The fans freaking out and saying trade Brady and stuff like that are pathetic. It's a team loss, a game we lost because of six or seven different plays that all went NY's way. They got all the breaks and the lucky bounces that it seemed like we always used to get. But there's no absence of clutch. Brady to Branch on 4th and 16 was pretty damn clutch, if NE had won it would have been considered one of the greatest plays ever. That drive at the end of the first half, 14 plays, 96 yards, was incredible. Brady hit 16 throws in a row in that game, he was 19 for 22 at one point, and his final stats still don't even look that bad even with time constraints, hail mary's and drops forcing a lot of incompletions onto his record in the 4th quarter. I can't believe the venom I hear at him today. Just because he doesn't have 3 receivers like Eli who can all go up and make incredible catches.
And the reason why this loss hurts so bad is because there isn't an easy answer. I liked this team because they were mentally tough, I knew when we went down 9-0 that it wasn't over, that they would bounce back somehow. Being shut out for the last 20 minutes of the game was pretty awful. But we still should have won, and everyone knows it.
The sad part about having all your teams in contention every year is all the heartbreaking losses you have to deal with as well. That's just how it works, particularly in a single-elimination sport like football. We've had three years now since our last SB win where we were one play away from winning the Super Bowl (07, 11, 06 because we weren't losing to Chicago). Other Boston teams have been this close as well. But that's how sports work. Sometimes you get the 2001 Pats or 2011 Bruins, sometimes you get the 2010 Celtics or 2003 Red Sox. So close.
I mean, it's okay to feel pain. It's okay to be upset when you lose a championship your team was that close to winning. It doesn't make you spoiled. All those fans that don't have it as good as we have had over the last decade - they'd still be feeling the same way if their sports town got that close to nirvana and faded away at the final moment.
So be unhappy all you like. Rue all the missed opportunities. Just don't go out trashing our organization and our team. Don't say bad things about guys like Tom Brady and Wes Welker who wanted it far more then I think any of us could understand. (Gisele is fair game.) Direct your anger somewhere else deserving, not at the people who have brought us so much success than any other team in their tenure here and spend most of their years being unhappy that they haven't brought more. If you don't believe me, read the Dan Wetzel article. Brady cares plenty.
Because when you do that, you fulfill the stereotype that makes everyone else hate Boston/NY sports fans. Don't be that guy.
