Submitted by Alfred J. Lemire, Oct 22, 2007 14:29

Wrote Mr. Barra: "Brady came back in for the sole purpose of tying a team record sixth TD pass (which he promptly did, 16 yards to Wes Welker). Not a league record, mind you, but a team record, set by one of those great Patriot passers such as Drew Bledsoe or Doug Flutie or someone else. Actually, I can't remember any other New England passers, and none of them were great anyway. "It was a crass, classless act by Bill Belichick, the crassest, most classless coach in the NFL, done in the manner of a college coach who lets his quarterback humiliate a beaten opponent to impress the BCS or Heisman voters." Brady re-entered the game after a Miami player intercepted a pass for a score, producing 42-21 with 10:30 to play. Two paragraphs further in the story, Mr. Barra wrote, "There are, after all, few games that feature a 29-point fourth-quarter comeback — or few games that need to. Houston QB Sage Rosenfels, coming off the bench for starter Matt Schaub, threw four fourth-quarter TD passes, though a couple of them might not have been necessary had he not also thrown three second-half interceptions." 42 minus 21 leaves 21 points. Same day, a team won after being down by 29 points. A Pats loss was not impossible: teams can score three TDs quickly. This writer does not respect Bill Belichick. I've never cared for coaches who try to steal each other's signs--was a sign stolen in a famous Giants-Dodgers game? Belichick should have been barred from coaching for a year for his Jets stunt, which violated a league rule. (Perhaps the man was not tossed out of coaching for a year because the rule violation did not clearly incur such a penalty.) But sometimes his critics err. Last week, the Patriots scored a TD long after the outcome was clear. But there was short yardage and the call was for the ball to go to Kyle Eckel, a Naval Academy anchor graduate drummed out of service, who's a marginal pro football player. One suspects Belichick wanted him to remember scoring a professional TD. Similarly, Belichick let Doug Flutie dropkick a field goal--on Flutie's exit from pro football. Belichick is imperfect, so committed to victory that he is heedless of ethical restraint. Was it Mr. Barra who wrote about what Belichick and Marion Jones did? Needless. Anyone who appears to be proud of being a best buddy of a rock croaker and shrieker--in Belichick's case, someone called Jon Bon Jovi--and wears grubby clothing on the sideline doesn't have much class. He's no Peyton Manning. But, though crass, he's not entirely classless. He did well by Vinny Testaverde, after all. I hope he'll wind up handling Troy Brown with some dignity, as that worthy exits. (I suspect Mr. Brown is in some icebox, to be thawed if and when one of the team's wide receivers goes on IR.) The Red Sox have risen again. . . . Notre Dame will Rise Again! Remember the Gipper!

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