Pats wrap up regular season with preseason type blowout full of scrubs making plays

Everywhere you looked yesterday at Gillette Stadium, it seemed like August. The temperatures were mild, the sun was out, the crowd was full of schmoes that never go to Patriots games and most interestingly, backups, reserves, never-weres and never will bes were making highlight reel plays.

The New England Patriots wrapped up their 2010 regular season with one more beating, 38-7 over the quarterback-less Miami Dolphins.

The Pats (14-2) let Tom Brady (10 of 16, 199 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) play enough to boost his MVP candidacy to the point where if you don't vote for him, you're a joke. Once again, he didn't throw an interception, extending his NFL record and he also clinched or extended a million other streaks that I'm too lazy to look up again.

Perhaps the most satisfying development out of yesterday's glorified exhibition game was the fact that BenJarvus Green-Ellis carried the ball 20 times for 80 yards and a touchdown. That got him over 1000 yards for the season (1008) and made him the first New England running back to get over the century mark since Corey Dillon in 2004 (it's crazy it's been that long but then you remember how long we tried to squeeze Chicken Salad out of Chicken Shit - Laurence Maroney).

The other unsung guy that you had to feel good for was Julian Edelman. The king of preseason, who was a high fantasy draft pick for know it all Patriots fanboys, finally came through with a nice game in the 2010 regular season. He had three catches for 72 yards, including a sweet 40-yard gain. He also took a reverse 13 yards and most impressively, broke a team record with a 94-yard punt return for a score.

Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Aaron Hernandez all sat out which makes you wonder how badly New England would have beat the already-on-vacation Dolphins (7-9) if those studs suited up.

Everyone else on the Patriots added to their great individual seasons: rookies Devin McCourty (seventh INT) and Rob Gronkowski (6 catches, 102 yards, 1 touchdown) continued to show why they are two of New England's best draft picks possibly ever.

Finally, Brian Hoyer (the most anonymous pro athlete in New England) got his first NFL touchdown pass and actually looked pretty decent: 7 of 13 for 122 yards. A beautiful 42-yard toss to Brandon Tate. The always tricky Bill Belichick changed it up by having Hoyer go in for Brady in the middle of a drive, simulating what would happen if Brady gets hurt in a game.

From here we have almost two weeks without a playoff game. As the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Patriots will play either the Jets, Chiefs or Ravens on Sunday, January 16, 4:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.

New England earned everything that comes with this extended break, they had an unbelievable regular season which is all well and good but as Coach Hoodie remarked today: "yesterday we were 14-2, today we're 0-0."

It's Super Bowl 45 (in Dallas) or bust for this outstanding team and coach.

Ray Rice and the Ravens ruin my first Patriots playoff game

I knew the Patriots were not Super Bowl contenders this year but in my worst nightmares, I couldn't have envisioned the beatdown thrown on them yesterday by the Ravens 33-14 at Gillette Stadium in a Wild-Card game.

Baltimore set an NFL playoff record with 24 points in the first quarter which the Patriots could never recover from. Wes Welker, the Patriots' heart and soul sat in owner Robert Kraft's luxury box during the game while Brady might as well have taken a seat alongside his injured teammate since he was utterly useless.

Brady finished his up and down 2009 campaign 23 of 42 for 154 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Until next season starts, we'll be left to wonder if Brady and the Patriots will ever regain their dominance of the last decade anytime soon.

This wasn't all Tom's fault though since aside from ageless Kevin Faulk (89 total yards) and rookie wide receiver Julian Edelman (6 catches, 44 yards, 2 touchdowns), nobody for New England came to play (and I hate to fall back on that stupid cliche but it couldn't be more fitting for yesterday's explosive-diarrhea performance from the home team).

Ray Rice (22 carries, 159 yards) took the first play from scrimmage 83 yards for a touchdown and the Ravens (still led by everybody's favorite murderer Ray Lewis) had no trouble from there. Joe Flacco, who is still completely average, only had to attempt 10 passes on the day, completing four. The running game (234 yards) and defense (four turnovers) were that dominant.

Terrell Suggs forced a fumble by Brady on New England's third play and the Ravens used the short field to take a 14-0 lead on Le'Ron McLain's 1-yard run.

After both teams punted, Brady threw an interception to Chris Carr, who returned it three yards to the Patriots' 25. The Ravens once again cashed in on the short field and Rice had an easy 1-yard TD run for the 21-0 Baltimore lead.

Just two plays later, Brady was picked off again, this time by Ed Reed who returned it 25 yards before lateraling it to teammate Dewan Landry for another 25 yards. New England's defense held the Ravens to a field goal even though they started in the red zone (at the 9) but it didn't matter at that point.

Gillette Stadium was stunned as there was zero chance of the Patriots mounting a comeback without Welker.

After a muffed punt, Edelman provided a little hope early in the second quarter with a 6-yard touchdown catch but Randy Moss (5 catches, 48 yards) didn't provide the deep threat and big plays that his team needed to win a playoff game. I can't completely dump on Moss (since the rest of New England will over the next six months) but he couldn't have been more of a fraud at the key points in this season.

Billy Cundiff's 23-yard field goal made it 27-7 Baltimore early in the third quarter before Edelman closed it to 27-14 on a 1-yard touchdown catch. All that did was ensure that his jersey will be a hot-seller in the offseason.

Willis McGahee closed it out with a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and now Baltimore is off to play at Indy on Saturday night in the divisional round.

This brutal loss will leave a lasting impression on the 2009 Patriots season. They only had one true road win and it was against the Bills so that barely counts. At various points, their defense and offense both sputtered badly and coach Bill Belichick lost some of his genius mystique by making some head-scratching calls (most famously vs. the Colts).

