Grok Your World

Rodney / RB Injuries = Patriots' Mediocrity

It's not as if the season and, frighteningly -- if the reports about the post-op staph infection of his knee are correct -- potentially career-ending knee injury to Tom Brady was bad enough ...

But the injuries in the rout of the Broncos to defensive leader Rodney Harrison -- even if he has lost a step or two physically, remained key both intellectually and emotionally --

AND slashing running back Sammy Morris -- for the second year in a row -- do seem to indicate a deficit from which it doesn't seem the Patriots are going to be able to recover this season ...

If they do, it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bill Belichick IS the greatest football coach of all time ...

But I must admit, I am skeptical that even he can pull a rabbit out of this hat ... ;-) ...

In the wake of Brady's absence, the idea was to bring Matt Cassel along slowly but surely,

letting the running game -- for which the Pats had stockpiled 5 backs, instead of the usual 4 --

and a much tougher defense than the Pats had shown when THEY were beat up by the Chargers --

handle a lot of the load while Cassel found himself, especially in terms of being able to read defensive rhythms and adjust,

in the fashion that really makes Tom Brady the unique quarterback  he is ...

Certainly in the Monday Night game vs. Denver, that strategy seemed like a winner, and capable of bringing the Pats not just into the post-season,

but, in a season where parity rules, and no team seems to be consistently unbeatable, achieve some success in January ...

Unfortunately, the key elements for giving Cassel time to grow into the role -- a running game and stout-er defensive play -- were both devastated by the injuries to Rodney and Sammy Morris ...

Lamont Jordan was already out -- kudos to my pal Wayne for telling me two weeks ago that Jordan was prone to pathetic injuries, which then ensued that weekend, just as he had predicted --

but Sammy Morris was a tiger in the first half vs. the Broncos ... but he never came out for the second half, and was listed as questionable / doubtful for the Rams game this weekend ...

Which left only Kevin Faulk -- who is a brilliant third-down, but certainly not EVERY down, back -- Heath Evans, who is basically a blocker, altho HAS had some great games "in relief" during seasons past,

and the free agent rookie with the disarmingly charming name of BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who has been promoted from the practice squad ...

Now if he turns out to be a killer back, then hats off again to Belichick and Scott Pioli for finding yet another diamond in the rough ...

But even if he is, that's a HUGE burden for a first year player to have to carry ... and if HE should go down, for whatever reason, well ...

On the other side of the ball, it's clear that Rodney Harrison was able to make the cuts and get to the spots that his brilliant football mind him told him were right ...

But his intellectual and emotional leadership of the defense -- not least his on-field mentoring and coaching of the younger backs, like former 'Cane Brandon Meriweather -- were, by all accounts, his true contribution ...

So while the Pats MIGHT have been able to do something this year, even without Tom Brady, this latest round of injuries to the backfields -- both offensive and defensive -- would just about seem to rule a post-season out ...

Still, stranger things HAVE happened ... but I don't think this is going to be the Pats year -- and not simply because of TB ...

Brady Injury Has Some Karmic Upsides for Pats / Fans

Of course, it's certainly not the BEST thing that even happened to New England sports fans ;-),

but in a weird way, it's not the worst thing either ...

Basically, it allows a complete re-set from the amazing -- and, given the way it ended, amazingly WEIRD -- 2007 season ...

And that's not a terrible thing, given the incredible psychic weight last season put EVERYONE through, Patriots lovers and haters both ...

In life in general, and the NFL in particular, you can never say, "if things had gone as expected" ...

But ... if things HAD gone as expected, i.e., Tom Brady did not go down in the first quarter of the first game with what appears to be a season-ending injury,

this season would have been an elaborate continuation of last, even without "spygate",

And you could tell the burden of that was already beginning to weigh on Brady, not just with his total non-participation in pre-season games,

but his failure to show up for all the off-season workouts -- the first time in his career with the Patriots where he DIDN'T win the coveted "closest parking space" for being the most visible and vigorous participant, etc. etc. etc. ...

Furthermore, every story line from last season would have been continued -- or if not, the reason it wasn't being continued would have been remarked-upon -- into craziness for all concerned,

given the "repetition compulsion" of the media in general, and sports media in particular ...

Now, that's all gone in a puff of smoke -- or collapsed in a painful left-knee heap ;-) ...

And, in a way, that will actually provide some relief for EVERYBODY ... above all, believe it or not, for the Patriots themselves, altho it will actually be harder on the fans ... ;-) ...

Now, if they lose some games, they lose some games ... and they will have to re-tool the offense, obviously ...

