For the second season in a row, the Patriots are one and done at home in the playoffs.
Rex Ryan and the Jets walked all over the Pats on Sunday, ending New England’s surprisingly successful season with an even more surprising loss.
The 28-21 defeat will go down as one of the biggest choke jobs in the storied history of the franchise.
“We gave up too many points, didn’t score enough, didn’t have good field position in the kicking game,” coach Bill Belichick said. “Just didn’t do enough things we needed to do to win. Too many penalties, too many mistakes, missed tackles, missed blocks, pressure, drops, all of the above.”
The Pats were riding an eight-game winning streak into the playoffs, and were regarded as Super Bowl favorites. But none of that mattered yesterday, because that team wasn’t the one that showed up.
“There was a sign out there that said ‘0-0’ and that’s the truth,” said Tom Brady, who was sacked five times. “Every team really has the same opportunity once you’re in the playoffs, and we’ve seen that throughout the playoffs.
“A lot of teams had great seasons, but there’s ultimately only one Super Bowl winner.”
That’s not the Patriots.
They failed to score a touchdown until the closing seconds of the third quarter. Then they burned off 7:45 in the fourth quarter before turning the ball over on downs.
As the seconds ticked away, so did hope of a Patriots comeback.
“In order to score points you have to consistently be able to put together plays,”?Brady said, “and we could never really do that or find a rhythm. And they made a lot of plays.”
The half you’d like to forget
The last time a Tom Brady-led offense was held to three or fewer points in the first half was Dec. 20, 2006 — until yesterday, anyway.
Though the Pats struck first with a field goal to go up 3-0, they failed to score again before halftime. The other drives looked like this: interception, punt, punt, turnover on downs.
(When New York and New England met in Week 13, the Pats dropped 24 first-half points on the Jets, leaving them reeling from the start.)
