New England, the Patriots, and We

Ah, the 80's were a simpler time, when dorks were free to run about doing dorky things. Oh, and everyone was apparently a dork, so it was a free for all for goofy behavior. If you think of a musical video from Super Bowl XX between the Bears and the Patriots, surely the first thing that pops to mind is the Super Bowl shuffle that the Bears put together BEFORE the playoffs even started. That would be the height of hubris, if not for the simple fact that the Bears won the Super Bowl easily...It's not bragging if you can back it up.

However, despite the fact that we have hindsight which helps us to see 20-20 about the outcome of that particular Super Bowl. (A Bears victory by a blowout 46-10 score.) Back in January 1986, some people in the Boston area put together this little ditty with thoughts that they would actually beat the Bears instead of getting waxed like a new convertible sports car recently purchased by a man in mid-life crisis mode. In a way, it's kind of refreshing to see these hopeful fans mere days before their dreams are shattered into a million tiny pieces. I wonder if they actually believed they would beat the steamroller from Chicago?

Ah well, this goofy video is too silly not to share. I almost feel like I'm piling on the Patriots fans who just this evening suffered an embarrassing thumping by the Saints on Monday Night Football, but I don't really like the Patriots much, so just call this a little extra dose of schadenfreude. Without further ado...New England, the Patriots, and We!

Bill Belichick's 4th and 2 decision: The Official Vertically Striped position

A little over a year ago, Mike Shanahan, then head coach of the Denver Broncos, made an all or nothing decision which required gaining two yards to either win or lose the game. It was the infamous Ed Hochuli game; The Broncos had just benefited from a horrible referring decision. Denver scored a touchdown on a four yard pass from Jay Cutler to Eddie Royal with twenty-four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to make the score 38-37 pending the extra point. At this point, Shanahan made a gutsy decision, he kept the offense on the field to go for two to win the game rather than kick the extra point to tie the game up and send it to overtime. The try was successful, as Cutler once again found Royal in the South end-zone of Invesco Field, and the crowd erupted with approval. After the game, Shanahan was universally praised for his gutsiness and unconventional thinking. His defense had been run over, and rather than trust his fate to the coin flip, he decided to put the matter into the hands of his offense. The gamble worked, and Shanny was a genius, or so said the punditry across the sporting universe.

From the ESPN.com recap game page:

Showing ultimate confidence in his offense and maybe an equal dollop of distrust in his defense, Mike Shanahan went for the 2-point conversion with 29 seconds left and Jay Cutler hit rookie Eddie Royal over the middle to give the Denver Broncos a 39-38 win over San Diego on Sunday.

"Sometimes you have to go with your gut," Shanahan said. "I just felt like it was a chance for us to put them away. I didn't want to count on the coin flip. I wanted to do it then, and obviously it worked out."

From a Denver Post article by Mike Klis:

What's a bigger gamble — asking the offense to convert for one play from 2 yards out, or risk asking the defense to stop the Chargers? "At some point you need to ask, what are the percentages?" said Chargers coach Norv Turner. "He made the right call."

Okay, not everyone agreed with it. From Bernie Lincicome of the defunct Rocky Mountain News (Although I consider a Bernie Lincicome objection to be further verification of the correctness of the call):

The Broncos won a football game, one rare and remarkable, and, yes, there was a football game there under all the pinwheels and the panting, even when the Broncos coach made absolutely the wrong choice when it mattered most. And got away with it.

Anyhow, a year ago Shanahan and the Broncos gambled and won, and the community of football generally agreed with the decision because it worked. Also, the media were so busy wringing their hands over the absolutely atrocious Hochuli call of a non-fumble on what was clearly a Jay Cutler fumble which was recovered by San Diego that they only gave half of the attention of that game to the actual winning decision and focused just as much if not more on the one horrendous officiating call. My point is, that from my recollection of that day and it’s aftermath, and verified by my reading up on the archives of what was said that day…people agreed with the call because they had access to the results and the results were positive.

Now, flash forward to a year or so later when Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots decided to gamble on a 4^th and 2 at their own 28 yard line with 2:08 remaining in the game. It’s not completely analogous, but it is close enough to make my point. The Patriots were up by 6, and a successful conversion all but ices the game, however, a failed conversion does not mean that a loss is certain; it just makes it much more probable. So actually, Shanahan took the bigger risk last year and was praised for it because it worked. If Shanahan’s gambit didn’t work, the game was definitely over for the Broncos. The Pats still would have a chance even if they failed.

