The Ticket Chest

Patriots Ty Warren Foregoes Bonus for Degree

Thursday, March 18th, 2010 | New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, NFL, Sports | No Comments

New England Patriots defensive lineman Ty Warren is teaching his 3 children a valuable lesson.  It’s more important to earn an education and a degree than play a professional sport, because you can’t play sports forever.

Warren is skipping the Patriots’ initial voluntary workouts this spring because he is returning to Texas A&M to finish his degree.  Warren was the Patriots’ 13th pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.  He has played in 105 games in his 7-year Patriots’ career, but he never forgot about his education.  So much so that he is willing to forego a $250,000 bonus that would be paid to him for attending the spring workouts to attend the last few classes at Texas A&M that will earn him a degree at the end of the semester.  Warren says that he is making this sacrifice to send a message to his 3 children — “I try to put the kids in the best educational system possible and I think there is something to be said for their father, who has been blessed to play in the NFL and do something he’s loved to do, going back and finishing what he started.  In the big picture, I think it’s important for me to do what I’m doing.  I can sacrifice that bonus for that.”

As a veteran leader on the Patriots defense, the club shouldn’t have to worry that Warren will slack off on his football preparation while in classes this spring — “Working out has never been a problem of mine, I do it regardless. I’m self-motivated.  I’ve always been a working person.  Ask anyone who knows me, I’ve been working and supporting my two siblings and now my wn family since I was 13.  No matter how much I have in the bank account, I’ll always work.”

It’s nice to hear about these stories in professional sports today.  Too often we’re inundated with drunk driving missteps, assault charges and other self-less actions on the parts of professional athletes today.  Lately, it seems like we are hearing more of the “feel-good” stories in sports today (see Scott Fujita donating his Super Bowl bonus to the city of New Orleans and the victims in Haiti) — it’s about time.

Tags: Scott Fujita, Super Bowl, Ty Warren

Bill Belichichick Did Not Make Wrong Decision in Patriots 35-34 Loss to Colts

Monday, November 16th, 2009 | Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, NFL, Sports | No Comments

I am one of the few to think it – but Bill Belichick did not make the wrong decision in the 4th quarter of Sunday night’s 35-34 loss to the Colts.  If you missed it, here’s how it played out.

The New England Patriots led the 8-0 Colts in Indianapolis well into the 4th quarter – 31-14 with 14 minutes left in the game and 34-21 with just over 4 minutes left in the game.  The Colts cut the lead to 6 points with just over 2 minutes left in the game.  Then the fun began.  The Patriots started on their own 20 yard line and after 3 plays, the Patriots faced a 4th and 2 from their own 28 yard line at the 2 minute warning.  Belichick could have punted the ball and forced the Colts back into their own zone.  Or he could go for it and end the game if the Patriots offsense could gain 2 yards.  Decision time.  Much to the surprise of most critics, Belichick opted to go for it.  Bad move – Tom Brady’s pass to Kevin Faulk netted just 1 yard and the Colts had the ball at the Patriots 29 yard line with just under 2 minutes to play.  A 15-yard pass to Reggie Wayne set up Joseph Addai’s beautiful 13 yard run to put the ball at the Patriots 1 yard line – 1st and goal with over a minute left.  The Patriots shut down another Addai run, but then Manning found Wayne with a 1-yard touchdown pass and the Matt Stover PAT gave the Colts the improbably 35-34 win.

Now everyone (except me) has been all over Belichick for going for it on the 4th down in your own end.  Why give the Colts a short field?  Going for it indicates that you don’t have confidence in your defense to get the job done? Belichick’s smugness got the best of him?  I disagree with all of them.

First, dating back to last year, the Colts had won 17 straight regular season games.  The Colts were arguably the best team in the AFC and were playing on their own home turf.  Whether you gave them 20 yards of field or 80 yards of field, there was a good chance that Peyton Manning would find a way to lead his team to victory – he had done so the previous 17 times his team took the field.

Former Patriots stud linebacker Ted Bruschi “went off” on Belichick’s decision stating that it showed a lack of confidence in his defense to be able to stop Manning and the Colts defense.  Here’s a brief snippit of what Bruschi had to say: “The decision to go for it would be enough to make my blood boil for weeks.  Bill Belichick sent a message to his defense.  He felt that his chances were better to for it on his own 28-yard line than to punt it away and make Peyton Manning have to drive the majority of the field to win the game… I would look at this decision as a lack of confidence in our ability as a defensive unit to come up with a big play to win the game.”

