Hubris: Why The New England Patriots Won't Go Undeafeated

Humble Pie? More like Hubris Cupcakes. That's what the Patriots have been chowing down on all year as they've strived for a perfect record and a big F YOU to all their detractors. Turd Ferguson (it's a funny name) tells you why they're primed for a letdown.

by Turd Ferguson (Scribe)

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Sports

November 27, 2007

New England Patriots

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All this week in the world of the NFL, we kept hearing about how the Patriots are staying grounded despite their unbeaten record and the ridiculous numbers they've been throwing up on their opponents.

About how Bill Belichick was making sure his players got their full serving of "Humble Pie" for Thanksgiving.

About how, by going for it on 4th down late in games where they had insurmountable leads, the Pats weren't running up the score, but "giving the other team's defense an opportunity to stop them."

What a load of B.S.

If there is one thing that will bring the Patriots down this year and prevent them from reaching their goal of going 19-0, it's the dreaded stench of hubris that is now emanating from the New England area.

Try as they might to convince you otherwise, the Pats are full of themselves, and they're starting to lose their grip.  All the PR and talk about "staying grounded" and "Humble Pie" is just that much more indicative of a team that can't stop thinking about its legacy—even before that legacy has been set in stone.

Want evidence? Look now further than the Pats' narrow 31-28 victory last night over a banged up Philadelphia Eagles team starting their back-up quarterback.

A.J. Feeley and the Iggles came to play, matching points with the Pats throughout the game and dispelling the irresistible force / immovable object combination that New England had brought to the table against lesser opponents all year.

Philadelphia may have been a perennial playoff team in years past, but they certainly aren't playing like it this year.  Nonetheless, they took this Pats team to the brink.

With Feeley driving for a winning touchdown (or at least a tying field goal) late in the fourth quarter, it took an Asante Samuel end-zone interception to bail out Belichick and the Pats.

You may call it a fluke and say that New England will regain its composure and win out.  You'd be better off, though, accepting what the Eagles showed us all on Sunday:

A sign of things to come.

The Pats are vulnerable, and it shows.  They've been running on all cylinders for so long, running around like madmen trying to prove what world-beaters they are, having to answer all the questions about their dominance, and holding back smirks to stay on message about how they're just "taking it one game at a time", enjoying all the servings of "humble pie" that Belichick feeds them.

Sure, they'll bounce back against a flagging Baltimore team next week, but circle December 9th against the Steelers.  Big Ben and the bruising Pittsburgh D have what it takes to knock the Patriots down a peg or five.

In fact, circle all the games remaining on the New England schedule. 

The Jets, as horrible as they are, are out for revenge. Miami is always frisky late in the season, as they've shown in years past, and will be playing with nothing to lose and everything to gain.  And the Giants could be fighting for their playoff lives while the Patriots look ahead to their first round bye.

All the ingredients are there for a late season stumble.  And once the dreams of an undefeated season have been shattered, could a playoff disappointment be too far behind?

That's the funny thing about immortality—the moment you start thinking about it is the moment it slips away.

In going for broke and shooting for immortality in the regular season, the Patriots chose poorly.

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comments (54) write a comment »

  1. Hate on, hater! 11-0 and soon to be 19-0.

    1. OH! OH!

  2. ur a fag, i bet you want brady to give you a milk moustache

    1. I bet he'd do it for free, too. Go home, and think of something new, then get back to me.

  3. well at least your name is reflective of your writing style "Turd" The Patriots will do what is necessary to make a Super Bowl appearance. Like them or not, they are the best team in professional football and I am proud to be a New Englander! Go Celtec's, Go Bruins, Go Pats.... Red Sox are already there! Jealousy is an ugly trait.

    1. Being from New England is an ugly trait. And if you can't admit that Turd Ferguson is a funny name, well, you're probably from New England.

    2. OH! OH!

    3. OH! OH!

  4. Would you have the Patriots intentionally lose a game earlier so that they don't need to worry about a perfect season? I too believe they will lose one or more games because for every team playing them now, it is their Super Bowl and they have nothing to lose. The other teams will take chances. Some of the games will be blowouts. Some will be close. I expect at least one will be a loss. As far as running up the score, I believe they were practicing playing for 60 minutes and in the two games they needed to do that, they were successful.

