A matter of perspective
Like everyone, I thought I put this behind. But last night, another chat started and everyone was moaning for missed opportunities again... We had some "heated" debate that followed the same paths that have been seen over and over on many Pats' boards. My take (not that original, but just want to say that there is minority thinking like mine):
1- Before the Steelers' victory, some of my colleagues weren't that optimistic of 3-peat. The prevailing feeling was that we wouldn't get by the Colts this year any way.
2- Before the game, many (myself included) felt that Denver (in Denver) would be a formidable opponent, and the game would be a toss-up.
3- The feeling of missed opportunity happened only after seeing how "well" we played and how close all of a sudden that our chance of a 3-peat history had become (and we screwed up).
But here was my take: I am an old-fashion fan who love defensive football (I would enjoy a 3-0 victory). I have to give credit to Denver defense, and also felt great about Pats' defense that had been of suspect. I accept the loss a little better than my colleagues because of that. And felt really optimistic about next season if our D continues to improve (my wish: we luck out and draft the next Ray Lewis or Sean Urlacher).
Call me old fashion, but my favourite Pats edition is the 2001. Brady was not a gun slinger then, but an efficient dink-and-dunk guy. The Pats just waited for the other team to blink and make mistake first. So as much as my colleagues bemoaning Brady's mistake, I viewed that play the same way as Vrabel being in Warner's face and Ty Law's pick: their gun-slinging mentality played right into the hand of our opportunistic defense (It took two to tango). So I argued (unpopularly) that Brady's mistake was a part of our "over-confidence" (Like throwing the ball while on his ass last season), coupled with Denver's good defense. It was pointless to argue who had more credit in that play, our ineptitude or Denver's defense. Like Pasteur said, fortune favors the prepared mind. Denver didn't beat us black and blue, but their D were smart enough, disciplined enough to choke us.
The next season will be awsome. And I am looking for payback when they come.
Cheers.