Would you rather Pats not make playoffs or lose in playoffs/SB?

[tombonneau]

While it completely sucks not making the playoffs, looking back at how the last three seasons ended:

-BS loss in Denver
-Collapse in Indy
-Helmet Catch

Not making the playoffs actually seems like a much better and less painful end. Now bear in mind, obviously I'm not saying would you rather not make the playoffs because there is the CHANCE the Pats might lose.

Obviously we'd all want the Pats to be in and risk the chance of a painful playoff loss, but looking back at how I felt at the end of the last four seasons, I'd rank my Misery Scale (Worst to Not as Worse):

Indy Collapse

Helmet Catch




BS Denver Loss
















11-5 Not Making Playoffs

So does anyone else feel the same way? It is certainly far less of an emotional ending than the last three years.

 

[Pujo]

I'm not nearly as depressed as I was after the last two seasons. Part of that was Mangini getting fired on Monday morning, but part of it was that it was just so much more of an anticlimatic ending. We won... the last 4, so there's no hearbreaking loss to go back to, except for the Jets', and everyone pretty much expected that.

 

[DarrylS]

While it completely sucks not making the playoffs, looking back at how the last three seasons ended:

-BS loss in Denver
-Collapse in Indy
-Helmet Catch

Not making the playoffs actually seems like a much better and less painful end. Now bear in mind, obviously I'm not saying would you rather not make the playoffs because there is the CHANCE the Pats might lose.

Obviously we'd all want the Pats to be in and risk the chance of a painful playoff loss, but looking back at how I felt at the end of the last four seasons, I'd rank my Misery Scale (Worst to Not as Worse):

Indy Collapse
Helmet Catch
BS Denver Loss
11-5 Not Making Playoffs

So does anyone else feel the same way? It is certainly far less of an emotional ending than the last three years.

Thank god you were not a fan in the early nineties, you would be naked in a padded room.. need some perspective here.

 

[BradyManny]

It's better to have loved and lost then...whatever the hell the rest of the saying is.

As brutally miserable as the Giants loss was, and it still haunts me to this day, and as excruciating as the collapse against Indy was, and that, to a lesser extent, still stings - under no circumstances would I trade those seasons for exiting early to avoid said traumatic losses. 16-0 was an epic achievement, winning the AFC is an achievement, and getting to the AFCCG is an achievement.

 

[tombonneau]

Thank god you were not a fan in the early nineties, you would be naked in a padded room.. need some perspective here.

Not sure what that is supposed to mean? Been a die-hard fan since I was a kid in the mid-80s. Obviously I'll take 11-5 and missing out over Rod Rust & 1-15 if that's what you mean? But I'm not sure I get your point. (?)

 

[tombonneau]

It's better to have loved and lost then...whatever the hell the rest of the saying is.

As brutally miserable as the Giants loss was, and it still haunts me to this day, and as excruciating as the collapse against Indy was, and that, to a lesser extent, still stings - under no circumstances would I trade those seasons for exiting early to avoid said traumatic losses. 16-0 was an epic achievement, winning the AFC is an achievement, and getting to the AFCCG is an achievement.

Yeah I don't know ... I wouldn't trade the 18-1 season, as 16-0 was special even if they lost the SB. But I think I'd rather have 11-5 and miss out than lose like they did in Denver & Indy. Those two losses were just gutwrenching, esp. Indy, knowing the Pats handed Manning a ring and they themselves would have creamed the Bears.

I get the better to have loved and lost, but the Pats already had the love in three SBs.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

My barometer for this question would be what would be best for the franchise, not for me personally and my feelings. With the genius of BB et al I think a higher draft pick would be more beneficial. To the franchise as a whole the extra revenue generated from the playoffs might be good, but I'm talking football operations here.

I'd rather do just about anything than go through what we all felt after the SB last year.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

if the pats lost their last 3 games and didnt make it at 11-5 I would be fine with that. but with the offense cranking up, the secondary playing better etc - i am extremely saddened that this team did not get a chance to deliver some punishment in the playoffs..

 

[tombonneau]

My barometer for this question would be what would be best for the franchise, not for me personally and my feelings. With the genius of BB et al I think a higher draft pick would be more beneficial. To the franchise as a whole the extra revenue generated from the playoffs might be good, but I'm talking football operations here.

I'd rather do just about anything than go through what we all felt after the SB last year.

But I'm trying to make it personal. How did you feel on Monday? How did you feel after the SB loss? How did you feel after Denver? How did you feel after Indy?

Of those four feelings, which is the least worse?

 

[BradyManny]

Yeah I don't know ... I wouldn't trade the 18-1 season, as 16-0 was special even if they lost the SB. But I think I'd rather have 11-5 and miss out than lose like they did in Denver & Indy. Those two losses were just gutwrenching, esp. Indy, knowing the Pats handed Manning a ring and they themselves would have creamed the Bears.

I get the better to have loved and lost, but the Pats already had the love in three SBs.

True, but to me, its not Super Bowl or bust so much. Even though the past four seasons may be "failures" in the sense that they didn't yield SB rings, they have added tremendously to the overall resume/legend of the Pats/Krafts/Brady/Belichick:

- Belichick coaching the squad to an 11-5 team losing its best offensive player, one of its best defensive players, and a handful of other starters and key players.
- Brady bringing this team to the AFCCG with - what we can safely say in hindsight - a suspect group of wideouts.
- 3 more AFCE championships.
- 16-0, goes without saying.

These are things that will have a cumulative effect when the legacies of the BB/Brady/Kraft era is evaluated. Ultimately, the sting of those losses will be offset by this knowledge.

 

[BradyManny]

But I'm trying to make it personal. How did you feel on Monday? How did you feel after the SB loss? How did you feel after Denver? How did you feel after Indy?

