Classless Coach Belichick

Because they are different from most teams. It doesn't come down to a character cause they are trying to score more points. That is what they are paid to do!!! They don't stop coaching until the game is over and I just don't have a problem with it. Indy does the same thing. They keep throwing when they are comfortably ahead. Those two teams never ever try and burn the clock out like we do. They are always trying to score more points.

It would be a character issue if NE was playing dirty like the old Raider teams did. I don't ever see NE's players getting flags thrown for personal fouls or unsportsmenlike conduct.

Exactly. You know we talk a lot about playing until the whistle blows, but that's just lip service when your team is on the other side of the ball, isn't it? And this is this is why the Pats are head and shoulders above the rest this year, they have a "no mercy" attitude. Are they still pissed about the whole Spy Gate thing, you damn right they are. They are sending a message loud and clear, we're the best team in football cameras or no cameras.

But to your point, if they were playing dirty then I would have some issues with them, but they are just guilty of playing hard-nosed spirited football week in and week out.

Because they are different from most teams. It doesn't come down to a character issue cause they are trying to score more points. That is what they are paid to do!!! They don't stop coaching until the game is over and I just don't have a problem with it. Indy does the same thing. They keep throwing when they are comfortably ahead. Those two teams never ever try and burn the clock out like we do. They are always trying to score more points.

It would be a character issue if NE was playing dirty like the old Raider teams did. I don't ever see NE's players getting flags thrown for personal fouls or unsportsmenlike conduct.

I don't think you've watched the Colts very closely, because they definitely do not keep piling on when ahead.

PFT's take on the game:

SportingNews.com - Your expert source for NFL Football stats, scores, standings, blogs and fantasy news from NFL Football columnists (http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=296835)

Last week in this space, I raised the question of whether opponents of the New England Patriots might be thinking that the team is running up the score -- and whether such opponents will be looking for payback for the full duration of Bill Belichick's tenure with the team.

This week, it's even harder to make the case that the Patriots didn't run up the score against the Washington Redskins and Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. Apart from yet another fake-spike play late in the first half, the Patriots amazingly eschewed a field-goal attempt while leading 38-0 with 11 minutes to play and went for it on fourth-and-short from the Redskins' 7-yard line.

Let's get this straight: Belichick would have been uncomfortable with a lead of only 41 with 11 minutes to go? Please. The Redskins hadn't scored a point. Even if the Patriots had pulled 11 guys out of the stands to play defense the rest of the way, the gap would not have been closed.

And then, leading 52-7 with less than a minute to play, New England still had numerous starters on the field. That's simply inexcusable.

Belichick could be telling the rest of the NFL that if a big deal is going to be made out of the Patriots breaking a signal-stealing rule that many other teams routinely violate, then Belichick will stay fully within the rules -- and obliterate anyone who crosses his path.

The backlash is going to begin. As the buildup begins to the biggest regular-season game of the year -- and possibly ever -- the media will probe the question of whether Belichick is bullying the rest of the league.

Even though the Colts are 7-0, this New England team is so good that, next week at this time, folks might be debating the question of whether the Patriots ran up the score against the defending Super Bowl champs.

You don't need to taunt. And I wasn't really serious about going for the knees--you don't need to deliberately try to end someone's career. But you do need to take the gloves off, talk some trash, and hit some people on defense. Take your personal fouls, but rattle them up. The great Bill Walsh did it (did you hear Gibbs tell that anecdote about what he did to Dexter Manley?) Ditka and Buddy Ryan did it. On offense, you need to either keep pounding it up the gut like Grimm, Riggo and the Hogs used to do, or go all out downfield.

You gotta be ruthless.

I love Gibbs, but I don't go for this tight-lipped, take the high road BS--at least, not against this team. The Pats are already motivated to kill everyone they see, and you're not going to hold them off by being polite. CP tried to get his teammates going by talking about being the most talented team in football, but it wasn't enough.

It's too late to change yesterday. But the skins could take it out on the Jets, Iggles, and especially Dallas. I'm still looking for some of that ATTITUDE that used to be there in the 70s and 80s. The skins really need some attitude guys like Gary Clark or Dexter Manley to juice em up and start killing people.

And more:

'SKINS, GIBBS HAVE WON BIG, BUT HAVE CALLED OFF THE DOGS (http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm)

It's a testament to the greatness of the New England Patriots that the dominant topic in the wake of their games is whether they left their starters on the field for too long while blowing out the competition.

Still, Patriot Nation is up in arms over the notion that anyone would dare to suggest that their team or its head coach needs a lesson or two in sportsmanship -- reflecting to a certain degree the attitude projected by said team and said coach.

Only a day after being flooded with e-mails from Colts fans accusing me of having a bias in favor of the Pats for criticizing Gregg Easterbrook's "Colts are good, Pats are evil" essay from last Tuesday, I'm now being flooded with e-mails from Pats fans accusing me of having a bias against them.

Sheesh.

My take on whether I think the Pats went too far on Sunday -- and, more importantly, why I think they're doing it -- is summed up at the top of the Ten-Pack posted at SportingNews.com. Check it out, and then come back for more.

