The Kids Are Alright

By Rick Eggleston
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Well, that’s more like it.

Just when you thought Tom Brady had lost his Midas touch throwing the football, along came Sunday’s game with the hapless, hopeless, downright pathetic Tennessee Titans. Ah yes, there’s nothing that a good old-fashioned ass whooping (in a snowstorm no less) on an inferior team can’t fix.

With his record five passing touchdowns in the second quarter, including two in a row to Randy Moss, Brady and the Pats flashed back to 2007 for a few hours on Sunday and it felt good. The 59-0 shelling also provided a certain reassurance that Brady can still throw the football with accuracy, power and purpose. Reports of Brady’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.

The Titans, on the other hand, head into their bye week having reached rock bottom. How virtually the same team from a year ago in which they started the season 10-0 returns to start this season 0-6, isn’t exactly clear. While injuries have been a factor, every team has them and is forced to make due. The Patriots have so far, as evidenced Sunday when Sammy Morris — starting in place of injured starting running back Fred Taylor — left the game with a wrenched knee and saw Laurence Maroney answer the bell. New England’s defense has done the same, battling through early-season injuries.

It may come down to bad karma for the Titans, who are cursed, as one Steelers fan suggested on a newspaper team forum site. “The Curse of Terrible Towel,” wrote Ivan the Terrible of Wallingford, Pa., has gripped the Titans since, “LenDale White and friends stomped on the Terrible Towel last season,” following their 31-14 blowout of the Steelers in Week 16. Turns out that’s the last time the Titans won a game, as they went on to lose their season finale and were bounced in the divisional round of the playoffs by the Ravens. The Steelers, meanwhile, went on to win the Super Bowl.

Scuffling Bruins Shake Things Up

Taking a page from the Patriots’ playbook, the Bruins showed Monday that they aren’t about to accept complacency and half-assed efforts when they sent $2.3 million right winger Chuck Kobasew packing to Minnesota.

As surprising as the move is, so too is the Bruins’ lackluster 3-4-0 start. After NHL schedule makers seemingly gift-wrapped the Bruins what should’ve been a 5-0 start by having them open their season with five straight home games — something that almost never happens these days, let alone to the Bruins, who have virtually started every previous season on the road due to the circus’ annual visit to town — the B’s squandered it by going 2-3.

The main contributor to the B’s slow start has been their lack of effort and intensity on offense, where Kobasew had just one assist through the first seven games. Something — and somebody — had to give, and Kobasew is the wake-up call the Bruins so desperately need. While Kobasew’s teammates were surprised by the move, they understand it’s a business and the business is to win hockey games. Whether Kobasew’s — who netted 21 goals last season — abrupt departure helps or ultimately hurts in that goal, of course, remains to be seen.

Just ask Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas, who was put on notice and the bench by coach Bill Belichick prior to Sunday’s game with Tennessee. While Thomas, a two-time Pro-Bowler, doesn’t appear to be injured nor would Belichick come out and say during his Monday media briefing it was a performance issue with Thomas, trade winds are blowing. Rams running back Steven Jackson would look pretty good in a Patriots throwback.