Of those four feelings, which is the least worse?

No doubt - your point is spot on here. When Favre threw the pick the other nite, I was disappointed, yes, but I was ready to move on. But nothing compares to the feeling of "what if" that accompanies the losses to the Giants in 07 or Colts in 06. Both those losses rival anything the much maligned pre-2004 Red Sox did in terms of tearing your heart out.

But again, I stand by my more general feeling that the pain is more than justified by the experience of getting that far, and the achievements that came with it.

 

[TedyB54]

But I'm trying to make it personal. How did you feel on Monday? How did you feel after the SB loss? How did you feel after Denver? How did you feel after Indy?

Of those four feelings, which is the least worse?

To me, the Denver loss was the worst because the Pats played such a poor game with all the TO's.

After that, I'd rank them the SB loss and then Indy. In both games, the Pats played well enough to win, but just got beat. At some point, you have to give credit to the other team, so I don't consider that a "failure".

This year was a whole different story after TB went down. Expectations were to just survive the regular season and this one was brutal with all the injuries. The fact that they went out winning 4 in a row and came within 1 game of the post season says a lot.

 

[signbabybrady]

Those other loses were more painful for sure.

This year however is equally frustrating as I feel robbed of our chances. Not as painful as we did a lot of good things this season including ending on a winning streak. I think that is the key to this year being easier to handle....we are used to are season ending in ultimate glory or ultimate depression as that is the nature of the playoffs lose and go home a loser. But in this case we won down the stretch but or defincies from earlier in the year kept us out of the playoffs and we are left with the satisfaction of the teams performance with out its MVP but we are not left with the pain that comes with the tough loss just the frustration of not getting to continue.


And to answer the question the pain in the playoffs is better because in the end as someone else said the more time you spend deep in the playoffs the more it adds to your legacy.

This team has been to 5 AFC championship games since 01 and won 4 of them. Yes there may be less pain in our minds if we did not lose one of those and lose one of the SBs that followed but you can't say it makes the team look better to have been 3 for 3 than 4 for 5 in those games.

 

[Lansdowne]

It's okay to be emotionally invested in the team, but to be too invested is dangerous.

I think last year, after going through the whole offseason reliving the AFC CG collapse in my head, going into the 2007 season with a bunker mentality, dealing with the Spygate scrutiny from the league, fans and media, the addition of unlikable characters such as Mercury Morris and Arlen Spector, with the building pressure of a perfect season on the horizon, and then having it all come crashing down in an instant... it was an emotionally exhausting 12-month period.

After SB XLII, I was a zombie for a week, and then stepped back and decided I needed to chill. Sure, it meant discontinuing visiting other message boards (because I got tired of not being able to get into rational discussions with hoards of anti-Pats people), but I did what I had to do to distance myself from what put me in a furor.

After the Dolphins won this past Sunday, I went back to my room to be alone for a moment while I vent. I angrily threw my Patriots hat to the ground, took a deep breath... and then picked my Patriots hat back up, adjusted it, and exhaled. **** happens and there's nothing you can do about it but deal with it.

It was a frustrating season, watching all the bad breaks from Week 1-Week 17, but it's over and in a way, I'm glad. I wanted the Patriots to get into the playoffs, more than anything, so they could have a shot at the Super Bowl. They didn't get that opportunity and that is disappointing, but nothing can be done to change that. I'm proud of what the team did given the circumstances. It took an extraordinary, fluky set of circumstances for them to miss the playoffs, and we have to be curious how a beaten-up Pats team would have fared against other, healthier, stronger teams in the second season. It would have been nice to see, but we can't.

Long story short, I'm more at peace with how this season concluded than how the previous few have. It's a positive step for myself personally, and I think in the long run the Patriots as a franchise will benefit.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

Another surprising thread. You always want to go as far as you can, if for no other reason than getting your players, especially the younger ones like Cassel, more big game experience.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

For this season, loosing in the playoff's would be something I would not be to unhappy about.

Just making them with all of the injuries and such would have been a great accomplishment.

As the OP stated, this years missing of the post season was lessened by the firing of Mangini and the complete collapse of the jets.

Go Pats and can't wait to 2009!!

 

[Lansdowne]

Another surprising thread. You always want to go as far as you can, if for no other reason than getting your players, especially the younger ones like Cassel, more big game experience.

I know this is a stretch, but one silver lining is that there's no risk of Cassel tearing his ACL in the playoffs, killing his market value in the process. Or seeing the likes of Mayo or Meriweather suffer an injury that would cost them significant time through 2009. With the way the injury bug has hit the Patriots hard every single week, this break from action is one reason to breathe easy.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

I know this is a stretch, but one silver lining is that there's no risk of Cassel tearing his ACL in the playoffs, killing his market value in the process. Or seeing the likes of Mayo or Meriweather suffer an injury that would cost them significant time through 2009. With the way the injury bug has hit the Patriots hard every single week, this break from action is one reason to breathe easy.

Injuries are, unfortunately, a large part of the game. You'll never have one without the other.

When I first saw the playoff matchups for the coming weekend, it felt a little like Peggy Lee's famous song, "Is that all there is?".

 

[tombonneau]

Another surprising thread. You always want to go as far as you can, if for no other reason than getting your players, especially the younger ones like Cassel, more big game experience.

I don't think you understood what I was getting at. (Which I knew was a risk posting this, as it's a bit hard to articulate.) It's not a question of would you rather the team not make the playoffs or make it to the playoffs and lose. Obviously I'd rather make the playoffs.

The question is, emotionally, was it better or worse when the Dolphins won on Sunday than it was when the Pats seasons ended in heartbreaking fashion each of the last three years in the playoffs?

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Nothing in sports can ever compare to losing a perfect season last year. Even losing to Desmond Howard and the Pack in 31 was not even close to that.