Patriots Year in Review - A great success with a disappointing end

I'm still trying to make sense of the Super Bowl 60 loss by the Patriots. While everyone is still busy shouting bad takes about Bad Bunny online, I can't stop thinking about Vrabel punting on 4th and 1 with 7:46 left in the 3rd. The lack of urgency to score points was astounding. You can only put the defense on the field so many times expecting to get the offense the ball back with a stop or holding Seattle to a field goal.

The Patriots defense was excellent in this game and it's a shame that the effort was wasted. They got the offense the ball back 12 straight times without allowing Seattle to score a touchdown. Watching the Patriots inability to even move the ball across the 50 yard line with the defense playing the way they did was excruciating. Christian Gonzales was a star in this game making two incredible game saving plays. Milton Williams proved again to be and awesome signing and he was in the backfield all night. Craig Woodson was all over the field with 10 total tackles and 3 tackles for loss. Our defense showed up all playoffs but the inability to move the ball finally caught up with us and this game was a painful, slow death. Yes, I used "our" referring to the Patriots.

I'm sure every Patriots fan is like me arguing in the group chat who was most to blame for the offensive ineptitude. There are 3 main culprits in my mind: Josh McDaniels, Drake Maye and the offensive line (Will Campbell in particular.) It just came out that Campbell was playing with a torn ligament in his knee. It's a lot of pressure to put on a first year tackle, hurt or not and you have to hope he can bounce back. My biggest gripe was with McDaniel. The game plan was vanilla and worse than that we never adjusted until it was 19-0 and the game was over.

It was not a secret that Seattle had a great defense and our offensive line was bad. We were going to need to try something different if we were going to move the ball. Instead we ran the ball up the middle almost every first down but also didn't really commit to the run. Rhamondre who has been our workhorse all playoffs ended the game with 7 carries. The draw on 3rd and 5 to start the second quarter was a good indication the Pats were not going to be aggressive and Vrabel was on the sideline googling how to win a game without scoring a point. I'm no football savant and have never drawn up plays for a living but I am an expert in the sense i've watched 10,000 hours of the sport. One of the ways to mitigate a bad offensive line is to play fast and spread it out. I've been saying it all post-season but the conservative offense does a diservice to Drake Maye and his skill set. He is as talented a passer/runner as there is in the league and hurt or not at some point you had to put the ball in his hands to see what he can do.

It was death by a thousand paper cuts running the ball into the line, attempting zero trick plays and punting the ball back to Seattle. It's not like this style prevented Maye from turning it over, it just delayed it. After giving the ball back to Seattle approximately 7,000 times, Maye finally fumbled after the pocket collapsed around him late in the 3rd quarter. Darnold was finally able to punch it in to a wide open AJ Barner as the defense seemed defeated. A lasting image of this game will be the shot of the defense on the sideline after the Maye fumble. They had a look of "you have to be fucking kidding me" after all they had done to keep the Pats in the game. The truth of this game is we were going to lose playing this chicken shit football style either way, it was just a matter of how bad the final score was going to be. The opportunity was to let Maye try to be great and use his skills to try to win and not play slow to keep the game close. When they finally just let Drake rip it he did what he did best and pushed the ball down field scoring quickly with two great Mack Hollins plays. The problem was the game was already over. He threw an interception on the next possession trying to press for something that wasn't there.

My contention is you needed to let Drake make this mistake earlier in the game. I think Vrabel thought we could win this game like the other playoff games. Great defense, ball control and try to turn the other quarterback over. This approach is great if you are playing Herbert with no o-line, the opposing quarterback throws 4 first half interceptions or a blizzard breaks out in the middle of the game. If we come out aggressive and can score early you can live with mistakes later in the contest. It changes the entire tenor of the game.

All that being said on McDaniel's, Drake is not blameless in the loss. HIs line was terrible but it hasn't been good all year. There were plays to be made at points in the game and he just didn't make them. It's a lot to ask of a second year quarterback to be able to navigate Mike Macdonald's scheme with players in your kitchen all night but that's the NFL. I can't imagine being in this position with millions watching as a 23 year old. The biggest decision I had to make at that point in life was which bar in Salem I was going to get absolutely blitzed at on the weekend. There are never any guarantees of getting back to the Super Bowl but Drake has a bright future ahead. Getting the offensive line in order is priority one.

I can't finish the blog without giving credit to. the Seahawks. With the next-gen stats Darnold had about the same amount of time to throw as Drake. The difference is he avoided the rush and made plays. That combined with Kenneth Walker was enough for them to get the job done. Seattle's defense IS awesome. They have dudes at all levels of the defense and were in Maye's grill all night. I'm happy for Sammy D exercising his demons to become a SB Champion. It truly is an awesome story. I just wish it hadn't come at the expense of my Patriots.

So let's pour one out for the 2025-26 NFL Season. It's a long grind to get through the season as a fan. I can't imagine what it would be like to be one of the 300 pound guys who has to bash into the 250 pound guys for 17 weeks plus playoffs. But losing a million bets and trying to watch games on Sunday while you fend off your 1 and 3 year old isn't easy either.

Excited to see who the Pats take with pick 31 in the draft.

Until next year my friends.

-PMAN40GRAND