Patriots Steamroll Broncos

Well, my reverse jinx from yesterday worked, just like I knew it would. And you all thought that I was actually picking against the Patriots? On a serious note, though, was that the Denver Broncos or the Denver Broncettes because that team looked like a bunch of pansies out there. Have they ever heard of holding on to the ball? Listen, when you turn the ball over five times, you pretty much deserve to lose 41-7 and that's exactly what happened.

And just like I suggested in my column from yesterday, isn't it more fun when the Patriots are running up the score as opposed to getting demolished by mediocre teams like the Dolphins and Chargers? Anyway, here are a few thoughts on last nights game as I try to come up with some good Jeopardy questions for the Patriots-Rams game next Sunday.

• This game featured the rare Rodney Harrison Hat Trick: he committed an unneccessary roughness penalty, drew a retaliatory unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and suffered a season-ending quad injury. With his contract up at the end of this year and a long road to recoery ahead of him, this may very well be the end of the Rodney HGHarrison era in New England and the NFL.

• For everyone worried about Randy Moss turning into Terrel Owens, Moss was seen standing on the sidelines cheering on the defense, getting the crowd going and was throwing his body around on the field like Wes Welker does.

• With the return of the Patriots offense last night, we also saw the return of Bob Kraft's blue shirt with the white collar. It's good to know that the world is spinning correctly again.

• I think the fat guy dressed as a Viking got more air time than Jay Cutler's finger.

• What's the story with all of the sacks allowed by the Patriots? Last night they gave up six sacks and have given up 26 already this year. Last year they only gave up 21. While Cassel takes entirely too long to get rid of the ball, there were also times that it seemed like the defense just blew right by our offensive line.

• I've come to the conclusion that Benjamin Watson isn't very good. Yeah, he makes some decent plays and is a good blocker but what's with all of the dropped passes? You know how some companies donate money to a worthy cause when a pitcher strikes someone out or a quarterback throws a touchdown? There has to be somone out there that would sponsor Watson's dropped passes. It would go something like this: Cassel drops back, he's looking for Moss deep, Cassel still in the pocket, dumps the pass over to Watson in the flat, ooohhhhh, he dropped it. And that dropped pass is brought to you by Crazy Glue, the official glue of the New England Patriots. That would work, right?

• The obvious key to this game was the turnover difference but the Patriots' ability to rush the ball last night was also key. For the game, they had 257 yards rushing, most by a New England team in 15 years. Sammy Morris ran for 138 yards in the first half alone before leaving with an injury. Which leads me to Laurence Maroney who was placed on Injured Reserve before the game and is done for the season. In fact, I hope he's done with the Patriots for good. Here's a guy with all the talent in the world, is faster than 98.7 percent of the people out there but is just awful at reading the run. Last night was a perfect example of what can happen when a running back finds an open hole and just slams into it. On some of his runs, Morris wasn't even getting touched until he was already five yards upfield. That sort of thing can't be taught- it's just an instinct and Maroney will never have it. I don't care if we have to bring back Antowain Smith, I don't want to see Maroney in the backfield again.

• I'm glad that Tony Kornheiser was there to announce this game last night. I had no idea that Matt Cassel isn't Tom Brady. For that matter, who knew that Jay Cutler wasn't John Elway? I thought they were the same person? If anyone can tell me what Kornheiser's role is on Monday Night Football I would really appreciate it.

So it's on to the suddenly rejuvinated St. Louis Rams next week in Foxboro. It will be interesting to see if the Patriots can use this game as a launching pad for the rest of the year or if we'll see more of the same up and down play we've witnessed through the first six weeks of the season.