Category: Football

If Satan were a sports commentator, he’d be Nick Wright of Fox Sports. And if Patrick Mahomes were gay, Nick Wright would be his boyfriend.

Any liberal who thinks Fox News is biased should turn the channel over to Fox Sports sometime and see what real bias looks like. Nick Wright, a Kansas City native who, so far as anyone knows, never played a minute on any organized sports team, might be entertaining when he’s talking about baseball or some other sport, but when it comes to football, he’s a total fanboy for the Kansas City Chiefs. Nick Wright is as objective about the NFL as my teenage daughter is about Harry Styles.

And when he starts talking about Patrick Mahomes, it’s like gay porn.

Why should I care? Because this evil clown — he’s Satanic, I tell you — has spent the past season slagging Mac Jones, and the source of his bias is obvious. You see, the departure of Tom Brady from New England opened the window by which the Kansas City Chiefs (and Nick’s boyfriend Patrick Mahomes) could make it to the Super Bowl. So if the Patriots’ first-round draft pick out of Alabama turned into the greatest rookie quarterback in NFL history, this would have put a damper on Nick Wright’s hope for another AFC championship for his beloved Chiefs. Therefore, Nick has been deriding Jones’ abilities all season long, because he doesn’t want to see New England return to its accustomed AFC dominance. Any intelligent person can see this, but the executives at Fox Sports either (a) are extraordinarily stupid or (b) just think it’s great programming to have this Kansas City fanboy on TV five days a week.

Maybe fans of other teams hate Nick Wright as much as I have come to hate him this season — when the Patriots drafted Jones, they thereby recruited me as a fan — but I think it’s New England that is Wright’s personal obsession. He hates the Patriots the way Joy Reid hates Donald Trump, because if New England is playing at championship level, the Chiefs are doomed to also-ran status. Go back to the 2019 AFC championship game where Brady and the Pats beat KC 37-31 in overtime, with Nick Wright’s boyfriend getting sacked four times. That was also the last time the Chiefs lost to New England. What inspires Nick Wright’s fear and loathing of Mac Jones is the nightmare of the Patriots once again becoming a permanent obstacle to Kansas City’s Super Bowl hopes.

It’s possible to be both biased and honest. Nobody who knows me would expect me to be objective about the University of Alabama, no more than I could be objective about my wife or my children. As a lifelong Crimson Tide fan, I’m clearly prejudiced against Auburn (or Georgia, or whatever other team may stand between ’Bama and a national championship). Because I am consciously aware of my own prejudice, however, I am capable of the kind of objectivity that prevents me either from ignoring Alabama’s faults or from unfairly slagging the Tide’s opponents.

Is Bryce Young really all that and a stack of pancakes? Eh, he sure didn’t look like it for the first three quarters of that Auburn game. But he led the Tide to a decisive victory over the Bulldogs in the SEC title game and won the Heisman Trophy, so there’s some objective data that would say Young is awesome. Personally, however, I don’t think he’s as good as Tua Tagovailoa and, in my estimation, Mac Jones is even better than Tua.

Here, watch the highlights of Mac’s championship season at Alabama:

 

Say whatever you want, but that’s some damned fine football there. And when Mac got drafted by the Patriots, I struggled to resist my enthusiasm. Lots of first-round draft picks never really make it in the NFL, and few rookies start at quarterback. My expectation was that Jones would begin the season as backup to the veteran QB Cam Newton, and that only if Newton got injured — or if his performance was subpar, and the Patriots were losing — would Mac get a chance to show what he could do. So when it was announced that New England had cut Newton loose, I was astonished. By the way, I had every reason to dislike Newton, as he was the quarterback who led Auburn to their only National Championship. Being aware of this possible source of bias, however, I was determined to think well of him, so long as he was Mac’s teammate. Football is a team sport, and far be it from me to wish ill on the starting quarterback, just because I am partial toward the backup. Once the Pats cut Cam, however, I was free to go back to hating him, and his subsequent flop at Carolina was an excellent “I told ya so” opportunity.

Be classy — that’s the thing we should strive for as sports fans.  Mac Jones is a classy guy, and I think he took no joy in Cam Newton’s downfall, even though he profited from it. Everybody who watched the Patriots in preseason (e.g., Tom Curran) vouched that Jones won the starting job fair and square. He was simply a better quarterback than Newton, and keep in mind that Newton is a former MVP who once led the Panthers to the Super Bowl. Granted, injuries have since diminished Cam’s once astounding mobility, but for Jones to beat him out for the job in preseason was all the testimony anyone should need that Mac is a first-rate talent. Oh, but that’s not enough for Nick Wright, who has never missed an opportunity to badmouth Mac Jones.

