Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Last night's MNF game was, without a doubt, the ugliest game the Patriots have played in quite some time. For once, the Patriots made all the stupid mistakes that the other teams normally make. Rodney Harrison's pass interference call was bad enough. Brady's third interception--after he decided to dump the ball rather than take the sack--was even worse. And then the fourth INT was, of course, the nail in the coffin. Needless to say, I can only imagine what the next team meeting is going to be like. [It's a good half hour after the game ended as I write this. I just watched it, and thinking about it still makes me nauseous.]

And one other scary fact: this is the third week in a row that Vinatieri hasn't kicked a single field goal. . . .

After a couple moments' reflection, though, I can add two slightly bright notes:

(1) Everyone--even Ken Jennings, even #%@&%ing Ben Roethlisberger, has to either lose, or at the very least, play extremely badly sometime. Better they get the crap like this out of their system now than in January or February. In the long run, I think they'll be better for it.

(2) At least they're not the Eagles, who still has to win the Super Bowl--and get there without T.O.--to not be considered one of the all-time great choke jobs.