This team has it all, talent included
"If we get stopped on a third down, people will probably say, `Belichick confused Peyton Manning,' and that won't be true. It will be because they wouldn't let us play pitch and catch. The reason these guys win is because they have solid players." -- Peyton Manning,
January 16, 2004 "I couldn'a done it without the players." --Casey Stengel, circa 1950
"I got skillz." --Tim Hardaway, early '90s
FOXBOROUGH -- So do the New England Patriots.
The Patriots are heading to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years for many reasons. They have sound management. They have truly outstanding coaching. And they have players, who, when the game begins, can play some very identifiable football. They are not marionettes being manipulated by puppeteers Belichick, Crennel, and Weis. It is time to put to rest the idea that the Patriots are the miracle creation of mad-scientist coaches.
"Maybe I'm wrong," said Damien Woody, who was forced to watch his team's 24-14 victory over the Indianapolis Colts from the sideline, "but how can you possibly win 14 in a row if you don't have any talent? Coaching can only take you so far."
"You'd think people would start to figure it out by now," said Tedy Bruschi.
Bill Belichick didn't produce three interceptions, one of which rated about a 9.8 on the pure athleticism scale of 10. Ty Law did. Romeo Crennel didn't plant Peyton Manning on his backside three times. Jarvis Green did. Belichick didn't separate the great Marvin Harrison (3 catches for 19 yards) from the football with a superb shoulder hit. Rodney Harrison did. Charlie Weis didn't play another one of those efficient just-good-enough-to-win games from the quarterback position. Tom Brady did.
The coach and his staff are superb, worthy of the highest accolades. The Patriots are always wonderfully prepared. But when the ball is kicked off someone has to run block, someone has to pass block, someone has to tackle. Someone has to run routes, someone has to catch the ball, someone has to run with the football, someone has to cover potential receivers,
and someone has to exert pressure on the passer -- especially this passer. Among the people who do these things for the best team in the American Football Conference are individuals named Andruzzi, Light, Koppen, Bruschi, Vrabel, Phifer, Brown, Givens, Smith, Law, Harrison, Poole, McGinest, Hamilton, and Green, and there are plenty more where these guys came from. The Patriots have beaten the Colts twice this year, once indoors on the nice carpet and once outdoors with a little, you know, weather
going on, and the reason is they happen to have more good players. Or, at least, they have more people who are capable of playing football well when it matters, which is pretty much the same thing. Only a knucklehead would fail to understand that. Indianapolis cornerback Nick Harper is one such knucklehead.
"We knew we were the better team, but they wanted it more than we did and they made plays that we didn't," opined Harper.
His coach knew better.
"They have got some outstanding guys," said Tony Dungy. "They can do a lot with their rush because they have got seven guys and they can play any combination of them, and they are a really talented group, and they know how to use them well. They have won 14 straight games for a reason. They are good players, and they are well coached."
Brady excepted, what marquee names they possess are basically located on the defensive side of the ball. Law, yesterday's MVP, Richard Seymour, the great all-purpose defensive lineman, and Willie McGinest, another uncategorizable but immensely valuable defensive player, are the only Patriots thus far headed to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl. But safety Rodney Harrison could -- OK, should -- be joining them, and there are a few others who would fit nicely with those other stars, beginning with Bruschi and Mike Vrabel.
As far as the offense is concerned, is there a receiver in football you'd rather have on third and 8 than a healthy Troy Brown (7 catches for 88 yards in this rather big game)? And while names such as Joe Andruzzi and Dan Koppen don't stir any national pulses, you don't see Brady staring up at the sky too often, do you? Those guys with the thick necks and monster thighs must be doing a pretty good job, no?
Jarvis Green must have some talent if he can come up with three sacks in a game of this magnitude. In fact, major props had to go to the entire defensive line, because they exerted
great pressure on Manning when Crennel called very few blitzes. And as far as the secondary goes, the skills don't begin and end with Law and Harrison. "Nobody talks about Ty Poole," said Harrison, "but he had a Pro Bowl year. We could not do the type of things we do on defense, with the disguises and the pressure, if Ty Poole couldn't hold up." The Patriots now have not merely a good, but a great secondary, and that's non-negotiable.
"I had seen all week what that secondary was getting ready to do," Brady explained, "and I said, `Oh, god, I'm glad I'm not playing quarterback against those guys this week."
People aren't too thrilled about having to play against you, either, Tom.
Nick Harper was right about one thing: the Patriots did make more plays than the Colts. But they made them because they have talent and because their coaches put them in the proper position to implement that talent, as any good coaching staff does. But they didn't win simply because they wanted it more. They won because they had great coaching and great talent.
C'mon, they've won 14 straight. Fourteen straight! Even Bill Belichick runs out of schemes after a while.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is ryan@globe.com.