Nick Saban has referred to the “rat poison” effect whereby players on a winning team start listening to the media sing their praises and get overconfident. Well, the cure for “rat poison” is to listen to your haters, and if I was Bill Belichik, I’d force Mac Jones to watch a highlight reel of Nick Wright disparaging him. Here he is Monday:

 

“You have one way to win: Get out to a lead, run the ball, let (Bill) Belichick work his voodoo on the other coaches and coast in,” Wright said on FS1. “But at the first sign at adversity, at the first sign of, ‘Hey, Mac. Can you complete a pass?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I did that at Alabama a lot.’ It’s like, yeah, it’s a little different. You don’t have three first-round wide receivers running wide open. We need tight windows, we need good decisions, we need third-down conversions. Mac Jones is like, ‘Oh, boy. They didn’t tell me it was going to be like this at the trademark office.’ Instead, he’s 14-of-32, he has a 31 passer rating.
“Sometimes a guy’s numbers are awful and it’s like, oh, he played better than that. Mac’s numbers were awful and he played worse than that. It was a total disaster.”

Make Nick Wright shut his damned mouth — that should be the Patriots’ goal from here on out. Forget about everything else. Never mind who your opponent is, or what the down and distance may be. No, think of that son of bitch Nick Wright, and what he would say if you lose this game, and then play so hard that you shut his mouth.

By the way, I’ve looked at the standings and the schedule for the last two weeks of the regular season, and this scenario occurs: The Chiefs, now 11-4, lose their two final games, while the Patriots, now 9-6, win their two final games. That could conceivably result in a Chiefs-Patriots first-round playoff meeting, and if ever New England needed an incentive to play their hearts out, the opportunity to eliminate Kansas City — and ruin Nick Wright’s entire year — ought to be all the incentive necessary.

Oh, and lest I forget, just in case Nick Wright reads this: You’d better be praying to God that Patrick Mahomes stays healthy. There is a reason, after all, why old-fashioned dropback passers like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers stay around the league longer than run-and-gun types like Mahomes. See, as long he’s in the pocket, a quarterback enjoys special protection under the rules. Once he starts running downfield, however, he’s just another runner, and that involves a greater risk of injury. Take away the amazing mobility — which is what happened to Cam Newton — and the run-and-gun QB can never again be what he once was.

A quarterback like Patrick Mahomes is racing the clock, really, hoping he can become a champion before he suffers the (statistically inevitable) injury as a result of his tendency to run for it whenever the pass protection collapses. It would be poor sportsmanship for me to hope that Mahomes gets hurt, but at the same time, I have a duty — as an objective observer of football — to warn Nick Wright that he’s putting all his eggs into a fragile basket. Maybe the KC QB will miraculously escape the statistical probabilities long enough to take the Chiefs to another Super Bowl, but Nick Wright ought to be a nervous wreck every time his boyfriend Mahomes takes off on one of his downfield escapades.

Karma is proverbially a bitch, and Nick Wright’s piled up enough bad karma that he’ll have no room to complain if the wheel turns and bad things happen to his precious Chiefs. Selah.

 

Kyler Murray wears jersey No. 1, but he’s been playing like No. 2 lately, IYKWIMAITYD. As recently as Dec. 5, the Arizona Cardinals had the best record in the NFL at 10-2, but they’ve now lost three consecutive games, including Saturday night’s 22-16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Why should I care? Because as a Patriots fan, with New England and Indianapolis both in the AFC playoff hunt, I’m cheering against every potential rival, including the Colts, who beat the Patriots last week.

The Cleveland Browns cooperated with my agenda Saturday, losing to the Green Bay Packers, and all I needed was for Kyler Murray and the Cardinals to have a decent game to drop the Colts to 8-7. I mean, Arizona had home field advantage, so this should have been an easy win, right? But no, the Cardinals were a carnival of errors. They took the opening kickoff and started driving, getting a first down at the Indianapolis 40, but then on third-and-3, Murray threw an incomplete pass, so Arizona decides to kick a field goal — and missed! The Colts scored a touchdown to go ahead 7-0, but the Cardinals answered with their own TD — and then missed the extra point! So now Arizona is trailing 7-6, and on their next possession, with a little more than 10 minutes left in the first half, the Cardinals come up on a fourth-and-1 at the Indianapolis 29, and decide to go for it. But they get a false-start penalty, and on fourth-and-6, Murray’s pass is caught at the Indianapolis 17, which should be a first down, but the Colts challenge the play and, after review, it’s ruled that the receiver was out of bounds, so Indianapolis takes over. Later, with about five minutes left in the half, a punt from the Colts pins Arizona back at their own 8-yard line. On third-and-7 from the 11, Murray lines up in the shotgun, the snap is low, and Murray gets called for intentional downing from the end zone, an automatic safety that gives Indianapolis a 9-6 lead.

