The Pats are back

The Pats are back

What a great game. Last night the New England Patriots dismantled the Minnesota Vikings. It’s funny how Bill Belichick completely flusters the experts. Everyone said, going into this game, that the Patriots would be pounding the ball up the middle using their two-pronged attack of Corey Dillon and Laurence Maroney. But the Vikings have a great run defense and the Pats would be pitting strength against strength. That’s not how Belichick does it.

Instead the Pats came in, spread the receivers out four and five wide and picked apart the zone defense. Granted, the Vikings just collapsed on themselves. QB Brad Johnson lost his head several times, trying to force the ball in while under pressure, rather than throw it away, and ended up with several interceptions. And yes, there were two really bad calls by officials, ruling a catch and fumble as no catch (and then completely flubbing the coach’s challenge as well) and then ruling a later touch by a Vikings defensive back as illegal contact when it clearly wasn’t.

But despite the lucky breaks, the Vikings were clearly outmatched. They were quickly thrown back on their heels, threw out their game plan, and the Patriots hammered them the whole night. If it wasn’t for Mewelde Moore’s punt return for a touchdown, it would have been a completely fruitless night. The low point had to be Brooks Bollinger coming in for Brad Johnson, after Johnson threw his third interception, and getting sacked in three consecutive plays, two by Pats backup player Tully Banta-Cain, who almost got the third one as well.

Looking ahead

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