What a waste!

[Bobs My Uncle]

To play as well as they did this season only to fold up last night is a true waste.

Sorry but that was a choke job of monumental proportions.

The play from the Pats OL was abysmal. And the coaching. Yuck! I wish BB let Pees handle the defense more and spent more time helping out his OC who was obviously in way over his head last night. I cannot believe an offense so loaded with talent could only muster 14 points last night. What a joke!

Oh, well.

Onto next year.

 

[primetime]

That's how I feel... total waste.

 

[richpats]

Yep it was a waste. This team was hellbent on being great all year long and then choked in the end.

 

[upstater1]

What does Pees do?

 

[PaulNEPats]

They had a great year... but like some of the Pats players themselves said, it's all moot if they don't get the hardware. Thank god for the offseason, I need some time away from this damn game. Hopefully we'll be back next year and we can forget this ever happened.

 

[richpats]

What does Pees do?

Good question. His profile says he's our defensive coordinator but I'm convinced his contract only runs through the first 58 minutes of the 19th game of each season.

 

[Disco Volante]

I don't know what team took the field last night, but it sure as hell wasn't the 2007 New England Patriots.

The same team that was somehow, someway able to pull out wins in Indy and Baltimore looked lifeless last night. I can't even describe how remarkably disappointed I am right now.

Again, looking at this logically, it’s foolish to say it means nothing. We still had the greatest regular season of all-time, set many records and did some things that may never be done again. I was so confident we would finish our job after that final Brady to Moss hookup in the endzone.

But in terms to what most fans are feeling initially, it’s lifeless. “There’s always next year” doesn’t quite help heal these wounds. Because in terms of what we were trying to accomplish, there may never be another solid shot to do what we were trying to do. Become a part of immortality, forever solidifying our franchise and it’s players as immortals of the game. Now, in a matter of 60 minutes, that has all changed.

None of us will ever experience a more heart wrenching, devastating, absolutely demoralizing loss ever. Of course we all remain loyal to our beloved Pats, but right now we can feel nothing but disgust and emptiness. After a 6 month climb to the top of mount Everest, we fell right before reaching the peak.

 

[Stop Being A Jerk]

Yup, this is the first thing that came into my head as well. The past 20-something weeks for what? To watch that effort?

 

[Double G]

Disco Volante said it best, couldn't agree more.

This is THE worst loss in Boston sports history, bar none.

This team could have used the words of Herb Brooks last night; they WILL take this loss to their @#$%ING graves.

Two years in a row, a Manning ended the season in a gut wrenching, punch in the nuts kind of way.

The Giants with all their talking backed it up; Plaxico predicted the win and caught the winning TD.

The coaches knew what was coming, they had two weeks and halftime to do something about it and did nothing. I thought for sure they'd come out in the second half in the no huddle and gas the Giants defense, but they did not, same plan, same result.

They scored on their first and second to last drive; aside from that, nothing, pathetic, head scratching game plan.

The Patriots we all know and love would have done something with the too many men on the field second chance. Last night, zip.

We won a Super Bowl in 2001 we had no business winning and we lost a Super Bowl in 2008 we had no business losing.

Securing the rights to 19-0, announcing parade plans, etc, etc bit us in the ass.

18-1, we'll get em next year means absolutely nothing right now. Sorry boys, I'll never get over this one. We made history all right, the worst possible kind of history, just and empty, empty feeling right now, no words can describe it.

Nothing.

 

[ATippett56]

Disco Volante said it best, couldn't agree more.

This is THE worst loss in Boston sports history, bar none.

This team could have used the words of Herb Brooks last night; they WILL take this loss to their @#$%ING graves.

I seriously wonder what psychological effect this will have on the team next year.

 

[Double G]

Excellent point, only time will tell.

As bad as we feel, the players, coaches, management feels 10,000 times worse................

 

[Disco Volante]

We ate more humble pie then our stomachs could handle last night.

Again the reasons this stings MUCH worse then just any Super Bowl loss is the fact that immortality would have been attached with it. 19-0 would have meant so, so, so much.

 

[Bill B.]