After an error-filled start like that, the Cardinals did not deserve to win, and they didn’t. It wasn’t so much that the Colts won, but that the Cards lost and, in losing, thereby put more pressure on Mac Jones and the Patriots in today’s crucial game against the Buffalo Bills. As if they needed more pressure, y’know. Damn those Cardinals . . .

 

What happened Saturday night to the Patriots in Indianapolis was a brutal reminder that every winning streak must ultimately end. Not only did the Colts break New England’s seven-game winning streak, but it was the first time Indianpolis had beaten the Patriots since 2009, when Peyton Manning was the Colts’ quarterback — a game remembered by every New England fan as the 4th-and-2. Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor looked very much like the league MVP Saturday, rushing for 170 yards on 29 carries, including the 67-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that capped the 27-17 victory for the Colts.

Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald:

Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones overcame a pair of interceptions to lead three straight scoring drives in the fourth quarter. He went 26-of-45 for 299 yards, two touchdowns and the two picks. Tight end Hunter Henry caught both scores.
The Pats’ special teams proved disastrous all night, starting with a blocked punt returned for a touchdown in the first quarter. All together, they gifted 10 points to the Colts, who produced just 105 yards of offense outside of Taylor.

The blocked punt near the end of the first quarter followed a perfect third-down pass from Jones to Jakobi Meyers that would have been a first down if Meyers hadn’t dropped it. People who didn’t follow Mac Jones as closely as I did during his championship season with Alabama can’t imagine how frustrating it is for Crimson Tide fans to see dropped passes like that. I mean, Devonta Smith never dropped a ball that I can remember, and he certainly never had a drop that hurt the Tide as bad as Meyers’ drop Saturday hurt the Patriots. After the blocked punt (the third time that’s happened to New England this season), the Colts had a 14-0 lead, and the Indianapolis game plan — shut down the Patriots’ running game and force Jones to throw — was already a success, but that one dropped pass made all the difference. Catch the damned ball.

Mac Jones with a DIME by Meyers drops it… pic.twitter.com/s71y6XhZ0o

— ????? (@FTB_Vids_YT) December 19, 2021

Excuse me if I seem to be over-emphasizing this, but my dad played end in high school — earning All-Valley honors — and he couldn’t stand to see a dropped pass. The idea of a professional wide receiver dropping a perfectly thrown ball the way Jakobi Meyers did? Man, I hate to imagine what the old man would have said about that play. On the other hand, because I was watching the game with my brother Kirby (it was on NFL Network, so we went to a restaurant and had dinner while watching it on the big screen), I didn’t really have to imagine it. Anyway . . .

Mistakes cost the Patriots the game, pure and simple. For example, with less than five minutes left in the first half, the Patriots went driving down the field — Jones hit Kendrick Bourne for 15 yards, Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 13 yards, and then Jones hit Hunter Henry for 25 yards to give New England a first down at the Indianapolis 22. On first down, Meyer gains nine yards on an end-around, so it’s second-and-1 at the Colts’ 13 at the two-minute warning. Everybody watching the game had to figure that, at a minimum, the Patriots would get a field goal out of it, and go into the locker room trailing 14-3, but the way they were moving the ball, it seemed likely the drive would end in a touchdown. So, we return from the two-minute warning and tight end Jonnu Smith jumps before the snap, a five-yard penalty that turned it into second-and-6. One play later, on 3rd-and-3, Jones tries to throw to Hunter Henry in the middle of coverage — picked off. Mac took the blame for that:

“I just threw it right to him. It was a good play, but unacceptable. You can’t win until you stop from losing. I mean, I handed the ball to the guy. I did that twice, and that hurt us. I thought the defense played pretty well, and I just shot them in the foot myself by giving them the short field and giving them the ball. That’s just my fault and I’ll learn from it, but I’m not going to be gun-shy or anything. (I’ll) just learn from it and move on.”

