SZ651

BY JIM DAWSON

JANUARY 23, 2017

ON TO HOUSTON – TO WIN ONE MORE

Pre-game I was asked my take on the Pats’ final score and I said “by 10”. Most figured it would be a close game. But I read that the Steelers young defense had 2 rookies in the secondary, a CB (Artie Burns) and a S (Sean Davis). Do you think that Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels are going to take advantage? Ironically it was FS Mike Mitchell who was beaten by Chris Hogan on the 2^nd quarter flea flicker (made it 17-6). Actually, in this game, the whole Steelers secondary was beaten by Chris Hogan whose 180 yards in catches surpassed Deion Branch’s club record of 153 yards (1/14/06 vs Denver).

Driller Killer and General Grid were there to witness this wonderful carnage as was Bill Flanagan and his son Dylan. I caught myself turning to Bill with a big smile with 1:35 left in the 3^rd quarter, knowing that at 33-9, the win was in hand. I could do something almost never done since my mantra is always wait until the scoreboard clock goes to 0.00 before celebrating. The General added “Til the fat lady sings.” Ah General, that may not be PC now. Oh dang it all. PC is not PC.

The game turned on a couple plays. The Pats defensive stop with the Steelers 1^st down on the NE 1 was beautiful to behold (1:53 to the half). A ref review of Jesse James’ TD was changed to down at the 1 (by Chung and Harmon). DeAngelo Williams was stopped for a 1-yard loss (Chung and Hightower). Belichick calls timeout. On 2^nd down rookie Vince Valentine drops Williams for a 3 yard loss. Belichick calls timeout. Big Ben, under a rush, throws wide of Eli Rogers. Steelers settle for a FG and a 17-9 deficit when it could have been 17-13 game at the half. At first I thought Belichick was taking timeouts to give TB and the Pats one last possession. But the timeouts also served to slow down the Steelers and disrupt their flow.

The second half possessions show this: Steelers 3 and out. Pats FG. Pittsburgh 9 plays and punt, NE TD as Blount rumbles for 18 and then scores from the 1 (27-9). Steelers fumble by Eli Rogers (Van Noy) recovered by Ninkovich. Pats TD (Edelman). That made it 33-9 and my big smile. The Steelers defense was worn down. 24 points down.

EXTRA POINTS

A key for the Pats was slowing down Le’Veon Bell. Last time they met, Bell was held to 81 yards rushing but had 10 catches. No one knew Bell would suffer a groin injury on a play with 2:36 left in the 1^st quarter (6 plays – 20 yards). Replacement DeAngelo Williams had early success (24 1^st half yards) but had only 34 for the game (10 2^nd half).

The Pats were 3 of 5 in the red zone. The Steelers were 1 of 3. Goal to go the Steelers were 0 for 2, the Pats 2 of 3.

The Steelers hoped to control the Time of Possession with Bell. Without him, the Pats had the edge 31:26 to 28:34.

Logan Ryan led the Defense (8 tackles, 1 assist - 9 combined). Next were Chung, Van Noy, Rowe, Butler, McCourty, Brown and Branch all with combineds of 4. Do your job!

Hogan was targeted an amazing 12 times with 9 catches, and I remember him dropping an easy one or he would have had even more yardage.

Edelman had 8 catches on 10 targets for 118 yards. The TD catch that made it 33-9 tied Edelman with Deion Branch (4^th post season 100 yard game). ‘Neon Deon’ Sanders says Edelman is one helluver receiver and doesn’t get his due because he’s white. ‘Neon Deon’ calls it ‘reverse racism’.

On Edelman’s TD, Tom Brady tied idol Joe Montana’s record of 9 post season games with 3 passing TDs. Brady was sacked twice and hit 3 times. Mostly he had mucho time.

The Pats won the toss but instead of deferring as they usually do took the ball. They scored a FG on the drive. Later the Pats had TD drives of 80, 82 and 88 yards.

Martellus Bennett, playing with a knee injury and a broken bone in his ankle, had 5 catches on 5 targets. He grabbed some pom poms and busted out some dance moves with the Patriots cheerleaders in the post game celebration.

Scott Zolak, in the radio booth, was shown with a sign that said ‘Where is Roger’. The fans, who were very loud during the game, reveled in the ‘Roger’ sign.

The game was almost devoid of penalties – Pittsburgh had 3 and the Pats 2.

