Originally posted by The Hurricane
I couldn\'t be happier.
No one will ever remember that Vinatieri missed two kicks, only that he kicked the game winner.
No, only Patriot fans will remember that. Everyone else will remember that The Patriots played good enough to win, but not really that good. If you take in account a couple things.
John Fox and his 2 pt conversion. Missed it, which forced the 2nd POINT conversion and missed that.
Bad clock mangement on the Panther\'s side. They was doin\' great, movin\' right down the field and lost track of the fact they left New England to much time to get into field goal range.
As for Brady being so good. What the hell are you smoking? Who has won the last big games for Patriots? The friggin\' kicker. Brady rarely ever get\'s far ahead in a big game. It always comes down to 3 pts. He simply is not that good and the Panther\'s proved that tonight.
Yes, the Patriot\'s won, but it was not that impressive of a win. They had great field position how many times? And they botched it almost everytime. How was the special teams for the Patriots? Vinetari missed two easy field goals, punter\'s first punts didn\'t go over 30 yards . What was Brady doin\'? Not a damn thing. Two five yard passes for TD\'s. Hardly impressive, when you take in account one of them was from the Carolina 20 due to Jake\'s fumble.
Yes, they won, but not because they are the "greatest". They won because the Panther\'s need some more work. More clock mangement and John Fox needs alittle more foresight. He was to eager to close the game and it costed the Panthers. On the other hand, kudos to Jake. Yes, he fumbled the ball - but what did he do? Instead of gettin\' in the dumps, he came out and scored. He done it everytime. The Patriots would get ahead and he\'d take his team in 2 mintues, the lenght of the field and score. That\'s the sign of a good quaterbook and for a rookie, it\'s damn impressive.
Here\'s to next year!