Well, yeah, but that false start penalty hurt. How the hell do you get all the way to the NFL and you can’t remember the snap count? The QB can’t say that in a press conference, of course, but from 2nd-and-1, you almost always get the first down, and that five-yard penalty was crucial to why that drive ended in failure. But as bad as it was — and there are no “moral victories” in the NFL — there were a few bright lights in the darkness.

This Jones pass to N’Keal Harry, for example:

N’Keal Harry got ? pic.twitter.com/ixkbUmPWwF

— PFF (@PFF) December 19, 2021

Third-and-6 from his own 42-yard line, Jones drops back all the way to the 31 and then launches a rocket, with Harry making a leaping grab at the Indianapolis 15. A deep pass like that is the perfect rebuttal to the various analysts who keep saying Mac has a “weak arm.”

Also, the critics say, Jones is “not athletic,” but look at him scramble for 12 yards and a first down early in the game:

Mac Jones does a great job of holding onto the ball before scrambling for the first down.

Indy's gonna be swiping at that ball all night pic.twitter.com/jTqIka0kSJ

— Ben Brown (@BenBrownPL) December 19, 2021

OK, so that’s not a Lamar Jackson-level run, but the way critics talk about Mac’s alleged lack of “mobility” (translation: he’s white), you wouldn’t think he was capable of running that far or even escaping pressure in the pocket. But now look at this third-down pass to Meyers:

Mac Jones…

? Climbs the pocket
? Keeps eyes downfield
? Completes the pass
? Gets first down#ForeverNE | #NEvsINDpic.twitter.com/fOZ14zTsld

— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) December 19, 2021

That is an excellent example of football IQ. Jones displayed that eyes-in-the-back-off-his-head sense of the pressure that great quarterbacks have, stepping up away from the pressure and making a tough throw into the middle of the field. As much as Meyers hurt the team with his later drop, he’s usually an excellent receiver — Mac’s favorite target, in fact.

Because Jones is a rookie, and stepping into the gigantic shoes of the GOAT, Tom Brady — “Saint Thomas of Foxboro,” in the eyes of New England fans — the aftermath of Saturday’s loss is going to involve a lot of criticism focused on Mac. This is a week where it will be painful to watch any of the ESPN/Fox News panel shows, as they endlessly discuss whether or not Jones is an “elite quarterback” (a phrase overused by NFL analysts the way “suburban swing voter” is overused by political pundits).

Football is a team sport, and the media obsession with star players — especially quarterbacks — is annoying to me. Whatever anybody says on ESPN, the simple fact is, Mac Jones didn’t lose that game.

Yeah, he threw two interceptions, and his QBR was just 54, but there was plenty of blame to go around. Penalties — dear God, the penalties! The first-quarter drive on which Jones hit that third-down pass to Meyers might have gone all the way, but on 2nd-and-nine, when Jones hit Jonnu Smith for 14 yards, which should have given New England a first down at the Indianapolis 33, Patriots tackle Shaq Mason was called for ineligible receiver downfield. That made it 2nd-and-14, then there was a delay-of-game penalty (Mac’s fault, ultimately), so instead of first-and-10 in Colts’ territory, now the Patriots have it 2nd-and-19 at their own 43. Then on third down, Jones got sacked for a 15-yard loss, so the once-promising drive turned to crap because of mistakes by the offensive line, first Mason’s penalty, and then tackle Isaiah Wynn missing the block that allowed the sack. New England finished the night with eight penalties for 50 yards, which is just unacceptable for a team in the playoff hunt this late in the season. You can’t play sloppy football like that in a crucial game against a team like Indianapolis, which was hungry for a win to keep their own playoff hopes alive. Nevertheless, at 9-5, the Patriots are still very much a contender, leading the AFC East as they get ready for next week’s home game against the second-place Buffalo Bills. Win that game, and the shame of losing to the Colts will be forgotten.

Remember, the only reason I’ve become obsessed with New England this season is because they drafted Mac Jones in the first round, so I now refer to the Patriots with first-person plural pronouns — “we,” “us,” “ours” — the same as I do the Crimson Tide. Jones could become the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to make it to the Super Bowl, and I don’t care what any ESPN “experts” say, I think the kid has what it takes to do it. Oh, he’s not athletic, he’s not mobile, he’s got a weak arm, all the experts say, but look at this clutch pass to Hunter Henry:

Mac Jones throw across the field while being hit to Hunter Henry for the first down!! ? pic.twitter.com/qhGqVNXzwm

— ????? (@FTB_Vids_YT) December 19, 2021

Late in the third quarter, trailing 20-0, third-and-four, under pressure and — BOOM! — he makes an incredible throw across the field for a first down. That drive ended in a touchdown, and the Patriots very nearly came back to win. But OK, it’s football, and sometimes you lose. The test of character is whether you can shake it off and bounce back.

