Patriots need loud statement

[WilliamPitt]

Patriots need loud statement
They’ll be put to test in noisy Superdome

By Adam Kilgore
Globe Staff / November 27, 2009

FOXBOROUGH - The anticipation this week on the streets of New Orleans already had moved beyond a buzz and into something close to a celebration, “like Mardi Gras in November,’’ Saints safety Darren Sharper said.

By Monday night, after a holiday weekend and a start time that will give fans nothing better to do than tailgate outside the Louisiana Superdome and sip their drink of choice from a jelly jar, the stadium will transform into perhaps the NFL’s most ear-splittingly difficult building to visit.

“I can be touching facemasks with you and you’re yelling. I still can’t hear you,’’ Sharper said. “It gets pretty loud, and that’s one of the things that’s a home-field advantage for us. We definitely have to use that.’’

The Patriots understand the challenge of playing on the road, and they also know they must overcome it to pronounce themselves a championship-caliber team. The Patriots this season are undefeated at Gillette Stadium but winless in their three road games, against the Jets, Broncos, and Colts. While they were officially the road team in their victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they were playing in London, a neutral site that was hardly an adverse setting.

On Monday night, the Patriots will face not only the undefeated Saints, but also the deafening Superdome. Toppling the Saints would validate the Patriots as a team capable of handling games away from Gillette.

More: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2009/11/27/patriots_need_loud_statement_at_superdome/

I am so fucking psyched for this game I can't sit still.

Predictions anyone? I'm saying nothing; too terrified.

[JonLP24]

1. Brees indoors

has an amazing 9.36 YPA and leads the league overall with a 8.58. Also as a team they have the #5 rush offense. However the Saints on D are vulnerable against the run and rush defense is more important imo then rush offense.

Should be a good game. As a fan of a NFC team I'm rooting for the Pats.

Edit/Saints can clinch the NFC South with a win and an Atlanta loss.

[trumad]

2. Mixed feelings --

On one hand--Phin fans love it when all teams have been defeated at least once per season.

On the other---if the Phins beat the Bills and the Pat's lose to the Saints...we're one game back with the Pat's visiting Miami the following week.

So--- fuck the undefeated season bullshit... I want the Division.

Sorry Will...

[WilliamPitt]

3. Can't disagree with your rationale

Dick. :P

[trumad]

4. So you won't have to look for it in a couple of weeks.

[WilliamPitt]

5. Not too worried about that game, to be frank

My Pats seem to have righted the ship enough to handle the division games from here on out. Overall, after New Orleans, our schedule gets pretty manageable. Miami (sorry), Carolina, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Houston, all 1pm Sunday games so there's no more schedule wierdness from late games and Monday games. We stand a pretty good chance of winning out, provided we stay healthy.

I disagreed with Belichick's call against the Colts, but I have come to believe that horrifyiong loss has become a galvanizing rallying cry for the team, as evidenced by how well we handled the Jets one week later. We're running downhill now, I think,. but that theory faces the ultimate test on Monday. We'll see.

[trumad]

6. Buffalo is a test for my team believe it or not..

It's the 2nd game without Ronnie and I'm curious to see if we return to a traditional running game with Ricky or we still try the Wildcat.

I say pound the ball with Ricky...

Honestly---I think we'll upset you guys in our house.

Double or nothing---

Two week avatars?

[WilliamPitt]

8. Done

[Awsi Dooger]

10. No mixed feelings here; rooting for a rout by the Patriots

I'm not wasting my time in denial over the 2009 Dolphins, a team with a sorry 6.1 YPPA and an inept -2.0 YPPA Differential. Those are hardly playoff caliber numbers. We're doomed to be exposed.

I'd hate to lose the annual treat of rooting for the '72 Dolphins all over again. But the current state of the NFL is sickening. Any Given Sunday is a runaway myth. A mere handful of competent coaches and QBs equals potential for unbeaten every year. This used to be over by the 5th or 6th week every season. Now it's always Thanksgiving or later.

Goodell wants to expand to 17 or 18 regular season games. It will happen very soon. If the '72 Dolphins can fade the next few seasons then that 17-0 mark literally has the potential to withstand centuries. I'm not losing sight of that to desperately root for Chade Henne and Ted Ginn to sneak into the playoffs then immediately be dismissed like the '08 Dolphins.

[Onceuponalife]

7. The Saints will run roughshod all over the Peetriots

I think this game will make up for sitting through three boring NFL games yesterday.

[WilliamPitt]

9. The "Peetriots"?

How's your third-grade diarama project going?

Yeesh.

[Onceuponalife]

11. Sorry, that's how we pronounce it here in "Cah-li-for-ni-a"

[Kurska]

12. Buck Foston

That said, the Yankees are the only team worse then the Boston sports equivalent (in any major sport).

[BOSSHOG]

13. "Like Mardi Gras in November"

Saints fans don't need Patriots to party. It's Mardi Gras in September, October, November, December, January and hopefully February and if my calendar is right, the Superbowl occurs the week before Mardi Gras. Don't flatter yourselves Pats fans, you have no reason to, regardless of the outcome Monday night, the party will continue. Whether its the Patriots or the Raiders, Saints fans will start tailgating, well, yesterday.

[Forkboy]

15. 18-1 coming your way.

:)

[KamaAina]

14. So you're rooting for the '72 'Phins to pop the corks?

or, worse still, for the Indian-no-place NFL Franchise to be the ones to do it?! :scared: