PostGame Thread 2025 OFFICIAL POSTGAME THREAD: Patriots fall 29-13 to the Seahawks

[slash83]

 

[stephens44]

Yeah, this was devastating. Contrary to most people, this loss hurts me more than any aside from 2007, because after every loss in the playoffs with B&B, i was sure that we were going to be right back the next season. I have absolutely no optimism that this was the start of something, instead of a magical season with the worst possible outcome.
-snip

Relax my man, they will be back in the playoffs next year. The ownership, GM, and HC are all high quality and in lockstep, we have a franchise QB. That is the DNA of a contender. The experience of this year will be a huge boost going into next season, and I expect the quality free agents out there to be interested in coming here, unlike the last couple of years. The future is bright as well as secure.

 

[uknepatsfan]

Sad end to the season, but props to Seattle. They had little respect for the Pats offense and were able to get to Maye by just rushing 4.

The OL improved from last year, but this game and the playoffs in general showed the flaws were still there.

Lots to fix, then, but at least this game brutally exposed what needed fixing.

And as I said in another post, Mahomes and Manning both had Super Bowl games like this (and worse) too. Give Maye better protection and he’ll be fine.

Anyways, I’m going into the offseason with far more optimism than I went into the start of this season with.

On to the draft we go!

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

You can't be THAT guy and go a whole long postseason run without a single good game. Not one game even close to his regular season standard. Maye kind of put himself in a position where it won't really matter how good he looks in the regular season next year. We have already seen that. We need to see it in the playoffs now. Should be an interesting offseason.

 

[PatriotSpy]

Yeah, this was devastating. Contrary to most people, this loss hurts me more than any aside from 2007, because after every loss in the playoffs with B&B, i was sure that we were going to be right back the next season. I have absolutely no optimism that this was the start of something, instead of a magical season with the worst possible outcome.

All these ''we're on the right track, it's only year two, etc..'' takes naively consider only an upward trajectory which is never the case in this league. 31 other teams are also striving to be better, and all have the same resources. There were so many things that went in our favor this year, from the schedule, the injury luck, key injuries to our opponents, to a good but not even close to an unbeatable Seattle team in the Super Bowl. The Cowboys won three titles in four years, and haven't been to the SB in 30 years. There's absolutely no guarantee we make it back in the next ten. This was the chance, and the entire offense couldn't have disappointed more. 0, ZERO, points through 3 quarters in a Super Bowl. I have no idea what contingency plans they had for the wide variety of issues that came up, but we saw no adjustments whatsoever. What Vrabel did was just as bad as Belichick benching Butler. It was obvious that Campbell is a game-losing liability, and he never considered replacing him, even for a drive, to see whether Lowe is less of it.

Most of the good will Maye gathered with his really, really good regular season, he threw out the window with this post season. The defense got his back for three straight games, we had two weeks of rest, great weather, all we needed was one good, regular season-like performance and he couldn't deliver. The more tape there was on him, the better the defenses adjusted, and the worse he re-adjusted to them. I was convinced that he will take this rare opportunity and produce a great performance despite his previous three games, but he just couldn't do it all playoffs long. He was timid, scared and indecisive in the first half, and yet he was somehow worse in the second. A fumble that cost the team 7, while down only 12, a terrible, terrible interception while also down only 12, and a complete inability to see the blitz on his right side that resulted in a pick six down 15. Every time the team had a chance to bring it back to a one possession game, he turned the ball over, with catastrophic mistakes.

He played like Goff did in 2018, always late with his reads, no confidence, turning the ball at the worst possible time and a sense of inevitability from the first drive to the last. Goff never came back to the big game, that was his shot against a beatable Pats team, and he blew it. While we're at that game, we had 3 points against the Rams through 3 quarters, looking clueless, so in the last two SB's with McDaniels as OC, we scored combined 3 points through six quarters of play. That says it all about McDaniels' game planning. As soon as the opponent does something out of the ordinary, like Seattle blitzing more than usual, McDaniels is like a deer in the headlights, like he never even considered this as a possibility. He prepared for the most likely strategy by the opposite defense and every deviation is a shocker.

I honesty envy the people who just brush off this loss, like we've lost a wild card game by getting there with a 9-8 record. I wish i was more optimistic, maybe i'll be in a few months, but right now, this looks like a squandered chance that doesn't come very often for a team that has very little elite talent, and almost none on Offense with the jury still out on Maye.

This team did a lot of great things this year. Maye took a big year 2 leap. I'm going to switch sports here and I'm not saying Maye is LeBron James or anything but it took LeBron 4 years to get to the finals and when he did at age 22, he got swept by the Spurs and was not any good in that series. His career turned out fine.

I look at it like this, Maye went up against some really tough, physical, athletic defenses in the playoffs and the personnel on the Patriots offense were not on par athletically with those defenses they faced especially tonight. The difference with Goff is that Goff was in year 3 of McVay's offense. Maye is in year 1 in McDaniel's offense. I have no doubt if Brady started for the Patriots tonight that he gets the win playing against Sam Darnold. But Brady is in the 2% of all the quarterbacks who have played in the NFL that could have elevated this team to a win against the Seahawks. Maye's a franchise quarterback. Our we a future dynasty with him at the helm? Probably not. He has lots of stuff to improve on which is scary considering the season he had.

Look at Aaron Rodgers, he was raw coming into the NFL and he didn't start until year 4. He looked terrible year 2 if you go back and look at the preseason highlights on YouTube. Maye was an MVP candidate.

Tonight sucked but you have to be optimistic about this team going forward. We have a quarterback that is making Sunday's fun again. It beats watching Cam Newton, Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe and Jacoby Brissette.

