Al Nye The Lawyer Guy

The Patriots blew a 13 point lead in the 4th quarter against the Seahawks and lost 24-23. This, unfortunately, seemed to be the Patriots of old.

Think about last season. How did the Pats lose games? The offense sputtered and seemed nonexistant when the game was on the line. The defense, especially the pass defense, was a sieve — a wide open net that let passes slip through it.

So what happened in this game?

The Pats were in the red zone six times and only scored once. A couple of intentional groundings by Brady didn't help. On defense, it appeared that the secondary was unable to stop the pass. They either allowed their men to streak down the field for huge gains (and the winning touchdown), or else failed (twice) to stop passes in the endzone. When they weren't giving up passes, they were called for pass interference. For all the picks the Pats used during the preseason on defense, they still don't have a dependable pass defense. There is no excuse for all the long completed passes in yesterday's game.

This was a game the Patriots should have easily won by at least two touchdowns. Instead they are now 3 – 3 and facing the Jets next week. If this team is going anywhere in the post season, they need to step up now.

 The New England Patriots needed to have a big second half after playing poor football against the Buffalo Bills and heading into the locker room at half time down 21 – 7. The offense turned it around in the second half with everyone getting into the action. The result was a 52 – 28 run away game for the Pats.

It was the second half where Brady went to work and picked apart the Bills defense. Put Brady in the shotgun with no backs in the backfield and all his eligible receivers scrambling and as long as he has protection, he's going to make something happen. Combine that with some running to mix things up (Brandon Bolden and Stevan Ridley both ran for over 100 yards) and you've got a potent offense.

How potent? We'll see next week against the Broncos. Peyton Manning is bound to scorch the Pats defense so Brady and company with have to score.

Make no mistake, I'm a diehard Patriots fan. But I wasn't surprised by the result. My prediction for the game was 24-21 Giants. Why?

They beat us 4 years ago in the Super Bowl and they beat us this year at home. I didn't care what Vegas said about the odds or point favorite being the Pats — the Giants are a better team.

I told at least a dozen people over the last two weeks that I expected the Giants to win. That's not to say that I wasn't there rooting for the Pats on every play — I was. And when 10 big wigs from Maine predicted the score of the big game in Saturday's paper, only Stephen King astutely predicted a 24-17 Giants win. And he's an acknowledged New England fan just like I am!

So what happened?

The Giants got most of the breaks and New England's offense failed them at a critical time. Case in point: New Englad forced three fumbles and the Giants got back every one of them.

And when the Pats were ahead on the scoreboard and trying to run down the clock, Brady passed with about four minutes left to a wide open Wes Welker. This catch would have made a first down and allowed the Pats to run down the clock — perhaps after scoring and putting the game out of reach. Unfortuneately, Welker dropped the ball.

The result of that drop was that the Giants marched down the field and scored the winning touchdown, leaving less than a minute on the clock.

Then the Pats had the ball again — but the receivers couldn't hold onto the passes. In the final crutial set of downs, Branch couldn't come up with a ball that was only slightly tipped; Hernandez dropped the next pass as he was trying to get upfield before hauling the ball in; and then Brady was sacked.

The final play was a Hail Mary that every person playing and watching the game knew was coming. When it was batted down, the Pats once again went home empty handed.

Some fans will undoubtedly blame the defense. And sure, that was a heck of a pass Manning made to Mario Manningham during the Giant's final scoring drive. But it was a perfect pass followed by a fantastic catch.

The problem the Pats had was getting their own offense in gear. You can't expect to win the Super Bowl by scoring only 7 points in the last two quarters of the game. Brady had a solid game — there's not a lot he can do when his receivers are dropping balls. But the Patriots needed to take a few more chances to get into the end zone.

Manning has proven that when he gets the ball toward the end of the game with just a few minutes left, he's going to score. Everyone knows it. He got the ball with just over three minutes left in the game. He drove 88 yards in nine plays. He scored. The Pats couldn't stop him.

The Patriots had their opportunities but they missed them.

End of story. End of season.

Tim Tebow pulls off another huge win — this time over the Steelers yesterday. It sets up a showdown with the New England Patriots. It was an amazing overtime victory that must have Broncos fans going crazy with excitement.

