1943 replies to this topic

[Ed Hillel]

Yup, this happened in New Orleans:

[mascho]

Man, how valuable was Redmond on that final drive? That play where he got out of bounds cannot be emphasized enough.

Also, that final drive included completions to J.R. Redmond, Troy Brown and Jermaine Wiggins, three guys currently out of the NFL. That will be on a Trivia Pursuit card some day.

[BucketOBalls]

Thanks for that. That game has a special place in the hall of memories due to being the first time a Boston team won since the C's back in '86. '04 beats it of course, but it's closer than you might think.
===----

If the Pats win this one, I think they can get the #2 seed, but it would be very difficult without it. (I think they need to beat either this team or Indy. Indy would have been better but oh well).

Unfortunately, it seems like Saints will get many of their injured players back for this game.

[SemperFidelisSox]

"You have to just run the clock out. You have to play for overtime now."

[CWiggum]

Also, that final drive included completions to J.R. Redmond, Troy Brown and Jermaine Wiggins, three guys currently out of the NFL. That will be on a Trivia Pursuit card some day.

Well, the game was almost 8 years ago, so I would venture to say there are a lot of guys on both rosters who are currently out of the league. 8 years is forever in terms of an NFL career.

[BigSoxFan]

Well, the game was almost 8 years ago, so I would venture to say there are a lot of guys on both rosters who are currently out of the league. 8 years is forever in terms of an NFL career.

Yup. It's scary to think that JR Redmond was drafted 1 year AFTER Kevin Faulk. Redmond had talent but never seemed to be able to put it together consistently. He was, however, a pretty underrated player during that 2001 title run, as I believe he had some key plays in the Snow Bowl as well.

[mikeford]

Man, Tebucky Jones got fucking smoked by Proehl

[Ed Hillel]

Man, Tebucky Jones got fucking smoked by Proehl

It was really dumb, too, because Proehl's threatened path was directly out of bounds. What a surprise that he juked back inbounds towards the end zone!

[SoxScout]

Great Rams video above, how about this for goosebumbs: http://www.youtube.c...6ZdVFq0#t=4m47s

[Maalox]

Remember the clock issue, how there supposedly should have been a second or two left on the clock? No one talks about that anymore, but that film shows there was at least an argument for it.

[mikeford]

I mean really, after Proehl makes his cut, Jones goes after him with all the zest of me playing my roommate in Madden and doing the "I'll just let em score and get the ball" video game strategy so rarely deployed in an actual game.

[drleather2001]

Remember the clock issue, how there supposedly should have been a second or two left on the clock? No one talks about that anymore, but that film shows there was at least an argument for it.

I believe people did make an issue of it for a couple of weeks, but then someone finally asked Mike Martz about it and he said something along the lines of "It doesn't matter, our special teams would not have scored a TD" and that defused the situation once and for all.

IIRC, they had pretty poor ST that year.

EDIT: yea, they didn't have a single ST touchdown all year.

Edited by drleather2001, 23 November 2009 - 05:28 PM.

[H78]

I put $20 against the Pats in that game.

What do you want? It seemed like easy money.

[Ed Hillel]

BTW, check out 3:58 into the video for the celebrating midget. That's my favorite part of watching my old VHS highlights.

[gammoseditor]

This will be the 7th game this year the Pats play a team that hasn't lost yet. That has to be a record.

And oh yeah, the Super Bowl was pretty cool.

[kenneycb]

Great Rams video above, how about this for goosebumbs: http://www.youtube.c...6ZdVFq0#t=4m47s

Madden's analysis at the end of this clip was pretty much exactly what the Pats did to a T.

[DegenerateSoxFan]

I put $20 against the Pats in that game.

What do you want? It seemed like easy money.

True story: I was in Vegas earlier that year and was wandering around drunkenly one evening when I found myself in the Caesas sports book. I was seriously considering slapping down a hundy on the Pats to win it all, but they were 7-5 at the time and I just wasn't drunk enough. The odds? 70-1.

