Bye Week (Rich)

You may have been asking ("You", our theoretical, non-existent readership) what the Best Available bloggers have been doing with their extended bye week. Here's a sampling:

• Marveling that the same people who talk about how much they love the Steelers' smashmouth running game claimed that the Patriots "wasted their time" running in the first half against us when they were able to complete 12 of 12 for over 150 yards in the 4th quarter. Hmmm...maybe time of possession actually cuts both ways, and having the ball for 35+ minutes somehow enables you to go 12 for 12 in the 4th quarter. Intriguing.
• Wondering if the NFL printed off the same letter of apology from a couple of years ago for clockgate, or whether they wrote a fresh one. Then wondering if they just have a form that allowed them to substitute in "Lions" and "Mariucci" and "overturning a touchdown for no damn reason."
• Really wondering how the other black-and-gold lost out on a hometown hero by waiting too long to call him on the Monday the off-season began. But I guess you can't outwit a management juggernaut like the, um, Detroit Tigers.
• Watching the Chargers dismantle the Pats in Foxborough, and wondering if they sent Cedric Wilson a thank you note for taking out Rodney Harrison's knees.
• Talking ourselves into the idea that having four good, healthy running backs (or, three and Verron Haynes, anyway) isn't subtraction by addition.
• Realizing that the Pats' consistently good field position might have been mitigated if The Eel had been healthy for the game.
• Catching up on the brilliant Clint Barmes saga.
• Really, really starting to worry about the Bengals.
• Cackling with glee at the thought that Vinny T. is once again an NFL starting quarterback.
• Reading the most rational two paragraphs Mark Madden has ever written or spoken.
• Running out of gerunds.
  

--rich erenberg