Super Bowl take

You live for this, you know you do: The Monk's Super Bowl take.

The Monk watched the game with Monkette2B and some friends on a buddy's BigScreenHDTV super TV. I'm not sure I've ever seen a more milquetoast tight game. The Patriots have been roundly criticized for being boring and methodical, and they are to some degree. Nonetheless, as a Giants fan, The Monk appreciates methodical teams that WIN. Instead, I think it was the Eagles' collective attitude that deadened the nerves. Some observations:

(1) Donovan McNabb made some of the most horrendous throws this side of Kerry Collins in SB XXXV -- the INT that was called back by penalty, the INT Harrison made on the next play and the wobbler that Tedy Bruschi plucked midway through the fourth quarter. Add those to a couple of bouncers toward open receivers and you wonder how McNabb is the same guy who whipped those two top-notch TD throws to LJ Smith and Brian Westbrook.

(2) I'm glad Deion Branch won the MVP. Brady had a better-than-average game but certainly not transcendant. Brady didn't deserve the honor in SB XXXVI, someone on that oft-maligned-yet-held-the-Rams-to-17-defense did (probably Ty Law). Branch really made some big plays on third downs and had a huge highlight-reel catch that saved TB from a second-half pick.

(3) It's nice that the only man the Browns REALLY looked at to coach them for next season was Romeo Crennel -- the NE defensive coordinator. Crennel is black. In other cases where a team is zeroing in on one white candidate, the team has to virtually beg a black assistant to interview to avoid the fines under the Tagliabue Rule (see Lions, Detroit for application of that rule). No complaints this time, and Crennel is likely to do to the Browns what Marvin Lewis did to the Bengals: screw their heads on straight and get them competitive.

(4) The Pats are a real free-agency dynasty -- they are weak compared to the other dynastic teams in their own sport. Much like the 1996-2000 Yankees, who won 4 WS and two of those were by the worst Yankees teams ever to win ('96 = 92-70; '00 = 87-74), the Pats are a just-know-how-to-win team. Before this year, in this run they had won only one playoff game by more than a touchdown (24-14 2004 AFC title game), they've won their three Super Bowls by three points each, they barely survived the 2002 playoffs thanks to the controversial tuck-rule game, they've been outgained by at least 4 playoff opponents (that's offhand calculating -- all three in 2002 and this Super Bowl). Impressive, but dominant by virtue of knowing how to win, not by crushing teams on the field (contrast 1984, 1989 49ers; 1985 Bears; 1977 Cowboys).

(5) One common element of each of the three Patriots' Super Bowl wins is the complete butt-whipping the Pats' coaching staff has administered to the opponents' staff. In SB XXXVI, the Rams abandoned the run and Hall-of-Fame RB Marshall Faulk for a pass happy offense that was constrained by the Patriots' no-big-plays-allowed defense. Last year, the Pats' offense completely shredded the blitz-happy Panthers' defense and John Fox blew a major decision by going for a two-point conversion early in the fourth quarter when it was not necessary. Other than Jake Delhomme's chuck-and-duck bomb-throwing and some great plays by Muhsin Muhammed, Steve Smith and DeShaun Foster, the Panthers were overmatched (all their TDs were on big plays; they could not sustain any drives against the Pats). This year, Andy Reid's team failed in a number of ways: (a) they did not take advantage of the Pats' secondary with long throws to Owens once they knew he was fully able to play well (and that was apparent early); (b) they overblitzed on third-and-long, leading to key conversions by Brady-to-Branch when the Pats' line picked up the Eagles; (c) the Eagles played WITHOUT urgency down 10 points with 5:40 left. Why were they huddling up and not in a hurry-up offense at that point? The Eagles could have scored in 2 minutes or less, especially since the eventual TD that made it a 24-21 game was a 30-yard bomb. So the Eagles took nearly four minutes to go 49 yards before the TD pass. That's fine if it's a tie-game or in the first half, but not down 10 with < 6 minutes left. Stupid.