I haven’t seen anything to make me change my mind about my original call. The New England coaching staff obviously prepared well, but are a little shaky on the situational play calling. Vinatieri’s shank and the blocked FG are part of the game, but you’d think Romeo Crennel would know better than to big blitz on 3rd and 10 in that situation. As TMQ always says: “stop me before I blitz again!” I called TD on that before the ball was snapped as soon as I saw them bringing six or seven. The strange thing is that they’ve been getting plenty of pressure from the three down plus one. The squib kick was just stupid. He Hate Me isn’t exactly Dante Hall.
Delhomme is playing tough, but the Patriots’ pressure is heavier than anticipated and Davis is looking to have one of those games where he can’t get untracked. Brady looks good; Carolina’s pressure isn’t ruffling him at all. I expect New England to pull away in the second half.