Proud of this team!

bormio · Feb 9, 2026

scott99 said:
I would say the word is concerned. I’m not sure what we have in Maye. I am worried he might not be “The One”. His playoff play was dreadful. His defense saved his ass several times. Concerned.

If by the “One” you mean a Super Bowl winning QB - no one knows for sure until it happens. Is Darnold “The One” now? He sure as hell wasn’t 3 years ago. If you mean a QB that will perform at a high level and win a lot of games - I think your concern is unfounded. We will have to wait and see on the other.

Lansdowne · Feb 9, 2026

Count me among those who are proud of this team. Not happy with how the team played on offense today. Not happy with the end result. Not happy to see the people who crowed about the easy schedule feeling vindicated. But still proud of how much this team overachieved and gave us a lot to cheer for and a lot to be hopeful for.

Next season’s schedule gets substantially more difficult. So this team needs to bolster the roster even more this offseason in order to stay competitive. It’s very, very, very hard to win a Super Bowl, and tonight was yet another reminder of that. I’m disappointed by the loss, but remain proud of what they accomplished along the way. Let’s hope they can build on it and get back to the dance next year. Just know that it’s going to get a lot tougher from here.

jal · Feb 9, 2026

Drake’s protection was getting overwhelmed and yes he’s not a good enough QB yet to overcome that. He clearly got mentally sped up and it hurt him even when he had time. Meanwhile the receivers weren’t exactly bailing him out either. It happens. He’s not Tom Brady (yet) - no slight to him. There’s only one of those. We’ve seen Mahomes get railroaded when his protection falls apart, same for any of the other all time top QBs. Brady’s finest moment was in the AFCCG that we almost won in Denver, and that came when he was already a grizzled champion. Btw we still lost that game. And to be fair Tom at least had an all time offensive weapon fighting alongside him.

We don’t know if Drake is “the One” but as Seattle and Philly showed in back to back years you don’t need the GOAT to win a ring. You need a well balanced team with blue chip players in every phase of the game.

We have some major upgrading to do with our offense. It’s a miracle they played as well as they did all season but maybe Will Campbells injury was the straw that broke the camels back. I’m shocked they didn’t give the backups a go just to see what they had.

ctpatsfan77 · Feb 9, 2026

Lansdowne said:
Next season’s schedule gets substantially more difficult. So this team needs to bolster the roster even more this offseason in order to stay competitive. It’s very, very, very hard to win a Super Bowl, and tonight was yet another reminder of that. I’m disappointed by the loss, but remain proud of what they accomplished along the way. Let’s hope they can build on it and get back to the dance next year. Just know that it’s going to get a lot tougher from here.

The one thing to remember is that it doesn't get harder because the Pats finished first so much as it does because the Pats play in the AFC East. Instead of the AFC North and NFC South (two very dysfunctional divisions this year), the entire AFC East get the AFC West and NFC North.

Here are the games determined by division finish:
Pats: PIT, @JAX, @SEA
Beefalos: BAL, @HOU, @LAR
LOLphins: CIN, @IND, @SF
JEST: CLE, @TEN, @ARI

Halifax_Pats_Fan · Feb 9, 2026

Love our guys! Onward and upward. Truth be told, they need an edge. And I ain’t talking rusher…

Guts · Feb 9, 2026

Got farther than I expected but was extremely disappointed in the Oline play and Maye

WhatJustHappened · Feb 9, 2026

Bah they sucked. I'll see these guys next year.

Huckleberry1 · Feb 9, 2026

scott99 said:
I would say the word is concerned. I’m not sure what we have in Maye. I am worried he might not be “The One”. His playoff play was dreadful. His defense saved his ass several times. Concerned.

He had no protection, no open receivers, and MacDaniels had a terrible game plan. Maye isn't a problem at all, the only QB who could have handled that is Brady, and even he would have struggled with no receivers open and less than 2 seconds to get rid of the ball.

Patjew · Feb 9, 2026

I’m proud of myself for spending over $20K to take my daughter to a 12 minute Green Day concert.

maust · Feb 9, 2026

Patjew said:
I’m proud of myself for spending over $20K to take my daughter to a 12 minute Green Day concert.