Ouch.

[Blue Monkey]

I think the cool thing (out of many) was seeing all the old assistants/coordinators in this video. Weis, Mangini, Crennel on the pats sideline and Smith on the Rams.

[dynomite]

Madden's analysis at the end of this clip was pretty much exactly what the Pats did to a T.

That's exactly what I was thinking. People loved to make fun of him because he was fat and loud and ate turducken but the man won a Super Bowl as a coach because he was a pretty good freaking coach and understood football.

PS anyone else notice how much crowd noise they mic'd during the game? It's FANTASTIC. It only reinforces what a miserable disservice TBS does its audience when it mutes crowd noise during playoff baseball -- yet another brilliant decision by a production team that may never have watched a baseball game before.

PPS anyone else still shocked by how hard our DBs were hitting from start to finish? I'm surprised they didn't knock anyone out during that game.

PPS Rams made a huge mistake by playing prevent for most of that drive, including the pivotal 25 yard pass to Brown. Every time they brought the blitz Brady threw it away. At the very least they should have been rushing 4 -- rushing 3 was stupid.

Edited by dynomite, 24 November 2009 - 11:51 AM.

[Pandemonium67]

Pat Summerall almost fell asleep announcing that. He should've been put out to pasture years earlier.

[TheoShmeo]

Pat Summerall almost fell asleep announcing that. He should've been put out to pasture years earlier.

Then again, had that happened, we would have been deprived of his immediate response to Madden: "Brady's in the shotgun, and he's going to throw it, nothing stupid...."

For some reason, I've always loved that subtle retort.

Edited by TheoShmeo, 24 November 2009 - 12:57 PM.

[Ed Hillel]

Then again, had that happened, we would have been deprived of his immediate response to Madden: "Brady's in the shotgun, and he's going to throw it, nothing stupid...."

For some reason, I've always loved that subtle retort.

I love that line. I also love:

~Where he mistakes Kurt Warner for Marshall Faulk on Ty Law's INT

~Where, on the Tebucky Jones TD that's called back, he thinks a flag was thrown because Jones "may have run out of bounds."

~The replay before Vinatieri's game-winner where they shows Vinatieri split the uprights and he says "well, he pulled that one in pregame..."

~His actual call of the field goal. A simple "it's right down the pipe," maybe a second after impact. The second biggest upset in Superbowl history, and we get that.

He was really on his last legs as an announcer. He probably should have been gone the previous year, but he was still ok when he wasn't being delusional.

Edited by Ed Hillel, 24 November 2009 - 01:11 PM.

[ObstructedView]

I love that line. I also love:

~Where he mistakes Kurt Warner for Marshall Faulk on Ty Law's INT

~Where, on the Tebucky Jones TD that's called back, he thinks a flag was thrown because Jones "may have run out of bounds."

~The replay before Vinatieri's game-winner where they shows Vinatieri split the uprights and he says "well, he pulled that one in pregame..."

~His actual call of the field goal. A simple "it's right down the pipe," maybe a second after impact. The second biggest upset in Superbowl history, and we get that.

He was really on his last legs as an announcer. He probably should have been gone the previous year, but he was still ok when he wasn't being delusional.

I also love that he briefly inserted himself into the storyline by reminiscing about his role in the Colts-Giants game that was referenced on the screen during the final drive.

Aside from the infamous take-a-knee pontification by Madden at the start of the drive, I don't remember hearing/noticing much of what he and Summerall said during the last couple minutes -- including Madden eventually coming around once NE had made it to the 40. Like a lot of people that night, I was in a room filled with what seemed like 100 hammered Pats fans who were going absolutely bonkers. I literally started to black out after the kick went through and complete bedlam erupted.

[Jnai]

I have no idea why, but my favorite image from that entire drive is not the kick or the plays that get them there but when Brady spikes the ball, it bounces back up, and he catches it in one hand reaching forward.

Is there a big picture of that anywhere?