Folks defending the Pats' 52-7 victory have been attempting to turn the tables on their most recent victims, pointing to a couple of past Joe Gibbs romps, in which the 'Skins scalped the opponents for more than 50 points. Specifically, the Redskins rattled the Rams, 51-7, during a 1983 playoff game, and they fricasseed the 49ers by the score of 52-17 little more than two years ago.

But there's a difference. A big difference. In both of those games, the 'Skins apparently called off the dogs well before the fourth quarter. For example, the Redskins led the Rams 38-7 at halftime in the 1983, and scored only six points in the third quarter on two field goals and seven in the fourth quarter on an interception return for a touchdown. In 2005, the Redskins didn't throw a single pass after the 3:30 mark in the third quarter, and Clinton Portis didn't get another carry.

On Sunday, the Pats led 38-0 with 11:02 to play in the game and converted a fourth-and-one from the D.C. seven en route to yet another touchdown pass from Tom Brady.

And that's the broader point here. It's not about scoring a lot of points early in the game. It's about when it's appropriate to pull back. For the 1983 Redskins, they apparently pulled back in the entire second half against the Rams. In 2005, the 'Skins coasted for more than a full quarter.

But the Patriots haven't eased up on offense until the final few -- and likely won't. On defense, starters will still on the field in the final minute on Sunday.

The criticism will only embolden Belichick, and it will make him even more determined to win every game by the biggest margin that he can muster. The only risk? Some crazy-ass defensive lineman eventually might decide he's had enough of it, deciding to gladly take the penalty, the fine, and the suspension for taking a free shot at the starting quarterback's knees.

See this is more loser talk. Why do you care if he cheats on his wife? Every single one of my friends has cheated on his wife at some point. Does that mean I'm not going to be friends with them cause they get a piece of ass on the side every once in a while? I don't care and what they do is really not my business.

The guy is paid to win games. Not to be friendly with the media, or be nice to camera men, or make all the fans happy. Let me ask you this. Would you rather have a coach who is an a-hole who wins? Or would you rather have a coach who is nice and is loved by the media but can't win? Personally, I would would rather have the a-hole who wins.

The Pats are a better team/organization than us. But we were also outcoached yesterday. By a mile. So perhaps some of the fans should worry about why we can't score points, rather than cry about why the other coach is a bad guy, or why they ran it up on us.

Your post just speaks volumes about you and the company you keep. No, if my friends were cheating on their wives I would NOT keep company with them. Acting like "getting a piece of ass" on the side is just commonplace and acceptable is a pretty sad state of affairs (no pun intended).

Anyone arguing that off-field actions have nothing to do with the game have their head in the sand. Character is inextricably linked to every facet of an individuals life, on the field and off. It's no surprise that a dishonest cheater in his personal life ends up being a dishonest cheater in his professional life.

What a sad commentary on our culture that winning a game is valued above all else, at the expense of integrity and character.

Exactly. You know we talk a lot about playing until the whistle blows, but that's just lip service when your team is on the other side of the ball, isn't it? And this is this is why the Pats are head and shoulders above the rest this year, "no mercy". Are they still pissed about the whole Spy Gate thing, you damn right they are. They are sending a message loud and clear, we're the best team in football cameras or no cameras.

But to your point, if they were playing dirty then I would have some issues with them, but they are just guilty of playing hard-nosed spirited football week in and week out.
But like I said before: there would have been no justification if brady had gotten injured because he was still in late in the 4th quarter even though it was a blow out. That, to me, makes it classless to keep him in there throwing on 4th down. If they put all their backups in and they continued to run on us at will I'd keep my mouth shut, but that wasn't the case until their last 2 possesions.

And thats why no one likes you or your garbage mentality

Thanks for clueing me in kid.

I did see that game. And I was pulling for Georgia. But, that too was yet another example of what I consider "classless." I live in Atlanta and even some Georgia fans were embarrassed by what Mark Richt did. Look, I am all for getting the team fired up and ready to play smash-mouth football. But there must be limits with sportsmanship always prevailing. Am I being contradictory in saying that the 'Skins should have "brought the house" on each and every play after the Pats were obviously running up the score and putting Brady on his ass? Maybe. But what the Pats did and Georgia did were two diametrically opposed situations. Georgia had just scored their own first TD. Florida had done nothing to warrant the entire Bulldog team to storm the field so early in the game. And finally, per my original post I never said anything about trying to deflect blame on our own team. The Redskins flat out stunk. There is plenty of blame to go around on our team. This thread was not started to discuss that issue, it is already being discussed on other threads.

Did Mark Richt cross the line? Probably. But so what? He was playing mind games with Fla. and it worked. I bet all the Georgia fans would be more pissed if they had lost.

Be honest with yourself -- if Belicheck were in Washington with the personnel he has in New England, doing in Washington what he's doing in New England, you'd be dancing in the streets. ... But I don't think anything will happen there until your owner, who is reliving his childhood, finally says goodbye to Coach Gibbs, just as Jones said goodbye to Landry. ... The fan base, understandably, has great affection for Gibbs, but in the end it's just nostalgia. ... What happened in Foxborough yesterday, in terms of how the Patriots played, is what happens in the modern NFL. ... Wake up and deal with.