This week, Belichick is getting crucified because he failed on a play that actually was less risky. Yes, giving Peyton Manning the ball at the 28 with two minutes to go is tough, but it’s not impossible that the defense can keep the Colts out of the end zone. I keep hearing how Belichick was showing how he didn’t believe in his defense, but couldn’t he sell his decision by saying that he was showing faith in both his offense AND defense by going for the jugular? Belichick could say that he believed that his defense could bail him out if the offense failed. Sure, that’s more than a little bit of spin, but logically it makes sense, and Belichick could surely sell that to his players and possibly the media, right?

My initial reaction watching the game was that I thought Belichick was an idiot, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Convert and victory is certain (and to be fair, after watching the replay it sure looked like the spot was an absolute dreadful piece of officiating), however if you fail even then not all hope is gone that you can win the game. Plus, the conventional “safe” play involved punting the ball to Peyton Manning. If Patriots punter Chris Hanson hits his average punt, which is 39.6 yards, you’re somewhere around the 32 or 33 yard line with Manning needing to go sixty-seven yards to win with two minutes to play with and two timeouts. Sure, that’s a good deal harder than going 28 yards, but either way, it’s far from unlikely that Peyton doesn’t do it. So rather than just giving Manning the ball, Bill tried to take all the suspense out the outcome by taking a reasonable chance at trying to get 2 yards with Tom Brady for the win rather than leaving it up to a defense that had already surrendered two fourth quarter touchdowns.

Yes, it was a risk, and I understand the side which says that they would punt, however, I think punting would have been just as large of a risk without the potential to decide the game in your favor. To hear pundits denigrating Belichick saying he is a complete moron and made an absolutely brain-dead decision because of his hubris seems disingenuous as many of these same folks praised Shanahan a year ago for making a similar decision with even more stark consequences for failure. At worst, when you factor in the positives for a successful conversion versus the negatives for a failure, Belichick’s decision was a coin flip where it was equally risky either way. Punting is what traditionalists do without thinking or without factoring in probabilities. I think Bill made an informed decision and decided to be risky because he felt it gave his team the best mathematical chance to win the game. I’m not going to kill him for that, even if I probably would have punted myself. In fact, I salute him as a visionary who rejects conventional thinking. If you’re only doing something because “That’s the way we’ve always done it” and you aren’t factoring in anything else other than tradition, you’re not thinking.

Sure, anyone with access to the results afterwards can make a more informed decision because hindsight is always 20-20, but in the moment, I don’t think that was a bad call. It only had a bad result, and everyone loves to judge decisions retroactively based on results. The Patriots didn’t have access to the results, and made a decent decision based on probability. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take a shower. All this defending Bill Belichick and the hated Patriots is making me feel dirty!

My NFL Network audition tape and photos from the wacky Broncos retro day.

So, I'm hoping to get a gig announcing NFL games. I think I do a pretty professional job as a TV analyst. Granted, I probably wouldn't be able to scream and yell and celebrate when the Broncos score, which would be difficult, but I'm at least as good as Joe Buck.

Sunday was a good time out at Invesco with my brother Bruce, it helped that the Broncos took down the Pats and that we got to enjoy the so ugly they are beautiful Vertically Striped Socks uniforms to which I am so partial. Here are a few photos from the game...

As you can clearly see, I came dressed for the occasion!

Vertically Striped Socks forever! There will be very few opportunities to wear these and actually be appropriate, so I took advantage of the situation.

Our season tickets aren't too shabby!


Both teams looked cool on Sunday.

Even if he didn't play well, Tom Brady looked good.

The retro flag was a nice touch.

Even the cheerleaders got into the retro spirit, those pom-poms are so large they had their own weather systems around them.


Man I love those crazy threads!

Even the scoreboards were retro, they would show replays in color, but most of the time the jumbotron was made to look like an old school black and white TV. This was cool for about three minutes, but it got very old very fast. One thing that was interesting is how much different the uniforms looked in black and white. Yellow doesn't translate AT ALL in black and white.

There was cool retro stuff...

...everywhere.

I am still trying to figure out how Jabar Gaffney thought to twist his socks to make them look like a barber pole. Very creative!



