FOXBOROUGH — There is the din of victory and the funereal silence of defeat. Winning is full of sound and fury. Losing is full of fury, but no sound but sorrowful silence.
It was fitting then that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady strode to the podium dressed in the universal color of grieving after another season quietly faded to black without a fourth Lombardi Trophy. The Patriots’ season had just been buried by the Baltimore Ravens, 28-13, in the AFC Championship game Sunday night at Gillette Stadium, another Lombardi opportunity lost for Brady, another piece of his legacy chipped like a piece of fine china.
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The Patriots morphed into the Indianapolis Colts after the 2006 season. They became a QB-centric team. They cannot beat good tough physical teams. They cannot beat teams that are exactly what the Patriots USED TO BE. Until they get back to being mentally tough and physical they aren't winning another championship.
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In fact, they haven't beaten a tough, physical, talented team in a playoff game since 2005. Pure and simple.
Ravens' receivers and D-backs were bigger than Patriots' D-backs and receivers. That, and too many empty backfield sets.
How come no one mentions that Ridley was completely down, sitting on hhis butt, before tha fumble squirted out?
You are absolutely right, and that was the game-turning moment.
Come on guys, we all watched this play several times. He let go of the ball long before he hit the ground. It didn't move because no one jarred it loose, but he definitely wasn't holding it. It then rolled away once he hit the ground.
It was a sad game to watch. The Ravens are classless thugs... but give them credit for brute force, high execution, and few mistakes.
I still love the Patriots though. It makes me proud that a Boston team wins with tactics and ingenuity rather than pure violence.
The best question is whether front office sacrifices everything for one last push, or whether they build for the long term. Here is voting for the long term... football is too important to the city to watch the team go down the drain after Brady retires.
In all my years watching the New England Patriots, I have never seen them come out so flat in the second half after playing fairly well in the first half. The lack of enthusiasm was obvious; almost like the team's dog died or something. What the heck did the Coach say at halftime?
I just do not like the Ravens; perhaps the only NFL team I dislike. I can not stand looking at Ray Lewis' ugly mug, another attempt by Bernard Pollard to injure somebody, or their ownership that fled the city of Cleveland in a classless move. I do take notice of Flacco and their running backs.
I agree with Chris Gasper about the Patriots only being a couple of key people from being Championship ready. I do think Gronkowski would have made a big difference in the game in both blocking and receiving.
Don't be surprised if Kaepernick gets injured playing in the Super Bowl - the thugs will be aiming low.
The Ravens did what some other teams have done to the Pats: they played them very, very tough. This is called "Smash Mouth" football. The Patriots as constructed cannot stand up to it for very long. Losing Talib was huge. But, the Pats didn't even care enough about the safety position to have him and maybe another big name safety on board at the beginning of the season. Remember how horrible they were against the long throws? They also played very good man to man. Enough so that they were able to pretty much nullify Vince Wilfork. Not having Gronk hurt as well. We can argue all day about whether Welker should have caught that pass. Lets face it: The Ravens are the better team in the AFC right now. And unless the Patriots/Kraft decide to upgrade the team in certain areas, it is going to about the same or worse next season.