 

[lancerman]

Dropping Diggs is gonna help.

But ya they're gonna have to hit on some draft picks.

If they drop Diggs you take away the guy most defenses are scheming against and put us in the same position as last year. Especially since it’s looking more and more like Henry is hitting a wall.

You probably don’t want to have a situation where next year your QB’s two best pass catchers are gone

 

[lancerman]

Relax my man, they will be back in the playoffs next year. The ownership, GM, and HC are all high quality and in lockstep, we have a franchise QB. That is the DNA of a contender. The experience of this year will be a huge boost going into next season, and I expect the quality free agents out there to be interested in coming here, unlike the last couple of years. The future is bright as well as secure.

There’s no guarantees of that. A lot went our way this year and the truth is, historically most QB’s who lose their first Super Bowl rarely go back. Next year tougher schedule. Beating the Bills for the division is still a toss up and you’ll have Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow healthy again competing tor playoff spots along with whatever the Chiefs do. This was probably the best opportunity since like 2010 for a younger team to break through the AFC.

The two biggest things we need in free agency (OL and WR) are the same things we’ve been trying to solve since 2019. Campbell and Diggs were supposed to be the answer to that.

 

[uknepatsfan]

I genuinely think this team is going to be just fine.

There’s a lot of cap space, so they will get good free agents, resign good players and focus on what they can get from the draft. They won’t be drafting the kind of nonsense Coach Bill was drafting in his final years.

I do seriously think this team is going to be relevant for a while to come and we may look back on this loss as a turning point. But this was an amazing season either way. None of us thought in August that we’d be talking about a Superbowl loss in February.

 

[uknepatsfan]

There’s no guarantees of that. A lot went our way this year and the truth is, historically most QB’s who lose their first Super Bowl rarely go back. Next year tougher schedule. Beating the Bills for the division is still a toss up and you’ll have Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow healthy again competing tor playoff spots along with whatever the Chiefs do. This was probably the best opportunity since like 2010 for a younger team to break through the AFC.

The two biggest things we need in free agency (OL and WR) are the same things we’ve been trying to solve since 2019. Campbell and Diggs were supposed to be the answer to that.

I think you’re stuck in the past.

The window for Baltimore, Cincinnati and Kansas has probably already closed and the Bills one may have gone too. Those guys aren’t getting any younger. Denver, Jacksonville and Houston are probably the teams you need to worry about more than the ones you mentioned. All young teams entering the start of their ascent.

Those others are on their way down.

 

[sambam94]

We lost to Sam freaken Donald with his best WR banged up. What a wasted opportunity. No screens, no short passing game, not sure what JMD was doing knowing our OL was a turn style.

 

[lancerman]

I think you’re stuck in the past.

The window for Baltimore, Cincinnati and Kansas has probably already closed and the Bills one may have gone too. Those guys aren’t getting any younger. Denver, Jacksonville and Houston are probably the teams you need to worry about more than the ones you mentioned. All young teams entering the start of their ascent.

Those others are on their way down.

Every team is working on improving themselves. Baltimore missed their QB most of the season and stlll almost made the playoffs. The Bengals missed their QB. Historically a QB like Mahomes doesn’t stay out of the race for long.

Can’t just assume the stars align like this year

 

[WhatJustHappened]

I don't think so. Trading back was the right move. Mason Graham is looking like the best player of the draft though but wouldn't have helped us much this year. Tyler Warren would have really helped.

Graham was one, if not THE ONE I thought was a stud, thought he needed a good touch to get where he needed... I thought he was better than Carter OVERALL.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Abandoning the run was criminal.

The o line was so out matched even if we went jumbo. I think the accuracy was not there. Where was diggs or hot routes

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Ring I really think he leaned too hard into trying to find the kill shot, something that worked this whole season, but this game demanded that "take what you can" play...

When he did find those, he threw the ball way too hard or high.

Frustrating. So much potential in him. He just laid an egg. It happens but **** it sucks.

You and the shoulder

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Maye missed pretty much every throw! Against weaker defenses his receivers could adjust. He takes waaay tooo long to get rid of the ball, fumbles at a ridiculous pace, and has no pocket awareness.

That game was an abomination to watch! The defense played great, Maye and Campbell were utter disaster

 

[italian pat patriot]

Compliments to Seattle
They deserved It

We playied the worst game at the worst time

Defense gave us some possibilities buy offense was ugly...

Gonzo and Woodson were GREAT

 

[thecore762]

When the team was down 19-7 and Drake throws that horrible pick, that was poor, even collinsworth scratched his head. Drake has long ways to go and needs to work with his 2nd and 3rd reads. It will take time but if he can get that down then I’m sure he will keep improving.

I don’t have much to say about our defense other than them keeping us into the game for 3 quarters.
It was a defensive battle. The game manager QB won the game. He did not do anything to put his team in a bad spot and they won because of it.

Our team needed Maye to come out and play like the regular season Maye and that did not happen.

I think our o-line deficiencies changed Maye and how he played the game and ultimately did us in.
Time to look for that LT in free agency unless we get lucky in the draft but Lt is the most sought after position besides QB and edge rusher.

 

[Froob]

All in all, proud of our boys. kept fighting. got a lot of room for improvement, seahawks earned that ****.

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[sean10mm]

The Pats were the clearly worse team and lost. There were no shenanigans or drummed up controversy or egregious ref blunders that really changed anything. The OL got blown up on quick plays right off the snap, the player talent simply wasn't there. There was no One Weird Trick they failed to employ.

It sucks but there's kind of just nothing to be super bitter about, especially since they were total bottom feeders last season.