Sports Redux: The Olde England Patriots

It's hard not to experience a letdown after a 59-0 thrashing like the one the Pats put on Tennessee last night. The schedule makers, though, were kind enough to put another winless patsy in the Patriots' path, and the boys responded, delighting Londoners (well, we like to think so, anyway) with a 35-7 mauling of the Buccaneers.

Although it wasn't a marvel of offensive mastery the way last week was (Brady threw two interceptions!), the Pats jumped out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. A lot of that came from the defense, frankly, as Brandon Meriweather caught two interceptions and ran one back for a TD before Brady and Co, Ltd even took the field. Once the offense was needed, Brady hit Wes Welker for a short score, and Sam Aiken for a big touchdown down the sideline. Cue sideline shots of Tampa QB Josh Johnson and coach Raheem Morris looking like they found weevils in their porridge.

In the second half, Brady threw another TD, to Benjamin Watson, then handed off to Laurence Maroney to score for the final time. The final numbers for Brady: 23-of-32, 308 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT. "I think it's a privilege to come over here and get to enjoy this type of experience. It will probably never happen again for us, so we'll retire 1-0 internationally," said Tom. Even the stoic Coach Belichick had some kind things to say about his trip to Britain: ""It's been an enjoyable couple days here and glad we could end it on a positive note," he said, which makes us really hope he's available for wedding toasts.

Now the team gets a week off to recover from jet lag before playing Miami, who put a scare into undefeated New Orleans before collapsing at the end. Minnesota lost, so only the Saints, Denver and Indy remain to keep the '72 Dolphins up at night.

(Dan Shaughnessy (again, not worth linking) said the trip was a waste of time, though we'd like to see him say that while submitting his expense reports.)

Jeff Larentowicz, in a fairer world, would be the biggest sports hero in Boston right now. But the world isn't fair, and the fact that he scored in the 79th minute to lead the Revolution past Columbus 1-0 and into a playoff spot will just have to stand on its own as a feather in his cap. Columbus was one of the top teams in MLS all season, but they were battling the flu, and had nothing tangible to play for, etc, etc...."Who cares? We needed to win, and we won," said Revs coach Steve Nicol.

The Yankees beat the Angels, so the World Series will have an East Coast bias and turn 99% of the country into Phillies fans. Game One will feature former Indian Cliff Lee for Philly against former Indian C.C. Sabathia for NY, and as a special treat for Clevelanders, will feature a pregame tribute to Earnest Byner's fumble and the ceremonial tearing of LeBron James' ACL.