Kraft thoughts in OT? Scared

Patriots Owner Bob Kraft looks o during a home game - Photo courtesy cbssports.com

New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft had his own thoughts to give yesterday during the Patriots annual day of giving. But his thoughts were not on turkey and stuffing, but on last weekends Sunday Night Football overtime, and the very interesting choice made by Bill Belichick in terms of wind, and giving Peyton the ball first, as he stated to the Boston Herald

’When Bill chose the wind, I said, ‘What is he doing? Someone (in my box) said, ‘Don’t you have a phone down there?’ . . . But I spoke with (Belichick) and chatted about it with him afterward, and once again, he was on top of things. What they figured out was, by choosing the wind, it was an incremental 20 yards that they needed to be able to kick, and sure enough, it was a very wise decision. Probably, as a fan, I don’t think 80-90 percent of our fans would think giving Peyton Manning the ball in overtime was going to be in our best interest.’’

The Patriots owner was also not thrilled with the first half that he witnessed from high above the action.

‘’That first half was just brutal. It was unbelievable, and thinking there was a quarterback like Peyton Manning on the other side, and to see the adjustment at halftime . . . and then in 17 minutes scoring 21 unanswered points, I really believe this did something very special for our team, because it wasn’t just offense and defense, it was special teams. Look at that play at the end of the game. It was great. I couldn’t go to sleep until 4 in the morning.’’

Either way you look at it, Patriots fans everywhere were left wondering at the beginning of OT, but in the end it all worked out, and that is what really counts!

- Joshua Powers
@jmano33