It was not a stunning display of football, but the Patriots’ win over the Ravens was at least a tense and interesting game down to the last minute of play. New England looked awful, but pulled it together on the last drive, picking their way down the field for a game-winning touchdown with 44 seconds left.
It didn’t hurt that the Ravens went into total meltdown, of course, with 13 penalties for 100 yards in the game, with thirty yards’ worth of unsportsmanlike conduct penalities handed out to Bart Scott for throwing a tantrum after the final touchdown. New England kicked off from the Ravens’ 35 yard line. It couldn’t happen to a better bunch of assholes, as far as I’m concerned.
The Ravens are blaming the officials, with Samari Rolle quoted at length in Michael Wilbon’s column about how the refs screwed them over. Given that Samari Rolle pitched a fit when he got called for illegal contact for grabbing Randy Moss by the head and taking him to the ground like a rodeo star roping a calf, I have approximately zero interest in hearing Samari Rolle’s sad tales about the officiating.
Next week figures to be another tough game for the Patriots, who have to play the Steelers. The game’s in Foxboro, so it will at least be played on solid ground, rather than the sucking swamp that the Steelers call a field. If they get through that, they get the Jets and Dolphins, and then my Giants, so they ought to be able to coast right into the playoffs…