New England gets down and dirty to win AFC championship

New York Daily News ^ | 1/21/08 | Filip Bondy

[BigJohn44]

FOXBOROUGH - If you want to hate the Patriots - and who doesn't? - then here was yet another reason to gnash your teeth and curse the scoreboard. The Pats won ugly Sunday, and maybe a little dirty. They put up the winning points in the AFC Championship Game during the second quarter, the turning point of the game, on a defensive play that looked very much like an illegal leg whip by outside linebacker Mike Vrabel.

[tupac]

I saw the play and maybe I don’t understand what a leg whip is but it looked like Vrabel hit Rivers with his arm. Arm whip?

[Dog Gone]

Committing a penalty is not "cheating". At worst, it's an infraction that's not seen or called.

It's part of the game, and one should not excessively dwell on it unless one would like to be known as a sore loserhead.

[srmorton]

21-12 is not THAT close. It was 14-12 at the half. Brady was definitely having an “off” day. If Philip Rivers had been 100%, the outcome might have been very different. I know the Pats defense limited the Chargers to 4 FGs, but had they gotten 4TDs, the score would’ve been 28-21 in favor of the Chargers. I am a Dallas fan, so my team was out of it yesterday, but I am also a big Philip Rivers fan after watching him play at NC State for four years. He’s a great QB and will be in the Super Bowl one day!

[factmart]

You mean SORELOSERMAN.

[Lakeshark]

This may well be the dumbest sports article ever posted, and that's hard to believe cause there are a lot of dumb sportswriters that say a lot of dumb things.

And I hate to say it, but you really sound like you need personal professional help............soon..........

[Dick Vomer]

What Bellichick did as far as secretly recording the opposing teams signals is clearly illegal and unconscionable.

puhleeze..... well when Santa and the Easter Bunny get together with the Tooth Fairy they all sit around and talk about how the ONLY team in the NFL to tape and try to steal signals are the Patriots.

How many coaches and GM's were out yelling about Bellechick's taping incident..... er.... one.

You wonder why? I don't. Think about it. Every team tries to steal signals, that's why they have dummy audibles and usually two other people on the sideline giving signals.

I think Bellichick is pretty cool by just keeping quiet and taking his fine and loss of a draft choice pretty well.

18-0 is awesome. They are the greatest team to play.... ever...... and I'm a Cowboy fan. I hope they go undefeated and are the 19-0 team that we can all say we saw.

All I've got to say is that Dallas beat NY twice this season and still mucked it up in the playoffs.... I'd hate to have to play a Patriot team that's had 2 weeks to prepare and has an injured secondary. I can bet you that the Pat's would have made an adjustment in the coverage of Plaxico B at the half that the Packers didn't or couldn't make.

[dfwgator]

I’m definately taking the Jints plus 13 1/2, that’s way too many points considering the Pats haven’t blown anyone away lately.

[Dog Gone]

No, that applies to politics.

Sore Loserhead applies to sports.

[SouthTexas]

Committing a penalty is not "cheating".

You are correct. A penalty is the result of being caught for committing an infraction of the rules, I.E. cheating. :)

[threechamps]

I can only speak for myself, but this drooling Pats fan WANTS you to despise me and my team. Win or lose, I know that this has been a terrific season and that next year, they will reload and compete for the championship once again in 2008. Will you have moved out of your mom’s basement by then?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

If the Celtics and Bruins wins, you guys would really be Titletown then.

[threechamps]

Here’s another genius.

[A message]

I’m opening a Las Vegas betting line with odds on Bigjohn’s head exploding after the Patriots leg whip the Giants into submission February 3rd.

[Dog Gone]

You are correct. A penalty is the result of being caught for committing an infraction of the rules, I.E. cheating. :)

And this is where you and the whole gist of the thread is fundamentally wrong. "Cheating" implies malice aforethought. It implies breaking the rules intentionally in the hope of getting away with it.

An infraction can be the result of being fooled, out of position, or simply being too anxious to get off the ball when the QB does a hard count.

I can't believe I have to explain this.

[torchthemummy]

From the article:

It was a nice play by Samuel, a nasty one by Vrabel. There was no flag, for some reason.

So a NY paper tries earlier in the article to infer that the play was illegal (it wasn't - maybe a missed call but that is a factor that can affect either team) and then later infer's, as quoted above, that that the refs were in on throwing the game. This article is a pathetic attempt to rile up NY Giants fans and players - what a joke.

BigJohn - you are the biggest conspiratorialist I have ever read on FR - sports or politics - and that is putting you at the top of a unique heap. When I saw the thread title I knew I would see your name. Everything, EVERYTHING related to the Patriots is a conspiracy or cheating not just this season but over the years. To be blunt - it's quite pathetic.

PS: Pats are 18-0 and they are going to be 19-0 in two weeks.

[SouthTexas]

Was actually just being sarcastic on "how" you said what you said, but if you break the rules, it's cheating, no ifs, ands, or buts.

I thought it should have been called, it wasn't, the game's over. What I care about starts in 26 days and 17 hours! :)

[SamAdams76]

Here are some of the things the Patriots are going to be doing during the run-up to the Super Bowl game...

• They are going to sneak into Coach Coughlin's office and put a thumb tack on his chair.
• They are going to subscribe Eli Manning to gay-porn magazines and hire male prostitutes to go to his house every night.
• They are going to sneak into the Giants locker room and spray shaving cream everywhere and spraypaint "Coach Coughlin is a Horse's Ass - Signed Tiki Barber" across the door of his office. Also, they are going to find the shoes of kicker Lawrence Tynes and put live scorpions in them.
• Tom Brady is going to make prank phone calls to Archie Manning's house, telling him that he must speak to Eli immediately concerning the results of his AIDS test.

I could go on and on with all the pranks that mean Bill Belichick and his band of troublemakers will be pulling on the poor Giants the next couple of weeks. Let's just say that the Patriots are bad, bad, bad!

[BigJohn44]

Everything, EVERYTHING related to the Patriots is a conspiracy or cheating not just this season but over the years. To be blunt - it's quite pathetic.

Whoa there Torch; get back on your meds. I know the facts about the Patriots' cheating are hard to accept. I didn't write this latest article; don't blame the messenger.

As far as the cheating occurring over a number of years is concerned, that has been written in a number of sources. One early reference to this is the allegation by Hines Ward of the Steelers that the Patriots spied on the Steelers in the 2001 AFC championship game. Ward said of the Patriots "they were calling our stuff out. They knew alot of our calls." See http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/2007-09-12-1294083353_x.htm

The Patriots were able to upset the Steelers at Heinz field that year to go on to their first super bowl "win."

Some members of the Eagles also claim that the Patriots cheated in similar fashion in the 2005 super bowl. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/13/AR2007091301655.html

No doubt you and other Kool Aide drinkers are clinging to some mealy-mouthed little opinion about the Patriots' documented cheating being irrelevant to these prior incidents. Good for you. But your side has already lost the argument; the country knows the Patriots are a tainted organization.

[cherry]

the Pattsies seem to get away with a lot, going back to their first Superbowl win....

what they get away with when "defending" someone and to think that the Seahawks receiver was called for offensive pass interference after catching a TD....it makes you wonder....

[Enchante]

I was hoping for a Packers-Patriots Superbowl just for the sake of Bret Favre who I greatly admire, but then when I think of whiny sniveling Packers cheeseheads like you I have to be glad the Packers lost. Get a life!!