Given what we saw in the AFC Championship Game’s second half from Patrick Mahomes, I don’t think we’ll see a permanent return to throwback football in the NFL, but for a night it was old school football for those of us who still remember when teams used to play defense.
What a great game!
3-0. 3-3. 10-3. And then the final at 13-3.
Both teams tackled. Both teams covered receivers. Both teams got after the other team’s quarterback. Tom Brady was even thrown to the ground like a rookie by the Aaron Donald on one occasion. It was old school and for a night it was beautiful.
Every yard and every point came grudgingly by both teams.
It was an offensive nightmare for the Rams and yet if Branden Cooks had held on to a pass on the goal line late in the game it would have been tied 10-10 and we’d have been headed for another Tom Brady signature closing on the last possession of the game.
But Cooks dropped the ball and on the next play the Pats intercepted Goff and in reality you knew it was over if you’ve watched the Patriots these last two decades. A late clinching field goal gave us a final of 13-3. But in reality it was Brady willing his team to the game’s only touchdown and the Pats’ for a night giving us a glimpse of how football used to be like before the rules were changed to make the game less physical and more safe for the players.
It was a classic and it very well could have been Gronk’s last game in his storied NFL career which if he does retire will come to an end at the tender age of twenty-nine. Meanwhile, Tom Brady is forty-one years of age and by all indications would like to keep playing a few more years.
A great day for Boston sports which is rightfully dubbed the city of champions. The Boston Bruins beat Ovechkin and the Washington Caps 1-0, Kyrie Irving and the Celtics halted the OKC Thunder’s seven game winning streak… and then Brady and Belichick won another ring to start filling their second hands.
Maybe that’s the secret pledge these two have between them…to win ten rings.
Who would doubt them at this point.