what a wild & crazy ride

and it doesn't look like it's letting up now, as the Patriots lurch into some post season play. i will admit that part of me is surprised that they've even made it this far at all, between the receiver issues this season & the uncharacteristically sloppy play & the Boston plague of injuries (which is apparently not specific to only the Red Sox). not to mention the second half run by the Bills & Jets, when i started having flashbacks on the AL East standings at the end of baseball season.

i didn't watch a single snap on Sunday, being caught up in Christmas Eve preparations & celebrations. i also had some serious doubts about the Patriots coming up against the Jaguars, who effectively squashed the Colts in Week 14. i got even *more* discouraged, when i was listening to the scores on Monday & i heard that almost all the away teams won on Sunday. (for some strange reason, i was initially thinking they were playing in Foxboro.) somehow though, in true Patriot fashion, they pulled off a win & clinched the division. i have the game DVR'd (since they were televising it locally but i wasn't in Florida for Christmas) & i wasn't sure i was going to watch it, but now i think i will, just because all accounts of this game were that it was a real nail biter. (and what better nail biter to watch than one you know ends well, right?) so now it matters less (only to playoff seeding, really) how New England does this week against Tennessee, but i think it would be cool if the Patriots could have wins against 3 of the 4 teams that beat the Colts this year. (for those of you not retaining such useful information, the Colts lost to the Jaguars, Titans & Texans, and the Patriots won their match-ups against the Texans two weeks ago & the Jaguars this past week; they face the Titans on Sunday to close out their regular season. the Colts also lost to Dallas, but the Patriots weren't scheduled to meet the Cowboys this season.) that would *almost* make me feel vindicated for falling to Older Doofus Spawn & his overrated "unbeatable" team, that is, interestingly, going into the final week of the season with the exact same 11-4 record as my New England Patriots! =P

we won't even talk about the panic i am feeling about the playoffs (please don't make us play the Broncos again in the post season), although i will admit that this snippet from an NFL.com article helped a tiny bit:
FIVE REASONS WHY …
…the New England Patriots will advance past the first round of the playoffs:
•Bill Belichick's coaching.
•Tom Brady returning to his consistently efficient form as he continues to jell with his receivers.
•Laurence Maroney and Corey Dillon combining for a solid running game.
•A defense that can rise to the occasion and force mistakes by even the most experienced quarterbacks, not to mention some of the younger ones who could end up in the playoffs.
•The overall experience and savvy of a team familiar with postseason pressure.

i had such a wonderful Christmas that i really don't mind not having watched any football this past weekend (shhh... don't tell anyone, but i actually didn't even think of it until *Monday* & then only because someone put it on the tv!) -- other than i would have loved to see this dejected pair slinking back into the locker room after the 5-10 Texans took out their frustrations of last week's 40-7 loss that they sustained at the hands of the Patriots.


and by some bizarre twist of fate (and a seriously pathetic NFC), the Packers managed to squeak out a win on Thursday night to remain alive in the wild card race, even if their pulse is weakening. crazy that not one, but *five* 7-8 NFC teams are vying for that sixth seeding. the Packers *must* win & then the following scenarios could bring them a playoff berth: a NY Giants win with Green Bay clinching the strength-of-victory tiebreaker over the Giants; a NYG loss & a Carolina win; a NYG loss & an Atlanta win; or losses by both the Giants & the St Louis Rams. ::crosses fingers... and toes, for good measure::


should anyone be looking for me, i will be over here, breathing slowly into a paper bag for a while...