There was a particularly important game of football last night

February 4th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

We’ll get to the real reason to elicit actual emotion about last night’s game — Mercury Morris — in a little bit, but in the meantime, some assorted thoughts:

– The talk at the day job today has been the defensive mastery on both sides of the ball. While that’s partially true, watching last night I didn’t feel like I was watching a defensive test of wills. I felt like I was watching two teams play relatively conservative football. Without sounding too much like Bill Simmons this morning (whose column does the graceful loser bit quite well, actually), where did the aggressive, let’s-see-if-you-can-stop-this Patriots offense go? When did the screen pass become such a regular part of their arsenal? Why all the conservatism? the few downfield plays the Pats did attempt were usually poor throws by Brady, so maybe the Patriots were right to pull the reins in a little bit. Still, I wanted the big-dick Patriots back. They were more fun to hate, and infinitely more fun to watch.

– I know football locker rooms are a haven for repressed homoeroticism, but Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau took it a bit too far last night. I would find a photo, but I’d rather not relive their celebration of Randy Moss’ go-ahead touchdown. Ew.

– Speaking of Moss, he might be the only Patriots player worthy of pity today. He reformed his act this year, supressed that me-first instinct that I’d grown to love about him, and just as he does all that, a Super Bowl is stolen from him at the last minute by … Eli Manning. It just goes to show you: teamwork and selflessness are vastly overrated.

– Here’s the question I asked myself after the Patriots lost: What will they be like next year? Will they use this as ever-more fuel for their stupid “no one respects us” fire? Or will they come out flat, as mortals again, last night the final throes of their dynasty? They’ll still be every bit as stacked offensively next year, but it’s hard not to think how last night’s loss resembled the last days of the Yankee dynasty, when an aging behemoth lost to a random plucky underdog (and when Luis Gonzalez hit the least-convincing World Series-winning RBI of all time). Time will tell.

Phew. That was kind of a lot of talk about football this early in the morning. I need a beer.