All good. But the reality is that this season goes down as a failure because of what happened Sunday. And because of what should have happened Sunday.
It was all teed up for a return to the Super Bowl, a chance to right the wrongs of the upset in the desert at the hands of the Giants Feb. 3, 2008. The 14-2 Patriots had the highest-scoring offense in football. They set an NFL record for fewest turnovers and had a plus-28 advantage in takeaways. They had home field for the playoffs. They had the scary Colts and Ravens taken out of the mix. All they had to do was beat a team they beat, 45-3, then beat another team they thrashed on the road . . . and they were back in the Super Bowl.
And now the tournament continues without the Patriots — the team everybody said was the best. The Bears, Packers, Steelers, and Jets are the NFL’s Final Four. The Patriots beat all of them. The aggregate score of New England’s four victories over the remaining Super Bowl contenders was 151-63.
So this season goes down as a failure. It was a golden opportunity and it is gone. There are only going to be so many of these opportunities in the professional lifetime of Tom Brady. We all know the Patriots should have gone to Dallas.
Compounding the missed opportunity we have the emergence of the Jets. Make no mistake about it; the Jets are going to be a nightmare for years. Sunday’s shocker at Gillette is to the Jets what the 2004 American League Championship Series was to the Red Sox. Jet fans always are going to be able to throw this in the face of Patriots fans. Forever.
“This is probably the first time the Jets have taken something important away from the Patriots,’’ said linebacker Bart Scott. “Game on. And they hate us forever because the feeling is mutual . . . At the end of the day, this is a soft group . . . I guess you guys got the guru on the other side. You guys talk about how great he is. Maybe you guys will start giving our coach some credit for what he’s doing.’’
