Banners and guarantees aside, the Patriots are 13-0 this Monday.
As The New York Times notes, a plane flying a derisive banner over Gillette Stadium prior to Sunday's game against Pittsburgh and an impetuous remark by a young Steeler didn't stop New England from continuing on its record-smashing roll.
"Nobody around here is chasing the record," OL Matt Light insisted. “We’re chasing higher goals than 16-0.
"One of the plays that helped them win was that double-backwards pass between QB Tom Brady and WR Randy Moss, which ended in a touchdown catch by WR Jabar Gaffney. The play almost never happened, as Moss had trouble controlling the ball when it was first thrown to him.
The Boston Globe dedicates an entire feature to that particular play in today's edition.
"I think it was all 11 of us executing," Moss said. "Because Tommy had to step back and I had to step behind Tommy to make sure it was a lateral, a backwards lateral, then he had to step behind me. The offensive line had to protect, the wide receivers had to do their thing. It wasn't just one individual. It wasn't just the pass. It was everybody executing on the same cylinder."
Back to that now infamous "guarantee" by the Steelers' Anthony Smith. A column in today's Providence Journal takes joy in mocking the safety's outrageous claims.
Here's a sample:
Anthony Smith has some more guarantees for you. There will be no more housing foreclosures. Gasoline will cost 99 cents a gallon by the end of the month. Chocolate is not fattening. Guaranteed. It won't snow again in New England this winter. Guaranteed.
There's about as much chance of those "guarantees" coming true as there was of the overmatched Steelers beating the fired-up Pats, who took notice of Smith's ill-chosen words - guaranteed.
QUICK HITS
ESPN.com's NFL columnist offers a warning to Smith, and anyone else in the league, for that matter, who will face the Pats this season.
Some of Belichick's thoughts on Smith's guarantee appear in a feature in the Hartford Courant.
A Boston Herald column lauds Moss' performance against a tough defense like the Steelers'.
