The Nest

For some reason known only to him, Bill Belichick’s normally steadfast and wiley coaching style deserted him last night against the Indianapolis Colts.

In the 4th quarter after coming up a yard shy of the first down on a Welker pass, the Patriots decided to go for it on fourth down. Then, inexplicably, Belichick ran out onto the field and called time out (his last). The play ran and I can’t be sure – nothing was mentioned because it didn’t matter, the play had been blown dead – but I think they made it. Like he’d done through the entire game, Belichick was playing conservatively, appearing cautious, not wanting to make any mistakes. Was he having an off day? Only Bill can answer that.

Episodes like that were peppered throughout the game. A questionable Belichick challenge on a ‘12 man on the field penalty’ non call, which was denied. Replay vaguely showed the Colt player making it (close) to the sideline. It wasn’t enough to convince the referee. The play stood and cost New England a timeout. This would come back to haunt them…

Of course the blame doesn’t lie entirely on Belichick’s shoulders. Late in the 3rd quarter, the improving Matt Cassel layed out a perfect pass to Jabar Gaffney who had nothing but daylight between himself and the end zone. The ball clanged through Gaffney’s hands and fell harmlessly to the ground costing the Patriots 6 points.

About midway through the 4th quarter, the Pats drove down the field on an impressive drive hitting passes to, Moss, Welker and David Thomas (for 13, 18 and 16 respectively) and looked like they would at least tie the score. But an unnecessary roughness penalty on Thomas (late hit after a Green-Ellis 1 yard run) pushed them back 15 and out of field goal range.

All was not lost though. Down by only 3 in the 4th quarter, the Pats had 29 seconds to make a game of it. With no timeouts, it was time for the offense to play some smart football. As much as Cassel has impressed me with his play in the last few weeks, he really dropped the ball this time. More accurately – he threw it away.

All the Pats needed was a few sideline passes to the sticky-handed Moss and they would have given themselves a chance to tie, if not win, the game. Cassel threw what amounted to 3 hail marys and then, as a last ditch effort, a pass down the middle to Moss who I suppose was to zig and zag his way down the field (with no time left on the clock) and through a series of laterals, make their way into the endzone. Sounds far fetched, No?

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