But the spotlight will be off them, finally, and that, I think, will actually provide them a lot of relief,

while letting what IS a first-rate organization figure out how to pick up the pieces, and make something happen with what they've got ...

In that context, my -- basically uninformed on the current state of the two individuals I'm about to mention -- preference for the necessary "veteran quarterback pick-up" would be Daunte Culpepper ...

The obvious reason, of course, is his established relationship with Randy Moss ...

But he's also a smart and strong guy, who is dying for redemption, and, if he can do it, would, I think, be willing to do everything he can to learn "the Patriot way" ...

Now, I say this having NO idea what Chris Simms is all about, except of course that his father is an excellent football analyst ... ;-) ...

So, this could be completely bogus on my part ... but I think that, somehow, the Patriots, at the end of the season are STILL going to be in it ...

and COULD win it ... ;-) ...

Delighted To Be Wrong ;-) - Celts in 6

KG early to set the right tone ... Rondo keeping at it ... AMAZING team defense ... Pierce his usual ... Ray Allen deadly with the 3s ...

And -- I MUST say it -- Doc Rivers really did a spectacular job of coaching ...

ESPECIALLY with all the injuries ... the Celtics just kept coming, no matter who went down ...

As they said, the general level of play in the West might be better, but the two best teams -- and certainly THE BEST -- were in the East this year ...

Very gratifying ... not just for us long-suffering Celtics fans -- admittedly salved by the Sox and Pats ;-), right George and John ;-) ??? --

but for the New Three, who got a chance to FINALLY win it all -- and in most impressive fashion ...

As Ernie Banks would say, it's so nice -- let's play two ... by which I mean, of course, let's do it NEXT year too ...

Which means -- first and foremost, from a contract point of view -- RE-SIGNING James Posey ... plus PJ & Eddie House, if possible ...

In that context, kudos to Danny Ainge, who really DID have the vision and cojones, and the Celtics' ownership as well ...

So let's see if the Sox can continue THEIR amazing play -- with all the injuries THEY'VE had ...

And this time, let the Pats lose a couple games during the season, but no fooling around in the Super Bowl ... ;-) ...

Bad Feeling About Game 6 ;-)

Great piece in the Celtics' blog on boston.com by Jesse Nunes about how things are stacking up very poorly for the Cs in Game 6 ...

Also excellent pieces by Bob Ryan -- Doesn't It Get Better Than This ??? -- about the low level of the quality of play generally in this series,

a point made by several of my pals, notably Mark Moormann / Gabe Schechter / and, via Brad Anderson, Paul Kriloff --

and Dan Shaughnessy on the uncertainty of the current situation in the context of previous Boston -- and other ;-) -- sports disasters: It's A Lock for the Celtics ... Maybe ...

KG Has GOT To Play Better

Well, the commentary / analysis at the END was certainly a lot better than it was at the BEGINNING,

especially regarding how poorly the Lakers played, despite their win ...

Pierce was fabulous -- obviously -- as was Posey ...

But KG was pretty much a non-factor ... and missing those 4th quarter foul shots was really UN-forgivable ...

Neither team looks great -- Gabe's point ;-) -- but the Celtics SHOULD win next time ... ;-) ...

Game 5 - Poor Officiating / Commentary @ Key Moments

Was hoping to avoid an in-game commentary, but I have to say that there has been some piss-poor officiating and commentary ...

Just now, with abut 3:30 left in the 4th, two INCREDIBLY ticky-tack fouls called for 5th on both Garnett and Pierce ...

If this game goes to OT, then that is going to become a real issue ... hopefully it won't matter, but ...

Also find that, especially early, there was a little too much chit chat among the announcers,

notably during the second period, when the Celtics started their comeback, with a couple of key stops,

and they just missed the turning point because they were blathering away about something ...

Otherwise, KG not looking good at the line -- we NEED those foul shots ...

Defense / Defense / Defense + Allen / Pierce / Posey

Well, I DID say the Celts could come back ... ;-) ...

Didn't happen quite the way I thought / hoped it would, but WHO CARES ;-) !!!

Outstanding defense ... as Rob's man Mark Jackson correctly said, Pierce played Bryant beautifully ... and came through in the clutch ...

Speaking of which, James Posey kept shooting, as did Eddie House,

and, above all, MR. RAY ALLEN ...

Have GOT to hand it to him ... he was sucking big-time vs. the Pistons, and he just hung in there and DID IT ...

And how about Pierce in the immediate post-game interview ;-) ???

He didn't invoke god ... ;-) ... was extremely articulate ... legitimately gave full credit to the whole team, especially its defense ... and showed genuine appreciation for the history of the game ...

