Eric Heise dot Com ~ The Monday Analysis 16 January 2006 ~ A Writer's March

Poorest group of officiating I have ever seen in a weekend of football. But, teams move on. The Champs do not.

In the 27-13 loss to Denver, the Patriots just turned the ball over. They turned it over for every Broncos score.

And so ends the 10 game playoff run, and the Belichick Patriots are 10-1 in the postseason.

It's a sad loss, particularly since Denver didn't need to do a thing but take advantage of the turnovers. They never even caused them. Tom Brady tossed two, including one to Champ Bailey in the endzone who ran it back to the 1-yard line. Ben Watson chased him down from the opposite end of the field to knock him out, an impressive run no doubt, but it did very little for the following play when Mike Anderson ran it in for a touchdown.

Brady, 15-36 for 341 yards 1 TD 2 INTs, was pressured the whole game, mostly by safety John Lynch.

It wasn't the crowd noise or thin air that caused a Kevin Faulk fumble or Ellis Hobbs fumble on a kick return or the Troy Brown fumble on a punt return.

"It's hard to win when you give the ball away," head coach Bill Belichick said after the game. It sure is.

The play of the game was the interception in the endzone by Champ Bailey who ran it back for 100 yards to the one-yards line. He would have had a touchdown if Ben Watson had not come out of no where to knock Bailey out. The ruling was challenged, that Bailey fumbled, which would have made it 1st and ten on the Patriots' 20, a touchback, but there was no conclusive evidence. Blame CBS for poor camera angles.

"It was a great effort," Belichick said about Watson's run after Bailey. It was the only positive thing he had to say on the night. No doubt, this one hurts. The Patriots were not beaten by another team, but they were beaten by themselves, something they have not been doing under the Belichick Reign.

I have to believe Belichick wanted this win, and he wanted a redemption win over Indy next week, but none of that will happen.

Troy Brown had a fumble on a punt return. Ellis Hobbs had a fumble on a Kick return. Kevin Faulk lost a ball on a run after a big reception from David Givens inside the two minute warning in the first half. Asante Samuel went on to get a pass interference call (that was a crap call), which got Denver to the goal line and a Mike Anderson touchdown. And even Adam Vinatieri missed a field goal.

Ellis Hobbs fumbled, and that led to a field goal. Anderson was really held in check with 69 yards, but he holds the ball like a vise. Vince Wilfork was hanging off him at one point and Anderson never coughed it up.

Samuel had an interception earlier in the game, one that required a review, but the Patriots got the ball.

"The season's over," Tom Brady said after the game. The quarterback seemed upbeat, but more in shock than anything else. He's not happy, but hammering his head into the wall will not do any good.

There will be another time, other seasons. The Patriots are still a weapon to contend with in the future. Time will dull wounds, players will come in with more talent, there will be less injuries. Next time the bull's eye is on someone else's back. That's the only blessing in all this mess.

In the "Empire Strikes Back," Han Solo is about to be encased in carbonite. Chewbacca begins to attack the stormtroopers. Solo pulls him off. He says this:

That's the theme. There will be another time. No one has three-peated. No one has won four in five years. No team has never lost a game. At some point mistakes are made, and games are loss. You don't have to like. You only need to understand.

BREAKING NEWS: Sources out of Houston indicate that Denver Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak will be named head coach of the Texans once the Broncos' season ends.

Minnesota head coach Brad Childress is making changes to the coaching staff. He hired Green Bay quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell as offensive coordinator. Darrell Wyatt was hired out of Oklahoma to coach the receivers. Defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell was fired this week.

Green Bay hired former San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy as their new head coach. McCarthy was also the Packers' quarterbacks coach in 1999. Prior to the 49ers, McCarthy was offensive coordinator in New Orleans from 2000-2004. At age 42, McCarthy is the youngest coach in the league.

Bills head coach Mike Mularkey resigned his position on Thursday, just a week after president and general manager Tom Donahue was fired, along with five other assistant coaches. Owner Ralph Wilson stated that Mularkey would be retained, however, Mularkey decided to leave the Bills position. Mularkey was 14-18 in two seasons with the Bills.

Washington Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams was taken out the running two week ago for any head coach positions when Washington extended his contract with a three year, $8 million deal. More details from Landover, MD, ESPN reported this week, indicate his deal includes a $100,000 luxury suite at FedEx Field, and a $1 million payout if he is not named Joe Gibbs's successor.

The Chiefs introduced former Jets head coach Herman Edwards on Monday. Edwards agreed to a four-year, $13 million contract. Edwards had two years left on his contract with the Jets. As compensation, the Chiefs sent the Jets a fourth round pick in the 2006 draft.

Edwards indicated this week that defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham would remain with the team.

The Jets began interviewing replacement for Herman Edwards. Former Saints head coach Jim Haslett was brought in for an interview, and Patriots defensive coordinator Eric Mangini's name has been tossed around the organization, and was interviewed on Sunday. Former Vikings coach Mike Tice was also scheduled to meet with the Jets.

Vikings defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell was fired by new head coach Brad Childress.

Green Bay hired their former tight ends coach Jeff Jagodzinski as the new offensive coordinator. Jagodzinski coached the Packers from 1999-2003, and has been with Atlanta for the past two seasons as their tight ends and offensive line coach.

The Monday Analysis POWER Rankings

The Playoff ranks shove the pretenders to the bottom.

1. Seattle (14-3). They nearly let Washington hang around, but they took care of business when it mattered.

2. Denver (14-3). Able to capitalize on turnovers, and that's what champions and great teams do.

3. Pittsburgh (12-5). Nice work, Steelers. Heck of win. Classic, one for the ages.

4. Carolina (13-5). Another big time win on the road. One more gets John Fox another shot at the Title.

5. Chicago (11-6). With a better Offense, Chicago will be a Machine.

6. Indy (14-2). Whatever curses Manning and Dungy in the postseason continues.

7. New England (11-7). Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.

8. Washington (11-7). Nice run, but six seeds don't get far into the playoffs.

9. Cincinnati (11-6). Keeping my fingers crossed, Marvin Lewis, that Carson recovers and returns to form.

10. Tampa Bay (11-6). Jon Gruden may want Chris Simms to talk more football with his father, Phil, this offseason.

11. Jacksonville (12-5). Jack Del Rio, get yourself a better quarterback.

12. NJ Giants (11-6). Tom Coughlin, get yourself a better quarterback. No, really.