    1. Yeah, that would have been great, especially when I had money riding on the Chargers against the Pats.

  5. Well, I forgive you, Turd. You're just trying to make a name for yourself and a few dimes along the way by posting your frustrations over why your team sucked and Pats always won.

    In the end, nobody would even remember you despite your easy-to-remember name, and everyone (except die-hard Pats haters like you) for the next decades would fondly recall that they were right here to witness the greatest NFL team ever assembled.

    So go ahead, do yourself a favor, turn off TV whenever the Pats game is on, badmouth the Pats whenever they're the topic, and 30 years later, when you were insulted again and again by your grandchildren for not watching the 2007 Pats, I hope that you could behave at least decently and not shout obscenities at your children. Amen.

    1. I don't do it for the money, anon. I do it for the love. And I don't hate the Pats. Well, yeah, I do hate the Pats. But other than that, it's all about the love.

      And as for my children, I never shout obscenities at them. I only shout love.

    2. OH! OH!

  6. Dear Turd,
    Please tell me which game or games New England will lose. Don't tell me Pissburgh...they barely escaped Miami last night. Jets and Giants have no shot, so that leaves Baltimore (no way!!) or Miami (out of the question)....

  7. Dear Turd,
    Please tell me which game or games New England will lose. Don't tell me Pissburgh...they barely escaped Miami last night. Jets and Giants have no shot, so that leaves Baltimore (no way!!) or Miami (out of the question)....

    1. Dear John,
      Thanks for addressing me with respect. With regards to your question, I could see the Pats losing to any of those teams, other than Baltimore. I went over this in my article, but to recap:

      - Pittsburgh is a tough team. Last night's game was an aberration due to the rain. The Steelers D can make big plays, and they can also score points.
      - The Jets are terrible, but they will be fired up to play the Pats after videogate. Again, don't underestimate the revenge / David v Goliath factor. It can have big ramifications.
      - The Giants were an elite team at the beginning of the year but have slipped. Guess what that means, though? In Week 17 they'll be fighting for their playoff lives, while the Pats will have their top spot all locked up and will probably rest some starters. Prime upset potential.
      - Miami sucks, but they always play the Pats well, especially late in the season.

      There you have it.

      Thoughts?

    2. I just don't see it happening. They had their scare (Philly). So now they will sure things up and win the rest of their games. Hey, I'm a Giant fan - I hope NE comes in here 15-0 and Big Blue takes them down. But the way Eli is playing, the Giants couldn't beat Appalachian St....

  8. so if it's 4th and goal in the 3rd quarter and you have a huge lead (like against buffalo)... you think it's decent and "classy" to kick a field goal and tack on 3 more in your face points? what are they gonna do... punt for 3 yards???

    you can coach and play a football game and worry about all this other stuff, or you can coach and play and worry about winning the game. the more you worry about stuff like running up the score, and what an undefeated season means, and all these other media stories, the less you're doing your job as a football coach.

    1. So its not classy to kick a field goal and score 3 points but it is to go for it and score 7? What am I missing here?

      How bout this: kick the field goal, kick off to the other team, and play defense. Isn't that what Belichick is known for in the first place?

  9. On any given Sunday anything can happen, Sunday proved that where the Eagles played a hell of a football game against the Pats who didnt play at the top of thier game. But heres the thing, that game showed the Pats the holes they need to fix and will do everything they can to plug those holes. Rest assured Bill will plug them and the end result is an even better Team that can and will most likely will go the distance.

    Based upon thier records the remaining teams will not stop the Pats from going undefeated, but one loss is possible as we have seen anything can happen..

    I thought Turd Fergusion was a Character on SNL... go figure...

    1. By that same logic, the game also showed the Pats opponents how they can be exploited, and their remaining opponents will do everything they can to exploit those holes.

      And you got it, Turd Freguson is from SNL....brownie points to anyone who can name the sketch...(shouldn't be too hard cause its in my profile pic)....

