The best part of yesterday's loss (for me).....................

All the talk about the league "fixing" playoff games should be out the window after these two playoff games. Yes there were a few questionable pass interference calls/non calls that will always happen, but the home team always gets that advantage anyway and for the most part things were even. The two challenges went our way (as they should have), but the Manning lateral/pass could have easily been called inconclusive if they were trying to screw the Pats. Simms even suggested it was.

The Pats deserved to lose. Happy I can go into next season feeling the tournament is decided on the field (even though the refs can be humanly iffy).

Wish Wes was still on Denver, thatd be the only positive about Denver going to the SB.

I actually started thinking it early in that game when it seemed like the ticky-tack PI calls were going against us while our receivers were getting mauled with nothing. Point to fact, the defensive holding call against the Pats on their first drive seemed like the perfect "hidden" fix, because it boosted the Broncos penalty numbers (so they looked more even) but didn't impact the play since Edelman had gotten the first down.

But as the game went on, none of that really happened anymore. I can safely say that this loss is on the coaching staff for not having a clear plan going into the Miami game, and the offensive line for being completely overmatched. The refs really weren't a factor against us at all yesterday.

The positive for me is that I don't have to watch this team get blown out in a Super Bowl.

Not ready to drink the lemonade, but thanks for trying .

I'm not sure I'd use the phrase, "best part of the loss" unless you're not a Patriots fan and therefore mean it literally. I think the better phrase would be "a silver lining to the loss".

And I agree with what you are saying. Hoculi and crew did as good a job as could be expected, and appeared to be consistent and balanced in their calls. It would have been very easy for him to have not reversed the fumble. It would have been very easy for them to not call defensive holding on the Broncos late in the 4th quarter. But they did. The Pats lost yesterday because they were outplayed and out coached, not because the league was out to get them and/or rigged the game.

I am not pleased NE lost but I am very pleased that it was due to the other team being better and not outside factors

Other than the first series, the game on a whole was decided on the field. In hindsight the first PI was very big, very big. The refs did a good job staying out of the way. I almost feel like some of the initial calls, like the stork call for roughness, were made to get control of the game from the onset. They achieved that and then backed off to a certain extent.

While I don't think the refs had a hand in yesterday's game, I am shocked not to see people mention the obvious pass interference on James White on the last series. He was definitely interfered with. It was as clear as day.

My Silver lining to the season is that Roger has to explain how did Brady have a career season without deflated footballs. How did the Pats come out and, when healthy, not only looked like the best team in the league but they looked like they were threatening another perfect season.

Well Roger? How did that happen?


IF the Pats had started the season at a mediocre 6-4 and Brady had a slow start with 12 TD/ 6 Int, we would have never heard the end of Deflategate. Now we are reading NYT articles about how Deflategate was a sham. That's my silver lining.

"The best part of yesterday's loss" was that we won SB49, and that makes this loss sting significantly less than it would otherwise.