The bills have been Patriot punch bags for the past two decades, but in 2020 cans of tomatoes are on the other shelf. Bills are tied for playoffs while the Patriots play the sub. 500 on the series. Bill Belischik came into the night with a 35-6 record versus Buffalo as New England head coach.
Tom Brady has cemented most of the Patriot’s wins and this year Brady plays in Tampa. In his absence, the Biles are the best team in East Asia and the Patriots is the team that faces controversy in the middle.
Buffalo’s Josh Allen replaced Brady as the best quarterback in the division and pushed Biles to a 10-3 lead early in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Bates aren’t getting more air from their beloved, but they struggle, Cam Newton. His legs are still doing well, showing he scored from 9 yards in the middle of the second quarter to narrow the deficit to 10-9.
Belichick’s tone on middle ground questions was off the charts for the whole seven days after the Smelly Show in Miami. And there was no excuse for that.
Earth to Bill: You have amazing fans who support and care deeply about every aspect of your soccer team. When you let Brady take a picnic and then replace him with the worst Patriot midfielder since Mark Wilson, you’ll take questions about it. And when your team is athletically eliminated from the knockout race, people will wonder if you will try the kid you recruited two years ago.
It matters to your fans, and your reluctance to answer a question on the topic is immature, deaf, overbearing, and obtuse. These things fly when you go to the Super Bowl every two years, but in 2020 you’re Rex Ryan, not Vince Lombardi. The pledge of “the best coach” requires some thought about how fortunate you are at working in a market that tolerates unnecessary rudeness.
Now that we’re off that road, let’s talk ourselves about Bill vs. . The Patriots went to Monday night with a record 6-8, from the playoffs for the first time since 2008 (when Brady was injured), unable to score a relegation (zero TDs over nine quarters), and featuring a midfielder who had five touchdown passes in the first 14 Game of the season. Brady takes Tampa to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years and has delivered six touchdown passes (668 yards!) In the last four quarters of soccer.
I will probably never participate in this narrative, but until proven otherwise, Bilesic will have to live with the fact that he never won without Brady. In eight years without Brady as the midfielder, Belichick was 61-71 with one playoff appearance. With Brady, he was 219-64, went to nine Super Bowls, and defeated East Asia 17 times. In his three Patriot seasons without Tom, he was aged 22-24 without any playoff matches.
Oh, and not for accumulation, but Brady took all the luck of the Patriot with him to Tampa. Talented and combustible players claim the NFC Least Title Winner in the first round of Qualifiers. In other words, as he always did here, Brady picked up cans of tomatoes in the first round of playoffs.
I was there the last time a Belichick coaching team, under 0.500 Bates, played Beals in a no-nonsense match at the end of the season. It was December 17, 2000, and the Patriots beat the Beals 4-10, 13-10, in the snow in overtime over Adam Venatieri’s field goal from 24 yards. “We couldn’t find a convict,” Drew Bledso, the historic Pats player of the year, helped clear the field with Finatery’s kick and told reporters. Nick Cafardo wrote the story for The Globe.
Monday’s match kicked off a sad start for the Pats when Damiere Byrd dropped a confirmed landing pass (hit him in a face mask) in a trick play that worked perfectly. Bates settled on a 45-yard field goal to take a 3–0 lead in the third minute. After Bills hooked her up with a field goal from a chip, Bates went with three goals (Newton took a bag for third), and was then sucked into a mock kick that brought the bills down. It was the nightmare of the Bilesik special teams.
After Allen patiently watched his recipients drop two passes in the end zone (imagine Brady bouts if they did) he handed the Quarterback Bills over to Zach Moss, who ran 5 yards into the finish zone to give Biles a 10–3 moment lead in the second quarter. Adam Butler crushes New England with a pair of red sneak calls.
Newton (nine consecutive quarters without a touchdown pass) was still the Bilesic midfielder as Batts and Biles pushed towards the end of the first half.
Dan Shawnese is a columnist for The Globe. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter Embed a Tweet.
