bigunreal said:
I'm the guy who says these games are fixed. Hasn't won me a lot of friends here (or elsewhere), but I stand by my opinion.
Tonight's Patriots-Bills game was vintage "fix."
I happen to believe Tom Brady is the most clutch QB that has ever played. He and Larry Bird share the same qualities. Give em the ball when the game is on the line and let em do their thing.
Was the Monday night game fixed? Did Brady know? Or was Tom Terrific just being Tom Terrific? Discuss.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/peter_king/09/15/brady.patriots/index.html?eref=si_nfl
FOXBORO, Mass. -- For a reason that even Tom Brady couldn't fathom, he entered the huddle in Monday night's season-opener against Buffalo down 11 with 5:32 left in the game and, eerily, predicted the future.
"Get your hats on,'' Brady said. "We're gonna score before the two-minute warning, get the ball back, then we're gonna score again and win this thing!''
New England -- maddeningly at times, ploddingly, using too much of the clock on five- and six-yard pass plays -- drove 81 yards to score on a Brady-to-Ben Watson touchdown pass to get within five ... with 2:06 left. They recovered a fumbled kickoff by the Bills, and scored the winner on another Brady-to-Watson touchdown with 50 seconds left, finishing off a scintillating 25-24 win (RECAP | BOX) in Brady's breathless return to football after 2008 knee surgery.
Brady could play 20 years in the NFL, and this game will go down as one of the five most memorable, Super Bowls included. It'll have to. After sputtering through five scoreless drives in his first seven possessions since shredding his knee on the same field 52 weeks earlier, Brady completed 11 of 13 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns in five minutes. He targeted Randy Moss 16 times, completing 12. He targeted Wes Welker 16 times, completing 12. For the night, he was 39 of 53 for 378 yards, with the two touchdowns one interception -- a one-pawed miracle catch-and-touchdown-rumble by Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel.
Eerie. All of it. Why, Brady was asked leaving the stadium Monday night, did he say what he said in the huddle with 5:32 left? "I don't know,'' he said with a wide grin. "I just had a feeling.''
"He knew,'' said Moss, euphoric in the New England locker room. "He just knew. I'll prove it to you.'' With that, Moss called to center Dan Koppen. "Hey Kopes! C'mere.'' Koppen walked over. "What'd 12 say in the huddle with what, five-something left in the game?''
Said Koppen: "He said, 'We're gonna score before the two-minutes warning, we're gonna get the ball back somehow, and we're gonna win.'''
"See?'' Moss said. "He knew. When you got a guy like that, speaking like that, leading you like that, there ain't nothing for the other 10 of us to do but shut up and go out and make plays.''
(snip