Patriots Season Ends in Disappointment as Pats Fall to Ravens 33-14: Looking to the Offseason

I don’t think this game is what anybody expected when they woke up this morning.

After having a few hours to digest what happened, the disappointment of how the Patriots played earlier today is finally sunk in.

Tom Brady was doing a lot of this on the sidelines earlier today

Playing as flat as they did in the first quarter (down 24-0), there was no question the Patriots weren’t going to climb out of that hole.  Their only chance was at the end of the first half, following a Julian Edelman punt return, but as they did time and time again, Tom Brady couldn’t handle the pressure and the Patriots had to punt the ball to the Ravens, who were able to run out the clock with run after run.

I think that the Patriots definitely missed Wes Welker, but having him out there wouldn’t have changed the outcome of this one.  The Ravens came out and fired on all cylinders early.  They took the run away from the Pats, and simply sat on the ball the entire game.  The Ravens ran the ball 52 times, compared to their ten throwing attempts.  The Patriots on the other hand ran the ball 18 times and threw it 42 times.  That’s now how you win in the playoffs, and the Patriots just dug themselves into too deep a hole to recover.

Looking at the talent on this Patriots team, there is no reason that they shouldn’t have put up a better fight against this Ravens team.  But there’s something that people might not be willing to admit but is definitely true: 2009 was a rebuilding year by all accounts for the Patriots.  Generally, you don’t see a winning season after the type of turnover the Patriots had on their roster, but Bill Belichick and co. still managed to create 10 wins and a division title.  Sure, there were some down moments like the Indy collapse, New Orleans beatdown, etc., but this team also created some great moments like the comeback over Buffalo and the thrashing of the Titans and the Jaguars.  We also saw some players emerge, like Brandon Meriweather, Tully Banta-Cain, Julian Edelman, Gary Guyton, and Leigh Bodden.  The Patriots also have a nice core of guys to build around on defense for the future, such as Jerod Mayo, Darius Butler, and Patrick Chung.

However, as this season comes to a close, you have to wonder who may have played his final game as a Patriot.  Will Junior Seau finally hang it up?  Will players such as Adalius Thomas be traded/released?  Will Stephen Gostkowski ever kick another field goal for the Pats?  Will offensive linemen Logan Mankins and Stephen Neal be re-signed?  Will the Patriots give Leigh Bodden the long-term deal he deserves?  Will Ben Watson still be the team’s tight end in 2010?  And lastly, will Vince Wilfork, who said he would be upset if given the franchise tag, return as the man in the middle for the Patriots defense?

One thing to consider, while looking ahead to the offseason, is that the Patriots will have a great opportunity to sign free agents with the upcoming uncapped year.  If the Pats had advanced to the final eight in the playoffs, they would have been restricted to signing free agents, unless they lost a free agent beforehand.  Now, assuming the next year will be uncapped, the Patriots will have a leg up on many of the other contenders.  You could argue that the Patriots are the top team unrestricted in their ability to sign free agents.

So, while all Patriots fans were disappointed and probably shocked by the way things turned out today, this could be a big offseason for the Patriots, as they will look to continue to add pieces and continue to develop their young players who will all be a year older in 2010.  Keep it tuned to PatriotsBlog.net, as we are moving into full offseason mode, starting right now.