Stitzer's Take on NE/SD Game

I was trying to get past the Eagles loss on Saturday and focus on the first episodes of '24' last night, which, as I have said often in this space, is the best show on TV. I can suspend disbelief and go with the U.S. government negotiating with terrorists and giving away $25 million plus sacrificing a guy who has saved the world five times, but I draw the line when they make Kumar a bad guy on the show. I kept waiting for him to arrange a terrorist meeting at White Castle and for Doogie Howser to show up.

I will have my thoughts on the Eagles game and season either tomorrow or Wednesday. In the meantime, Stitzer was clearly very upset that his good buddy Bill Belichick advanced again in the playoffs, and has jotted down some of his thoughts on the game. My overall comment is that San Diego should not have had to worry about any of this stuff had they just knocked down that 4th down pass or had Marlon McCree just fallen on it instead of trying to be a hero and run with it. Bash Belichick all you want, but his teams rarely make huge mental errors like this that can cost his team a game. That is what separates guys liek Belichick and guys like Marty who own 5-13 career playoff coaching records.

I agree with Stitzer that New England lacks the class that their owner seems to represent, and I aplpaud LT for his post-game comments (and agree that it stems from their head coach). And one more thing: screw Deoin Sanders and Steve Mariucci for of course completely missing the point and not daring to say anything negative about Belichick. Why do we have to have buffoons like Prime Time and Michael Irvin on television? Does anybody think they have any value to add? And throw Merrill Hoge out in the streets while we are at it. But I digress. Here are Stitzer's thoughts.
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JETS season tix in my fam since year 1 in Shea. Have lived in SD area since 1992. Root for Bolts for my wife (unless a Bolts win will hurt JETS). Will try to be as unbiased here as I possibly can in analyzing today's game.

Easy to blame Marty as his history makes him an easy scapegoat. Aside from the inexplicable decision to not kick a 48 yard FG & go for a 4th & 11 in Q1, Marty is not reason why Bolts lost. If a coach's job is to put players in position to make plays, he did that, the players blew it.

****Numerous dropped passes****dropped int early on****dummy Parker trying to p/u fumbled punt instead of just falling on it****fumble after int when score was 21-13

now for the stuff that we have seen too many times the last 5 years. ***** ridiculous non-PI/holding call on Bruschi on Tomlinson early in game on a 3rd down. You would think the MVP will get a call...not against NE (as Manning well knows in 2003 when his receivers were mugged all day so badly, it prompted rule changes - lots of good that did Colts after the fact)****Bolts up 14-10, Goff pancakes defender on 1st & 10 from about 20; horrible holding call...Bolts end up not scoring****big sack of Brady at 14-10 late in Q3, dummy Florence goes to get in face of Pats player, Pats player thrusts arms @ Florence and call is against SD only - a joke. ****after that there was a blatant late hit/head slap by NE DB on SD receiver - no call. Nor was there a call on last drive when Rivers spiked ball and Green hit him - ridiculous****Marty tries to call TO before 2pt. conversion - refs ignore him; Pats about to get hit with delay when it is 21-21, refs see BB's TO

My point: Give NE credit for coming back, to win - but Refs put them in a position to be down by only 8 instead of a much larger deficit

Loved Tomlinson calling out Pats lack of class and specifically saying it probably stems from Head Coach (he was referring to a couple of Pats mocking Merriman's dance at midfield after game). Tomlinson is a class guy - so he has credibility here.

How bad did Brady have to play for Simms/Nantz to be critical of him?

Again, give NE credit for taking advantage of breaks - but I have never seen a team continue to get every judgment call over a 4-5 year span. And the one time they didn't - last year at Denver when some bad calls went against them, all their fans did was whine about that. So when they win, it is because they are so "cerebral," but when they lose, it is because of the Refs? Does Phil Jackson coach this team?