Rocky Balboa and the NFL

The Best way to beat a team is to let them beat you for 14 rounds

 The classic movie Rocky showed time and again over 18 installments that the best way to win a fight was to lose and be pummeled in every single round and then in the last round, knock out your much larger opponent and then of course scream “YO ADRIENNE” or some sort of ‘GOD BLESS AMERICA” into the microphone after he miraculously knocked out a guy twice his size because his opponent suddenly forgot how to fight or defend after 14 rounds of playing Gladiator.

Week 2 in the NFL showed yet again that some teams will do anything to lose a game after spending 45 minutes dominating them on either side of the ball. In game after game, teams that were dominating and only had to keep doing what they were doing on both sides of the ball, suddenly turned dominating wins into embarrassing losses and or a tie.

Buccaneers v Eagles: This game was not even close for 3 quarters. Ryan FitzMagic was busy making a fool out of me and my criticism of him for the 2^nd consecutive week and DeSean Jackson might be the MVP of the league because he keeps torching people. On defense, the Bucs were eating up Nick Foles and his offense and we were reminded why he was contemplating retirement but then Bucs coaching staff steps in and decides to play it soft on offense, run the ball up the middle and make a game of it for them because, Darn it this is what coaches do. We don’t want to dominate the Super Bowl champs and be the talk of the town tomorrow. We want everyone to read the score and think it was a lucky game, not a beat down.

Vikings v Packers: The best way to beat the Pack is to let Aaron Rodgers, the best QB in the game, take a large lead against you going into the 4^th quarter. This way head coach Mike “McBurgler” McCarthy can steal victory from the jaws of defeat. His specialty is doing this in the playoffs when they have a large lead and then he takes his below average defense and plays them even softer and then has Rodgers hand the ball up the middle twice before throwing a bubble screen for no gain on 3^rd and long. Last week we saw what happened to the Bears after they injured Rodgers and dominated the game.   There must be some unwritten law in the NFL that if you have a large lead, you must let the other team come back. The next thing you know the dominant Bears defense was sliced and diced into defeat. This time it was McBurglar’s turn to allow the Vikings, who were held to 7 points through 3 quarters to put up 22 points in the 4^th and tie the game. Way to go McBurgler, you stole the kid’s meal from Rodgers and the Pack once again.

Raiders v Broncos: The Chucky “Cheese” Gruden special was on full display here and despite the media obsession of their darling Chucky from the horror movies, he is more like the harmless mouse at Chuck E.  Cheese. He did this exact same game plan year after year in Tampa after winning a championship his first year with the Bucs. The game plan is to get a lead in the 2^nd or 3^rd quarter and see if you can work the clock down to zero with the win. Case Keenum just rocked him for 10 points in 5 minutes!  Derek Carr was told to put away his rifle the last few possessions so the Raiders could rely on a soft defense, that up until the 4^th, had played well.

Browns v Saints: The Brownies defense was stifling Drew Brees all game and quite frankly, the writing is on the wall for Drew’s career. Father time is undefeated (Except when it comes to Rocky, he won another fight at age 65) and Brees is hitting a wall. However he is still an all time great, so instead of making a 40 year old struggling guy continue running for his life, the Browns throttle it back and the Hall of Fame QB slices and dices them and suddenly they put 18 on the board in the 4^th and the Browns lose yet again. While the press is focusing on the missed kicks and worst kicker in the NFL, how does a team that has not won a game since the Reagan administration “Play it safe”?   What do you have to lose besides yet another game?

Giants v Cowboys: Although the Boys won this game, they went out of their way to make this interesting. For three quarters Eli Manning was under attack and on the ground. OBJ was a non factor and the ‘Boys had them stopped cold. But then they too decide to throttle back, give Manning some time and he sliced them up for 13 points late in the 3^rd and into the 4^th quarter. Personally, I would have kept the throttle on if for no other reason than to force them to remove Manning for fear of injury and send a message to them for the next meeting.

Patriots at Jacksonville : A funny thing happened on the way to the ball…

If you watched this game, you knew the Jags beat Brady like a drum and were rolling up points and yardage on an awful Pats defense. This game wasn’t even close until somebody played the Rocky theme and suddenly the Jags were doing the exact same thing they did in the AFC championship game last year. Passive on offense and falling back on defense and Brady started carving them up until a light went on in the head of Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone: Screw this, get after Brady again on defense, and be aggressive on offense. At one point late in the game, Belichick on the Pats sideline looked so confused because with 5 minutes left, the Jags were throwing the ball over the field. Belichick is a genius because he knows all the other coaches are idiots and will run strait up the middle on the first 2 downs. He stacked the line and instead of the obligatory run, Bortles was bombing away to an empty secondary and putting up touchdowns and first downs.

Is it possibly that other teams may follow this magical plan for beating Brady and Belichick?  Most likely not, but remember the head of football in Jacksonville is none other than former Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin who always had the formula to beat the Pats.   We might be seeing these same two teams again in the AFC Championship game while all these other talented teams are home because they found a way to prevent victory and allow Rocky to knock them out with 10 seconds left in the final round.

-BSB