Ugh, no offense, but this article annoyed the hell out of me.
Yes, the Pats didn't care about winning or losing the game (I guess for that reason I wouldn't call it a flop).
But more importantly, the idea that they should have been resting Welker in the first quarter is absurd. Unless a player is significantly dinged up going into a game like this, you at least want to play him for a few series to keep him sharp. Welker was injured in the first quarter. There's nothing to ***** about there.
If you want to legitimately ***** about something, then ***** about why Brady was still playing into the fourth quarter. My theory is that he originally wasn't supposed to, but when Welker went down they decided to give him more time with the Welker-less offense.