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Everyone hates them for being proud of their achievement. What’s more, they don’t get the schtick. They saw Mercury Morris on ESPN talking about being on his block, or whatever. By now everyone saw the Perfectville commercial that was released:

Perfectville

But they also made a version of the commercial that WOULD HAVE BEEN RELEASED if the Patriots had won.

Perfectville (UNRELEASED)

Now can we please stop falling into the media created traps that they have a champagne party everytime the last undefeated team loses. To date, it’s happened twice - once Sunday night and once back in the 90’s or 80’s. And if you still believe these guys are really bitter old men - you are being played.

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Some would call this Karma for a team caught cheating on one occasion, and accused on several more. I call it a deserved ass kicking. The Patriots got found out, and were outlasted by a team that made fewer mistakes and was just as talented on defense as they were on offense. And in typical Patriot fashion, the classlessness was evident:

If he’s going to lose, Bill Belichick would rather be elsewhere

By MJD

Sunday, Feb 3, 2008 11:12 pm EST

On more than one occasion this year, Bill Belichick and the Patriots have run up the score on an overmatched opponent, and forced an opposing coach to sit there and watch his beaten team go through the motions while their heineys were being handed to them.

But when the shoe’s on the other foot, and Bill Belichick’s team has been beaten, he can’t sit there and take the pain for a few seconds.

With :02 left on the clock, and his team just having failed on a last chance 4th down effort, Bill Belichick ran onto the field for a quick handshake, and then bolted for the locker room. Belichick’s an important guy and everything, but I wasn’t aware that the league had given him the authority to decide when games end.

There’s time left on the clock, his team’s been humbled, outplayed, and lost their chance at history … and Bill Belichick doesn’t have the stomach to sit there and absorb the pain until the clock read 0:00.

That’s unsportsmanlike at best, disrespectful at least, and at worst, it makes him a big sissy.

There’ll be lots of time to hate on Bill Bellyache tomorrow. Today is for celebrating the 72 Dolphins - STILL the only undefeated championship team in the history of the NFL. Preach on, Merc! Oh yeah - and the Giants won too.

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I’m seeing more and more parallels between Dolphins’ head coach Cam Cameron and former England national team manager Steve McClaren. Becks came out after getting knocked out of the Euros and said that he didn’t fear the England gaffer:

The former England captain, 32, put the boot in on Michael Parkinson’s final chat show — less than 24 hours after England were knocked out.

Becks said: “I’ve been scared of every manager I’ve had. That included my dad when I was seven or eight.

“Every one of my managers scared me.” Parky, 72, asked: “And Steve McClaren?”

David broke into a grin and said: “I’m a lot more grown up now and a lot braver.”

Similarly Cam Cameron has made no believers about his ability to be a head coach. His in-game tactics, his choice of personnel, and everything in between has failed to produce even one win this season - where every other NFL team has already won 2 games in the era of “Any Given Sunday” parity. Something tells me that his players have had enough too. I know I have: (Copy of original article here)

But the blame for this game does not rest solely on the players. This loss, more than any other this season, is the fault of the Miami coaching staff.

If the Patriots had blown out the Dolphins, one could argue the disparity of points was due to a disparity of talent. But against the previously 2-9 Jets, a team that was an underdog coming into the game, the Dolphins coaching staff was supposed to make a difference.

Cameron and his coaches failed in that regard.

”This was an effort on everybody’s part, it’s not just players,” defensive end Vonnie Holliday said. “It’s players and coaches. I think everyone can look in the mirror, top to bottom, and say they are contributing to being 0-12.”

That sort of contribution will get a coach fired, and though December is not yet the time to fully judge Cameron, the coach’s job security is now a fair topic of conversation in the locker room.

And in that conversation, no one is coming to Cameron’s defense.

I would be more confident if I saw progress in a winless season. Where initially we had blowouts that slowly turned into close games. But it seems to be going the other way. The team is playing with no confidence that they are being put in a position to win. Just like England. And we know how that ended.

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