This commentary shows how much we've lowered our expectations this year if we can say that last night's play represented a "good night" for the team. In fact, the offense committed two critical errors (dropped pass and numbskull penalty) at two critical times in the game.
Putting aside the coaching issues (and there were definitely coaching issues), the bottom line is that the margin of error in the NFL is so small, that there's no room for two mistakes like that against a team led by Peyton Manning. In the past, we would not have thought that a game in which they occured represented a "good night for Pats."