  10. new england will go to the super bowl and be undefeated till then and maybe they will lose the superbowl but not likely

    1. OH! OH!

  11. new england will go to the super bowl and be undefeated till then and maybe they will lose the superbowl but not likely

    1. Thanks but we heard you the first time.

    2. OH! OH! (reprise)

  12. if anything happens, the pats near loss to the eagles provokes within them an even greater motivation to go undefeated...because now the pats know that they have been exposed, and brady and belichick are going to do anything and everything to make sure that never happens again

    1. Yeah, or they'll just lose. We'll see...

    2. OH! OH!

  13. The Jets are out for revenge??? Shouldn't it be the reverse? This is what happens when you're blinded by jealous hatred. No capacity for logic, facts or rational thinking.

    I'm sorry your team got slammed by the Patriots, whoever they are, but your time would be better spent posting your comments on their team website expressing concern with their poor performance.

    Or getting your name changed.

  14. Patriots: We could play better, plenty of room to improve
    YOU: Omglol you smoked them and you kept scoring even though you didn't have to. stop trying to pretend to be humble.

    Patriots: We beat everyone, simply because we can
    YOU: Omg you are meanie heads and should try to be more humble!!!

    What do you want man? People like you will never be happy. Omg they are "too" humble, they are liars and full of them selves. By that logic I guess they should just start saying "We're better than them and the score will always prove it" But you would just say "Wow, they are way too cocky".

  15. I am just going to go ahead and say this is a sarcastic fake article... I base this upon the fact no parents would ever name their child "Turd"...

    If not a joke article... This guy is a total shit head.

    1. You're the closest person to being right on this whole thread. Kudos.

  16. Patriots will lose to the Steelers, and then lose to Manning and the Colts in the playoffs. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of egotistical cheaters

  17. All the Turd is doing is pointing out -in annoyingly melodramatic fashion - what made it so difficult for the '72 Dolphins to go 17-0 and what makes it difficult for any team to go undefeated through its season (including oh, maybe 119 of the current 120 NCAA division 1..er..FBS teams.) The more you win, the greater the pressure on you to play great to maintain the record. Not an easy thing to do. And the greater a target you become, too.

    I hope the Pats go undefeated - that they become the first and only (so far) to run the table at 19-0. But really, what are the odds? Statistically, now that they are 11-0, it should be easier for them to go 8-0, but statistically, it can't be.

    1. Thanks, Anon, I think you make some good points. Glad to see the tide is turning from the "You hate the Pats you jealous jerk!" comments. Maybe there are some decent people in the world after all...

  18. N* W*y.

  19. What a poorly written article. Why exactly is he given the privilege of being a contributer? This article is ridiculous, where exactly is the hubris? Every single time any one of the Patriots are interviewed, all they talk about is how they can be better. Belichick has them well trained to keep their mouth shut and their egos in check, especially in front of the camera.

    To say that the Eagles getting close to beating the Patriots because of hubris means you really don't know much about football. You need to give the Eagles defense more credit than that.

    You want hubris? What about the St. Louis Rams when they were the "Greatest Show on Turf". Guess who beat them...

  20. lol @ all the comments about the writer's name. But I agree with a previous poster that said this is probably all a joke. Makes too little sense not to be.

  21. Is this Turd Jr. ?

  22. Is this Turd Jr. ?

  23. I meant:

    by Anonymous from about 2 hours ago

    Patriots will lose to the Steelers, and then lose to Manning and the Colts in the playoffs. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of egotistical cheaters

    Is this Turd Jr.

  24. Failure

    The Steelers have been eeking out victories against Clevelend and Miami with a nice low scoring loss to the WORST defense in the league against the Jets sandwiched in between there. The Steelers are slipping something fierce. They are going to get walloped by the Pats. Call it a major wake up call the Steeler land.

    The Pats have an axe to grind against the Jets...with the 'revenge' angle made moot it comes down to talent and matchups. And the Jets will be on the road. The Jets do not have the players to match up. Period. I think that will be the game where the Pats do run up the score and set some kind of NFL record for points scored...Bellicheck is that friggin' evil.

