I had serious doubts for a large part of this season, (due to the horrendous defense early on), that the Pats would even make it to the playoffs, so everything beyond that to me has been icing on the cake.
I still wanted this as much as anyone though, and it really stings, but I'm very proud of how this team pulled itself together and came back from big deficits to make it to the Big Show.
Many of these kids will be even better next year, and guys like Hernandez, Gronk, Woodhead, Chung, Arrington, McCourty, Moore, Mankins, Ninkovic, etc., are only going to get better.
Vets like Wilfork, BJGE, Edelman, Welker, and even Branch and Brady, have still got plenty of game left, and I'd be surprised if this team doesn't make a serious run at the Bowl again next year.
I love this team as much as ever, and while I'm heartbroken at this loss, and disappointed at the level of play on both sides of the ball, I still feel priveleged to be a New England Patriots fan.
Now, no more sports news for me for at least a week. 
Meh. This team will win 11-14 games again next year and then fall short of a championship again. It will take a complete rebuild of this patchwork defense for the team to have a real shot.
NFC > AFC
Seriously, and they even avoided playing Green Bay and New Orleans. I was very much hoping for SF to win the NFC championship game - they looked terrible. Now Eli is going to go down as an elite quarterback and the Patriots' dynasty will be questioned.
Those who question the whole "dynasty" thing in regard to the Pats, will be doing so because they have an odd definition of the word.
This is a QB/Coach pairing under the Krafts that have gone to the Super Bowl five out of ten years, and won three out of five.
Sorry, but very few people who know football and it's history can make a convincing argument against this team being a "dynasty".
One of winningest teams over the past decade? Absolutely.
But people will question whether Brady and Bellichick were really that great / clutch when it really mattered after these two straight Super Bowl losses and the two losses in the playoffs the last few years. Hard to have much faith in Brady and the Pats anymore when they have the ball late in the game.
There can be no doubt anymore that in the NFL the regular season doesn't mean a darned thing other than qualifying for the playoffs. All of Brady's regular season accolades and accomplishments over the last couple of years are meaningless because he doesn't have any rings to show for it. People will say Eli is a better quarterback because he's lead his team to two Super Bowls, and many will make the argument that Brady hasn't won a single Super Bowl when he was the focal point of his team's success.
Brady won 3 Super Bowls with a dominant defense and an incredible kicker. He didn't start putting up incredible numbers until after that, and since the team became the Brady Show the Pats haven't won.
Huh?!?
He was as much a "focal point of the team's success" then as Eli was tonight, (without some amazing catches by his receivers), and in fact was more so, coming in as a third-string QB under tough circumstances, taking his team to the Championship in his first year on the field.
Has Eli ever been under similar pressure or circumstances? I mean, what is
any starting QB if not "the focal point of the team's success"? That just plain doesn't hold up under scrutiny, or make a lot of sense. If that miracle, (and extremely lucky), catch hadn't been made four years ago, Eli would be winning his
first by a narrow margin, and if a Patriot receiver had made the same kind of miracle catch
tonight, Eli would not have
any.
I could just as easily make the argument that Manning won these games on the talent of his receivers, just as comparably as Brady lost them tonight on the mistakes of
his. Hernandez makes that catch, different game ... Welker makes that catch, game over. The passes were where they needed to be, but were dropped.
Five trips and three wins, (three in four years, and one in his first year starting) is an amazing run by anyone's standards, (and a superior performance to two-and-two, and what ... twenty-five picks last year?), and one I doubt Eli will ever repeat, (along with Tom's individual game, yardage, and win records).
Sorry, but there's just no comparison here, and there is no question that this Patriots run is a "dynasty", or else they've recently changed the meaning of the word. Eli's an excellent QB, and certainly can be considered as "elite", but he's got a long way to go to be in the same class as Tom Brady.
Topic: Super Bowl XLVI - Pats (13-3) vs Giants (9-7) 02/05 (Read 75655 times)