Classless

The last two weeks a reporter has asked Bill Belichick if he's running up the score. It's now a rhetorical question - of course he's running up the score. Yesterday the Patriots went for a fake spike with 20 seconds left up 20-0. They went for it on 4th down with 11 minutes up 38-0, and with 7:16 left up 45-0. Up 52-7 with under a minute left there were still starters in the game.

Profootballtalk pointed out that while the Redskins beat the 49ers two years ago 52-17, the Redskins didn't through a pass in the last 18:30 of the game. I would compare the Patriots behavior to stealing bases up 12 in the 9th inning, but it's worse. In baseball there's no clock - you could conceivably score 12 runs in the bottom of the ninth. It's easier to sit on a lead in the NFL. It's also easier to sustain an injury. So when Brady is in up 35 in the third quarter when the Pats are playing someone with a little less class than Joe Gibbs, I have a feeling you'll see a lineman try to take out his knees. Hell, I'm surprised I didn't see it yesterday.