    The Dolphins are 'frisky'? That sounds terrifying...really. It does. Miami must be proud that they can be referred to in a way one refers to a kitten...or your wife after 2 lemondrop shots. Christ on a stick you must be high. Beck/Lemon at QB and whoknowswho at RB with Chatman dinged and Williams on the IR? Show me where they have the personnel to match up at all.

    The Ravens can't score enough and their Defense isn't going to be able to make up the difference because the Pats don't make the mistakes the Raven D needs to capitalize on. Oh and their secondary sucks...just what you want against the Pats.

    The Giants...ah the Giants. They have a chance...too bad they will be at 'as good as it gets' for them regarding their post-season by then...the Cowboys or Packers will own home field and finish #1 in their respective divisions while the Giants will have the prime wildcard position locked up with one home field game in the playoffs. It will be the Giants who are going to have nothing to play for, not the Pats. The Giants are not going to try to bring down the Pats at the cost of re-re-injuring Jacobs (who should be back by then) or letting lil' Eli blow whatever remains of his confidence against a primed up Pat Defense.

    I can't believe they pay you for that.

    1. OH! OH!

  25. Hey Turd...pretty nice troll on New England fans. So I'll bite and play the indignant fan. Except I'll leave out the indignant rant. I think. I don't know yet, I haven't written my response yet.

    You can't throw out last night's performance by the Steelers. Yes, I don't think that under normal conditions the Steelers would only score 3 points, but you have to admit that the Steelers just lost to the lowly Jets last week. That's a two week danger zone for the Steelers.

    You are correct about the Ravens, they don't have anything the Patriots can't handle.

    I believe you when you say the Jets are out for revenge, but the problem is that I don't think they can execute said revenge. If they had won their game on Sunday I would say that they might be able to give the Pats a game because no matter how good or bad those teams are they seem to fight pretty well against each other.

    The Dolphins USUALLY (stress usually) play pretty tough late in the year but they are in complete disarray right now. Ricky Williams came back, ran the ball six times and then realized that people hit hard in the NFL. The poor guy hasn't seen action in almost two years. You know he was quite "jolted" when he was hit.

    That leaves the Giants. That is your only hope in throwing your shit against the wall. It is your only chance to vindicate this entry.

    If you are reading this, it means two things:

    1. My stupid lame DSL connection didn't go on the fritz at exactly the wrong time
    2. Your stupid website comments didn't go on the fritz at exactly the wrong time

    At any rate, I know the Patriots pretty well including the demeanor of many of their players. That makes it quite obvious that you are trying to poke a stick at the sleeping lion. Only the lion you are poking isn't the Patriots...it's the Patriot fans. Now if I could just figure out whether you're targeting the die-hards or the band wagoners I could sleep soundly tonight. Until then I will chew off my fingernails and hope that the Celtics can hold this lead on the Cavs so I can down my last shot of vodka/rum fruitiness and maybe smoke a bowl before I fall asleep.

    Peace!

  26. "It's been a hard day's night, I'll be sleeping like a..." *buzz* "Chinese whore!"

    Hard to believe no one has figured it out yet.

    I don't quite consider myself a Patriots fan, but all the hate on them is pushing me that way. They're really good. Really good. But let's look at the teams down the stretch - Jets. Yeah, they play the Patriots tough. But they're also not nearly as good as everyone thought last year. And you really expect a rookie QB to beat the Patriots? Come on. If the Pats D can screw with Manning's head, Clemens doesn't have a prayer. Ravens - two words: Kyle Boller. Miami - god, Miami. I keep rooting for them, and they keep losing. Beck isn't bad, but no rookie QB will beat the Pats, even if he is oddly old. And with his WRs dropping balls like they're angry badgers... Giants - they've quit on Tom Coughlin around the middle of the season the past couple of years in a row. And it's not looking like this year is different. And if Elisha can throw 4 picks against a mediocre (at best) Vikings secondary... Which leaves the Steelers. Who totally could beat the Pats if they showed up with their A game and the Patriots were having an off night. But they lost to the Cards, the Jets and someone else fairly lousy. So it's obvious the Steelers are pretty good at crapping the bed; it's just a question of whether they play down to their opponents, or they just get distracted. But they have the best chance.