New England needs to spend some money in the offseason (first and foremost by bringing Vince Willfork back) and draft well so that they can rejoin the NFL's elite. Now, they're just a team that's good enough to win a bad division and go one-and-done in the playoffs. The dynasty is over folks, get over it.

Well there goes the 1% chance of the Patriots doing anything in the playoffs

On the first Patriots drive yesterday afternoon at Houston's Reliant Stadium, New England wide receiver Wes Welker planted to make a cut and his left knee buckled. He was down for a long time with the trainers, Tom Brady and Randy Moss huddled around him, slowly went to the sidelines and finally was carted off to the locker room.

And with that, the Patriots' Nicole Richie thin Super Bowl chances completely bit the dust.

The Texans (9-7) were down 27-13 in the fourth quarter and rallied to win 34-27 but that ended up being completely irrelevant since the Texans still didn't make the playoffs and New England (10-6) got the number 3 seed in the AFC thanks to the Bengals' diaper full of Indian food performance last night at the Meadowlands.

The Patriots host the Ravens next Sunday at Gillette, 1pm.

The million dollar question heading into the regular season finale was how much would Tom Brady and the other Patriots stars play? If you've been paying attention the last decade, you'd know that Bill Belichick hates to sit key players, at any time. Regardless of how crazy that may seem.

As it turned out, Belichick wasn't even sure what to do yesterday since Brady played until late in the second quarter, was pulled for Brian Hoyer and then started the second half and played most of the second half. And what was the point? Seeing Welker get hurt (albeit on a freak accident, a non-contact play) reminded everyone of the sheer brutality of football.

With no bye week and no depth at receiver, wouldn't it make sense to give Brady and Moss the rest of the day off? Apparently not. You can say Brady had to work in a game situation without Welker but I'm not buying it.

Julian Edelman (10 catches, 103 yards), the man who will have to fill in for Welker, did an admirable job but can he be counted on in the playoffs?

The Texans scored on their opening drive as Matt Schaub (303 yards, 2 touchdowns) threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeff Dreessen.

Fred Taylor tied it up with a four-yard touchdown run. Stephen Gostkowski gave New England a 10-7 lead in the second quarter with a 51-yard field goal.

The Patriots' defense made a goalline stand but on the next play Taylor fumbled in the endzone and former Chief great Bernard Pollard (who ripped up Brady's knee) recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

Gostkowski tied it before the half with a 43-yard kick.

Rookie cornerback Darius Butler made the play of the game in the third quarter as he corralled a tipped pass and returned it 91 yards for a score.

When Taylor had an 11-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Patriots might win a road game against a decent team.

Jacoby Jones' 8-yard touchdown catch from Schaub cut it to 27-20 Patriots and rookie running back Arian Foster (20 carries, 119 yards) took over with a 1-yard score and a 3-yard touchdown.

The last Texans touchdown was made possible by a terrible interception from Brady. Pressured by Mario Williams, Brady threw it up for grabs to Sam Aiken.

Going into the Texans game, I was feeling good that the Pats could win their home playoff game and then give the Colts and maybe even the Chargers a scare in the next round. Now, I'm not sure what to think. It's been a terribly disappointing season with one distraction and costly mistake after another.

Since I'm going to the Ravens game (my first playoff action), I'm simply hoping for a win and then we'll worry about the next step.

At least Fireman Ed is happy

The New York Jets are legit.

With Week 2 of the 2009 NFL season not yet complete, its best to steer clear of ESPN-style bone-headed grand statements. Still, after a 16-9 win over the New England Patriots yesterday at the Meadowlands, I think we know where the biggest challenger in the AFC East lies.

The Patriots (1-1) played well in the first half, especially defensively but they couldn't cash in on any of their three tries in the red zone. The 9-3 halftime lead for New England should have been more but it wasn't.

Stephen Gostkowski was the Pats' offensive player of the game and that's never a good thing. He hit field goals from 45 yards, 25 yards and 29 yards.

Jay Feely, the Jets' kicker, hit a 33-yard kick in the first half.

After looking terrible against our average (on a good day) defense in the first half, Jets rookie quarterback Vinnie Chase (aka Mark Sanchez) completed a 45-yard pass to Jerricho Cotchery (4 catches, 87 yards) on the first play of the second half.

A few plays later, Sanchez found tight end Dustin Keller in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown completion. Feely's kick gave New York a 10-9 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.

Wes Welker was a surprise scratch from the game but rookie receiver Julian Edelman (8 catches, 98 yards) did fine in his NFL debut. Jets stud cornerback Darrelle Revis (5 tackles, 1 INT) completely neutralized Randy Moss (4 catches, 24 yards).

For whatever reason, Tom Brady (23-for-47, 216 yards, 1 interception) and the rest of the offense have never looked in a rhythm so far in the first two games (save for the last five minutes vs. Buffalo).

Joey Galloway (5 catches, 53 yards) had a bunch of balls thrown his way yesterday but he never seemed to be on the same page as Brady.

Fred Taylor was the leading rusher for New England with 46 yards but its obvious that the offense needs more balance, at least until Brady, Randy Moss, Welker, etc. start firing on all cylinders.

After a Feely field goal in the third quarter and another in the fourth (giving New York a 16-9 lead), New England still had life as it forced a Jets punt.

His whole career and the freshest memory of all-the Buffalo game-completely obscures reality at this point with Brady as any comeback seems not only possible but a foregone conclusion. Not yesterday.

A fourth down pass to Galloway was incomplete and the Jets had picked up a big W after a week of running their mouths.

The Jets' defense is very solid and their blitz packages created constant pressure on Brady. He was never sacked (showing how overrated those are) but he could never get comfortable in the pocket.

Next week doesn't get any easier as the Atlanta Falcons (2-0), led by former BC star Matt Ryan, invade Gillette Stadium next Sunday afternoon.