Ellis, Washington picks 21st. They traded their 4th rounder.
ETA: Dear God, I hope we’re not bombarded with the irony of that number again.
Bellicheck did go and congratulate Coughlin the first time the clock wound down, but yeah, he was a dick for leaving the field before the final kneeldown. Worse it was also dickish to his team since they did have to go out there for it.
As for the rest, if you are showing, it ain’t peeking, but if i send someone else to look over your shoulder and tell me what you have, it’s being Bill Bellicheck. 
Not to mention, the guy couldn’t class up for 10 seconds to congratulate some of the Giants players? Those guys played their asses off, flat out BEAT the Patriots, and all Bellicheck can say is, “What do you want, I shook the coach’s hand?” What a sore loser. Hell, what a loser, period.
While I agree that he should say it more explicitly, I don’t doubt that he understands the importance of pass defense. It’s a necessary logical corallary: if you win by scoring points and preventing the other team from scoring, and if teams mostly score points by having a good passing offense, then teams mostly prevent the other team from scoring by having a good passing defense, and pass defense is just as important as passing offense.
FO has run the numbers on this, and they found that the quality of a team’s passing offense or defense has a higher correlation with success or failure than the quality of a team’s rushing offense or defense.
I would lean towards Tuck because I feel that the Giants D deserves significant credit for the win. Of course, Eli executed the wining drive in a way that shows his growth as a QB.
One person that seems to be getting left off of everyones list of recognition is rookie Steve Smith. He played very well for a rookie. Especially considering the fact that most people that do not follow the Giants had no clue who he was.
Since when do losing coaches go around shaking hands with winning players? I’ve never seen that. People are just making up things to attack Belly for.
People are also making up things to defend him for.
Is it your impression that losing coaches routinely congratulate winning players in the aftermath of a game (leaving aside instances where the coach and player in question have a strong personal relationship)?
They may not congratulate every player. Good coaches will stay on the field with their team until the final play is over. Abandoning his people there while they had to run another play was really unprofessional.
He does bring some of this on himself. Part of being a head coach is interfacing with the media and being the “face” of the franchise*. When he does this, he tends to come across as a surly jerk, so things like not shaking Mangini’s hand or leaving with 1 second left feeds into that image.
*You can claim that this part of the job is bullshit, but it clearly is part of the job. Head coaches are required to have press conferences, and do other tasks unrelated to the X’s and O’s. It’s an entertainment industry, the leader has to interface with the customers. If all he wants to do is run practice and call plays, he can take a pay cut and be a coordinator.
It happens, particularly in big games. Not every player, but certainly the opposing QB and maybe a standout or two, or especially a former player. I’m not quite sure how to demonstrate it (Youtube wouldn’t have end of game highlights unless something momentous happens), but look for it, and you’ll see it. I know you’re a football fan, and I’m not going to call you a liar, but I’m thinking if you haven’t seen it, it’s because you either immediately switch channels after the game is over, or it’s just so unnoteworthy when it happens because it’s so common.
This just in: lots of Patriot loot is being sorted now, to be shipped to the poor in Nicaragua.
I’ve never seen it either, but then again I compulsively switch channels the moment the action is done. I’m either looking for another game, or switching to SNY / ESPNews looking for Giants postgame. The end of game ritual (to me) is like watching commercials.
I dunno. Based on his two-pronged philosophy, you can upset the cart by stopping either the run or the pass, thereby removing the balance. Once the balance is gone, the theory goes that you aren’t getting points regardless.
I’m not sure I see the correlation between winning championships and pass defense. Remember that the copycat league really only copycats champions; the Colts had a fantastic winning percentage, but until they won it all the Patriots weren’t looking to imitate their strategy. Here’s the rushing, passing, and total defensive ranks of the last 10 Superbowl winners:
Year Team Rush Pass Rank
---- -------- ---- ---- ----
2007 Giants 8th 15th 7th
2006 Colts 32nd 2nd 21st
2005 Steelers 3rd 16th 4th
2004 Patriots 6th 17th 9th
2003 Patriots 4th 15th 7th
2002 Bucs 5th 1st 1st
2001 Patriots 19th 24th 24th
2000 Ravens 1st 8th 2nd
1999 Rams 1st 20th 6th
1998 Broncos 3rd 26th 11th
---- -------- ---- ---- ----
Average: 8th 14th 9th
If you chalk the Colts up to an anomaly, the remaining nine champions average 5th against the run and 15th against the pass.
Apart from championships, just looking at the top 10 rankings from this year seems to correlate winning with rush defense, and losing with pass defense.
Top 10 Rushing Defenses, 2007
1 Vikings
2 Ravens
3 Steelers
4 Redskins
5 Titans
6 Cowboys
7 Eagles
8 Giants
9 Cardinals
10 Patriots
Top 10 Passing Defenses, 2007
1 Buccaneers
2 Colts
3 Steelers
4 Dolphins
5 Chiefs
6 Patriots
7 Broncos
8 Raiders
9 Jets
10 Titans
There are noticeably more scrub teams in the top 10 passing defense list than in the top 10 rushing defense.
Great news. I understand that he did not want to go into the Snyder zone where despite being well payed, he would have a not great team and choose none of his coaches. He thinks he will probably get another chance next year and will then have a better owner even if the team is worse.
Jim