الصفحات

An unexpected crash for Patriots

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك An unexpected crash for Patriots

FOXBORO — This ending wasn't supposed to be in the script. Not a loss to the hated Jets. Not in the divisional round. Not after a first-round bye. Not at Gillette Stadium. Not with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady [stats] in the house.

In many ways, this was worse than getting smoked by the Ravens last year. Getting beat, 28-21, yesterday by the Jets had a much worse sting. And much worse aftershocks.

There really weren't Super Bowl expectations with the team that got buried last year by Baltimore. This year's team was not only considered the best in football at the end of the regular season, most pundits had them pencilled in as the AFC's representative at the Super Bowl in Dallas.
The Pats were on a roll, winners of their last eight games, and with Brady playing as well as he had been during the year, and the defense creating turnovers at a record rate, it wasn't outlandish to dream of a fourth championship. Sure, getting beaten up by the Ravens was humiliating a year ago in the first round. But this was the dreaded Jets. This was allowing Rex Ryan, Antonio Cromartie, Bart Scott and all the rest of Gang Green to gloat and say their way works, too. This was letting all of their trash talk and venom reign.

This was a nightmare.

"There was a lot of bad football,'' wide receiver Deion Branch said. "I think we picked the wrong time to play our worst game of football. It's bad. It's not good. ... We expected bigger things, that's why it's so disappointing.''

The Patriots [team stats] played a brand of football that wasn't anywhere similar to what we witnessed during the 14-2 regular season, or especially during the last eight games.

Supposedly, lessons were learned after last year's embarrassing loss to the Ravens. Supposedly, they were building toward a much better postseason ride. Then they showed up and played like they weren't ready for the big stage. They were manhandled at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. They made mistakes all over the field.

You want bad signs? How about Belichick benching Wes Welker for the first series because of the wide receiver's foot-laden press conference? How about Brady throwing his first interception in 340 attempts? How about deciding it was a good idea to go for a fake punt, down only 7-3 with 1:14 left in the half at the Pats' own 38? A botched snap later and the Jets were on their way to a 14-3 halftime lead.

It all resulted in giving the Jets confidence they could pull off the upset.

The offense was out of synch most of the game. The defense couldn't come up with the big plays — or the turnovers — when needed.

Branch put it all on the players.

"(Belichick) gave us two weeks of his best football (in preparation for the game),'' Branch said. "We let him down. We didn't put our best football out on the football field. That wasn't coach Belichick football. That didn't represent nothing he taught us for the two weeks. Nothing."

It was a huge letdown. They created expectations for so much more. And when the Jets opened their mouths last week and ripped into Brady, it was almost a given the Patriots would pay them back on the field.

Said Belichick: "It's a one-game season. If you don't play well, you're done."

A nightmare, indeed.

...

المشاركات الشائعة