Mr. Clutch

The Patriots are battling for the crucial home-field advantage down the stretch of the NFL season. Good thing they have Mr. Clutch at the helm, eh? Mr. Tom Brady, that is: all he does is win. Maybe his stats aren't as gaudy as some other QBs we can name, but that just proves how meaningless statistics are. Brady may be 11th in the league in QB rating, but there's no one you'd rather have in the last two minutes, right, Snap Judgment?

And let's not forget the old "Until Manning beats Brady, you have to go with Brady." Something tells me that had Peyton been taking the snaps for the Patriots last night, he wouldn't have thrown 2 interceptions in--yes, the last two minutes. Who was playing with both hands wrapped around his neck last night, Simmons? I mean, this was kind of an important game, wasn't it? Home-field advantage for the playoffs? Good thing they were playing such a weak team, given how crucial the game was. And was that a Tom Brady Face I detected after that last interception? Simmons will have to help me out on that one, since he's the one with the magical powers to read athletes' thoughts based on blank facial expressions.

Amazing how many Tom Brady myths were exploded in a single game. "But it's a single game!" you say. Well of course, all people with common sense realize that. But sports reporters, on the other hand, make a living generalizing from a small, select sample size.

The Daily Bandwagon, meanwhile, resorts to the old "losing is good" cliche:

If anything, the humiliation forces them to re-commit to their goal of repeating. I think it makes them more dangerous.The Steelers may have all but locked up home-field advantage, but the team on a collision course with them for the title game is suddenly even tougher to beat.

All part of Belichick's master plan, no doubt. Why, the man is as wily as Karl Rove!

Shanoff also has a great read on the Terrell Owens situation:

Maybe the team is hedging, to allow for the inspiring Willis Reed-like comeback for the NFC title game or Super Bowl.

Man, can't anybody get injured these days without someone bringing up "Watchu Talkin' About" Willis Reed? The man scored like 4 points in that game! Here's the most likely scenario: if the Eagles make the Super Bowl, TO will come out and play the first couple of series, get a couple of passes thrown his way, maybe one for a key first down. Then he'll sit for the rest of the game. If the Eagles win, they'll talk ad nauseum about how inspired they were by TO's courage. Most likely, though, they will not win, because, of course, they're missing their best receiver.