FOXBOROUGH — It’s pretty sad when you predict exactly how your team will lose a game with 2:08 to play, and you turn out right on the button.<\/p>\n
Shutting down Doug Flutie for the second half up to that point was nice, and it did enable the Patriots to climb back into the game and actually take the lead. But every Patriot fatalist had to know that given the chance to win a game at crunch time, the last thing you want is to allow Flutie the chance to get on the field and try to pull it off.<\/p>\n
Buffalo kicker Steve Christie celebrates as his 32-yard field goal in overtime beat the Patriots, 16-13.(AP Photo)
\nThe Patriots had the ball at the Buffalo 43 with five minutes left in the game, with the score tied at 10. They managed to drive to the Bills’ 32. The Patriots had carved nearly three minutes off the clock in doing so. So far, so good.<\/p>\n
Runs by J.R. Redmond and Tony Carter totalling seven yards got the clock down to 2:13 to go. Third and three. The Bills had just burned two of their three timeouts.<\/p>\n
Now, if you’re the coach, what do you do?<\/p>\n
Better yet, what don’t you do?<\/p>\n
Given Flutie’s late game heroics throughout his career, and given the Patriots’ inability to win in overtime all throughout team history, one might think that you milk the clock for all its worth. Run the ball on third down. If Buffalo calls time, they have none left. If they don’t, you get the two-minute stoppage, but the Bills have that much less time to work with.<\/p>\n
Fantasy dreamland: Make those three lousy yards and the game is over. But let’s get real.<\/p>\n
Whatever the case, the LAST thing you want to do, turnovers excepted, is throw an incomplete pass. Don’t stop the clock. Let them do it.<\/p>\n
So what happens? John Friesz, filling in for the injured Drew Bledsoe, drops back, rolls right and tries to hit Tony Carter on a screen. Incomplete. Clock stops at 2:08.<\/p>\n
Even Johnny Carson’s Swami could predict this. Overtime. Pats lose.<\/p>\n
We hate being pessimistic, but we know our team. Adam Vinatieri nails an anything-but-automatic 42-yard field goal into the wind to give the Patriots a 13-10 lead. But Flutie had over two minutes, and the Patriots had a lead that everyone knew would never be protected.<\/p>\n
Such is the case this year. You knew it wouldn’t be protected. It’s not so bad that it happened. It’s that it happened just as you knew it would.<\/p>\n
Flutie was bottled up all half, but somehow at this time managed to find his rhythm for the rest of the afternoon, not that you should be shocked or anything. Starting on his own 24, Flutie went right to work and found Jeremy McDaniel for 23 yards. The Patriots laid off everyone to prevent the long pass, and sure enough, Flutie found an open man in the soft zone.<\/p>\n
This play set the tone for what was to follow. How do you figure that the Patriot defense confuses and stifles Flutie all during the second half, but just as soon as the game is on the line, his first play is to an open wideout for this kind of yardage? This is a classic case of the Patriots playing not to lose, scared to death of Eric Moulds beating them deep.<\/p>\n
And with Steve Christie at their avail (remember, he’s the man who took over for Scott Norwood, so he’s been around a while), how could the Patriots not be aware that all the Bills needed was 45-50 yards? They got nearly half of that on just the first play.<\/p>\n
After that, it was routine. Flutie scrambles for twelve yards on third and ten. Jay Riemersma catches a pass for another ten. Two runs for six yards, then Peerless Price for ten more. Before you could say “How many timeouts do you get in overtime?”, the Bills were at the Patriot 15. Remember, the Bills had punted on six straight possessions prior to this drive.<\/p>\n
A crazy end zone interference call on Price set the Bills back to the Patriot 30 with time running out. But Christie came in there and knocked a 2-iron through the uprights to send it into overtime. The Bills had tied things up, and looked like it was something they were merely expected to do.<\/p>\n
Now, we have 1999 Redux, except the teams each scored an extra field goal this year. The Patriots won the coin toss. They took the ball. Buffalo took the wind.<\/p>\n
Wrong move? Think the Pats should have taken the wind? Nah.<\/p>\n
