The strange thing is that most of the bad events of the season unfolded in exact accordance with my preseason analysis - Brady late season deep ball decline and interception uptick since the Patriots (unnecessarily) declined to rest him; defensive issues with the Gilmore signing and all its direct and indirect effects on Butler and defensive synchronization. Then the loss of Edelman and Hightower on top of that. I don't understand how despite all this the Patriots win anyway. But I continue to be even more pessimistic about the playoffs, for the same reasons I was pessimistic in the preseason, multiplied by: the opposition will be stronger, Brady more tired, and much of the receiver corps either injured or just coming back from injury, hard to imagine a playoff Patriots without Edelman and Hightower at all (not to mention Blount) and the coordinators might be distracted by the head coaching offers.