Will The Real New England Patriots Please Stand Up?

My Daily WTF came to an abrupt but not so mourned end when I began to run out of things to scream at.

Last Sunday, I screamed “WTF” at my TV enough times to make up for more than a month without my daily series.

I need a heavy dose of zithromax just to kill the infection in my ear from hearing the same rehashed conversations over whether Belichick’s infamous decision to try to convert a 4th-and-2 on the Patriots 29 yard line while up by 6 points with 2:08 left in the game.

Talk about a dead horse topic, this one was simply D.O.A.

Should he have or shouldn’t he have, isn’t the question here. Belichick’s philosophy of always moving on to the next thing didn’t work quite as well last week, when he was constantly being reminded of his decision and asked about it.

I could have dealt with the discussions for one week. People play Monday morning quarterback every week, so I could have dealt with that. Even after Tuesday, I didn’t quite feel like I wanted to remove my ears in spite of the sound or to forcibly remove my eyeballs while watching ESPN.

I should have known this was coming. With ESPN’s limitless selections of topics in sports, they’ve decided to ride this one like a rocket to space. They’ve gone so heavily with that decision, in fact, that they’ve even brought in rocket scientists to mathematically determine whether Belichick made the right decision.

The discussion ran on so long, it became evident that analysts had forgotten about a huge game against the division rival New York Jets later on in the week, who were only two games behind New England with plenty of football left to play. They’d already lost to the Jets once this season, and I've never counted them out of the game at all.

Of course, we all know that wasn’t the case , as Mark Sanchez hardly even gave his team a chance with rookie mistakes abound.

The Patriots defense shut Sanchez down for most of the game, only allowing one touchdown pass against four interceptions and a lost fumble on a strip sack.

So it’s clear that this is a tale of two teams: the good Patriots, and the dominant Patriots.

The good Patriots compete with tough teams, in games that end up being nail biters most of the time.

This “good” team is the one we saw against the Ravens, the Broncos, and the Colts. They do just enough to win, which is sometimes good enough and sometimes not. The good Patriots won’t make it past the wild card round of the playoffs.

The “dominant” team is the one we’ve seen against the Buccaneers, Titans, and Jets. They need to play their dominant style football against more competitive teams.

At this point, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Patriots finished 2-2 in November. Looking toward their upcoming game against the Saints, it’s tough to say where the Patriots defensive backs are at this point. They slouched in the second half two weeks ago, but dominated all 60 minutes against the Jets.

The Patriots will need to do what they’ve done every season under Bill Belichick—play their best football in December and January. The question is, can these Patriots answer the call and be dominant?