The beer tenders were a little slow and lines were long as 13+ minutes before kickoff was not enough time to get served and back to the seats in time. And the beer tender we had tried to charge us $39 for 3 Bass Ales ($12 each). The co-worker clued the companion by pointing to the beer price sign.

General Grid said that the weather bureau predicted ‘mist’ during the game. It was a lot more than mist for a good part of the game. Brady still went 32 of 42.

BULLETS

• Jeff Howe (Boston Herald – 1/22) had this: LT Nate Solder had not allowed a sack since Week 10 and RT Marcus Cannon has not given up a sack all year!

• Ben Volin (Boston Globe – 1/22) noted that research done by the son (Shahid Khan) of the Jaguars owner (Tony Khan) showed that the Patriots led the NFL in most yards after the catch and allowed the fewest yards after the catch.

•Atlanta, with the #1 offense in the NFL (33.8 points per game), has a chance in the Super Bowl versus the Patriots. The Pats are 3^rd in scoring at 27.6. Some other numbers to consider: the Falcons defense was 27^th in points allowed (25.4 per game). The Pats were #1 (15.6). Atlanta’s pass defense was 28^th! The Pats are 12^th. Atlanta was 17^th in rush defense and the Pats 3^rd. NE will need to be strong vs RBs Freeman and Coleman.

• Thanks to FootJoy for printing out the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s 2017 Hall of Fame votes. Congratulations to Jeff Bagwell (ex-Boston property), Tim Raines (in his last year of eligibility) and Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez for making it. When I pointed out that Trevor Hoffman just missed (74.0% of the votes, you need 75%), FootJoy said that Billy Wagner (just 10.2%) was a better reliever than Hoffman.

EMAIL

Jim, I completely agree with you about the officials teams in NFL playoff games. There is no synchronicity with them and it is like watching the freakin’ pro bowl! Teams work best when they are familiar with working together on a regular basis. The quiz question: Would it be a woman? Garry Gillett Yes it has to do with women. - Z

Still can't get over the fact that on 2 given Sundays the GIANTS were the better team huh ??

Jim ‘Mr. NY Football Giants’ Dwyer

Jim,you are right. On those two Sundays, the Giants were the better team. What rankles me is that Tom Brady led his team down the field in both games, and put the Patriots ahead with not much time left, but the NE defense didn't do its job to protect those leads. I hope that the Patriots defense is the difference in these playoffs. - Z

Sportzine is available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz

THE HOT CLUB

Ernie G is a big Patriots fan. He says he wants to see Roger Goodell hand Robert Kraft the NFL Championship Trophy. Ernie said ‘think Pete Rozelle handing the Lombardi Trophy to Al Davis’. Rozelle was seething as he handed the trophy to Davis. It was after the Raiders moved from Oakland to LA. Ernie says the Goodell to Kraft hand-off would be the same, just as tense. Amen, I say. Let it happen.

Ernie also pointed out to me that the Patriots had never faced a Mike Tomlin coached Steelers team. The last Pats playoff game versus Pittsburgh was in ’05. Tomlin (Michael Pettaway Tomlin) became head coach in ’07. His Steelers are now 0-1 versus the Patriots.

Professor Peter was animated in talking about the Rolling Stones exhibit he had seen recently. It’s at Industria in NY City. It’s entitled ‘Exhibitionism’. The exhibit will be there until October. So I mentioned that Martin Scorsese has a 6-part documentary on the Grateful Dead that will be shown on Amazon Prime in May.

Peter’s excitement about the Stones reminded me of songs that make me want to dance.

She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals. The Stones, Jumping Jack Flash. When I was stationed in Turkey, we went to Mt. Uludağ, a ski resort. Apres-ski, we listened to Stones’ 45’s and I had to dance to Jumping Jack Flash– even if it was by myself.

LAST ISSUE’S QUIZ ANSWER

So what did the duo of Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock have in common with Kris Kristofferson and Booker T. Jones. Each duo was married to sisters. Clapton wed George Harrison’s ex Patti Boyd while Whitlock married Paula Boyd (Clapton went out with her first to be close to Patti). Kristofferson wed Rita Coolidge. Booker T. married sister Priscilla. Only Professor Peter had the answer. Rita Coolidge divorced Kristofferson who was a womanizer and went with drummer Jim Gordon until he hit her. Gordon later murdered his mom (stabbed and hammered). Gordon is still in jail.

THIS ISSUE’S QUIZ

What famous composer was originally the lead singer and song writer for the band Oingo Boingo?