'She speaks for all of us'
The Herald is having a field day with Gisele's comments about the Pats' receivers. But the best comment, email or text I received yesterday came from an old friend, who in a pseudo-solemn voice declared of Gisele, "She speaks for all of us." OK, she was technically wrong, especially about Welker, who, if he was any other normal receiver, wouldn't have been able to even make an attempt to catch the ball. (I mean, really, spinning backwards in the air and stretching for a mis-thrown ball over the wrong shoulder and still managing to get his hands on it? He didn't catch it? The bum!) So Gisele is guilty of being naive and overly passionate. But Gisele did have a point: There were a lot of lost, dropped and near-miss passes that everyone else in New England were bemoaning on Sunday night. ... She speaks for all of us! ... On other Pats matters:

-- Gerry thinks some Pats fans are losing their minds, especially those bitterly blaming Brady. Yes, he deserves some blame, but c'mon, Pats fans. ... Unfortunately, I think Brady is now discovering what Ted Williams, Bill Russell, Yaz, and even Larry Bird learned during their playing time here: New England fans can be brutally unforgiving toward their biggest superstars. At least Tom's in good company.

-- Dan thinks the Pats' loss on Sunday doesn't rank up there with the greatest Boston-sports losses. Agreed. The Bucky Dent, Bill Buckner, Pedro On the Mound Too Long and 2008 Super Bowl losses were far worse. Sunday's game might eke its way into the top five worst-losses list, but Dan has other nominees that can compete against Sunday's heart breaker. ... I disagree with him on one point: The Celts have their share of heartbreaking losses. I remember being stunned when the Lakers finally won a championship against the Celts in 1985 -- and at the old Boston Garden. Then there was the time John Havlicek, with a bum shoulder, could only take the Celts so far in some now forgotten '70s playoffs game, I think against the Knicks, and I practically cried my CYO-basketball eyes out afterward. (If anyone remembers the game, send me an email available in Hub Blog's About section. I'm foggy on the details. **See update note below. Reader No. 1 has ID'd the game.)

-- I was wrong yesterday about the Pats' offense being in good shape heading into next year. As it turns out, they have major off-season decisions to make. I can't imagine them not signing Welker.


Update -- Rich on the Welker pass:

I have to disagree with you :). I don't think the ball to Welker was actually that misthrown. Look at this video at the 1:24 mark. Brady had to throw it to Welker's left shoulder or else #21 was going to break up the pass and/or knock Welker into next month.

The "problem" was that Welker happened to initially look for the ball over his right shoulder. If he had looked for the ball over his left shoulder he'd have been able to keep stride and may well have had a TD.

** Update II -- Reader No. 1 has ID'd the Celts game(s) I was referring to:

It was the 1973 NBA Eastern Conference finals - we lost game 7 at home 94-78 to the eventual NBA champion Knicks, Havlicek fighting through a strapped up shoulder separation.

But the real tear-jerker in that series was game 4, a double-overtime loss in MSG on Sunday afternoon national TV, where a 16-point lead slipped away in the fourth quarter playing without Hondo. A heroic effort by all hands; nevertheless, in my personal top 10 for painful Boston losses - I never want to hear the name "John Gianelli" again.

FYI: Giselle speaks for many, but more to the point: she's a member of the Patriots family and speaking ill of teammates is just not done, no matter whether a stalwart (like Welker), or someone who just doesn't fit (Albert Haynesworth). Fortunately the team culture is strong enough to shrug it off.

Many thanks for the excellent Celts info. And a good point on Gisele.  ¶ 9:18 AM