I totally disagree.  Belichick was in total control of the game.  If the Patriots get the 2 yards, the Patriots run out the clock and the game is over.  If we don’t get it, Belichick’s attitude had to be that I have enough confidence in my defense that we can stop them from gaining 29 yards to score the winning touchdown.  A field goal wasn’t good enough.  The Colts had to score a touchdown to win, and it just worked out that way that they scored the touchdown to pull off the come-from-behind win.

Now granted, I think Belichick’s (over-)confidence sometimes gets the best of him.  He thinks he is “God” and he thinks that he knows everything and he thinks that whatever he does is right.  And while I might not agree with that mentality, if you want to be successful in whatever it is you do, you have to have confidence in your abilities and in your own “teammates’” abilities to get the job done.  This applies to everything, not just football.

Belichick made an informed decision and it didn’t work out the way that he planned.  The Colts are 9-0 and are looking like a lock to be the top team in the AFC come January.  The Patriots are 6-3 and they are in 1st place in the AFC East with a 2-game lead over each of the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.  They should make the playoffs and wouldn’t it be interesting to see these 2 teams meet again in Indy in January to determine the AFC’s representative in the Super Bowl.  Look at the high-octane numbers in this game – Brady – 27-42, 375 yards passing with 3 TD’s; Randy Moss – 9 catches for 179 yards and 2 scores; Wes Welker – 9 catches for 94 yards; Manning – 28-44, 327 yards passing with 4 TD’s; & Reggie Wayne – 10 catches for 1269 yards and 2 scores.  WOW – I can’t wait for the NFL playoffs.

Tags: Bill Belichick, Joseph Addai, Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Tom Brady

The Good – Tom Brady & The Bad – Mark Sanchez

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | Mark Sanchez, New England Patriots, New York Jets, NFL, Randy Moss, Sports, Thomas Jones, Tom Brady, Wes Welker | No Comments

It was a tale of 2 stories for competing AFC East quarterbacks over the weekend.  Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets had vastly different games in Week 6 of the NFL schedule.  Looks likes Patriots tickets are going to be a lot harder to come by than Jets tickets during the 2009 NFL schedule.  The same couldn’t be said 4 weeks ago when the Jets upset the Patriots 16-9 at Giants Stadium in Week 2 of the NFL season on Sunday, September 20, 2009.

The Good – Tom Brady – In the Patriots 59-0 shutout of the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday at Foxboro Stadium just outside Boston, the Patriots fought through the snow and sleet of a noreaster to put a pasting on the fallen Titans.  Tom Brady completed 29 of 34 passes for 380 yards and threw for 6 touchdowns – 3 to Randy Moss, 2 to Wes Welker and 1 to Kevin Faulk.  But the big stat came in the 2nd quarter – with the Patriots leading 10-0 with under 10 minutes to play in the half, Brady led the Patriots offense on a dazzling display of aerial attack that led to 5 touchdown passes in a span of 9 minutes and 43 seconds that gave the Patriots a 45-0 halftime.  It was really something to watch and an unbelievable feat.  The Patriots set the following NFL records – Brady’s 5 touchdown passes in the 2nd quarter; the 45-0 halftime lead and the 59-point margin of victory was the biggest margin of victory since the AFL-NFL merger back in 1970.

The Bad – Mark Sanchez – In the Jets 16-13 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Mark Sanchez had his worst game as a pro – throwing 5 interceptions that let the Bills erase a 13-3 halftime lead.  The Jets didn’t score a single point after Thomas Jones rushed for a 71-yard touchdown with 7:31 to go in the 1st half.  Sanchez completed just 10 of 29 passes for 119 yards.  He did not have any touchdown passes and he ended the day with a dismal 8.3 passer rating.  Ouch.  At least he manned up to his mistakes: “I don’t know if I could play any worse.  It was totally my fault and I owe these guys a lot.”

The Jets who were once “in control” of the AFC East have now dropped 3 straight games and they trail the Patriots by 1 game.  After averaging 21+ points in their 1st 3 games (all wins), the Jets have averaged just 16+ points a game in their 3 losses.  Could this be a bad trend for Sanchez and the Jets?  Not good timing especially with the veteran Patriots back atop the AFC East and firing on all cylinders…