I stopped shaking about one o'clock in the morning, when the effects of yesterday's game wore off. Not because Gang Green won it, but the way that they did it. As readers know, I've been typing all season about how this team just can't put away opponents early and put games out of reach.
In every game but one so far, they've left the door open enough to allow their rivals back in at the last minute. And yesterday was no exception. Because there's nobody better at scoring fast against an end-of-game flex defense than Tom Brady, and he had enough time left to do it again -but this time, the solid Jet defense held him off.
And speaking of Brady, I swore to a friend from New England a few weeks ago that I'd never repeat this, but I admitted that Brady was someone I actually liked. That's the first time I've ever said that about any Pat player while they were still with the team. But the reason I did it is because Brady seems like a regular guy, doesn't get into trouble off the field, acts professionally all the time and as any Jet fan can tell you, has incredible skill and talent. He's eaten their lunch many times over. So, with so many other guys in the NFL being total bozo's and morons, he stands out in my mind as a class act.
Now, having typed all the above as background, before yesterday's game began I was thinking that it was going to be odd watching someone I have some respect for play against a Jet team. And then, during the first Pat play from scrimmage, some kind of switch got tripped in my mind and the real truth came out. Because that's when I realized that no matter what I'd said to my friend, or what I might have thought I thought about Brady, once the game finally started I realized without doubt...I actually hate him right down to his cleats.
Once my Brady delusion was over, I spent the rest of the game talking back to my TV screen like I usually do, urging the Jet defense to put the guy in traction, maim him or just do whatever it takes to get him off the field.
As far as the game itself went, except for the tension at the end, I thought it was a pretty good one and very much like what I expected. I was a little surprised during the third quarter though, because that's when my wife returned from her store. She glanced at the screen saw the score and told me she was amazed, because she said it seemed that every expert, pundit and predictor said the Pats were going to evaporate the Jets who didn't have a prayer. And that's when I gave her my standard reply that I've been using for forty years -if any of them actually knew what was going to happen in the future at all, they wouldn't be babbling away on the air...they'd be at the track.
As for me, I didn't have the sound on for the game, and haven't tuned in a sports show since the first time I heard Howard Cosell many, many years ago. He, fortunately, convinced me that hangers-on, leeches, motor-mouths and even retread former players aren't worth listening to, and are so boring that I never turn them on. And that's why I didn't know that the Jets were underdogs.
So, if nothing else, I guess I have to assume that the Jets don't listen to "experts" either. They just go out and win football games.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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