[H78]

This game scares the ever living hell out of me.

Fuck it, I'm a homer.

34-33 Pats!

[H78]

Saw this on a Saints board. It's pretty funny.

Patriots Playbook leaked!!!



http://www.saintsrep...ad.php?t=135051

[cmurphycode]

That's exactly what I was thinking. People loved to make fun of him because he was fat and loud and ate turducken but the man won a Super Bowl as a coach because he was a pretty good freaking coach and understood football.

I don't know about you, but I make fun of John Madden for the exact kind of crap he was spewing in that clip. His points:

Offense:
-Pass to Troy Brown (number 1 receiver with 1199 yards on the year)
-Control the line of scrimmage
-Run the ball some

Defense:
-Confuse Ram's offense
-Throw Kurt Warner out of rhythm
-Get turnovers
-Get points off of turnovers



Come on. That's insightful?

[Blue Monkey]

I don't know about you, but I make fun of John Madden for the exact kind of crap he was spewing in that clip. His points:

Offense:
-Pass to Troy Brown (number 1 receiver with 1199 yards on the year)
-Control the line of scrimmage
-Run the ball some

Defense:
-Confuse Ram's offense
-Throw Kurt Warner out of rhythm
-Get turnovers
-Get points off of turnovers



Come on. That's insightful?

Haha I love this stuff too. So the team that scores the most points usually wins the game?!? Awesome. Whenever my friends make a retardedly obvious comment I follow it up with a "Thanks John Madden".

[dynomite]

-Get turnovers
-Get points off of turnovers

Come on. That's insightful?

Let me first point out that alls I said was that the guy won a Super Bowl because he understood football -- nothing about his great "insights."

But I'll play: I think those two points above are more to say than a bland "They need to stop Marshall Faulk and stop Kurt Warner" -- what I would expect Joe Buck to say before a similar game.

Madden's going even further -- he's saying the only chance the Patriots have is to score points off turnovers and special teams. That's more nuanced (and a more forceful statement) than you're giving him credit for.

Just for hell I picked another clip (#8, right after the Proehl fumble) at random and listened for a bit:

-- Troy Brown picks up 15 yards on a screen pass and Madden points out that "the same things that make Troy Brown a great punt returner make him a great screen runner. He gets the ball and BOOM his first step is upfield"

Yeah, so he says BOOM like he's about to talk about Tough Actin' Tinactin. Big deal.

I think that's a good analogy to make -- Troy was never the fastest guy, but his acceleration was incredible.

-- Later in the clip, Madden explains that Brady threw David Patten's way because he had single coverage against Dexter McCleon, who had given up a touchdown in the same situation against the Eagles the week before. (Indeed, 2 plays later Brady's going to hit Patten for a touchdown when he's once again drawing single coverage against McCleon, who stands there and watches the play with mild interest)

-- On the Kevin Faulk end around he notices that Grant Williams (who?) blocked two people in real-time, such that when the replay is being shown he's already saying out loud "Look at Grant Williams he's going to block 2 people here"

None of this is earth shattering in isolation. Nor was John Madden the best in-game analyst of our generation. I just think that because of who he was people stopped really listening to what he was saying, just waiting for him to say something laughable instead of appreciating the many things he did well.

Edited by dynomite, 24 November 2009 - 11:13 PM.

[cmurphycode]

I don't think we disagree very much. Joe Buck is clearly worse!

I see your point in that the Madden caricature was taken too far out of convenience. I think it's entirely reasonable to believe that Madden knows exactly what he's talking about, and just has to dumb it down until he says "you have to control the line of scrimmage" because of who he's addressing.

I think that if Madden were a young man now, he could explain some great stuff with his own NFL network show and one of those fancy video replay systems.

[KenTremendous]

I never liked Madden that much before this game, but he completely won me over. It is absolutely inconceivable that an analyst would admit to being wrong like one minute after saying something during the Super Bowl, but he did it, and it forever earned my respect. If I recall, he went further the next day, reiterating that he had been 100% wrong in his analysis about what the Pats should do in that situation. The guy's a goober a lot of the time, but I thought he showed some refreshingly human qualities calling that Super Bowl.

