Excuses....or facts.
You're simply recalling images the highlight shows focused on, fact is the Pats should have run the ball more (finished w/113 yds, 4.0 avg) with BJGE only getting 9 carries (he averaged 4.8 yds per)!! I'd say if they were a little more patient and committed to the run they would have been more successful in hiding the young D with the injury riddled DL that gave up 120 rush yds for 4.1 avg and 7.8 yds per pass play with no sacks on Sanchez (3 TD, 0 Int). In any case biggest problems in this game, besided unforced errors, were no stops on 3rd down (46% for Jets) and no stops in red zone (Jets were 4-5 in red zone and the Pats 2-4). Can't win playoff games without being successful in those key areas because you're playing a good team, we can't expect the Pats to be perfect on offense all the time. You've got to credit the other team sometimes as well, the Jets forced the Pats to be patient and forced Brady to hold the ball figuring they would physically handle the WRs and young TEs. As much as I hate Rex Ryan I think on occassion he does come up with a good defensive game plan so the Pats needed to play well in more than one phase of the game. Fyi, we did finish with 372 total yds on offense.
