New England Patriots

Before I get to the AFC East, I’d like to discuss the biggest story in the NFL right now: the referee lockout. I watched a few (meaningless) preseason games and the replacement refs looked like they came straight out of Clown College. I actually don’t blame the replacement refs, I blame the NFL with its incredibly arcane and complex rule book and the fact that these replacements had only a few weeks to learn it. The official rulebook is 244 pages long and reads like a bad Congressional bill. If this labor dispute continues into the regular season, you are going to see important games changed by bad calls and coaches out of challenges by the end of the first quarter. Continue reading →