When you put your dreams in the hands of Brett Favre they are likely to be intercepted
So that’s this is what it feels like when your team fails to make the playoffs.
The New England Patriots took care of their business in their frantic late season push for a playoff spot but so did the other teams who ere in the mix. Baltimore Ravens pasted the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Miami Dolphins handled the New York Jets, whose quarterback Brett Favre as usual managed to throw a couple of brutal interceptions.
Patriots finished the regular season with a 11-5 record, losing the division to the also 11-5 Miami Dolphins who prevailed thanks to one tie breaker or another. What killed the Patriots in the end was the team’s inability to sweep either the Dolphins or the Jets.
The major reason for the disappointing finish to the season was of course the injury that Tom Brady suffered in the first quarter of the first game of the season against the mediocre Kansas City Chiefs. Without Brady as trigger man the offense couldn’t put up enough points to cover up the numerous shortcomings of the defense. Mike Vrabel was exposed in the running game, where he was frequently overpowered or out played at the point of attack, leaving gaping holes between him and left defensive end Ty Warren. That Vrabel’s sack production fell off a cliff from last year isn’t particularly remarkable. Last year opposing teams pretty much spent entire games trying to keep with the Patriots awesome scoring machine. Also exposed was safety Brandon Meriweather who turned out to be a dismal tackler. But Meriweather also showed important improvement in his ballhandling skills by snagging a few interceptions.
It didn’t help the Patriots’ play off dreams that the defense – rather lacking in personnel from the get go – was beset by key injuries. Saftey Rodney Harrison, inside linebacker Tedy Bruschi, and outside linebacker Adalius Thomas were three key defensive starters who ended up on injured reserve. The situation got so bad the team had to call in veterans Junior Seau and Rosevelt Colvin to fill the roster.
The two biggest bright spots on defense were inside linebacker Jerod Mayo who had a very good rookie year and backup defensive lineman Mike Wright who did a solid job when injuries to the starting defensive linemen dramatically increased his playing time.
On offense, Matt Cassel added to his legacy of being not quite good enough, as in not quite good enough to start in college and not quite good enough to take an NFL team to the play offs, not even when playing an almost absurdly weak schedule. Because Cassel put up big numbers in a couple of games and generally didn’t crap his pants his pants the way Patriots fans had come to expect based on his woeful performance in years of pre-season action and the occasional stint in regular season games some suggested that maybe the Patriots should keep the young back up who can scramble instead of the aging veteran with lead feet. That’s all a load hooey. Brady did more with less in 2001 with less NFL experience than Cassel did in 2008. If having big-numbers games was what it was all about then Dan Marino and Donovan McNabb would have a half-dozen Lombardi Trophies each, rather than the zero they actually have, combined. If you need a scrambler I’m sure Cade McNown will answer your call. Cassel belongs in Detroit or San Francisco, where his presence would be an upgrade, not in New England, where he is demonstrably and obviously inferior to the real starter.
The blame for the failure of the 2008 season falls squarely on the shoulders of head coach Bill Belichick, not because he failed to have replica of Tom Brady as back up quarterback but because he let the defense deteriorate top the point where it takes a Brady to keep it from sinking the team.
