At the Game

I got to watched the Pats & Dolphins in person at Gillette Stadium . I love going to one game a year. It's always a great time, although not cheap. The seats were perfect, but had a $169 face value. Nothing is cheap about going to a game.

We left at 8am for a 1pm kick-off. Tailgating started by 10. Always too much to eat. Fans really get into it. I saw a woman down a shot of booze and then hurl it up onto empty grill. Party time. I don't drink at games as I want to watch everything and don't want to spend time going to the bathroom.

I was inside the stadium 20 minutes before the start. There was a moment of silence honoring the GI's killed at Fort Hood, as well as a Veteran's Day ceremony. The flyover by four Black Hawk helicopters was awesome.

You can see so much at the game that you don't see on tv. Special teams is one in particular. The ball is punted so high. Stephen Gostowski was kicking the ball out of the end zone to keep it away from Ted Ginn Jr. Those kicks were going 80+ yards.

Randy Moss caught a short pass from Brady and turned it into a 71 yard TD. It was all Moss to the end zone. He was able to turn it on and beat his defender by stiff-arming him. His 140th career receiving TD ties him with Terrell Owns for 2nd place all-time. Jerry Rice leads with 197.

There were more stats for Moss. He passed Chris Carter and Henry Ellard for 7th on all time receiving yards. His 13,913 career yards rank 7th behind Rice's 22,895.

LB Joey Porter was shut out for tackles. The stat was flashed on the Jumbotron late in the game. It resulted in a chant of "Joey Joey" by the fans. I find in ironic when fans mock an opponent. RandyMoss took a lot of ridicule for some of his bone-head antics earlier in his career, but now he is revered around here.

LB Junior Seau stood on the sideline throughout the game, usually one yard off the line of scrimmage. He looked poised to go in on every play. When his number was finally called for a substitution in the 4th quarter, he ran onto the field, but was quickly called back.

I stayed around to watch the post-game handshakes and embraces between the players. Coach Belichick gave an extremely long embrace and hug to LB Jason Taylor. Judging by the way they hugged on the field, it seems that Taylor is destined to play here some day if a contract can be worked out at the right price for the Pats. They look like long lost pals.