It's been an extremely busy weekend for yours truly, thus the lack of a game preview.  Spending time with family around the holidays leaves very little time for blogging about the Patriots and running Bloguin.  I know, priorities...

Anyway, I don't really have much time to do a game recap either, but I didn't want Week 16 to pass Foxboro Blog by without at least some commentary on the Jaguars Game.  Here are my quick hits...

• Laurence Maroney is absolutely killing himself with these fumbles at the goal line.  Probably the only place worse to fumble would be right in front of your opponents' goal line.  At least the Patriots' defense took care of the Jaguars, kept good field position, and the Patriots scored on the following drive.  Still, fumbles like that will murder your season if they happen in the playoffs.  Maroney looked incredible on that opening drive, to the point where I thought he may have been earning himself a game ball.  Then it all fell to pieces.  I don't blame Belichick one bit for sitting him the rest of the game.
  
• On the replay challenge of Maroney's fumble, the ball dropped straight down and had clearly broken the plane of the goal line, yet the refs refused to overturn the play and call it a touchdown.  The announcer's explanation was that the refs could only "extrapolate" that the ball had broken the plane before Maroney dropped it and did not actually see him cross the plane.  I'm calling B.S. here.  You don't have to be a nobel prize physicist to understand the laws of gravity.  If the ball drops straight down and hits the goal line, then it was dropped while it was across the goal line.  Calling that replay inconclusive was just devoid of any common sense.
• While we're at it, let's not forget the 2005 NFL playoffs where Champ Bailey, running at full speed, was hit from behind at the 1 yard line by Benjamin Watson.  The ball came flying out forward from Bailey's arms and then landed out of bounds.  In order to have landed out of bounds before the end zone, the ball would have had to change direction 90 degrees in mid air, something that's physically impossible.  Instead, it had to have landed out of bounds in the end zone, which meant the Patriots should have had the Ball on the 20, not the Broncos having the ball on the 1 yard line.  But again, the replay was inconclusive.  Right...
• Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris looked just as effective as Maroney out there, and neither of them fumbled at the goal line.  Guess who my go-to backs are in the playoffs?
• Whoever decided to wake the sleeping giant that was Randy Moss, I have two words for you:  Thank. You.
• How many catches would Wes Welker have at the moment if he didn't sit out Weeks two and three this year?
• Ben Watson and Chris Baker are finally starting to see some action, and the Patriots offense is clicking better than it has all season.  Spreading the ball around is crucial.
• Brandon Merriweather was everywhere.
• The one consolation I had after the Colts and Saints loss is that you don't want to peak around Week 10.  You want to be hitting your stride around Week 16 and 17.  Out of the Patriots, Colts, and Saints, which team looks like the Super Bowl contender right now?

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