And they say you can't put a price on quality Dad/Daughter time, my man PJ putting the lie to that old saw
Maybe being a boy dad really is ea$ier

PATSYLICIOUS · Feb 9, 2026

Gotta have some perspective. With both maye and the team in general, i think they made incredible leaps that were a bit exaggerated by the schedule this year. Just remember its very early on both ends. We clearly aren’t yet ready to compete with the likes of Seattle but if we even have 1/3rd as good of an offseason as last years i think we could potentially get there in 26.

hornetfb85 · Feb 9, 2026

It is ok to be disappointed with last night, but if you can’t be proud of this team for the overall season, then I truly question your fandom. Going from back to back 4 win seasons to the Super Bowl is truly amazing. Dont give a **** about the schedule. We played the schedule they gave us.

sb1 · Feb 9, 2026

PATSYLICIOUS said:
Gotta have some perspective. With both maye and the team in general, i think they made incredible leaps that were a bit exaggerated by the schedule this year. Just remember its very early on both ends. We clearly aren’t yet ready to compete with the likes of Seattle but if we even have 1/3rd as good of an offseason as last years i think we could potentially get there in 26.

Yeah. Pats are not there yet. There's a reason why 4-13 to 14-3 and SB appearance has never happened until this season. The talent gaps can't be fixed or new guys developed overnight. I'm excited to see what's next and how they improve things this offseason and I have no doubt they will. Good chance we take a step back record wise and still have a much better football team than this season.

Brotherblues · Feb 9, 2026

maust said:
And they say you can't put a price on quality Dad/Daughter time, my man PJ putting the lie to that old saw
Maybe being a boy dad really is ea$ier

My girls are 1 and 3 years old.

I'm already saving every last penny and it won't be enough.

That said, they're worth all of it.

maust · Feb 9, 2026

Brotherblues said:
My girls are 1 and 3 years old.

I'm already saving every last penny and it won't be enough.

That said, they're worth all of it.

Lotta magic in those years. Enjoy it while you can just don't blink, they'll suddenly be in their 30's

Wozzy · Feb 9, 2026

It was a good season, even if it ended with a dud.

They have the most money to spend over the next few seasons, no serious free agents next offseason, they have all their draft picks and more.

There’s no reason they shouldn’t continue to improve.

PatsFan2 · Feb 9, 2026

Wozzy said:
It was a good season, even if it ended with a dud.

They have the most money to spend over the next few seasons, no serious free agents next offseason, they have all their draft picks and more.

There’s no reason they shouldn’t continue to improve.

I don't think that's correct. Chargers - Commanders even the Seahawks have more $$$$$$.

Wozzy · Feb 9, 2026

PatsFan2 said:
I don't think that's correct. Chargers - Commanders even the Seahawks have more $$$$$$.

They’re top half of the league with a lot of players on rookie deals. Once the old guys start retiring or getting cut or traded they are staring at a whole lot of money.

Patjew · Feb 9, 2026

maust said:
Lotta magic in those years. Enjoy it while you can just don't blink, they'll suddenly be in their 30's

Mine will be 26 this week. Of my three kids, she’s the only girl and the only one that cares about football. So we had a blast other than the game itself.

I am proud of the team. They showed resilience during the season and exceeded all expectations x a million. Hopefully they grow from here and forget how to forget to play offense on the biggest stage.

Bill Lee · Feb 9, 2026

scott99 said:
I would say the word is concerned. I’m not sure what we have in Maye. I am worried he might not be “The One”. His playoff play was dreadful. His defense saved his ass several times. Concerned.

I'm not that concerned about a 23 year old not getting it done on his first trip to the biggest stage there is.

If we're being honest we should admit the offense was plateauing in the Denver game, with the only big difference was zero turnovers in that game and two amazing catches when they were desperately needed, one after the D forced a turnover and gave the O a short field. We put up 10 freaking points, folks. Combine that with DEN having to play Jarrett Freaking Stidham with one week of prep time and we should thank our lucky stars we didn't have to watch a Stidham vs Darnold SB yesterday. We got to the big game and lost, just like 50% of the teams who make it to the Super Bowl.

So this is where we are at, NOW.

Yes, clearly, we need to do a lot better in the future especially on the offense, but those who say they feel we got exposed clearly haven't been watching the game. This game was coming sooner or later. Of course the opponent gets tougher each playoff round so it's more likely to happen the longer you are in the tournament.

What exactly should we expect from a team that went 4-13 last season?

IMO it's great that all our players and coaches got to have this experience. Personally I think Maye is enough of a competitor that he'll take away a lot of lessons from this game that will drive him to continue to improve.

As others have pointed out, Darnold's start of his career was far shakier. I don't feel concerned about Maye. I do feel concerned about the overall level of talent on the offense. Last season's O-line was pretty much replacement level or below. This year's is better, but when you bring in a 34 year old Morgan Moses and your offensive line play improves you know you aren't talking about a SB-level offensive line. Same can be said about the WR room. We got good performances from guys like Diggs and Hollins, but there is no JSN on this team.

I feel that given the talent level of this offense we should be glad we are AFC Champions. Lots of other fan bases would be thrilled to be where we are.

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