I'm not angry, I'm upset. I'm a logical fan. I think a team has to earn what they achieve. I think the best teams should win. Right now it's clear that we are not a great team. I'm fine with the realization that we probably aren't going deep in the playoffs this year. The Pats haven't EARNED it. Thus, I don't feel like they deserve it. If they turn things around, great. I'd love to see this team win another Superbowl. However, I won't stop being a fan of football just because my favorite team isn't doing well.
Good post.
I'm not angry. I'm resigned. The Pats proved they are not an elite team. Now they've proved they are at best a borderline playoff team. The 2009 Pats ranks with 2002, 2005 and 2008 as the weakest teams of the BB era (not counting 2000, which was a rebuilding year).
We've shown several things so far this season:
1. We can't beat any good team. Couldn't beat the Jets or Broncos when they were hot, or the Saints or Colts.
2. We can't win on the road.
3. We can't fix our red zone problems.
4. We can't put teams away.
Most importantly, unlike most BB teams, we haven't been able to correct problems and get better. We don't seem to have learned from our mistakes.
We may make the playoffs. But I have little confidence that we belong there the way we are playing right now. We've gone into the most critical 5 game stretch of our season and gone 2-3, blowing 4th quarter leads twice and laying a duck egg on national TV in a showdown game. Our coaching staff makes the same mistakes over and over again, and we lack the horses in certain key areas, most notably the pass rush.
3 weeks ago I believed that if we faced Indy in the playoffs we would win. I believed that we were mad as hell after the Indy loss and would go on a rampage the rest of the season. That hasn't happened. My guess right now is that if we faced Indy in the playoffs (which may happen, as we will likely be a #4 seed if we make the playoffs and get by the #5 wild card team, probably Denver) they would shred us.
The 2008 team minus Tom Brady finished the season on a high note as one of the best teams in the NFL. Despite missing the playoffs, we were clearly a team no one wanted to face, and much better than the Dolphins. We had a balanced offense with a potent running game. This team isn't near the caliber of that one right now.
I sort of hope we miss the playoffs at this point. I don't think we really belong, the way we've played this season. Indy, Cincinnnati, San Diego and Denver are clearly better teams than we are. Denver had some problems but has regrouped, and appears to have actually fixed them. We haven't fixed anything.
