Officially, that is. On the scoreboard.
The Patriots pulled out a win for the ages on Sunday evening, quarterback Tom Brady throwing a perfect strike to Kenbrell Thompkins with five seconds to play to raise their record to 5-1on the season, the contest as thrilling as the 30-27 score would indicate.
But the true difference in the teams has nothing to do with any of these numbers.
No need to delve into the stat sheet, nor read any article, nor even watch the dvr of the game - except the final three and a half minutes because that is video evidence of what separates these teams.
Many around the country are rebuffing Sunday night's epic comeback win by the Patriots over the Saints as more a matter of the Saints making mistakes and handing the game to New England and less a matter of the Patriots deserving to win....
...which is neither here nor there, as a matter of conjecture - because the Saints did make several tactical errors on offense and, to the puzzlement of anyone watching the game, either didn't see the transgressions as being something that needed to be corrected, or just figured through blind arrogance that their defense would stop the Patriots' offense and they'd get the job of running out the clock done when they got the ball back.
Whatever the thinking was, the defense did do their part, courtesy of some egregious errors on the part of the Patriots - three straight drops by receivers on one possession and a Brady interception on terrible call and an even more poorly thrown deep ball to Edelman on another...
...but every time the Saints defense gave their offense the ball back, they failed to execute and gave the ball right back to Brady, the final time with 1:13 left on the clock - which was about five seconds too many, as it turns out.
And when Brady hit Thompkins in the left-back corner of the end zone for the winning score, he did so before a national television audience that had mostly tuned out, and a half-capacity crowd in 68,756 seat Gillette Stadium - because all but hard-core Patriots fans were resigned to the reality that the game was New Orleans' for the taking...
...which, of course, it was - but instead the Patriots issued the statement that even though the Saints are one of the most dynamically talented teams in the NFL while the Patriots are working with an odd assortment of rookies, veteran cast-offs and a series of devastating injuries, New England is still the superior team.
Why? Simply because the Saints crumbled under the weight of the moment, while the Patriots rose above it.
They rose above the moment by staying true to their process, by sticking with their plan for both the game and personnel and trusted themselves - and the only way that happens is by building a working bond that only game reps and time produce...
...and even though their top receiver went down with yet another injury, the cohesiveness of the unit never swayed when the moment called for them to deliver peak performance.
"Lord knows we had our chances at the end there," Saints' quarterback Drew Brees said on Monday. "I know that you can't give Tom Brady and that offense three chances at a two-minute drill."
And "That offense" of which Brees speaks is the same offense that has stayed the course with their rookie receivers and are enduring a hard luck streak of injuries - getting clutch performances in the most dire of circumstances from a veteran cast off, a former college quarterback turned receiver, both of their rookie pass catchers and, of course, from their aging, frustrated quarterback.
An aging, frustrated quarterback that has transformed from a brash, sometimes abrasive commander to a leader - a pro's pro - and on Sunday night in front of far fewer people than the moment called for, Tom Brady had one of his finest moments as a quarterback...
From the coaching staff calling the plays to the players executing, when it came to winning time the Patriots out-coached and out-performed their contemporaries - taking advantage of a seemingly endless stream of vaudeville-style pratfalls by the Saints by falling back on solid fundamental defense and giving Brady and the offense three different chances to find paydirt...
...and when you give the greatest quarterback of all time three chances to achieve a goal he sets out to accomplish, you're going to end up on the losing end - and the Saints know it.
So, yes, the Saints did give that game away in a sense, but in the NFL just because someone makes a mistake doesn't necessarily translate to your own success, you still have to go out and execute and earn - which the Patriots did, giving their rookies invaluable experience in what being clutch means...
...and Brady, perhaps one of the most satisfying wins of his illustrious career.
No comments:
Post a Comment