A really fantastic recommendation for all the BEST things about LA ... the Lakers aside, of course ... ;-) ...

Game 4 - 1st Half: KG Down Low Key to Any Comeback

While I think that Jeff Van Gundy -- hereafter JVG -- is completely WRONG in his enthusiasm for Eddie House as the Celtics point guard as a shooter, instead of Rondo, who provides MUCH more ...

his OTHER point is absolutely correct, as it has been throughout this Series, and aptly seconded by Rob's pal ;-) Mark Jackson :

The BEST way for the Celtics can get back into the game -- which is definitely possible, as we know from the NBA in general, and the Lakers' comeback in Game 2 --

is for the Celtics to change the whole rhythm of the game, and the key to that is getting Kevin Garnett down on the low post ... as we have been saying throughout ...

They need to stop hoisting up threes and long twos, which, when they miss, as they have been, are giving the Lakers easy transition points plus foul shots ...

and take more time to penetrate and either get to the line or pull the Lakers in for a kick back out for open looks ...

Honestly, this isn't bio-technology ... it's just basketball, and everyone knows what needs to be done ... the point is just to DO it ... as the saying goes ... ;-) ...

All this said, I think the main reason the Celtics are playing SO badly -- and they are ;-) --

is the absence of Rondo ... they look completely out of sync on offense, poor spacing, bad ball movement, too much one-on-one ... awful ...

It didn't seem possible for the Celtics to play worse than they did in Game 3, but they appear to be doing it ...

and the main reason is that Rondo's minutes are so limited, and his effectiveness even more so ... ;-) ...

Which makes changing the rhythm of the game even MORE imperative ...

It's not easy, but it IS do-able ... which means now is the time for Doc Rivers to step up and make some serious adjustments ...

Can he do it ???

We'll see ... ;-) ...

Ugly Game 3 All-Around, But Rondo Injury Key

This really WAS a game that neither team seemed to WANT to win ...

The Lakers' terrible free throw shooting was their most egregious problem,

and the Celtics just played a piss-poor game in general ...

That said, they were in it all the way through, which is a good sign for them,

because it means they have really gotten into the Lakers' heads and unnerved them ...

Since I had to teach all day today, and saw the first half only in glimpses, and couldn't catch the second half until I came home around 5,

I had a chance to briefly check out all the post-game commentary in the Globe and the re-cap in the Times,

and am quite surprised to see that no one hit on what I see as the key to the Cs playing so unintelligently, except for brief stretches, both defensively -- no matter what Doc Rivers said -- and offensively,

namely, Rondo's being out for all of the third quarter and then used sparingly in the fourth ...

Now it IS true that the Celts played very well in the 3rd, coming back from a half time deficit to take the lead ...

But it all fell apart -- at both ends of the court -- in the fourth, and I will make a quick argument that it was due to Rondo's absence ...

The defensive part is easy: while I like Eddie House on offense -- who doesn't ;-) -- he CANNOT play defense ... at all ...

And so while he's good in stretches, he definitely should NOT be in the game in the 4th quarter ...

But he was, and so it was basically 5 on 4, which was especially problematic because Kobe needs to be doubled at clutch time, which made it 5 on 3 ...

Hence the Vujacic 3 from the side, which was a nice shot, but nothing fantastic, given his TOTALLY open look ...

Offensively, House is great with the 3s, but the Lakers had really pushed the Celtics WAAAY out,

so they were going into their offense halfway between the top of the key and the half-court line,

which, I would argue, was because Rondo wasn't there to penetrate and attack the rim, which is the start of all good things happening for the Celtics ...

Finally, after a time-out, they realized what was going on and sprung KG for an open drive to the hoop -- which only took 5 seconds --

but by then it was pretty much too late for them to establish offensive rhythm, which, combined with the absence of defense -- hence no stops -- meant there wasn't much they could do ...

So as long as Rondo is okay --

and that is TRULY a matter of serious concern, because if he isn't, it's going to be hard for the Cs to win, altho I DO think they can ...

they're just going to have to come up with a different offensive system in which Ray Allen and Pierce split the bringing-up-the-ball chores --

then the Celtics should be fine because, as I said, I really DO think they have gotten into the Lakers' heads ...

Whether they can close it out in LA is another story ... but I am positive they can win at least one game there,

and if they can, they will go back to Boston needing only one ...

Generally, tho really poor game on BOTH sides ...

Honestly, the Lakers really are lucky they're not down 3-0 ... and both they and the Celtics know it ... ;-) ...