More

Cool


Photos

I seriously took over fifty pictures by halftime, I went a little nuts.


And Bucky was there to look over it all.
(Yes, the horse on the stadium is named Bucky. Seriously.)

Broncos Gameday Recap: Game #5 - vs Patriots

Brandon Marshall hauls in a first half touchdown pass.

I believe! The Broncos Kool-Aid tastes delicious, another glass please! 5 and OH! On a chilly October afternoon dressed in mustard yellow, the Denver Broncos shot out to their best record since the last year they won a Super Bowl by bringing down the team many pundits had penciled in to the Super Bowl for the AFC.

The Broncos offense celebrates a game tying fourth quarter 98 yard touchdown drive.

For the second straight week, the Broncos spotted the opposition a 10-0 lead, and for the second straight week, they completely shut down their opponents in the second half and stormed back to win an exciting game. In the fourth quarter they were somehow able to hold the Patriots three different times on the same drive. Thanks to the Broncos inability to avoid dumb penalties on punting plays, they gave the Patriots three opportunities to salt away the game, but each time the defense came out and forced yet another punt. Finally, with less than ten minutes to go, they were able to avoid giving the Patriots another first down via penalty on a punting play, but then the ball was downed at the 2. Channeling his inner Elway, Kyle Orton led the Broncos on a 98 yard touchdown drive to tie up the game and force overtime. The Broncos won the coin toss, and never let the Patriots touch the ball, marching to the Patriots 22 yard line, where Matt Prater slammed the door shut on Patriots to seal the overtime win with a 41 yard field goal. No matter how many times I blinked, the scoreboard kept reading Final Score in OT: Denver 20 New England 17.

Matt Prater bangs home the winning three points in OT.

As I walked out of Invesco Field on Sunday, I sounded much like Jack Buck after Kirk Gibson hit his improbable World Series home run in 1988. I just kept saying, “I don’t believe what I just saw!”

It is time to believe in these Broncos. In what is surely the most surprising start to a Broncos season in their entire 50 year history, Denver has bolted out confidently to a
5-0 start in a season where I only predicted they would get four wins the entire year. This is why I don’t gamble, my crystal ball is notoriously shaky.

No truth to the rumor that Tony Scheffler can leap small buildings in a single bound.

The amount of surprise to this start is hard to chart. After a tumultuous off season, the Broncos faithful were ready to toss Josh McDaniels onto the first bus out of town, now he could run for mayor and win in a landslide. The Broncos defense, widely regarded as terrible and officially ranked as 29th out of 32 last year on the official NFL website has suddenly turned into an impenetrable force. The Broncos are only giving up an average of 8.6 points per game. In one off season they have somehow gone from tin foil to an iron wall. Losing Jay Cutler barely has mattered at all, and this team is declaring itself to be a force in the AFC. Who knew? Everyone knows now, and I am firmly a believer now. Against all odds, The Broncos are actually a good football team.

Positives from the game:

The defense stuffed the Patriots all afternoon.

The Defense: In what is quickly become a broken record in the positive category, the Broncos defense played fast, smothering, aggressive, good defense. Although they only recorded 1 sack all day, they clearly were affecting Tom Brady with their pressure, and they held the strong Patriots offense in check. This defense is solid.

Josh McDaniels got a bit emotional after the game, and it was awesome!

Josh McDaniels: This is exactly what I want in my head coach: Aggressive play calling when the situation called for it, maintaining belief in his team, and genuine emotion and enthusiasm when something great is accomplished. I have gone from hoping he got fired before the season began to absolutely loving the guy in a little over a month. It’s amazing what winning your first five games can do for your reputation around these parts. Just like the Broncos, I now believe in Josh McDaniels.

Kyle Orton looked amazing on Sunday, he played well too!

Kyle Orton: Sadly, he tossed up his first interception of the season, but to be fair it was on a Hail Mary on the final play of the first half, so I’m going to go ahead and say that it doesn’t count. However, on the plays that did count, Kyle Orton was extremely solid. His passes were accurate and he led the Broncos on methodical drives, and was very clutch in the 4th quarter and overtime. He outplayed Tom Brady, and looked like a stud quarterback. I really can’t say a single bad thing about KO’s game on Sunday. He was perfect for Denver.

Brandon Marshall breaks up what could have been a crippling interception in overtime on the next to last play of the game.

