I Hate Being Right All The Goddamn Time

My Patriots (note the "my") got their asses handed to them tonight by a team that's a legitimate contender for an NFL title. They play together, they have an extremely tough defense, they have weapons on offense and a quarterback that's been there and done that. They also are sick of getting beaten by the Patriots all the time in big games so they were supremely motivated to win this game. The Patriots were picked by a surprising amount of football analysts to win this game. I knew that it wasn't gonna happen but I could hope that I'd be wrong.

In the end, the Patriots defense couldn't get off the field and stop the Steelers. When they had the ball they couldn't get the big play or get a touchdown in the Red Zone (sound familiar?), meanwhile every time their opponent gets in the Red Zone they come away with a score (33 straight times at last count, I think). If you can't consistently stop anyone on defense and you can't score touchdowns inside the 20 instead of settling for field goals and you're team is loaded with backups and free agent band aids due to key injuries then you're not going to win regularly.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won 33 to 10 in Gillette Stadium (makes it 10x worse) and the Patriots were dominated on both ends of the field. They committed 5 turnovers and the Steelers had posession of the ball for 10 mintes more than they did on offense. Don't forget about the drops, the sacks and the missed field goal. Fuck!

I KNOW football, and I repeat: I know when I'm looking at a team with a legitimate chance to win an NFL championship (2001-02 Patriots) versus when I'm just seeing a mediocre team overachieving (2007-08 Patriots). The Patriots will be the latter provided they get back to winning due to the facts they've lost 2 of their last 3 games and the road to the playoffs is now completely covered in snow. Damn, I hate being right sometimes!

One.