My, my, my! The lengths ESPN will go to to manufacture controversy. Mike Vanderjagt, commenting on the Colts-Pats matchup essentially said that the Pats aren't as good as they were at the beginning of the year, and that the Colts were gonna win. ESPN let out a collective, "OH, SNAP!", and then sought the reaction in Beantown. The Pats players followed up with the typical "disrespect" cliches, and took a few shots at the fact that the comments came from a kicker.
Let me break it all down now for y'all:
First of all, Vanderjagt's right - at least about the Pats not being as good as they were at the beginning of the year. That seemed pretty evident to me, especially in that Miami game.
Second of all, how the hell is saying his team's gonna win disrespectful? If Vanderjagt doesn't expect to win, why bother showing up to play?
Third, who the hell are the Patriots to trivialize a kicker? Look at your hands fellas - they'd be a lot less shiny if it weren't for that strange little guy down at the end of the locker room with the big foot. Without Adam Vinatieri, the Patriots are a less accomplished version of the Buffalo Bills.
Finally - on the idea of trivializing kickers in general. Everybody likes to put them down because, "the real players go out there and battle for 60 minutes, while the kicker goes out there and either gets all the glory, or fucks it up for everyone else". More football players should keep in mind that 95% of the time a kicker or punter comes on the field, it is because the "real" football players failed at doing their own job.
Let me break it all down now for y'all:
First of all, Vanderjagt's right - at least about the Pats not being as good as they were at the beginning of the year. That seemed pretty evident to me, especially in that Miami game.
Second of all, how the hell is saying his team's gonna win disrespectful? If Vanderjagt doesn't expect to win, why bother showing up to play?
Third, who the hell are the Patriots to trivialize a kicker? Look at your hands fellas - they'd be a lot less shiny if it weren't for that strange little guy down at the end of the locker room with the big foot. Without Adam Vinatieri, the Patriots are a less accomplished version of the Buffalo Bills.
Finally - on the idea of trivializing kickers in general. Everybody likes to put them down because, "the real players go out there and battle for 60 minutes, while the kicker goes out there and either gets all the glory, or fucks it up for everyone else". More football players should keep in mind that 95% of the time a kicker or punter comes on the field, it is because the "real" football players failed at doing their own job.
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