I love the Natick hoodie. This might have been Doug Flutie's final game of his career and the sweatshirt is a nice tribute to the Natick native. Allowing Flutie to drop kick an extra point was an even better tribute. It also demonstrated how seriously the Patriots took this game, which wasn't very much at all. It was the first succesful drop-kick in the NFL since 1941. This was a scrimmage for the Patriots. Nothing more. And we still almost came out a winner. The funniest part of the game is probably the celebrating and trash talking Miami Dolphins players, who will go back to Florida to WATCH football while the Patriots remain in Foxborough to PLAY football.
Oh, and Jason Taylor roughing Matt Cassel with 10 seconds left in the 4th showed how classless, pathetic, and lowly the Miami Dolphins really are. What are you trying to prove, Jason?
Cassel started off and looked, well, like a rookie and a 2nd stringer. But he settled down nicely and we nearly came back to tie the game. If it weren't for that safety, we might have won it. Cassel threw a pair of TD passes against Miami's 1st stringers. What I think might be very telling of the young USC grad is that he was pissed after the Pats failed to convert the 2 pointer at the end.
I kind of feel bad for Cassel. He goes to USC and has to play behind Carson Palmer, 2002's Heisman winner, and then Matt Leinart, 2004's Heisman winner, and then Tom Brady, a 2 time Super Bowl MVP. He has still stuck with it and he still looks very skilled and very motivated. I think we've got a really good backup QB in Matt Cassel.
This is just a funny picture:
Another laughable aspect of this game was the way the announcers were praising the Dolphins when they were struggling to finish drives against the Patriots' Junior Varsity team. We had Klecko, Banta-Cain, Izzo, Chatham, Mike Wright, and Chad Brown in the game. The strength of this defense has been the front 7 and the only regular in the front 7 that played regularly was Ty Warren.
So, the Patriots will host the Jaguars on either Saturday or Sunday. Had they beaten Miami, they would have hosted the Steelers. I think it is a wash either way. Both teams have their exploitable flaws and both teams have their fearsome strengths. A big advantage we will have over Jacksonville is experience in the cold weather. Saturday the forecast calls for 33 degrees and snow. Sunday is supposed to be partly cloudy and 32 degrees. I'll write more on the playoff game in the following days.
In summary, our JV team lost by a 2 point conversion to an NFL team. Had we tried our hardest and played our best players, we probably would have won. But we got some good reps for people that, God forbid, might have to see time in the playoffs. We also got a week of half rest for some banged up and tired starters who haven't had a bye in 10 weeks.
Who said Bellichick doesn't smile?
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