A Team Game

At this point it's hard to find any other players on the Patriots roster other than Tom Brady who remain from their three super bowl teams. Monday night, I was reminded of how they won their super bowls...as a complete team. I had a big flashback to when the Patriots requested to be introduced as a team in Super Bowl XXXVI vs the Rams when they were big underdogs. Monday night vs the Dolphins, that's exactly how the Pats won, as a TEAM. Tom Brady really didn't do much at all and didn't need to. He had 153 yards passing and 1 TD pass. Meanwhile, their special teams were a beast. One kickoff return for a TD to start the second half, a blocked punt which resulted in another Pats TD, a blocked FG returned for a TD, and an INT-return TD for the defense. It was really impressive as the Pats rolled over their rival Dolphins 41-14. The Patriots may not be the most impressive team in the league anymore, but they still know what it takes to win as a team in the ultimate team sport.

I did get a chance to see a little bit of the new Miami Heat's first preseason game. Basically the excitement was over before it began as Dwyane Wade was hurt in the first 4 minutes of the game, so really we still have no idea of how this will work yet. Those first few minutes were sloppy at times, and I think it will take awhile before they really play well together. LeBron James looked pretty good in his debut with 18 points and a nice dunk. For now it's too early to say what they have in Miami though.

It looks like Brett Favre will have a little bit of help coming his way in Minnesota with the pickup of Randy Moss on Wednesday. I am cautiously optimistic about this though. It really depends on how fast Favre and Moss can click on the field, but even more it depends on what Randy Moss the Vikings get. Monday night, he clearly had no interest in his last game as a Patriot. Too many times I saw him barely jogging during a play. If he can play at the high level he's capable of on a regular basis, the Vikings might have something. I hope he has the right attitude going to Minnesota because Favre and the Vikings deserve nothing less. Monday night's Vikings vs Jets matchup will tell us a lot about what the Vikings have. They gotta get it right pretty fast because the Vikings October schedule leaves no room for a bad day. Good luck to the Vikings.