Why I Hate the New England Patriots

When Super Bowl LII kicks off next Sunday evening, I'm not sure I'll be actually rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles to win.

I will be cheering hard for the New England Patriots to lose.

It isn't because of any sort of jealousy or envy of the Patriots incredible run of success in the 21st century; the dislike actually started before they won their first Super Bowl. When Tom Brady's fumble in the snow against Oakland was overturned by an obscure football rule nobody had ever heard of before, the Patriots and Brady were forever tarnished in my mind. It's hard for mind to reconcile the fact that the winningest Super Bowl quarterback ever could never even be the clear-cut quarterback of his college team.

The Patriots reputation of playing fast and loose with the rules is well established with SpyGate and DeflateGate. And yes, the reactions of Tom Brady and the rest of the New England Patriots made it clear they were guilty; every parent can recognize the tacit admissions of guilt by Brady and company, even if the NFL's 2015 investigation was a bit clumsy in execution.  Maybe the evidence isn't admissable in court, but you know and everybody knows that Tom Brady and the New England Patriots cheated to get to that Super Bowl.

And that's the stuff we know about.

Add in the whole "Masshole" phenomonon, and frankly, the New England Patriots are simply unlikable. I had a small amount of sympathy for Boston fans in the 20th century; I liked Larry Bird, and sympathized with them over the Bill Buckner error in the World Series. (Besides, I hated those Stupid Mets...)  But that dissipated quickly once Matt Perrault started shoveling his dreck on KXSP ten years ago.  One of his famed predictions was that "no Manning would ever win a Super Bowl ring" - only to have the Manning brothers win the next two Super Bowls.

I get why he did that... he loved his Boston teams, but more importantly, loved to troll everyone else.  That's why he didn't last in Omaha, though he's apparently now has a national show.  Go figure.

New England and Boston:  Thoroughly unlikable and despicable. Go ahead, Philly...and give them the full Santa treatment.

Because even awful fans who hate Santa deserve a Super Bowl trophy more than the New England Patriots.

Despite Recruitnik Worries, Scott Frost Wins On and Off the Field in Transition

Even before Mike Riley was officially fired, the recruiting gurus sounded the alarms over the direction Nebraska seemed to be heading.

This has popped up on @Nebraska247 but in my opinion if a move is made and Nebraska finds itself hiring a coach, the new person, when announced, needs to start immediately.

It's cold & unsentimental, but being tasked with this job means the focus should be strictly on Nebraska.

— Mike Schaefer (@mikejschaefer) November 17, 2017

I understood the concern and the argument, but I also completely disagreed at the time.

Noble thought. But what if your #1 choice isn't willing to do that? Do you move on to another candidate?

NO.

Unless your second candidate is almost equivalent, you can wait.

Nebraska HAS to get this right, and NU can wait a month FOR THE RIGHT GUY. https://t.co/d0P2Bik7le

— Husker Mike (@Husker_Mike) November 17, 2017

Let's be honest. Was Bill Moos supposed to tell Scott Frost that he couldn't coach UCF in the bowl game?  Apparently yes.  And what would Frost say to that?  Before you answer that, remember this:

Source: Scott Frost has agreed to 7-year, $35 million deal with Nebraska, but in days leading up today’s AAC title game was still having some “serious cold feet & remorse.” @LarsAnderson71 previously reported contract figures

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 2, 2017

Yes, it's very possible, if not likely, that Frost would have said no.

I get Schaefer's point; I really do.  With the early signing period, December recruiting has taken on increased urgency, and so Nebraska's next head coach needed to be very busy doing that. But Schaefer made the same mistake recruitniks always make:

You can't recruit your way to success.

Now, before anyone overreacts to that statement, let me explain it. It's true that championship teams tend to have come from highly rated recruiting classes (see Alabama and Ohio State).  It's also true that highly rated recruiting classes do not necessary result in championships. (See Texas)

Don't normally see the "stars matter" crowd when Texas is playing either. #coachingMattersMore

— Husker Mike (@Husker_Mike) December 31, 2016

Look at this season:  Ohio State's blowout victory over Nebraska could be explained as a "talent gap".  Ohio State's 31 point loss to Iowa could not.  And if that doesn't blow your mind, then explain how Minnesota had enough talent to beat Nebraska 54-21...but then couldn't score another point the rest of the season in shutout losses to Northwestern and Wisconsin.

Recruiting hasn't been Nebraska's problem in football in recent years; the Huskers have had the best recruiting rankings in the Big Ten's west division. Nebraska's problem has been in developing and coaching.  Bo Pelini was a good head coach...but wasn't good enough, especially against Wisconsin.  Mike Riley made the tragic mistake of dragging along coaches that had failed or were failing at Oregon State (Mark Banker, Mike Cavanaugh, Danny Langsdorf and Bruce Read) to Nebraska.

Enter Scott Frost, who has a short but attention getting resume.  Would it have been better to let Frost go another year or two Central Florida?  Maybe, but Nebraska couldn't allow Mike Riley and his clown show of assistant coaches to remain any longer.  It's hard to argue any more with a straight face that Frost isn't ready for the NU job.  Frankly, he's proven he's more qualified than everybody who succeeded his mentor, Tom Osborne.

My family spent part of New Year's Day opening gifts from part of the family; we had to be out of town on Christmas Day. But the biggest and best present I got was that Central Florida offense.  I haven't hidden my extreme disgust at the Mike Riley/Danny Langsdorf offensive scheme since it arrived in Lincoln.  It's obsolete, outdated and this season, it was simply constipated. These coaches didn't know the first thing about running the ball or blocking for it, except to throw more guys into block for it.  Which it turn brings more defenders into the box and makes it even more difficult to find running room.

Riley and Langsdorf played tiddleywinks.  Frost and Troy Walters are playing 3-D chess.  You saw what they did to Auburn.

Now, they won't be able to do this right away in Lincoln. The Huskers will have to break in a new quarterback - and probably a couple, because only Tristan Gebbia shows any signs of being able to operate a modern college offense like Frost will bring.  I'm not worried about Gebbia's size; did you see the size of UCF's Mackenzie Milton? 

The hype for Frost is going to be overwhelming; we should go into 2018 and 2019 with no expectations on the final results.  There's so much development that needs to be done behind the scenes that it's silly to expect a UCF-like turnaround.  It might be possible, but it might take a while longer.

My expectations are simple.  Show me progress, which shouldn't be difficult after the worst season of Husker football since before Bob Devaney.  Like Devaney, I think Frost has inherited more talent than the record indicated.  (I mean, does anybody REALLY believe that Minnesota and Iowa were four and six touchdowns better than the Huskers?  Or were the Big Red simply coached that poorly.)

Develop.  Regain the passion.  Show progress.  That's what I want from Nebraska football in 2018.

This is going to be fun to watch.  I can't wait for the spring game and the fall, and that's something I couldn't say the last three seasons.