OT - Patriots, again- say it aint so Bill

[ergott]

Didn't read thread, but question. Why do the teams provide the ball. Just have the NFL provide the ball and then they have control over it. Stupid they don't.

[Aaron O]

Originally Posted by roydyates

Aaron, who is your coach? Chip Kelly? Sre are you. Philly person with an out if town allegiance?

As a fairly devout Eagles fan who assume you mean Kelly, I wonder what prompts this?

Roy - devout Eagles fan. I thought how he left oregon was distasteful, I thought the handling of desean was repugnant, and reeked of tyrannical egotism (especially contrasted with Riley cooper). I am not a fan of what I've seen from the genius. At least hoodie has earned his arrogance in the pros.

[Aaron O]

Originally Posted by daker13

It really is weird to me how much some people hate Belichick. I see lots of comments on internet message boards and I picture these people, gritting their teeth and hammering at the keyboards with their sweaty little fingers.

I thought Boston fans called themselves passionate. Really? You can't see why so many people find him irritating?

I freely admit some of it is sour apples as well.

[Louis]

Football is really no big deal to me, but I would imagine that folks would understand why B Belicheat isn't St Louis Rams fans' favorite opposing coach.

[jlwdm]

I don't see why a quarterback would want to throw a ball with a different feel than the ball he has been throwing for years.

Jeff

[Louis]

Originally Posted by jlwdm

I don't see why a quarterback would want to throw a ball with a different feel than the ball he has been throwing for years.

Which, of course, is precisely why the rain would cause them to want to make it easier to grip the ball - to give the QB the same purchase as what he's used to with a dry ball.

[Louis]

Yesterday I didn't watch the games on TV, just listened to them on the radio.

OMG - I just found a picture of the football the Pats were using:

[rwsaunders]

Who can forget the other "gates"...Bill finds always finds a way to stay in the news.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-engl...-to-snowplows/

[Bruce K]

Get your timeline straight

Snowplow wasn't Bill's deal - not even Pete Carroll's (coach here before Bill - and isn't that an interesting story line?)

As a matter of fact it wasn't even Gillette Stadium!

I can't even remember who the coach was for that but I was at the game - John Smith was the kicker

BK

[cfox]

Originally Posted by Aaron O

Do you really want to do a battle of links? I can post 20 of former players and coaches calling him a dirt ball.

And no - not every team did that, they didn't use cameras and record it for one. I know what cowher said...I also know that Hines ward said otherwise, as have several other players.

FYI - the steelers and giants would disagree that the pats were the best team post 2005.

I will admit to being sour grapes after the 2004 bowl.

Yah, OK Belichick is a dirt ball, but he gets loyalty unheard from his players unheard of in the NFL. That says something about the guy.

And, sorry, the Patriots are the best team since 2001. Fans only look at Super Bowl wins. And while of course that is the goal, coaches, players and GMs understand the Super Bowl champion is the winner of a tournament after the season, and in many cases, is not the best team. Are you going to argue that the 07 Giants were the best team that year?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Hepmike

I'm shocked to see the MA crowd chiming in strongly in favor of the Patriot's organization...

What are folks anywhere else on the planet thinking about it?

about what?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by velomonkey

I'm trying to be a bit fair here, 20 former players is gonna be a hard task.

The vast majority of players have said "the guy is a hard ass, but the guy gets the absolute best out of you." - Wes Welker being the best most recent example. How many players have had issues and almost lost their career and then had a phoenix rising to only go on to play for the pats and other teams at their former glory. Taleb, Moss, Revis - the list goes on.

The guy is the Steve Jobs of NFL coaching. The steelers had Blount - he did 2 TDs in, what, 12 games. His first game back on the pats he gets almost 2 TDs and then 4 TDs in the conference championship game. The steelers can't get into the playoffs cause they - wait for it - don't have another RB. You could not ask for a better example of how one coach can operate versus another coach. I like the steelers, but, sorry, they lost that one and that was a wicked bad decision. Sure I know that players get different output on different teams - they lost their spot cause they didn't have a 2nd RB - it's pathetic.

Deflated balls is just grasping at straws. Steve Jobs was't personable, wasn't nice, wasn't friendly - but the dude got results. Same here.

He needs to work on his sideline wardrobe. He's a slob.

Classy

[velomonkey]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

He needs to work on his sideline wardrobe. He's a slob.

Classy

You know who else was a slob - Steve Jobs. A consistent black mock turtelnek with 5 day stubble is about a half step ahead of the hoodie.

6 super bowls in 14 years - you get a pass in my book.

[harlond]

Originally Posted by JMacII

This ball thing is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. If soft balls favor the pass, and Indy relies more on the pass than you do, why would this be an advantage? Oh and by the way, both teams use the same ball so why are we talking about this again?

Is this actually true? Some of the articles I've seen suggest that each team plays with the footballs they bring, and that the officials check the inflation and then return them to the team's representatives before the game starts.

[MattTuck]

I'll say this. If this comes from within the Colts organization (the "NFL Source"), it is a pretty well done piece of PR spin. Three days later and we're talking about the bureaucratic procedures of ball handling in the NFL rather than the fact that Indianapolis folded like a cheap suit... whether there is any merit to the claim, the Colts have been able to avoid some tough questions.