New England Patriots – Everett Leader Herald

The Patriots

OK. The Patriots, it turns out, never had a chance.

From the first snap of the game Josh Allen outdid everyone around him on the playing field. He played like a champion.

He and his teammates came to win.

The Patriots came to lose.

It is really as simple as that.

So there is no need to determine what went wrong. The Patriots just didn’t have it.

The better team won.

That being said, the most infuriating thing about this pitiful playoff loss in a game that wasn’t close couldn’t have ended any other way.

Patriots Drop Regular-Season Finale, Limp Into Playoffs

By Lorenzo Recupero

The New England Patriots finished the regular-season with a winning record, but how they look entering the postseason is hardly ideal.

Sunday’s nagging 33-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins had some playoff-seeding implications and the Patriots didn’t help themselves with a lackluster performance defensively, as the Dolphins (9-8) racked up 195 yards on the ground and nearly doubled the scoring output allowed per game (17.83 points) by the Pats. The offense and rookie quarterback Mac Jones arguably could be held more at fault for the loss, though, with 3 turnovers (interception, 2 fumbles).

The loss pushed the Patriots from the 5th to the 6th seed, which really made things more difficult. If the Pats won Sunday, they would be meeting the untested, rookie-led Bengals in the playoffs but instead they will meet Buffalo, the AFC East champions the past two seasons.

Furthermore, the Patriots opened and closed the season with a loss to the Dolphins for the first time since pre-TB12 and dynasty days, handing Miami their first regular-season sweep of the team since 2000.

The Patriots

the defeat the Patriots suffered at the hands of the Miami Dolphins last Sunday was convincing evidence the Pats have gone as high as they can go.

True, the Pats are getting a playoff game, and a chance to advance.

Also true, the Super bowl remains ions away for the Pats.

Even should they win their first playoff game, climbing to the top of the NFL mountain this year just isn’t in the cards.

We’d love to be made to eat crow on this prediction.

The Patriots

The Pats lost their second in a row after winning 7 in a row.

The loss to the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on Sunday was especially depressing for this single reason – the Pats aren’t yet there to take on a Super Bowl grade team.

The Bills, we do not believe, are Super Bowl material.

If the Pat’s can’t beat the Bills at home in a game that was never to be theirs, well, what is there to say about the Pat’s viability during the runup to the championship playoffs and the Super Bowl.

Merry Christmas to Mac Jones

Patriot’s quarterback Mac Jones is a Christmas present supreme for New England sports fans.

His presence allows the Pat’s to strive for another Super Bowl appearance, something we could not have imagined last year.

Mac Jones is in a position that former Red Sox great Carl Yastremski can well understand.

How so?

When Ted Williams retired, Yastremski took over the baseball legend’s left field position and number 3 place in the batting line-up.

Can you imagine replacing Ted Williams?

I can’t.

How do you replace who was arguably the greatest hitter in baseball history and the last player to bat over .400 – a record very likely never to be broken?

It is something easier said than done.

Yastremski’s first year was like Mac Jones first year.