The red zone offense was the number one culprit. The Titans converted 75% of their red zone trips into touchdowns, the Patriots converted 50%. It's easily the lowest mark of the Brady era. These are small sample sizes so some of it is up to random chance, but that 1st and goal from the 1 sequence was a microcosm of the season.
Now, these sorts of cracks were already showing last year - witness the Super Bowl. Gronk's retirement certainly changed things, but he wasn't effective at all last season except as a third tackle and I think people overstate how different the supporting cast was from last year to this.
Overall, there's plenty of blame to go around. Playcalling (Elandon Roberts handoff on 3rd and 1), inability of receivers to gain separation (Harry looks like a Cordarelle Patterson clone, for better and worse; Sanu needs a Julio or Green to be effective; Edelman was dead by the end and had costly drops), and Brady himself, who didn't help matters with inaccurate throws, poor decisionmaking, and an attitude that seemed to scream that he was over it which certainly isn't conducive to integrating new players. (The latter is more observation than criticism; what 42 year old wants to spend time with 22 year old coworkers?) After Wynn returned and Mason healed, the line play was completely fine this season and by the end was actually pretty good. Wynn looks like a stud who should hold down that position for a long time, and reports of Mason's demise were premature. Other than a play or two, Brady had all day to throw last night, the backs had big holes to run through, but receivers simply couldn't get open or Brady missed them.
The game last night turned on a few plays. The Titans first touchdown was on 3rd and 10 and would have been prevented if Chung wasn't injured on the previous play, the goal line sequence followed by the Titans touchdown before the half, the Mason ineligible downfield call, the Edelman drop on 3rd down and the subsequent choice to punt, the Firkser catch and the Kern punt. The Patriots got beat by a team who used an advantage on special teams to force long drives and preyed on the offense's mistakes, the blueprint that they usually use.
Anyone who blames the defense, for what it's worth, is totally insane. GDT reactions aside, the defense was extremely good all year and kept them in games against better teams that the offense, for the first time in a long time, could not finish. The end of the half was not great but they were happy to let Henry run if Tannehill never hit a big play and they didn't yield a drive into their own territory in the second half.
The big hairy question is of course how much of a difference Antonio Brown would have made. I think the answer is a lot, and I think releasing him was stupid, but he's also a massive idiot who brought it on himself and the league almost certainly would have put him on the exempt list anyhow. Those incredibly dumb text messages changed everything.
Big question is what happens this offseason. They have a good amount of cap space but lots of big free agents (Brady, McCourty, Van Noy, Thuney) and the big hole to fill at quarterback. I think Brady's back despite thinking he has indeed already tipped off the cliff, and I'm not sure he was ever going anywhere, and I think he's more than capable of playing a caretaker role to a great defense like Manning's final years. But like Manning with the Thomases, Decker, and Sanders, he's going to need weapons to be effective enough to caretake. Beckham might be available. Maybe Antonio Brown is cleared and will come back. AJ Green, Amari Cooper. There are options, but uncertain if any will be priced right for the Patriots.
