With my crazy new schedule, I haven't been able to see many NFL games this season, mostly just following them on the internet for fantasy stats. But it's clear that coaching stupidity still rules the roost in this thoroughly corrupt league.
Belichick is the BEST coach by far in the NFL, the brightest, most innovative, fairest to whites, etc. And yet he still is capable of doing the dumbest, most predictable things to undermine his team. Over the past few seasons, while having a juggernaut offense (with the most white skill players we've seen in decades), he has persistently stopped them from achieving as much as they could.
On the Patriots next to last drive last night (and I only listened to it on the radio), Belichick was clearly, unequivocally playing for the field goal the entire time. He didn't want a TD. He was doing his best Marty Schottenheimer imitation and playing not to lose, instead of playing to win. What kind of sane man features Lagarette Blount at any time, in any game, let alone in crunch time? Isn't Ridley slow enough for him? Without Woodhead, Vereen is clearly their best back, and yet he reduces him to a Woodhead-like role, while mixing in the putrid Blount, who is even a worse fit for that high powered offense than Ridley is.
Gronk was woefully underused, as he usually is. If they peppered him with the number of targets the Brandon Marshalls routinely get, he would lead the league in every receiving category. If the BEST coach in the league can't see this, and consistently gives the Corey Dillons, Ridleys and Blounts a chance to carry the ball (while ignoring Hillis, for instance), what does that say about the collective intelligence of these glorified gym coaches?
Yes, the Patriots were robbed. As I stated before, they were going to have to beat the referees as well as the Panthers. This game was a huge victory for the Caste System, as Scam is now getting the kind of adulation Nick Foles should have gotten following his 7 TD performance. The system doesn't care if RGIII implodes, or Geno Smiff can't be defended, they will keep producing these black quarterbacks and their every victory, their every TD pass, their every 20 yard scamper through huge holes, will be treated as revolutionary.
If this was a legitimate league, with coaches actually trying to win games, then not only would they pick and play the best players, they would (during all that allegedly intense "film study" they do each week) notice how fat and out of shape the defenders on EVERY team are. They would recognize, by now, that the hurry up offense works far better than any conventional offense. They would understand that the prevent defense only prevents you from winning. But they don't. Like Belichick, they keep up the mantra that you have to "establish the run," and they love to use the slowest, most unimpressive affletes imaginable to do that (Lynch, Green-Ellis, Ridley, Alfred Morris, Mendenhall, up until last year Michael Turner, etc.)
I will still root for the Patriots over any other team, but it's absolutely maddening to watch someone like Blount waddle into their huddle, and provide a lethal injection to what can be a magnificent offense.