated by missing out on the subsequent Mangini firing and Jets' public infighting. Though never really disliking Mangini that much (despite his Spygate whistle-blowing antics), I've always thought his head coaching career was a little odd. In my mind, it kinda went like this:
-Jan 2006: After his first year as Patriots' defensive coordinator, in which the Patriots fielded one of their most porous defenses of the decade, Mangini comes out of nowhere to land the Jets head coaching job. Prevailing theory is that he is a rising star in the Belichick ranks and it would be smart for a team to hire him too early than too late.
-Nov 2006: Jets beat the Patriots in Foxborough on their way to a 10-6 wild card berth. Whispers of the nickname "Man-genius" start to swirl amongst NY sportswriters.
-Sept 2007: Mangini exposes New England's videotaping violations, but does not trouble the Patriots for the rest of the season. "Man-genius" nickname disappears from the sports vernacular.
-Oct 2008: Jets lose in OT to the hapless Raiders. Fans question Mangini's decision-making.
-Nov 2008: Jets jump on top of the Patriots early, but nearly blow the lead. Overtime victory gives the Jets control of the AFC East. Jets then topple the undefeated Titans the following week to improve to 8-3. Talk of a Giants-Jets Super Bowl begins.
-Dec 2008: Jets finish 9-7 and fire Mangini.
Weird. But oddly satisfying for a Pats fan like myself. But where was I?
Ah yes....the end of the season. So not only do the Patriots become the first team in the modern playoff format to get 11 wins AND miss the playoffs, but Tom Curran reports that Tom Brady's knee may need more work and he might possibly miss NEXT year too. Fan-fuckin-tastic. (The Wacky Chinawife had a similiar reaction to THIS bit of news.)
But after a good night's sleep, I've come to reflect positively on the 2008 season. When Brady went down, I readjusted my expectations for this team to be "if they make the playoffs, the season is a success." At the time I thought 11 wins would be enough to be successful. Looking back, just because it wasn't enough doesn't mean it wasn't successful. Fans of this team had a lot to be thankful for. Consider:
-We got to watch Matt Cassel grow quickly from a bumbling jittery backup to a legitimate NFL starting QB. Every week, you could see him getting just a little bit better, until eventually the Pats offense was dangerous again. By all accounts, he's a pretty decent guy, and he always stayed humble and seemingly grateful for his opportunity to play. As far as QBs drafted from USC go, it could have been a lot worse.
-We got to appreciate Bill Belichick and why he is the best coach in the NFL. Once again, the Pats were hit by injuries, and once again he had the young guys ready to step up and play. Cassel is the obvious example here, but unknowns Brandon Meriweather, Pierre Woods, Gary Guyton, Wesley Britt, and Lewis Sanders all filled in without being horribly exposed. He managed the Brady-to-Cassel transition perfectly, and not a single player publicly complained or vented his frustration to the media. Last year, he kept his team grounded when they were flying high, and this year he kept them focused when they were riding low. Though he had some on-field brain farts this year, he proved (again) that when it comes to leading his team, he is virtually unmatched.
-Unlike 2007, there was some more nuance to the playcalling this year. This year, the plays were less about brute force dominance than they were about deception, misdirection, and timing. Add Cassel's scrambling ability, and we got to see some stuff we haven't seen before (like a QB draw!).
-We also got to see a glimpse of the young guys like Meriweather and Mayo, both of which seem to be solid players to build around. Pats fans have always known that Bruschi and Harrison couldn't play forever, and as both players edge closer to retirement, their successors appear to be in place. Now we just need a young pass rusher....
-And finally, we really got to appreciate Wes Welker. Though he had similar numbers as he did in 2007, where he was overshadowed by Randy Moss, we all got to see how talented, reliable, and TOUGH this guy is. Though Moss has the spectacular one-handed catches 40 yards downfield, it's more impressive to me when Welker plucks a pass rifled to him at full speed from 15 yards, while sprinting between three defenders, then watching him pop up from the ground after getting hammered by a guy who outweighs him by nearly 100 pounds. I want to be just like him when I grow up.
When it comes down to it, there's not much difference between getting 11 wins and missing the playoffs versus getting 12 wins and losing in the first round to Baltimore. So all in all, I've got no complaints about the season.
(Well except for the shoddy tackling in the secondary....the lack of turnovers....Moss' suddenly shaky hands...Ben Watson's clumsiness...Dolphins in the playoffs...)