Brandon Marshall: Marshall had eight catches for 64 yards and a pair of 11 yard touchdown catches. He had a ton of clutch grabs, and is starting to look like the dominating receiver that the Broncos need him to be. Plus, on the next to last play of the game, he played the role of defensive back as he kept a rare errant throw from Kyle Orton from being intercepted by Shawn Springs at a most inopportune time.

Eddie Royal had a great 10 catch game.

Eddie Royal: While not spectacular, he was consistently solid, and pulled down a whopping ten catches for 90 yards. He was the perfect compliment of possession receiver to Brandon Marshall’s explosive #1 receiver.

Man do I dig those socks!

The Uniforms: Obviously, since the name of my blog is VerticallyStripedSocks.com, I probably am going to like these retro uniforms. I have to say, that after seeing them in person on the field, I am even more happy about them. I’ll be the first to admit that they are uglier than a Boston sports fan’s attitude after yesterday’s games, but the Brown and Yellow duds are so ugly that they are beautiful. In no way do I support moving to those crazy threads full time, but for a one time thing, they were about as cool as it gets. The Brown helmets were cool, the bright yellow jerseys were cool, naturally I thought the socks were awesome, I even liked Jabar Gaffney’s sock swirls. It was a lot of fun to bring back a part of the past that I was to young to have ever been able to see first hand. The fact that they won in those uniforms was even better!

I'm not a big fan of the Patriots, but I totally love their retro uniforms.

I have to even give credit to New England who broke out the glorious Pat Patriot uniforms. New England should return to using those uniforms immediately, as they are far superior to the Flying Elvis uniforms they have worn over the past decade plus.

"Do you have any Rocket Pops?"

Heck, even the referees got into the throwback spirit, although their uniforms looked suspiciously like ice cream men, I wasn't sure if Bill Belichick was going to challenge a play or order a Dilly Bar.

Negatives from the game:

Knowshon Moreno loses a 1st quarter fumble.

Knowshon Moreno: Although Knowshon did a lot very well, his fumble in the first quarter is disturbing. He is putting the ball on the turf a lot more than I’d like to see, but he did hang on tightly for the rest of the game, which was good. His 88 yards rushing were fantastic, and he is starting to show some real signs that he is going to be a legit back.

Special Teams: Between Matt Prater missing a 1st quarter field goal to the Broncos having to stop the Patriots three times on a critical fourth quarter drive due to multiple penalties on the punting team, it was not the finest hour for the Broncos special teams. I imagine Josh McDaniels will be discussing the efforts with Broncos Special Teams coach Mike Priefer this week.

As good as Josh McDaniels was, he needs to learn to not always drop the red replay challenge flag.

McDaniels replay challenges: As good as McDaniels was on Sunday, knowing when to throw the replay challenge flag was not a strong point. Challenging Moreno’s fumble was foolish, as it was pretty obvious that the ball was out, but even worse than that, challenging the 3 yard pass that was originally called a completion to Chris Baker early in the second quarter was a huge tactical error. Even though it was obvious that the call was wrong, you can not waste your last challenge right there. NFL coaches are only allotted two challenges a game unless they get both of their first two challenges correct, in which case they are awarded a third challenge. Since Josh had already missed on one challenge, challenging that 3 yard gain was his final challenge for the game. It was silly to waste it debating a three yard gain for the Patriots. If the zebras had made a game changing bad call later in the game, the Broncos would have been unable to challenge. You can’t give up your final challenge over a petty three yards on a second down play. It was McDaniel’s only major tactical error of the day, but it could have been huge, thankfully it wasn’t.

Bronco offense on 3rd and 1: In what can only be described as a lingering problem, the Broncos seem completely unable to get a single yard when they really need one. As once again this week, they were stuffed multiple times in short yardage situations. The offensive line, while providing stellar pass protection, is just not getting off the line enough to allow the running backs to pick up short yardage plays. This could be a problem down the line if not corrected.

Even the referees are believing in the Broncos now!

Final Thought: This was a glorious week for Denver. Not only did they showcase their sartorial splendor by having the guts to wear the yellow and brown threads, a look that inspired fans to literally set fire to the uniforms in the 60's, but they made it look good. To do it one better they even pulled out a win in the most exciting and meaningful NFL game of the week to raise their record to a head scratching 5-0. The Broncos have done it, they have made a believer out of even me. GO BRONCOS! I BELIEVE!