Organized Chaos

Ding dong the Patriots are dead.

The world’s combined mojo against the hated team worked wonders in Super Bowl XLII, and I thank those who joined the fight. OK, the New York Giants defense had more to do with it than fate, but we can all take solace in the fact that the Patriots failed. Thousands of Patriots fans (the true ones, who know who Steve Grogan and Stanley Morgan are without Googling their names) are having a pretty cruddy Monday.

That’s why the New England Patriots are my Jerks of the Week. They failed in their bid to go unbeaten. Instead, they are the biggest failures ever.

There have been three 18-1 teams in the history of the NFL. They are the only ones without a Super Bowl title.

It was a great game. Eli Manning outplayed the “great” Tom Brady. And the Giants proved they were the better team. Period.

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Peyton Manning, the one who many thought would advance to the Super Bowl in the family, took a backseat to little brother Eli on Sunday. While that’s major news, the real story was that Peyton was at home, while Eli and the rest of the family celebrated in the Wisconsin cold.

I realize that Peyton may still be seething from his exit in the playoffs. But this is your younger brother inthe biggest game of his life, so you should have been there.

Perhaps he didn’t want to be a distraction. Or maybe he had another commercial to shoot. Or maybe he is afraid of the cold.

But again, you should have been there, man.

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Welcome to a new feature on my blog, the Jerk of the Week. I’ll pick an athlete, a person or a team that made the biggest boneheaded mistake or is just better off fading into the scenery. I’ll do this from time to time and name my Jerk of the Year from all the finalists.

The first Jerks of the Week are the Dallas Cowboys.

Congratulations go out to “America’s Team,” which not only failed to win its first playoff game since 1996, but also became the first No. 1 seed in the NFC to lose a Divisional Round game since the format was put into place with the expansion of the playoffs to 12 teams in 1990.

Tony Romo played like he was dreaming of his next encounter with Jessica Simpson, and his interception to seal the defeat was his second blunder in as many years in the playoffs. That money sure was well spent, wasn’t it, Mr. Jerry Jones?

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