The Day After Pill

It's the day after another testicle crushing loss. The New England Patriots lost in the worst way possible to the worst team possible (not as in the Jets are a bad team, as in there is no team you want the Pats to lose to less than the Jets. Got it? Good. Explain it to me later). Bill Belichick was out-coached by Rex Ryan. Tom Brady looked terrible. Bill O'Brien remembered he was Bill O'Brien. Kyle Arrington finally bit the Patriots in the ass. Braylon Edwards, Bart Scott and the other ass-hat members of the Jets (in this club I also include: Tomlinson and Cromartie) were justified in their trash-talking. It was basically like going in for a vasectomy that gets botched. You think it's going to be routine, there shouldn't be anything to worry about, yet you come out of the procedure with a lot of swelling, a lot of pain, and you are peeing sideways for the rest of your life. That's the life of a Pats fan right now: swelled up, uncomfortable and peeing sideways.

I waited until now to write this so that I could have a clear head. There is no sense in ripping Pat Chung. Or Tom Brady. Or Bill Belichick. Or Bill O'Brien. Or Kyle Arrington. Or Brandon Meriweather. We all know what happened: the Jets, a team that last season was handed an AFC title appearance, reloaded, got on track and out-played Peyton Manning and Brady on consecutive weeks. Now (barring a lock-out, which is a whole other story for another day), we need to focus on what happens next.

This team needs a nasty streak on defense (a Nick Fairley-type would be fantastic). It needs to find the replacement for Willie McGinest. It needs another running back, someone who can be interchanged with BenJarvus Green-Ellis and allow Danny Woodhead to focus on being a third down back. It needs someone to take Brandon Meriweather off their hands, as he was exposed a couple of times yesterday as the guy so wrapped up and consumed with making the big hit, he doesn't look for the interception or for the tackle. It also needs an outside eye, someone from outside the organization, maybe to tell Belichick that sometimes, he's wrong. I don't get the sense that Matt Patricia or Bill O'Brien is that guy. It's something that has been lacking in this organization since Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel left town. It needs an offensive line rebuild that include bidding adieu to Matt Light. Maybe Ty Warren's return to health is the shot in the arm the team needs. It's armed with 3 draft picks in the first 33 selections, and I certainly hope them they use them the right way (IE: get the best TALENT, not the best VALUE).

Maybe this season can be used as a springboard to a 2011 Super Bowl Title, much like the Jets used their 2009 run here in 2010. Maybe it's the last gasp of the Brady-Belichick era and everything goes to hell in a hand-basket from here on out (unlikely). Maybe there really IS something to the Yoko Bundchen curse (no Super Bowl titles since she entered the picture folks. Not a coincidence). Regardless, there is one thing I feel most Patriots can agree on:

Go Steelers. Now pass me some frozen peas.