originally uploaded by Jeffrey Beall, on Flickr.
No, really. As foolish as it looks now to have doubted the Ravens in KC, as soon as both your Chiefs and my Patriots got into the playoffs, somehow it felt like some crazy turn of events was going to lead to a matchup between us.
Or, more likely, I hoped some crazy turn of events would pit Patriots West, if you will, against the mother ship -- since about this time last year, as a matter of fact, when the Chiefs added Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis to the coaching roster.
Just think of all the new storylines there would have been to explore. A defense composed largely of a Bill Belichick-led draft class vs. a team recently re-architected by his former partner in crime, Scott Pioli, with an offense featuring you and good ol' Charlie. Romeo Crennel versus Tom Brady & Co.
It certainly would have been a more pleasantly novel prospect than what we're actually getting, which is, for you, the proverbial playing of golf, and for us, 2010's rubber match in a Pats-Jets rivalry that's going to have fans on both sides stocking up on antacids for the rest of the week.
No, Matt Cassel, as it turns out, our storybook reunion is not to be. And oh, what punishment there was for you today in the game which ensured that, punishment at the hands of the terrifying tandem of Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis.
Suggs seemed to be the ringleader in the rush that left you for dead this afternoon, and would record two of the three bone-crunching sacks you took today. And at this point in both their careers, Suggs is equally if not even more fearsome than Lewis.
But it is Ray-Ray, seven years Suggs' elder, who is, at this point, an institution of badassery, and a player who fascinates me more than any other non-Patriot. He was hardly upstaged by Suggs today, handling your third sack of the day, plus a forced fumble on one of your teammates, generated by one of his signature, stomach-turningly audible hits.
And so, Matt Cassel, my most prominent memory of watching those two gigantic, scary men just about break you in half today was a moment that featured the inimitable Lewis.
If you recall, you were facing a third and 3 on the Baltimore 47 in the early part of the second quarter, When you first lined up for that play, it was the Ravens defense, rather than your offense, which was featuring an empty backfield. In particular, CBS cameras caught a shot of Lewis, panting and puffing just across the line from you like a bull in a chute, standing with his bloodthirsty eyes trained right on your face.
You proceeded to call a probably life-saving time-out. You also may have needed to change your pants.
All I can really say after seeing what they did to you out there today, Matt Cassel, is that from a Patriots perspective, it can only be a good thing that we will not be hosting Messrs. Suggs and Lewis in Foxboro next Sunday. Especially since it appears that Suggs has a rather unhealthy obsession with Tom Brady as it is, even when his team is not playing the Patriots. In fact, it would not surprise me to find out that Suggs is also in possession of a voodoo doll, which lately just happens to feature long, flowing locks of hair.
Anyway, hope you have a good off-season. As for me, next week I'll be rooting for the Ravens defense to visit on Ben Roethlisberger what they laid down on you today, dear Matty Cassel. He definitely deserves it more.
And as for another episode of Patriots vs. Jets...ugh. I've got at least a little more time before I really have to reopen that whole noxious can of worms, I think.