    Not saying the Pats are going to run the table. But it's pretty well looking like that.

    "But chinese whore doesn't rhyme with dog!"

  27. I think that the Pats could go undefeated during the regular season and end up losing to the Packers in the Super Bowl. The Packers defense would match up extremely well against Tom Brady and Co., and Favre is playing the best he has in his career.

    What would all the New England fanboys say then? The greatest team to ever lose the superbowl?

  28. Turd,

    I am going to go out on a limb and assume that you are disgruntled (insert name of a team the Patriots beat here) fan. You are probably upset that your team's defense had so many "opportunities to stop them". Well, maybe next time you should watch a little more football and write a little less about what you saw.

    You complain that the Patriots are "running up the score" against teams who are obviously inferior. Isn't football supposed to be a man's sport? Aren't the players and coaches supposed to be tough? Then why does everyone start crying like five year old when they lose? If Kyle Eckel is taking hand-offs from Matt Cassell and running straight up the gut for 6 to 7 yard gains, then the Patriots aren't running up the score, the other teams just plain stink. If Joe Gibbs is upset that he lost by a 45 point margin, then maybe he should bring a decent team next time he plays the Patriots instead of throwing a temper tantrum at the end of the game.

    In any case, my response is digressing from the main theme of your article: "the Patriots are so arrogant that they will lose a game to either Pittsburgh, Miami, the New York Jets, Baltimore, or the Giants".

    I think that it should be a given that Jets, Dolphins, and Ravens will all lose to the Patriots. Even you said that the Ravens do not have what it takes to play the Patriots. This leaves the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants. The Giants have no real shot at being the first team to beat the Patriots. If they are the only thing standing in the way of Bill Belichick on his quest for a perfect season, they may as well be Notre Dame.

    This leaves the Pittsburgh Steelers. Admittedly, Pittsburgh has more than enough potential to take down the Patriots, especially after the Eagles exploited every single weakness in the Patriot defense. However, potential does not always translate to results, and it won't when these two teams clash. Belichick will make the proper adjustment in the defense, and the Pittsburgh wide receivers won't be able to run in-cuts all day long like the Eagles were doing. Secondly, Pittsburgh is amazingly inconsistent. When game day comes, they may look like the team that slaughtered the Ravens, or the team that lost to the Jets and barely scraped past Miami. Either way, Big Ben is not Tom Brady, Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward are not Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth, Ed Reed is not Asante Samuel, and Mike Tomlin is not Bill Belichick. The Patriots are too talented and smart to lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They will go 16-0 without any more huge obstacles.

    This, however, does leave the post-season open for debate. Although I din't think that you can use arrogance as a reason for a Patriots loss in the playoffs. Brady and Belichick will have the team too prepared for them to make a mistake like being cocky. If the Patriots are going down are 16 games, it will be because of their opponent's flawless execution.

  29. Hey Turd: How goes it. Mike Allen aka NEM

  30. Someone needs to clean the sand out of their mangina. You obviously have ignored the last 5 years of Belichick and Brady's press interviews, because they always are humbled and say they need to work at getting better. This isn't hubris you jackass it's called being a professional, something by reading this drivel I've come to realize you completely lack in understanding. The mere fact your editor let you release this article screams volumes about the quality of content this PoS website strives to achieve.

    So you're either a Steelers or Colts fan, which is it?

    1. I'm a fan of America, I have no editor, and my mangina is perfectly sand free. Other than that, you offer a lot of good advice. Have you considered volunteering for the Boys and Girls Club of America? They could sure use your help.

  31. Agreed. This is yet ANOTHER article written by a Pats hater. All this article amounted to was one person ranting. I stopped reading it half way through, realizing that I'll never get those 2 minutes back that I've just wasted.

  32. Your writing certainly lives up to your name. I just have to wonder though, if the Patriots DO go 19-0 will you print a retraction? If you do I'll send you the Super Bowl hat.

    If you promise to wear it.

    No turd.

    1. OH! OH!

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