Awful officiating aside, the whole team has been inconsistent for the entire season. Brady is 'off', the play-calling and situational awareness has been surprisingly poor, the execution has been bad, and the defense isn't particularly talented.
Something isn't right with this team, and I wonder if it's related to the chemistry in the locker room. The coaching seems lacking, the players don't seem to be responding, and the team seems incomplete in some sense. Really inconsistent in their play, but they don't seem to be entirely there mentally. Just seem lackadaisical and unfocused.
They took out Gordon on the final play of the game and put in Patterson. That's a head-scratcher, and I assume there's more to that than just a routine personnel decision. It's a bit frustrating as a fan to see, arguably, the team's best receiver (who was only targeted once in the entire second half) get pulled on the most important offensive play of the game. Why isn't Gordon being utilized in the red-area? It it McD's or Brady's fault?
I would assume they win out, but I'm not sure that's a safe bet. Regardless, they need a HOU loss in order to get an extra week of rest. Certainly possible, HOU isn't a great team, but I'm not sure they'll lose to PHI or JAX. At any rate, if both NE and HOU win out, the Pats will end up the with #3 seed; not sure who that'd have them playing haven't looked closely enough. Regardless, it's going to be a challenging game whether they end up at the #2 or #3 seed ... or worse.