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Week Seven NFL wrap-up
Cold, Hard Football Facts for October 25, 2004
The Cold, Hard Football Facts have again proven to be ahead of the curve. Last week we declared Michael Vick the most overhyped player in football. The Boston Globe followed our lead and stuck a needle in the Michael Vick hype balloon Monday with an article headlined "Not Sold on Vick."
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With their 21st consecutive victory, the Patriots have tied the 1935 Chicago Cubs for the second longest win streak in the history of major North American sports. Only the 1971-72 Lakers have won more consecutive games among teams in the four major sports leagues (NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB).
Here's how the records stack up in each major sport:
NBA: 1971-72 Lakers (33)
NFL: 2003-04 Patriots (21)
MLB: 1935 Chicago Cubs (21)
NHL: 1992-93 Penguins (17)
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The CBS broadcast crew for New England's 13-7 victory over the Jets Sunday offered this gem of a fact: Four quarterbacks in the NFL today have participated in a win streak of 10 or more games. Brady has two: A 12-game win streak in the 2001-02 seasons, and New England's current record-setting 21-game win streak.
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Things are so good in New England that even the Revolution earned a major playoff victory Saturday night, upsetting the Columbus Crew, 1-0. The Crew had won 18 straight Major League Soccer games. Four people watched the shootout, which took place opposite Game One of the World Series.
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Things are so good in New England that the Red Sox can field a little league team on defense, and still hammer out back-to-back victories over a club that won 105 games during the regular season. The Red Sox have made eight errors in two games. The 1982 Brewers set the World Series record with nine errors.
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Things are so good in New England that Boston College earned a last-second come-from-behind 24-23 victory at 24th-ranked Notre Dame Saturday, after racking up embarrassing losses to Wake Forest and Pittsburgh, and a win over I-AA Massachusetts, in their previous three games. BC quarterback Paul Peterson completed 19 of 23 passes for 297 yards in the second half.
The Eagles have beat the Irish four straight times and in five of their last six meetings. Last year, BC ended Notre Dame's quest for an undefeated season with a 14-7 victory. And, of course, the Irish have never regained their No. 1 ranking after losing to the Eagles 41-39 back in 1993. Tony Roberts, the voice of Westwood One radio's national Notre Dame broadcasts, declared Boston College Notre Dame's "nemesis" during Saturday's pregame show.
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How many times have you seen a coach tell his quarterback to take a knee in the final minute of the first half, or conservatively call three straight running plays, effectively denying his team a precious scoring opportunity? The Patriots have taken a different tack, as evidenced by Sunday's 62-yard touchdown drive in the final 109 seconds of the first half. The drive ended in a Tom Brady-to-David Patten touchdown pass with five seconds left. It also provided the winning margin, as the Patriots went into the locker room with a 13-7 lead that would hold up through the end of the game. Brady was 6-for-6 passing during the decisive drive.
It was sixth time in New England's 21-game winning streak that the Patriots scored in the final seconds of the first half, and the third time this season. It has proven the difference between victory and defeat in four of those games. Here's how the five other last-second, first-half scores have played out:
• At Miami last year, the Patriots hammered out a five-minute drive that was capped by an Adam Vinatieri field goal with two seconds left. New England won in overtime, 19-13.
• At Denver last year, Vinatieri kicked a field goal with one second left in the first half. The score was set up by a 63-yard Bethel Johnson kick return. New England won 30-26 (on a last-minute touchdown drive).
• At Indy last year, Johnson returned a kick 92 yards for a touchdown on the last play of the first half (Indy kicker Mike Vanderjagt, by the way, was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play). New England won 38-34.
• Against Indy this year, Vinatieri kicked a field goal with no time left in the half. New England won, 27-24.
• Against Miami this year, Brady capped a 46-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to David Givens with 36 seconds to play. The Dolphins took a knee to close out the half. New England won, 24-10.
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The Patriots have led at the half in 20 of 21 games during the streak. In Week One this season, the Colts held a 17-13 lead over the Patriots at intermission.
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Randall Gay has quickly gone from undrafted, unheard-of rookie defensive back to solid professional in just three short games with New England. Gay covered Jets receiver Wayne Chrebet for much of Sunday 's game, holding the veteran and longtime Patriots killer to one catch for 18 yards.
Why did Gay go unnoticed by other NFL teams? One reason is that he's battled injuries throughout his career, going all the way back to his days at Brusly High in Louisiana, where a knee injury limited him to eight games in his senior year. He started 11 games at corner during his junior year at LSU, but a hand injury and competition from younger players relegated him to nickel-back status during his senior year, in which LSU won the national title and boasted the nation's best defense.
It caused NFL general managers and draftnicks to overlook a player with top-notch athleticism: Gay runs a 4.3 40 and has a 39-inch vertical leap.
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After many years of observation, the Cold, Hard Football Facts have determined that turnovers are the second most important stat in football, after final score. Coincidentally, the Patriots have caused at least one turnover in 21 straight games – all 21 games of their win streak.
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Drew Bledsoe's woes continue. He threw four interceptions Sunday in Buffalo's 20-6 loss to Baltimore, including two that were picked off by Deion Sanders. One was returned for a touchdown.
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Does any player look worse in defeat than Peyton Manning? Patriots fans are quite familiar with his shoulder shrug of frustration in which he throws his hands upward, in a despairing "why me?" prayer to the Gridiron Gods that follows each defeat against New England. Things were even worse this week, when Manning was caught in a shoving match on the sidelines with Colts receiver Reggie Wayne during Indy's 27-24 loss to Jacksonville.
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The Patriots have now won 79.3 percent of their games during the Tom Brady era. If the Patriots go 12-4 this season, get a first-round bye and win the Super Bowl, Brady's career winning percentage will actually decline.
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The Patriots have shattered the previous NFL win streak by three games. To put it another way, they've exceeded the old record by 16.7 percent. Here are the numbers players would have to put up to exceed existing notable sports records by the same amount:
* 85 home runs in a season (current record, 73)
* 56 touchdown passes in a season (current record, 48)
* 2,457 rushing yards in a season (current record, 2,105)
* 23 strikeouts in a game (current record, 20)
* 107 goals in hockey (current record, 92)
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