The State of Sports Jan 15th

-Football


-New England Patriots loose postseason streak


Before I start to comment on last nights loss, I would like to mention some after the game comments from the press conference interview. All quotes are being taken from the blog that Mike Riess has on Boston.com. Quotes of note:


- “It’s hard to win when you give the ball away.” -Belichick, on the turnovers
- "I was I was proud of the effort all year. I thought we fought hard and I thought they fought through a lot of the adversity. We just didn’t play well enough today." -Belichick, on the game
- "It was a game of big plays. They made more than we did." - Belichick, on the Champ Bailey Pick

-"Its a very disappointed locker room. Denver made a lot of really great plays. I can't complain because I have been on the other side of those plays in years past." -Brady, on mood of team
-“It was very loud, but we have experienced that before. We had a few false starts early and we got settled down. Once we got settled down, we were able to move the ball.” -Brady, on the crowd noise

-“It’s always nice to win against a team that you know, you’re going against the best, from a coaching standpoint –- offense, defense and special teams." -Shanahan, Opening Statement

-“Our special teams were huge"..."Those guys came out with some huge plays and when you get that kind of field position against a team like that, you have to capitalize." -Rod Smith, on Special Teams play

-"After having experiences playing at Mile High and hearing that place shake, to be completely honest, I was a little upset last year [with the crowd]. I think we just changed the course of Invesco Field being a wine and cheese crowd." -John Lynch, on the crowd
-“You can fluster him every play, you can hit him every play, but he’s going to keep fighting. You better play 60 minutes against him. That’s what it took today.” -Lynch, on Brady

-“A lot of guys in this locker room fought hard. We just didn’t finish. We’re not blaming the whole game on the referees. They didn’t beat us. Denver did.” -McGinest, on the game

I think Willie McGinest's quote just says it all right there. New England just made sloppy and stupid turnovers, and Denver took advantage of it. Anytime that happens, its just very hard to win a game. Denver converted 17 points off of turnovers in this game. Most of these turnover were in the red zone, which makes it even harder for the defense to react, and try to stop the play when there is a variety of plays that can be run.

The Patriots tried to be methodical. They knew they had to control the clock and the momentum of the game, so they themselves would make plays and make things happen on the offensive, defensive, and special teams end. But they really shot themselves in the foot. While holding the Broncos to 96 yards rushing (after averaging 156 per game), and keeping Jake Plummer from really spreading the ball around (197 passing yards and a TD), you really cant complain with the defensive performance. The Pats tried to prepare for this all week.


Maybe it was a mental thing. Maybe it was the crowd. Maybe it was the fact the pats had 8 penalties for 82 yards. Maybe Tom Brady just didnt have the best stuff out there today. Maybe Corey Dillion should have had a better performance. Maybe they should have run more screen passes. Who really knows what happened. I do know this: turnovers killed the Patriots. It is uncharacteristic to give up even one or two turnovers in a game. This is something on the mind of the coaching staff for next year.

You have to take into consideration that the Patriots didnt give up all season. Tom Brady indicated in his postgame interview that they had been going in and out of practice for the past seven weeks. Thats a two month stretch where the Pats had gone 7-2. You have to hand it to Bill Bilichick and his coaching staff. In a season that you would have said, "Oh its over," with a 4-4 start. The Pats make some adjustments, wait on injuries and go on a 6-2 run. I couldnt be more pleased than that.

When Ben Watson sprinted faster than Champ Bailey down that field to come out of no where and tackle Champ Bailey, it just makes you smile. It made me think, a draft pick well spent. I mean, a big tight end sprinting down the field, faster than one of the fastest corners in the league (even though Bailey admitted at the 30 he was running out of gas), you cant complain. It shows that this team has heart. They kept turning the ball over and man they just kept on coming back, and trying to make this a one-two possesion ball game.

I think the off season will be interresting for the Patriots. It will be a transition. They have a lot of players to think about on the cap, and draft picks to assess. With the kind of talent the Patriots have, you can only wonder how the Pats will do next season. If theres one thing I know about this organization, I know that they will know how to make a postseason run for next year.

Photo: John Lynch and Tom Brady embracing in a post game hug and congradulations on a good game

Photos courtesy of the Boston Globe Sports Section