Super Bowl LXVI, baby — I still believe in the dream.

 

Trivia question: Who leads the NFL in scoring?

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor has more touchdowns (16 rushing, 2 receiving) than any other player in the league, for a total of 108 points, but he is not the NFL’s leading scorer. That distinction belongs to New England Patriots kicker Nick Folk, who has kicked 33 field goals and 29 extra points for a total of 128 points so far this season.

The reason I bring this up is because the Los Angeles Chargers passed up three field-goal opportunities Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs, opting instead to go for it on fourth down deep inside the Chiefs’ territory, and as a result lost 34-28 in overtime.

Blame “analytics,” which is what they call it nowadays when geeks with calculators apply statistical formulae to football. Supposedly, “analytics” shows that the odds of converting on fourth-and-2 or whatever favor going for it, regardless of the overall game situation, and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen teams lose winnable games this season by following “analytics.” It’s become a plague on the sport, and I think my brother and I — who were watching the Chargers-Chiefs game because the outcome could affect the Patriots’ postseason chances — were not alone in yelling at the TV: “Kick the damned field goal!”

This brings me back to the subject of Nick Folk, who leads the league in scoring points, and is a major reason why the Patriots are 9-and-4 going into Saturday’s game against the Colts. Under Coach Bill Belichick, New England plays what they call “complementary football,” with all three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams — working together to maximize the team’s chances of victory. This approach explains why the Patriots are near the top of the AFC in wins, despite the fact that their overall offense ranks only 10th in the conference in total yardage. New England win games by playing smart football in every phase of the game. Consider this, for example: Although their defense ranks 9th in the AFC in rushing yards allowed per game (114.5), New England is first in the entire NFL in terms of fewest points allowed by their defense (15.4). How can that be? It’s because Belichick’s approach to defense is “bend don’t break” (a phrase I first saw in a book by Bud Wilkinson back in the day). In other words, Belichick doesn’t panic when the other teams makes a couple of first downs, moving the ball up the field, but instead has his defense focus on not giving up the big plays, counting on the chance that the other team will eventually make a mistake. This is just old-fashioned common-sense football.

As demoralizing as it can be to a defense when the other team is driving the ball up field, good coaches teach the “bend-don’t break” attitude. Don’t worry if the other team is having success moving the ball, just focus on not giving up the big play, and when if they get down near your goal line, that’s OK, because the shorter field favors the defense (less territory to cover) and besides, mistakes happen. Fumbles, interceptions, sacks, penalties — all kinds of things can go wrong for a team on offense, and if the defense will just be patient, avoid mistakes of their own, and focus on each play as it happens, the “bend-don’t-break” defensive philosophy tends to win football games. So, yes, the New England Patriots give up a lot of yards, even while they allow fewer points per game than any other defense in the NFL: Points matter most.

And did I mention that the Patriots’ kicker leads the league in points?

By God, when the Patriots get to fourth down and they’re within field-goal range, you’ll never see Bill Belichick do that “analytics” nonsense. No, they kick the field goal, because that’s smart football.

Let me give you a couple of examples: On Oct. 10, the Patriots took a 1-3 record into a road game against the Houston Texans, one of the league’s doormats. If New England was to have any hope of a respectable season, this was a must-win game, but early in the third quarter, the Texans intercepted a pass, and two plays later Chris Conley threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to put Houston ahead 22-9. After a couple of three-and-out series by each team, the Texans got to fourth-and-2 at their own 36, and then screwed up a punt, which bounced off a player’s head and went out of bounds, giving the Patriots a first down at the Houston 36. Three plays netted only three yards, however, and New England settled for a field goal, cutting the margin to 22-12. On the next series, the Texans got a first down, but then got a holding call and had to punt again, and after a 13-yard return by Gunner Olszewski, New England started from their own 39. They drove all the way to the Houston 14 before stalling, and Folk came on to kick another field goal, to make it 22-15. Early in the fourth quarter, after Houston missed a field goal attempt, New England drove for a touchdown to tie the game 22-22 with 9:31 left to play. The Texans then went three-and-out, and the Patriots took over at their own 13 with 7:15 remaining. Nee England then mounted a 15-play, 84-yard drive that chewed up seven minutes on the clock until, faced with fourth-and-goal at the Houston 3-yard line with 15 seconds left, Nick Folk came on to kick the game-winning field goal.

