Metaphors
In the Starting Line-Up
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It's indicative of the fact that they didn't play 60 minutes of football, and that's what you have to do to win in the playoffs.
Sigh. I can understand why the Pats aren't happy with the performance. I can't understand why fans are struggling so much with this game.
Let's just jump right to 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Pats up 31-3. Colts with 5 series, three 3-n-outs, 1 turnover, 134 total yards. This despite the Pats starting their 4th string center, their ST gunner at safety, the lead singer for the Monkees at CB and I believe the guy who played the dad on the show "Webster" at LB. Any complaints at this point would be silly.
So 19 minutes left and the Pats trade 9 minutes of clock for 7 points. That is just what you do when you are up 28 points late and the opponent is willing to take 15 plays to score.
Now there are 10 minutes left and up 21 points. Pats get 9 yards but miss a first down because Brady's pass is a little off and Welker loses his footing. Not a great effort but hardly a reason to get out on the ledge.
9 minutes left and the Colts burn nearly 2 minutes going 30 yards. Then a great pick by Mayo (his 1st ever I believe) and the Pats are up 21 with 7 minutes left and the ball near midfield. 53 minutes into the game and the game is pretty much precisely where most people would have predicted it would be.
That means the real issue is what happened after the 7 minute mark. The Pats lost their concentration. The offense screwed around instead of trying to run out the clock. The defense allowed 2 deep passes to Garcon that never should have happened (just like Slater as the deep safety in the 4th quarter should never happen).
Does anyone really believe those 7 minutes happen if the Pats weren't up 21 points? For that matter, does anyone believe the defense would have looked anything close to this if Belichick wasn't treating this game like a glorified scrimmage. Chung a (relatively) healthy scratch. Slater going wire-2-wire at safety. Molden giving up snaps at corner to Jones (signed on Wednesday) and Moore (only a safety up to this point).
The Pats have no reason to be proud of those last 7 minutes. No excuses for poor focus regardless of who is playing or what the score is. But lets stay close to reality for a bit. The Pats have been playing in other teams' Super Bowls for nearly 3 months now (look at the schedule and every game but KC was a statement game or a must-win for the opponent). The Pats finally get a tomato can with more to gain by losing and proceed to wipe them out for 3+ quarters. I'm inclined to cut them some slack for falling asleep when the game really wasn't in doubt. As long as they take it as a learning experience (and sounds like they are), I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.