Dan Shaugnessy is a tool

By Jeff

Let's cut right to the point. Dan Shaugnessy's most recent Sports Illustrated column is ridiculous.

The whole thing is a giant set of lips that is puckering up for Bill Belichick's ass. The basic point is the New England Patriots have looked really good in the preseason, which obviously signifies Belichick is sick of losing and is ready to get back to winning football games in January. Yes, because the Patriots destroyed the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Bucs in the preseason, Shaugnessy is saying the Patriots are poised for a deep playoff run.

How does he justify this? With a quote from an anonymous NFC executive who said how the Pats are playing "is a complete departure from what we saw last season. They're not reacting, they're dictating."

NFL teams have dozens of executives. Gregg Easterbrook consistently makes a great point about how over-staffed NFL front offices are in his TMQ column. This anonymous NFC exec could be a random VP for the Detroit Lions for all we know. In all honesty, I'm pretty sure dictating the pace of the game with a quick strike passing game is what the Patriots have been doing since Randy Moss and Wes Welker came to New England. So I don't see that as a departure from last season, just more of the same.

OK, so the offense is pretty much the same, but that's not why teams should worry, Shaugnessy writes. Teams should fear the Patriots because of their new commitment to getting to the quarterback. Why? Well, because they gave the Bucs fits in the second preseason game. Let me reiterate, this is the preseason. You know, the time when teams don't watch film on each other to prepare and usually defenses go very vanilla so they don't give away anything they're going to do in the regular season. The fact the Pats were swarming and confusing the Bucs was probably because the Bucs didn't expect anything like that in the preseason.

Just look at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last season they led the league with 48 sacks. That's three per game they averaged. They have one in two preseason contests. Not because they are going to struggle to pressure quarterbacks this year, but because defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau saves his crazy blitz schemes for the regular season, as most teams do.

Shaugnessy is at least aware that the Patriots dominated the regular season last year and choked in the playoffs. But this year he says Belichick is "back with a vengeance." As opposed to to the 2009 season, where the Pats dominated the regular season and got stomped in the playoffs. Why didn't Belichick come back with a vengeance then?

I wonder if Shaugnessy said the same thing about Steve Spurrier entering the 2003 season? After all, Spurrier never lost a preseason game.

The Patriots are going to be a Super Bowl contender, it pains me to say it, but it's true. In fact, as long as they have Tom Brady at quarterback, they are a Super Bowl contender. But the thought that the preseason is what validates that idea is a joke. And so is Shaugnessy.

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