[Andrew]

I know he doesn't do football, but Christ, can you get worse analysis than McCarver's KEYS TO WINNING THE GAME

"If CC Sabathia starts game 1 of the World Series, the Yankees will know that they have won tonight."

The strategy the Yankees must follow in order to win this game... is to peer into the future and know if Sabathia is going to start in the World Series?

It doesn't make sense on so many levels, the first of which is IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WINNING THIS GAME.

The guy drives me crazy.

Edited by Andrew, 25 November 2009 - 12:09 AM.

[KenTremendous]

I know he doesn't do football, but Christ, can you get worse analysis than McCarver's KEYS TO WINNING THE GAME

Built Ford Tough Keys to the Game, 2007 World Series, Game Four:

Red Sox: Try To Wrap-Up Lopsided Series
Rockies: Desperate Times, Simply Win Tonight

Built Ford Tough Keys to the Game, 2007 ALCS, Game 5:

RED SOX: WIN OR SEE YOU IN FORT MYERS
INDIANS: FINISH THE JOB... NO TRIP BACK TO BOSTON

They are never, ever, ever good.

Personally, I think the keys to Sundays game are:

1. Slow Down Drew Brees, Slow Down the Saints Offense
2. Get Brady Going Early
3. Defense Needs to Make Plays
4. Touchdowns, not Field Goals
5. Penalties = Bad
6. Clock Management
7. Remember to Wear All Sneakers and Related Uniform Gear, For Safety

[Over Guapo Grande]

Built Ford Tough Keys to the Game, 2007 World Series, Game Four:

Red Sox: Try To Wrap-Up Lopsided Series
Rockies: Desperate Times, Simply Win Tonight

Built Ford Tough Keys to the Game, 2007 ALCS, Game 5:

RED SOX: WIN OR SEE YOU IN FORT MYERS
INDIANS: FINISH THE JOB... NO TRIP BACK TO BOSTON

They are never, ever, ever good.

Personally, I think the keys to Sundays game are:

1. Slow Down Drew Brees, Slow Down the Saints Offense
2. Get Brady Going Early
3. Defense Needs to Make Plays
4. Touchdowns, not Field Goals
5. Penalties = Bad
6. Clock Management
7. Remember to Wear All Sneakers and Related Uniform Gear, For Safety

8. Remember that the game is on Monday

[KenTremendous]

8. Remember that the game is on Monday

That's not that important, I don't think.

[mt8thsw9th]

Saw this on a Saints board. It's pretty funny.

Not really.

Moss in anguish and Welker dropping passes! Just like the real thing! ROFL ROFL

[CaptainLaddie]

Not really.

Moss in anguish and Welker dropping passes! Just like the real thing! ROFL ROFL

I thought it was pretty funny.

[mt8thsw9th]

I thought it was pretty funny.

Something just annoys me about taking two of the best receivers in the league and using the worst pictures possible. Petty, I know. Annoyance typically doesn't lend itself to finding something (that may be fundamentally humorous) very funny. I mean, Family Guy might be a funny show (I don't know) but I won't watch it because of a talking baby and dog. The nuances get to me. *sees shrink*

Edited by mt8thsw9th, 25 November 2009 - 12:54 PM.

[Andrew]

Built Ford Tough Keys to the Game, 2007 World Series, Game Four:

Red Sox: Try To Wrap-Up Lopsided Series
Rockies: Desperate Times, Simply Win Tonight

Built Ford Tough Keys to the Game, 2007 ALCS, Game 5:

RED SOX: WIN OR SEE YOU IN FORT MYERS
INDIANS: FINISH THE JOB... NO TRIP BACK TO BOSTON

They are never, ever, ever good.

There might be some sort of Zen-like attitude in having your strategy to win the game be... winning the game. So simple. So true.

[SoxFanInPdx]

My father has been a Rams fan for as long as anyone remembers, but that Superbowl was amazing. Constant trash talking for 2 weeks leading up to that game via phone due to him living out west at the time. I went to a Super Bowl party in Brookline and was absolutely hammered along with a room full of Pats fans.

When Vinatieri's kick was good I swear I could hear my dad yelling from 2,000 miles away. I still talk trash about that game to this day, but all in fun of course. Honestly, I was scared to death about that matchup. That said, I am expecting this team to win a close one.

NE: 31
NO: 27

[H78]

I know this doesn't matter, but it's fun to bring up:

People on saintsreport.com are predicting the Saints are going to absolutely blow out the Patriots. I'm seeing scores like 42-17, 48-27, 43-27...you get the picture.

These Saints fans have no idea what they are about to have roll into town. You can tell that the extent they know about the Patriots is limited is what they've seen in highlights and seen in national games here and there.

They may win, but I think they're letting their record get to their heads a little bit. They forget they've had an extremely soft schedule so far, while the Patriots have had the exact opposite.

I would be shocked if the Patriots go into that dome and put up anything less than 31 points.

Well, I can't wait for Monday!

Edited by H78, 25 November 2009 - 10:36 PM.

[Ed Hillel]

The Patriots are going to make Katrina look like a spring shower.

There I said it.

[CWiggum]

I still have supreme confidence in the Pats when it comes to these types of games. That said, in order for that to continue, I kind of need them to buck up and win one of these close ones against a good team.

Should be a great game.

[axx]

The Patriots are going to make Katrina look like a spring shower.

There I said it.

Yeah, but are the Pats going to play 60 minutes this time? I wonder what the O/U on points scored by the Saints in the 4th quarter is.

[Pudge's Maul]

I want blood. I want the Patriots of old to make a guest appearance this week. I want the defense that traumatized receivers and smashed Kurt Warner's face. I want Drew Brees to look up from the center with blood running from his mouth. Bury this high powered offense in the traditon of Willie McGinest, Ty Law, and Lawyer Milloy.

I want the Pats to come out and run the football down their goddamn throats. I want Angry Brady and I want blood.

[estreetfan]

Is it Monday yet? I can't wait for this game. Let's go Pats!

[Titoschew]

The Patriots are going to make Katrina look like a spring shower.

There I said it.

Pretty sure this one will get blamed on G.W. Bush, too.

[Ed Hillel]

I want blood. I want the Patriots of old to make a guest appearance this week. I want the defense that traumatized receivers and smashed Kurt Warner's face. I want Drew Brees to look up from the center with blood running from his mouth. Bury this high powered offense in the traditon of Willie McGinest, Ty Law, and Lawyer Milloy.

Unfortunately, that NFL is dead. The Patriots success and Brady's freak injury have helped lead to the castration of the league. Whenever I re-watch Suberbowl 36, I can't help but notice how different the rules were back then. Mike Vrabel would probably be kicked out of the NFL if he hit a QB in the fact like he did Warner on that Law interceptions. Same with McGinest and Hamilton (I think) for sandwiching Warner (which ended up as the cover of SI, IIRC) after he let go of the ball. Yet, at the time, everyone thought it was awesome. The best part is when they show McGinest dry humping Faulk on the overturned fumble return and Summeral is like "so what did he do wrong?" Granted, his sanity was in quesiton at the time, but I think the point is that that kind of stuff wasn't close to as big a deal as it's made out to be now. It's football, players are going to get hit. Regarding illegal contact, I'd rather the league just have brought in some tougher wide receivers, but I guess that doesn't sell.

Edited by Ed Hillel, 27 November 2009 - 04:05 PM.

[Sille Skrub]

The Patriots are going to make Katrina look like a spring shower.

Awesome.

[Andrew]

Pretty sure this one will get blamed on G.W. Bush, too.

There's just no off switch for you people.