Body Language

(photo from Boston.com)

If we want to read into Tom Brady's body language some more, how about we take a look at the utter look of disbelief he flashed after tossing an ill-advised touchdown pass to Doug Gabriel on Sunday. Brady is just really glad that sometimes, his receivers are smarter than he is. From Yahoo! News:

"Stupidity by me," Brady said.

He wasn't referring to an interception or incompletion. Rather, Brady was discussing a 5-yard pass on the run that found Doug Gabriel open in the end zone with the game already out of reach in the fourth quarter.

"Lucky," Brady said.

But those are our Patriots, not content with just a win so long as there are things to work on. And this is the NFL, there will ALWAYS be things to work on. Rosevelt Colvin sums it up best:

"I feel pretty good right now just because we won the game," said linebacker Rosevelt Colvin. "But I do feel we can get better."

Of course, our Patriots are never going to admit that the other team was largely responsible for the clusterfuck on their side of the field. At least, not while Bill Belichick is steering the ship. But the Bills themselves don't seem to have a problem with it:

"Our performance out there was embarrassing," linebacker London Fletcher said. "It's just not good football. ... It's the same mistakes over and over again."

You can say that again. At one point, during one of the final series of the game - you know, the one where JP Losman attempted to scramble, ran directly into a ref, fumbled and was immediately buried under the entire Patriots secondary - a member of the Bills O-line was actually laughing. Laughing! At how badly they suck! Hilarious for us, not so much for Losman who was, if I'm not mistaken, doing that thing that people do where they pretend to yawn so you don't see them cry. Because there is no way he was actually tired. Unless getting pounced on by the Patriots is boring to him.

Oh, and since he popped right back up like a Whack-a-Mole, can we all agree that Brady running directly into a sack and ending up flat on his back, staring up at the Buffalo sky was actually pretty hilarious? He's fine, he's not hurt and I'm sure he'll look at film and laugh. It's just funny to see your golden boy quarterback run with a full head of steam into an immovable object. I've been saying lately to anyone who will listen (and probably many people that won't), that Tom Brady is deceptively tough. And I really think he is. He's taller than people think (6'4") and by all accounts, is always the first to the weight room and last to leave so it's a reasonable assumption that a high percentage of his 225 lbs is muscle. (And no, I did not know Brady's vitals by heart, I had to look them up. Okay, that's a lie, I knew them by heart. So sue me). He's not going to be winning any footraces anytime soon, but he'll be the first to tell you that. But Brady is no sissy QB. He can take his hits with the best of 'em.

Next week the Pats are showcased in Monday Night Football against Minnesota. The Vikings have been playing well lately. And the Patriots are...the Patriots. Should be a good matchup.

Oh, and one more thing about the football. You knew I wasn't going to ignore the fact that Rodney Harrison was voted the NFL's dirtiest player by his peers. Of course, if I'm not mistaken, the voting was done before this season started. And Harrison missed most of last season. As Junior Seau, Harrison's teammate in San Diego and now New England said on Channel 4 news the other day, "You hate him when he's playing against you. But you love him on your team." I don't think Harrison is particularly dirty. I think he might be overzealous at times and yes, he does not readily take shit from anyone, but as Steve DeOssie pointed out, "What no one will tell you is that you're trying to take the other guy down. You want them carted off the field. You want them gone." To that end, I don't think Harrison takes cheap shots. He hits hard, sure, and I'm certain that he takes pride in that (while the Colts whine to the league and beg to have the rules changed), but Harrison has been hurt himself and knows what it's like to miss serious time. I don't think he's a bad guy. I think he's an excellent football player. And, as my brother's shirt says, "Talk shit, get hit" with a #37 in the background.

Also, apparently Brady got a single vote for dirtiest player as well. "Huh," Brady said in a post game press conference, "I wonder who I pissed off. Must be a Jet or a Dolphin or something. Those guys don't like me too much." Maybe, Tom, but my money's on Matt Cassel.

And speaking of backup QB's, last night in Dallas marked the third time in his career that Drew Bledsoe has been benched in favor of his backup. We all remember what happened when Brady took the field (as they say, the rest is history), but Bledsoe also lost the starting job to JP Losman in Buffalo. The very same JP Losman seen powering through his tears on Sunday. And now, Bledsoe was benched at halftime for Tony Romo. Who's first pass was intercepted. Yikes. As Tony Kornheiser said approximately twelve seconds before Bledsoe was sacked for a safety, "I don't know if you make that play call with a QB who's as immobile as the actually Statue of Liberty." Romo didn't look much better. I think if you're a Dallas fan right now, you can reasonably raise your alert level to "Clusterfuck."

And a single note on baseball: Game 1, no head sock, Tigers lose. Game 2, head sock, Tigers win. Forget about Kenny Rogers Mysterious Substance of Mystery and Wonderment, the key is in the head sock, people.