The way I saw it the things that cost us were:
Physical -
Our defense was gassed as the half approached. I thought they went prevent just because that's what they tend to do (to piss me off), but I think in this case they had little choice. BB said the SD game and cross country travel took a lot out of them. Our age is showing and while our depth is pretty good those guys don't start for a reason. And I have no doubt Polian frigged with the AC.
Mental -
Errors. 12 men in the huddle killed that last drive. That and the fact that we really haven't been able to run the ball consistently all season and particularly for the last month or so. Dillon is aging rapidly - would be fine for the tough two or three yards but he has lost a step. And Maroney either hit the rookie wall about a month ago or he's dinged up. Not even quick or powerful in the return game of late and dancing behind the LOS more than ever. RTP even as weak as it was. Encroachment inside the 5. Both safeties getting caught looking in the backfield and burned for a huge gain on 3rd down.
Bad calls -
If that wasn't PI on Reche I guess I just don't know what it is after all. Hobbs never laid a hand on Wayne and the ball hit him in the back of the head and they call that? For the most part they let them play, and it must have been driving Polian insane. But they made one weak call and one glaring non call and both of them proved costly for us.
Poor performance -
The two glaring ones are on Caldwell. One cost a TD so that was really a killer. That was the knock on him according to my relatives who are SD fans - he will make some great grabs and then just drop the easy one which will often prove disasterous.
The sad thing is how hard this team fought and how close they got - speaks volumes to just how little they were missing, but they were missing enough legit talent that it's a further testament to the system and the sheer intestinal fortitude of the core of this team that they took it to the final minute of the final 4. I knew they couldn't score a TD in under a minute - FG was doable but just not enough bankable talent beyond Tom on that offense to put it in the EZ.
That said -
Two first round picks. Hopefully Chad Jackson shows up in 2007 too. And it would be great if Ben Watson actually emerges one day. Hopefully Asante is at least worth the franchise tag after tonight whether they use it to trade him or play him, and Hobbs is a keeper - you can see why Belichick loves him. Hope Rodney and Tedy and Junior and Bingo have one more run left in them and we get some real talent to augment the two most important positions in a BB defense - LB and SS. I'm kind of concerned about Seymour, he wasn't on my pro bowl card and with $30M due over the next 3 years he should have been. I know the mantra on double teams but I.m just not feelin' it.
I hope it snows in Miami on February 4th.