In the entire 40-year history of the Patriots, they are 9-17 in overtime games. Their last OT win was Tuna Bowl I. If they take the wind, Buffalo merely wins the game quicker.<\/p>\n
There was no stopping Flutie in overtime, and you knew it. What the Patriots needed to do was to end things before Flutie got his chance. But Friesz was sacked by Cowart back at his own 20 on third and four, and the Pats gave the ball up on a three-and-out.<\/p>\n
The Bills took over on their 35. They basically needed 45 yards. Ty Law gave them half that much when he interfered with Moulds on second and ten, a receiver he held in check all day. How poetic — Law smothers Moulds all day, but gags when it matters most. You might call that the Patriot season in a nutshell.<\/p>\n
Riemersma caught a six-yard pass, then runs of five and fifteen yards by Shawn Bryson made the game academic. Christie hit from 32 yards out, and that was it.<\/p>\n
The Patriots can say they lost because Bledsoe got hurt (he hit his thumb on the helmet of Sam Rogers in the first quarter). They can say they lost because of the wet conditions which stymied the passing game, their only way they could have beaten Buffalo today. They can say they lost because the crowd was all pro-Flutie, and their feelings were hurt.<\/p>\n
And this is all pure balderdash.<\/p>\n
Once again, the Patriots lost a close game they could have won because they still don’t know how to close out an opponent.<\/p>\n
The coaching staff wears some of the goat horns in this game also. Did Belichick or Charlie Weis ever think about bringing in Michael Bishop in the fourth quarter? Why did Weis attempt a pass on third and goal at the one, the pass that was picked off by John Holocek in the end zone in the third quarter? And that incomplete pass with 2:08 to go…ugh.<\/p>\n
But simply put, this Patriot defense has been exposed this year as something less than what we all think it is. And it’s getting worse and worse with each game.<\/p>\n
There is no way the defense should have allowed Flutie to regain his touch after the Pats took the 13-10 lead. Instead of kicking the ferocity up a notch, the unit played timid and scared. They played not to lose. Teams that do that fail every time. They fail to not lose.<\/p>\n
What was supposed to begin the “easy” second half of the season instead mires this team further in their rut. Fans will soon start rooting for draft position rather than wins. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but you still have to sit there and watch these games.<\/p>\n
This is not to say that the players quit. This is to say that the Patriots still lack a killer instinct. They want to win, but at the most crucial times, the other team simply wants it more. What else can you say?<\/p>\n
You can lament all you want about these close losses, but 2-7 is 2-7. And don’t bother with this “best 2-7 team in league history” malarkey. This team is 2-7. Any way you cut the cake, that just plain stinks.<\/p>\n
If Belichick should be charged with anything, it’s to either find tougher guys or make tough guys out of what you got. It’s why the Red Sox always lose to the Yankees. The Yankees have the tough guys, the Red Sox have the marquee guys (thanks, Dan Shaughnessy). Marquee guys make lots of money. Tough guys win. Gimme tough guys any day.<\/p>\n
This team is still a long way from being a winner. The next two games finally do get easier (at Cleveland, Cincinnati). But no one is guaranteeing anything right now. If one of these two teams shows up and plays tough defense against the now-without-Bledsoe Patriots, all bets are off.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Patriot Nation can just go home tonight and seethe. The players will too. But what happened happened. One more loss that could have been a win. You can just hear Danny Glover screaming that line in Angels In The Outfield.<\/p>\n
The Patriots really are a good football team. Except when things really count. If that’s the case, who cares if they’re good or not?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Patriots contain Flutie and his Bills long enough to forge into a 13-10 lead. But Flutie regains his touch and rallies his team to a 16-13 OT win. Once again, the Patriot defense lays down when it’s needed the most, and another close loss is the inevitable result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22294],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2000-patriots-season"],"yoast_head":"\n