I still put the loss to the Bears in SBXX as the worst. In that game the Patriots were humiliated by a ****y, trash talking team. That one hurt. Last night the Patriots lost a close game in the last minute. How many games have the Pats won like that. The odds finally caught up to them. The fact that this team already has 3 SB wins recently, helps ease the pain a bit.

I refuse to call it a "choke". Can a team that has won 3 SB's really be called chokers. It's not like they were blown out. We just lost a close hard fought game.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Part of the problem here is that there isn't next year. How often are we going to find our team 18-0 and on the verge of distinguishing itself as the greatest team ever? I think we all know that it's pretty much a sure shot that that will never happen again.

 

[Lansdowne]

We ate more humble pie then our stomachs could handle last night.

Again the reasons this stings MUCH worse then just any Super Bowl loss is the fact that immortality would have been attached with it. 19-0 would have meant so, so, so much.

Not just the immortality, but with how so many other people disparaged the team throughout the season. The outcome feels unfair. I feel like we as fans were robbed of something special. Feels like the whole season was a waste. I love the Patriots but I can't shake this feeling of disappointment.

 

[BradyFTW!]

The one thing that I feel okay about right now is that the Giants at least deserved to win that game. They played harder, were coached better, and really just seemed like they wanted it more. Last year was worse, for me, because the Pats left it all on the field and lost. This year, I felt like they just didn't want it nearly as much. Hopefully this reminds them how you have to play football. If not, it was a good run regardless. We got to see 3 SB wins, and I sure as hell wasn't expecting that back in 2000.

 

[ljuneau]

One thing is sure, humble pie tastes like s**t. I can't remeber the last time I have felt so disappointed. Although we played lousy the whole game, just to think that it came down to the last few minutes of the entire season. The season was amazing, but it's a shame I have to feel this way at the end of it.

 

[DFWChargerFan]

Charger fan here. Sorry for the loss guys - I was actually rooting for the Pats. I believe going undefeated, with all the pressure to make history, etc, was actually a bad thing. As great as the Pats are, and as great of a coach as BB is in preparing his team, there is seriously no way to avoid that kind of pressure. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the Giants who are absolute underdogs, nobody giving them a chance. It was clear to me the Giants were out to prove everyone wrong, playing their hearts out, while the Pats seemed tense and appeared to be playing "not to f**k up the perfect season."

 

[PatsFanSince74]

like most of you, i am in great pain over last night's game. i turned off the TV after BB shook Coughlin's hand. i could not sleep last night. i threw away this morning's papers before even looking at them. i haven't watched any sports TV today.

however, i cannot believe the negativity of some of these posts. the only people who can say that this season was a "waste" are the guys who laced 'em up and stepped between the white lines in Glendale yesterday. and, i would bet real money that none of them will say that this season was a waste after the emotion of losing subsides over the next few weeks.

this was a terribly painful loss of a championship game by an undefeated, three-time recent champion. it was the loss of an opportunity to do what no team had ever done. that kind of loss is not a waste in itself and certainly transforms nothing associated with it into a "waste."

the pats lost yesterday in one of the greatest games ever played in the history of the NFL.

people don't think first of who won the 1958 Colts-Giants NFL Championship Game, they don't think first of who won The 1967 Ice Bowl between the Cowboys and Pack, first they remember those games and what they meant and how great the champions were who played in them.

that is what the nfl and its greatest franchises are all about. we are one of those franchises.

if you love this game and it's history, you understand what that means. if you don't, if you hopped on the bandwagon back in 2001, if you stuck around "despite" the loss to Indy last year but are now trash-talking the team you claimed to love, i have no time for you.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Again the reasons this stings MUCH worse then just any Super Bowl loss is the fact that immortality would have been attached with it. 19-0 would have meant so, so, so much.

You don't get it, do you? This team was immortal the moment it stepped on the field last night. As the years go by, as team after team chases a perfect season but never attains it, the story of what the 2007/08 Patriots accomplished will ever be told. The story won't be that they are a bunch of losers who couldn't close the deal. The story will be of how great they were to get that far. As Junior put it, they are "part of ever."

Of course, of course, a win last night would have been beyond fantastic. But, it did not happen. We are all in pain over that fact this morning. But, make no mistake about it. This will be remembered as a great team that achieved greatly before falling short.