New England 25, Houston 22 — and Folks’ four field goals made the difference. The second example: Three weeks after beating the Texans, New England had a 3-4 record as they traveled to L.A. to play the Chargers. A win would bring the Patriots to .500, but the Chargers came into the game with a 4-2 record, and New England was the underdog. While I won’t recap the game in detail, the Chargers took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter, but Nick Folk kicked four field goals and the Patriots eventually won, 27-24. In those two crucial games, Nick Folk accounted for a combined 26 points, so don’t tell me that “settling” for a field goal is a bad choice: Kick the damned field goal.

You might think L.A. Chargers coach Brandon Staley would have learned something from getting beat that way by New England, but there he was with first-and-goal at the Kansas City 5 early in the game, and three incomplete passes later, it’s fourth down. Kick the field goal? No, he went for it, another incomplete pass, and the Chiefs took over. Kansas City went 95 yards in 11 plays, chewing up 5:53 on the clock before going ahead 7-0. The Chargers battled back, and were leading 14-10 when they recovered a Chiefs’ fumble with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. L.A. drove to the Kansas City 1-yard-line where, on fourth-and-goal, Staley passed up the chance to kick a field goal that would have put the Chargers ahead by 7. Instead, another pass went incomplete.

Kansas City took the second-half kickoff and drove down to the L.A. 14 before settling for a field goal that cut the Chargers’ lead to a single point, 14-13. On their next possession, the Chargers made it down to the Kansas City 28 where, on fourth-and-2, Staley again decided to go for it and failed. So that’s 9 points Staley rejected in a game where L.A. didn’t kick a single field goal and only punted once — it’s touchdowns or nothing, in Staley’s playbook, and that’s why they lost the game. Because “analytics.”

Believe it or not, Staley defended his decisions:

Chargers coach Brandon Staley isn’t changing his ways: He says he will continue to go for it on fourth down, even after three out of Los Angeles’ five attempts Thursday night failed in a 34-28 overtime defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I felt really comfortable with all those decisions,” Staley said after the loss, which dropped the Chargers two games behind the Chiefs in the AFC West standings with three to play. “That’s the way we’re going to play around here. That’s the way we’re going to play. When we have a quarterback like ours, and we have an offense like ours, that’s the way we’re going to play because that’s how you need to play against Kansas City, for sure. That’s how we’re going to become the team that we’re ultimately capable of being, by playing that way.”
The Chargers entered the game 13 for 21 on fourth downs this season, giving them the fourth-most conversions in the league. Their conversion percentage (61.9) was tied for eighth best in the NFL.
Two of Los Angeles’ failed attempts to convert came inside the Kansas City 5, and another was on the edge of field goal range. The Chargers became the first team to fail twice on fourth-and-goal in a first half since the 1984 Chargers did the same — also against the Chiefs — 37 years ago to the day (Dec. 16, 1984).

You lost a game you could have won, and yet you’re still doubling down? Get back to me in a few weeks, when you’re sitting at home watching the playoffs on TV, loser. After Thursday’s defeat, the Chargers are 15-of-26 (57.7%) on fourth-down conversion attempts, ranked 8th in the AFC in that category — where New England ranks 4th in the AFC. But you see, the Patriots have only gone for it 8 times on fourth down, converting five (62.5%). No team in the AFC has tried fewer fourth-down conversions than New England. And unlike Brandon Staley, Bill Belichick has his team poised to win their division and make the playoffs.

Oh, I almost forgot: Guess who leads the NFL in field goals attempted (36) and field goals made (33)? That would be the New England Patriots.

Of course, there’s no telling how the Patriots will do in their final four regular-season games — Saturday night’s game at Indianapolis will probably be a tough one, because the Colts (7-6) have home-field advantage and are fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive. But I guarantee you this: New England won’t lose because of “analytics.”

Bill Belichick is not stupid.

 

Let’s not mince words about what we witnessed Monday night. What the New England Patriots inflicted on the Buffalo Bills was not merely a defeat, but soul-destroying humiliation. The Bills were emasculated on prime time TV, as the Patriots ran the ball straight down their throats.

It was a brutal spectacle to behold. Over the weekend, I’d published a column at The American Spectator hyping up the game with the expectation that this key AFC game would be the occasion when New England’s rookie quarterback Mac Jones finally silenced the skeptics and haters who have underestimated him. Sure, I’d seen the forecasts for a blustery night in Buffalo, but I had no idea how bad it would actually be — flurries of snow blowing sideways with gusts up to 45 mph.

