Patriots win, prog’s make one last pick

Football fans around the country have been hearing a word passed around the water coolers that hasn’t been used since the days before the salary cap threatened to ruin all that was mighty and loyal in the National Football League, and that word is Dynasty.

I’m not talking about that late 80s primetime television show, but the fate of that program seemed akin to that of the teams with a long running history of success, as football teams would no longer be able to spend freely to obtain the missing pieces to their championship puzzles.

Nobody thought that a team would be able to stay together long enough to equal the mark of Buffalo Bills when they played in four consecutive Super Bowls. Certainly no team would have been able to repeat the journey of the Dallas Cowboys when they won three titles in four years—but that’s exactly what happened.

When the New England Patriots defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21 last Sunday, Bill Belichik and company confirmed their reservations at the NFL Hall of Fame table. Considering that many of the top coaches have never hoisted the silver plated mounted football amidst a flurry of confetti, winning three Lombardi trophies is incredible enough. To do so in such a short time frame is even more impressive. But when one tries to wraps their mind around all of the intricacies associated with the egos, revenue sharing, salary cap figures, and the “I gots to get mine” attitudes, what the Pats accomplished is almost unthinkable.

Even though the Patriots were favored in the Super Bowl, they were under rated all season long. By the end of the regular season, they clawed and scraped their way to a 14-2 record, with losses to a powerhouse team from Pittsburgh and a fluke to the Dolphins in Miami. When the playoffs finally rolled around, few gave the defending champs a shot over Peyton Manning and the record setting Colts.

Following a dominating performance over the blue horse shoes, many expected the Steelers to repeat their triumph over the Pats from the regular season, but Tom Brady proved that he could out gun the improbable standout rookie Ben Roethlisberger.

The Patriots finally earned some respect when they were favored by Super Bowl odds makers by a touchdown, but the focus was on whether or not T.O. would take the field to foil the New England run.

While some gave into their temptations and went with the city of brotherly love, the local crowd wasn’t swayed by the smooth talking of Eagles wide receiver Freddy Mitchell, as most of the Saipan contingent rightly took the Patriots.

As it stands, Cassie, Jon, Jessie, and Jennifer have posted the best records through the playoffs at 7-4, while Rich, Chris, Nina, and Big Tuna climbed above .500 with marks of 6-5. The big shock was the regular season’s champ wrapping up with a sour 5-6 record in the postseason, but even he picked the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, John didn’t follow Will’s lead, and the chairman of the CFL board owns the pit of despair at 3-8.

All of the top four finishers have one last shot at a piece of the crown, as the Pro Bowl kicks off this weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii, but only Cassie took the NFC.