In the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game against the Bills, I was writing the obituary for the 2005 New England Patriots.
But before I could make a few phone calls to check on the availability post-funeral reception hall, the patient came back from the beyond and gained a second life with an inspiring seven minutes of football.
The obituary would have read “due to injuries, a lack of discipline and an inability to make any game-turning plays, the 2005 New England Patriots will be going through the motions on their way to an 8-8 finish.”
Instead, the 21-16 win might be the wake-up call the Patriots need to finally hit their stride. And it couldn’t have come at a better time, with the Colts coming to town next Monday night.
For the first three and a half quarters of the game, the Pats defense showed as much resistance as yellow crime scene tape. The only reason this game wasn’t over by halftime was the ineptness of the Bills, unable to capitalize on a staggering 23 minutes to 7 minutes time-of-possession advantage.
With a timeout still in hand and the clock running down, the Pats uncharacteristically were called for delay of game, negating a successful field goal attempt for a 3-3 tie. I don’t have to tell you what happened on the retry.
A secondary that made Kelly Holcomb look like Joe Montana is another quick way to finish out of the playoff picture. Soft coverage and lack of decent tackling gave the Bills all the chances they could have asked for in the initial 53 minutes of the 60-minute contest.
Yet seconds before I hit the “send” key on this morbid tale, the Patriots of the last few years made an appearance.
It started with a Rosevelt Colvin strip of the ball from Holcom’s hands deep in Buffalo territory that was quickly turned into six points. Points off turnovers, folks. Just like they draw it up.
Mix in a few Tom Brady to Deion Branch bombs and – voila – a 21-16 lead with just a few minutes to play.
Even more refreshing than the offense’s levitation, the defense stopped the ensuing Buffalo drive when it abolutely had to.
Which brings us to #54, kids.
Even though the bar isn’t set that high, one could make the case that Tedy Bruschi was the most effective player on the Patriots defense Sunday night, a remarkable feat given the road he has traveled to this point.
He was always around the ball and plugged many of Buffalo’s running lanes. Remarkably, a post-stroke Bruschi easily outperforms a perfectly healthy Monty Beilsel in the middle of the defense right now. Brushchi is also a calming influence in an otherwise stormy situation. Does he make everyone around him better? Perhaps.
But unless Brushchi suddenly becomes an effective cornerback or strong safety, it won’t make much difference against the Colts. Only the most naive Patriots fan would think that Peyton Manning isn’t going to shred up that secondary.
The only way the Patriots are going to be able to win this game will be to win in a shootout. But that would require four quarters of consistent football from an offense that so far hasn’t demonstrated the ability to do so.
Sorry. It’s the truth.
Perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch to say that the season was saved on Sunday night. It was only week eight for goodness sake. But if the Pats came in off a bye, lost to a crummy Bills team and then dropped to 3-5 after putting up a stinker against the Colts, it would have been too far of a hole for anyone to climb out of; even these Patriots.
At least for now, the reports of the 2005 Patriots demise have been a bit premature.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