Of the three teams that the Pats could have faced in the playoffs, the Broncos were the one team I didn't want to play again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the Tebow MVP of the free world camp. He has serious flaws as a quarterback, but he also has the heart of a lion.

What concerns me most is his unpredictability.  Yeah, I know. The Pats cruised to an easy 41-23 win against the Broncos just three weeks ago. I also know that in week 8, we lost against the Steelers, 25-17.

So count me a nervous Patriots fan. Tebow's unorthodox, unpredictable play means that the Pats have to be vigilent on defense — especially when Tebow is scrambling. That's when he'll pull up and run or just throw a bomb. Either way, the Patiots need to be ready for absolutely anything on game day.

You know I'll be watching….

                              

In the first quarter, the Bills scored on their first 3 possessions, 21-0. The Patriots looked overmatched on defense being unable to do anything at all to stop the onslaught. Then in the second quarter, everything changed. The defense held, and Brady and Co. went to work. At halftime, the score was 21-14.

In the 3rd, the Pats scored two field goals, and then a touchdown with a 2-point conversion by Danny Woodhead. Then it was no looking back. Having scored 14 points in both the second and the third quarters, the Patriots scored three touchdowns, 21 points, in the last quarter.

After having played a perfect first quarter, Buffalo allowed 49 unanswered points.

Ouch.

Now the Pats will have to see if they can make it past the first round of the playoffs. The last two years haven't been to the Patriots in the playoffs. And this season, they have allowed more net passing yards than any other team, not just this year, but in the history of the NFL. Despite their 13-3 record, t's difficult to feel confident about this team.

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And over in Denver, it looks like it may be the end of Tebow fever. Former Bronco quarterback Kyle Orton, who was traded when the decision was made to start Tim Tebow, led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 7-3 over Denver. Tebow's 4th quarter heroics fell flat again as Denver suffered its third loss in a row. It's not quite the end of Tebow fever since the Broncos made the playoffs with an 8-8 record. But really, now that the defenses have figured out how to defend a running quarterback, Denver will be lucky to win another game.

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Heading into the NFL season, Rex Ryan guaranteed that his N.Y. Jets would win the Super Bowl this year. That's going to be tough to do from the sidelines as Miami's 19-17 win eliminated them from even getting a wild card spot. There's a fine line between motivating your players with promises of a great year, and being such an egotistical braggart that you tick off the rest of the NFL. I think Ryan crossed that line before the season even began. So nice to see him get his comeuppance.

There is little more satisfying in life than beating a bragger. Make no mistake, that's just what Rex Ryan, the Jet's coach, is — a big ego with a big mouth to match. So having the Patriots hand the Jets their lunch with a 37-16 triumph was just a joy to watch.

 

Having Brady march down the field in the 4th quarter to put the Pats up by two touchdowns was gratifying. But whenRob Minkovich grabbed his (second) interception of a Sanchez pass and ran it into the end zone — that was a dagger in Ryan's heart.

Sweet.

Just like in the 2008 SuperBowl between the same teams, Eli Manning led the N.Y. Giants to a last minute score to beat the Patriots today in Foxborough 24-20. True, this one didn't come after the Pats won every game of the season leading up to the title game. And naturally, this lose wasn't as devastating as that one.

But come on, Pats! Losing by a touchdown in the last 15 seconds? Getting costly pass interference penalties late in the game that changed the outcome. The whole league knows that the Patriot defense stinks — it's in last place. The real question is that will the season half over, why isn't it getting any better?

Sure, the final score read Pittsburg 25, New England 17 — but make no mistake, the Pats were reeling from the opening drive. The Steelers walked all over the Pats defense. Not only was QB Roethlisberger passing all over the field at will, he had what seemed like minutes before feeling any pressure.

The Patriots main weakness — defense — was thoroughly exploited.

If Brady doesn't have a scoring field day to make up for the lack of D, the Patriots are in trouble. Yesterdays game showed that weakness in full display.

Make no mistake, the Pats will win more games this year. But until they find a way to pressure the other side's quarterback and learn to stop pass receivers, their dreams of a SuperBowl are just that: dreams.