You are looking live at Buffalo… pic.twitter.com/nJTCm37VrG

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 6, 2021

The goal posts were waggling in the wind like they were made of cheap plastic, and it was obvious that there would be difficulty attempting to pass the ball in such conditions. But the Greatest NFL Coach of the Century, the man with six Super Bowl rings, had a plan — run the ball, then run it some more, followed by run,run, run, ad infinitum.

In the end, New England ran the ball 46 times for 222 and only threw three passes — the fewest passes in a game by an NFL team in more than 40 years. As someone who loves the running game, and often shouts “run the damn ball” at the TV whenever my team is passing too much for my taste, this was like being force-fed a diet of my favorite food.

“No more, please,” I found myself begging, collateral damage in Belichick’s sadistic plot to psychologically destroy the Bills.

So here’s how it went: New England won the coin toss and chose field position that would put the wind at their backs in the second and fourth quarters. That meant they would be playing into the wind — almost impossible to pass, or even to kick a short field goal — during the first and third quarters. The Patriots took the kick off, then run, run, run, punt — three and out. Buffalo ran twice, then tried a third-down pass that fell incomplete, and punted. Then the Patriots — run, run, run, punt — another three and out, except the wind blew the punt sideways and it only went 15 yards, so that Buffalo took over at the New England 40. This looked like trouble, but the Patriots’ defense backed the Bills up to a third-and-nine before disaster struck: New England’s star outside linebacker Matthew Judon jumped offside, giving Buffalo a first down at the Patriot 29 with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

Buffalo’s threat was short-lived, however, as Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s handoff to running back Matt Breida was fumbled, and recovered for the Patriots by defensive end Lawrence Guy. And guess what New England did then? If you guessed “run, run, run,” you’re correct, but on third-and-five, Damien Harris broke through for a 64-yard touchdown.

Damien Harris is GONE. 64-yard touchdown! #ForeverNE

?: #NEvsBUF on ESPN
?: https://t.co/wsVL8IokGf pic.twitter.com/IzeJz7ucf2

— NFL (@NFL) December 7, 2021

It was the longest rushing touchdown for the Patriots since 1997, and it seemed to prove something I’ve always felt about the running game. If you keep pounding away — three yards here, five yards there, run, run, run — the defense will start “packing the box” at the line of scrimmage, so that when you finally break through, there’s nobody in the secondary to stop you. Once Harris found an opening, he was gone.

Because the wind made a point-after kick a doubtful proposition, New England went for the two-point conversion, and succeeded with a run by Brandon Bolden, taking an 8-0 lead. On the next Buffalo possession, the Bills got a first down but then stalled — a holding penalty on third down backed them up to fourth-and-17 — before disaster struck again for the Patriots. At no previous time in the season had tight end N’Keal Harry been used to return punts, and no one has yet explained why he was back deep for New England, when he let the ball bounce off his helmet, a fumble that was recovered by Buffalo at the Patriot 14.

N’Keal Harry’s first punt return of the season, and in these conditions, ends up just as you think it would. pic.twitter.com/oimuzRS81G

— Golden Sports ?? (@GoldenSports_) December 7, 2021

On the very next play, Bills QB Josh Allen threw a TD, and with the extra point, the score was New England 8, Buffalo 7. The Patriots immediately answered, driving down to the Buffalo 23 where Nick Folk kicked a field goal to make it 11-7. It was during this drive that Mac Jones attempted his first pass of the game, a short flare to tight end Jonnu Smith which, under normal conditions, would have been a “gimme.” But these were not normal conditions, and the wind caused the pass to sail high so that Smith only caught it with a tremendous one-handed effort.

Mac Jones first pass attempt goes to Jonnu Smith ? Amazing concentration what a catch! pic.twitter.com/Da08dapGHv

— Boston ?Mike ?? (@boston_sp0rts20) December 7, 2021

After that one pass, New England’s next 32 plays were runs. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Jones threw the ball again, ultimately finishing 2-for-3 for 19 yards. In the third quarter, Buffalo drove down to the New England 20 before stalling and settling for a field goal that cut the Patriots’ lead down to a single point. But on their next possession, the Patriots ran the ball 14 times, chewing up more than eight minutes on the clock before stalling at the Buffalo 16, where Nick Folks’ second field goal made it Patriots 14, Bills 10, with 13 minutes left to play.

