I hate to be "that guy" who complains about poor etiquette or the like but I'm curious to see what others think on this. Am I the only one who is thinking they must have actually practiced this play beforehand? It seemed like a really classless "F You" type move, and no Brady handshake with Tebow after the game may support this. It's just such a bizarre move that I can't come up with any believable explanation for other than Brady and/or Belicheck just showing off and being douchebags. Maybe if it were on 4th down. And I don't buy the "Brady was nice to give it back he could have just kept driving down" response that I've seen a few say. Yes they gave them the ball back a down early, but that in and of itself is an insult either way. No team wants a charity move in an unwinnable game. It's like the Patriots were out to prove something and actually thought embarrassing the Broncos by blowing them out would mean something even though the Broncos defense has been absolutely terrible lately and their offense is incredibly hit or miss. Am I reading this wrong? Perhaps it's some long-winded scheme to set a precedent that Brady can punt for future trick plays, and had to do it on 3rd to avoid it being an obvious punt. Maybe my judgment is just clouded because I hate BB/Brady. Thoughts?
Reminded me of Jeff Hostetler. 1. I liked that move actually. What's wrong with catching the other team off-guard? Belichick likes to run it up anyway. If you don't want that happen to you, make yourself better. 2. 3rd and 10, late in the game, with Brady still in the game. I think Brady was after the 7th TD pass, but with the down and distance, why risk injury? It was a brilliant move to protect Brady without showing their hand.
Brilliant move to protect Brady? He shouldve been out of the game 10 minutes before that! Just another example of Belicheat being classless and loving to rub it in.
Well, running up the score is one thing. Using gimmick plays to show how "above" the other team they are is something else. And I just can't help seeing it this way. I don't think it's necessarily an issue of protecting Brady. He wasn't sacked a single time in the game. If I recall they were showing a blitz, but was that the first time they blitzed? If Brady's protection is such an issue why is he still in the game? And I feel like I have to go back to the "did he practice this" issue. Can Brady really spontaneously punt for 48 yds like that? I can't help but suspect they actually practiced this ahead of time, which means they planned on doing this. If they planned on doing this, they expected to be ahead enough for it not to matter, and it just seems like an insult type move if all this is true. Don't get me wrong, appreciate the opinion because like I said I'm interested in what people think. Just trying to go tit-for-tat.
punting isn't usually equated with running up the score. Give next weeks opponent something to think about.
It's just taking the piss. I don't see the point, but if it makes them feel good, why not. If the Jets did that though Rex would be crucified.
why not just hand it off on 3rd down and then get the normal punter in on the 4th. It was either a total "suck my dick" move by Belli or it was an attempt to catch the broncos off guard with a view to trying to recover the punt and get yet another score to run it up even further typical patriots play. also weird that with such a massive lead going into the 4th quarter that they did not bring in one of their back-ups just to get a taste of playing - brady is just one play away from an inuury as are all players and so it would seem to make sense to give your back-up a few real reps.
I turned the game off in the second quarter due to rape. Anything that happened after that is fair game to me. No NFL team should ever be completely out of a game before halftime. When it happens they deserve what they get.
"Am I the only one who is thinking they must have actually practiced this play beforehand?" The quick kick has been part of the Patriots playbook for years. I don't remember the last time they did it, but this was the perfect situation. As for the question of whether Brady should have still be in the game, at this point in the season getting reps for the 2nd-string QB isn't really a priority.
I don't see the hurt in it. It's not like they were trying to put 70 on the board. As far as practicing, that game was as close to a practice as a playoff game can get.
Depends on how you look at it, I put the hate of Pats out of the equation and I was able to see another side. Though there are superstars on the Pats team, BB tries to make everyone feel as if they are the same. Sergio Brown is made to feel as if he is on equal footing as Wilfork. Brady kicking the ball like that was not classless but an attempt to limit anyone getting hurt on offense either for a run or pass play. There was still time on the clock, they want to protect their OL as it is banged up, backup or no backup, they still had to play, Denver at that point was still coming hard. Notice that the Pats were only going for safe plays? Anyway, people see running as a way not to run up the score, but there is a chance you can get any player on the O hurt. Make no mistake, their backup Hoyer is ready to go. It might appears that their D only did well because it was Tebow, but what I saw remind me of a bored preseason game I watched of them. They may be the colts of 06.
You're up by 35, you're allowed to whip your dick out wag it at the opposing sidelines if you see fit. Fuck this running up the score nonsense, if you were worth a quarter of shit that drive would have been meaningful.
This. It's not high school, they're grown men. If you think about it, they are getting paid for the SOLE purpose of entertaining the masses of football fans. If they can't put up a good fight and give us a reason to watch, then they deserve to get humiliated.
looking forward to the wonderful decade after queen brady retires when all those NFL teams that Belichick and Kraft have run up the score on repay them in spades
I'm pretty sure the rule is that the clock will continue to run until a Denver player touched it. If not for the fight, the play probably would have run 30 seconds off the clock until Denver figured out what to do. (if you watch the Pats players, they are huddled around the ball and not touching it, and don't didn't care that the ball took a backwards bounce). It was great situational football, not classless. If anything they were helping end Denver's misery.
Brady clearly wasn't after the TD record! They ran the ball at the goalline 3 times the previous possession and took a FG! As far as the 3rd down punt, it is a nice safe way to change possession, reducing the injury risk of having return teams on the field.
I thought Patriots were really going to run up the score in the 2nd half - which they didn't. At the rate they were scoring with their passing attack, there was no way Broncos could have handled that. Instead Brady started handing the ball off to RBs, and scored exactly 1 more TD in 2nd half. I do not see any problem with whatever was going up there in Foxboro in 2nd half.
