Saw*Kick Media

I hate Bill Belichick for obvious reasons. I hate Tom Brady’s smug demeanor. I hate that Randy Moss can pick and choose when to honor his contractual obligations to play football. I even hate that Mike Vrabel, born and raised in my hometown, seems to be more prone to trip a quarterback than sack him.

But when I put all that hatred aside – well, I can’t put it all aside of course – and look at the body of work the Patriots have lain out I have to make an admission: They are OK at the game of football. Not great, not terrible, just OK.

Yesterday, as may or may not have been reported on ESPN, the Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers to go to 18-0 on the season. The win pushed them past the 1972 Dolphins for the most wins in an undefeated season and sent them to the Super Bowl.

Naturally, the two-weeks that span from now until kickoff of that game will be filled with Patriot superlatives. You will hear that they have the best of the following in history: coach, quarterback, offense, receiver, offensive line, defensive mindset, overall mindset, schemes, haircuts, waistlines, accounts receivable department.

Now hype, which is what the next 14 days will be centered around because, again, there will be NO football game for 336 hours and even ESPN doesn’t have that much poker to show, is something you can choose to believe in or take a pass on.

Me, I choose to pass. Instead, I’d like to look at the facts: This Patriots team is 18-0 after fighting their way through a fairly tough AFC playoff bracket. To their favor, they beat a bruising Jaguars team and then knocked off a Chargers team that was mostly LDT-free and seemingly uninterested in that painted rectangle at both ends of the field.

To their disservice, they didn’t have to play the Colts, the team most likely to give them a real game, and they played at home – though that’s a credit to their regular season record.

So what do their two playoff wins mean? They’re OK. They can win at home against decent competition, particularly when that competition doesn’t really enjoy scoring touchdowns. But, lest we forget, Jacksonville was just one Dennis Northcutt away from changing the course of Patriots playoff history. Still, the Jaguars had Dennis Northcutt on their team, so they could expect to come a Dennis Northcutt short of a win.

But before we break out the superlatives let’s remember one thing: Teams have had the formula to beat the Patriots in place. Despite Phil Simms belief that the Patriots run 12-15 different offenses, Jacksonville and the New York Giants have both had the right gameplan to beat the Pats in the last month. Again, credit goes to the Patriots for foiling those gameplans with their superior talent. Still, the Patriots have remained just better than their competition for the last quarter of the season.

Now all the Patriot fans out there will say the following: ‘Hey, I’m a douchey douche bag who loves two teams that have bought or are currently trying to buy a championship and I also enjoy a team full of pricks that play dirty. Beyond that, I also think that winning is winning.’

And to that I say, you’re right, winning is winning. But greatness doesn’t just come from winning it comes from doing it in a special fashion. Watching the Giants and the Jags melt down in the final quarter of their games against the Pats doesn’t inspire me to believe this team is the best ever, it inspires me to think they are a good team that can hang on and win games when their opponents fold under the pressure of beating the highly-hyped Super Patriots.

So as we head into the Super Bowl, which is pretty much a gimme for the Pats at this point, I want you to think as you hear the hype: Is this really the best team ever or is this an OK team that is playing well when everyone else has wilted before them?

MoneyMike’s Green with Irony Watch: The Green with Irony Watch and all the other little things that you usually don’t read will be suspended until further notice. As I work on my graduate school thesis project, I nary have time to watch the Cavs, let alone dig up random things for you to read. If you want more to my column over the next few weeks let me know and I can start publishing portions of my thesis. That should interest you.

Next week: In honor of the unnecessary hype surrounding the Super Bowl, I will select my annual NFL All-Hype team.

-MoneyMike is S*KM’s biggest Patriots fan and he sincerely hopes that the whole team doesn’t catch small pox before the Super Bowl.

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