Josh Allen and the Bills weren’t ready to quit, though. They drove all the way down to get first-and-goal at the New England 6, but then Judon sacked Allen on second down, Allen’s third down pass fell incomplete, and Buffalo went for a field goal. Hey, did I mention the wind was a factor in this game? The 33-yarder should have been a chip shot for Buffalo’s Tyler Bass, but a gust blew it wide right, and New England took over with a little more than seven minutes left to play. Three plays later, they punted, and Allen brought the Bills back driving down the field. On third-and-14 at the Patriot 18, Allen aimed for the end zone, but what would have been a touchdown pass was broken up by veteran safety Adrian Phillips. Then on fourth down, Allen’s final attempt at a touchdown pass was batted away by cornerback Myles Bryant.

Replay of the incomplete pass to Knox defended by Phillips#Patriots 14 #Bills 10 Q4 pic.twitter.com/Hx87ESL0eZ

— Sports 24/7 (@Sports24x7_) December 7, 2021

PATRIOTS GET THE 4TH DOWN STOP AND THE W

7 straight wins for the AFC’s top team ?

(via @NFL)
pic.twitter.com/NXkFJGhZgE

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 7, 2021

sitting atop the AFC like pic.twitter.com/wqwikoPUyz

— brianna pirre (@bsp_13) December 7, 2021

A hard-fought and memorable game, and one that left Buffalo feeling bitter and embarrassed. There is something about getting pounded in the running game — when you’re stacking up eight, nine, even 10 guys at the line trying to stop it, and you can’t — that is just about the most demoralizing thing in the world. The Patriots imposed their will on the Bills, dominated and humiliated them on national television.

The Patriots were laughing when it was over.

“Hats off to everybody besides Mac (Jones). He didn’t really do nothing besides hand the ball off.” ?

Matt Judon telling it how it is after the Patriots’ offensive performance in Buffalo.

? @Patriots pic.twitter.com/LYLNGwZ9K3

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 7, 2021

ZING! You know you’re winning when you’re ragging on your quarterback like that. Having won seven in a row to run their record to 9-4, first in the AFC, the Patriots now have an 11-day bye week before their Dec. 18 game at Indianapolis. The Titans, Ravens and Chiefs are all 8-4, but even if all three of them win next weekend, New England would still be the top seed in the AFC by virtue of their 7-1 record against conference opponents. As for Buffalo, well, they’ve got to play Tom Brady and the Buccaneers at Tampa next, and it’s unlikely the Bills will be recovered by then from the psychological damage they suffered Monday.

Buffalo is done, finished, broken, and I doubt anyone now would bet against the Patriots taking the AFC East title.

 

Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd posted a video rebutting the frequently heard criticism that Mac Jones lacks arm strength. Because of NFL policy, I can’t embed that video here, but you can click the link and watch five minutes of Jones’s NFL highlights so far his rookie year. What infuriates me about this “weak arm” nonsense is that, as an Alabama fan, I watched Mac Jone repeatedly hit long passes on the way to an undefeated season and the national championship. Watch the highlights from the SEC title game against Florida:

 

Jones completed 33 of 43 passes (76.7%) for 418 yards and five touchdowns in that game. Watch his 31-yard touchdown pass to Devonta Smith here and tell me Jones has a “weak arm” — it’s absurd. If you’re not yet convinced, watch these highlights of Mac Jones in the national championship game against Ohio State:

 

Mack Jones completed 36 of 45 passes (80%) for 464 yards and five touchdowns against Ohio State. Can Mac throw deep? Watch this pass from his own 25 where he hits Devonta Smith at the Ohio State 47.

Now that the Patriots are 7-4, riding a five-game winning streak — with Mac Jones far and away this year’s best rookie quarterback in the NFL — he is under a microscope of media attention. Much of the credit for New England’s turnaround after a 2-4 start goes to the Patriots’ defense, and there are still analysts who express doubt whether Jones has what it takes to be a truly great pro quarterback. He will have the opportunity to silence those critics during the next four games, when the Patriots play the 8-3 Tennessee Titans on Sunday, followed by a Dec. 6 Monday night road game against the 7-4 Buffalo Bills, followed by a bye week before a Dec. 18 game at the 6-5 Indianapolis Colts, and then a Dec. 26 home game with Buffalo. It is entirely possible that the Patriots could win all four of those games, and Mac Jones will have plenty of chances to prove his critics wrong. Make it happen, Mac. Roll Tide!