16-0 is meaningless if you lose in the first round of the playoffs

all right. that is enough.

two sloppy games in a row. i know they still managed to win, but i hope like hell that's out of their system now. i know every good team will suffer through a period when they struggle, and that the fans have been very spoiled by the string of high-scoring victories. the Patriots were lucky to come out of both those games without a loss.

very lucky.

i can't be sure, but i think i stopped breathing for about a half hour as the Patriots (finally!) put together a scoring drive. and my heart may have stopped too, when Kyle Boller threw that bomb down the field & it got caught just outside the endzone. the longest second of my life was waiting for that clock to click to zeros.

they looked *bad* though. the offensive line seems to have forgotten how to protect Brady. the receivers are suddenly bouncing balls off their chests. the defense is watching the opponent basically walk past them for first down after first down. but in the end, it was the Ravens who lost the game, not the Patriots winning it. (and not the refs "stealing" the game either.) how do you blame the referees for penalizing a player for having a tantrum unsportsmanlike conduct by throwing the penalty flag into the stands. "almost beaten" or "barely squeaked out a win" or whatever you want to call it, the Patriots still managed to pull that win off after playing for the whole sixty minutes -- although i don't know that the first 52 minutes could really be counted as *playing*. whether or not the Patriots got "breaks" though is irrelevant, because isn't it the other team's job to make sure they don't? you don't give up penalty yards on fourth downs that allow for a second attempt. you don't allow multiple fourth-down conversions. oh & when your coaching staff calls a time out? that's no one's doing but their own. the Patriots & the refs are not responsible for that.

so. as it stands, New England remains undefeated. and apparently, also with a run-defense that does not appear for the first three-and-a-half quarters of the game. it was nice that they finally stopped the run with eight minutes remaining in the game. ::rolls eyes::

all i know is that the Patriots better start playing again like they mean it. exciting though it is to watch them on their mission for perfection, it would really stink if they start trending in this direction with only four games left that won't result in sudden-death elimination... plus, i don't think it's healthy for me to stop breathing.