Patriot Nation will enter this offseason after yet another disappointing playoff exit.
The Baltimore Ravens came into Gillette Stadium and knocked off the New England Patriots with a 28-13 victory.
Baltimore will now advance onto Super Bowl XLVII to square off against the San Francisco 49ers—it will be a battle of the Harbaughs.
With that being said, let's take some time to take a look at what we learned from the AFC Championship Game.
1. Tom Brady is no longer a successful playoff quarterback
Ever since the 2007 season, Tom Brady is just 5-5 in the playoffs—that is nowhere near to his perfect 10-0 playoff record that he started his career off with.
Brady just look shook all game long. He was inaccurate on several passes today and he made poor decisions—especially on that fourth-and-four late in the game when he was on the move but just threw the ball to absolutely no one.
Brady finished with a putrid 62.3 quarterback rating while completing only 53.7 percent of his passes and tossing one touchdown compared to two interceptions.
That stat-line right there is not good enough to win games in the postseason.
2. The New England Patriots are the Indianapolis Colts of the 2000s
Are the New England Patriots now on the same level of the Indianapolis Colts of the 2000s?
I think so.
The Patriots are a great regular season, as they dominant each and every regular season, but seem to never come through in the clutch in the postseason.
I don't want regular season records—I want titles; I want rings.
3. New England's defense was not the reason why the Pats lost this game
I am sick of hearing about how New England's defense is their weakest link—clearly that's not the case in the postseason.
The NFL's top-scoring offense scored only 13 points—13 points, you heard me correctly. In fact, all of those 13 points came in the first half. The Patriots failed to score a single point in the second half.
New England's biggest downfall came on third-downs, as they converted just six of their 14.
That is not going to win you playoff games.
New England's offense didn't execute—this unit deserves most of the blame.
4. Wes Welker does not deserve to get a massive contract
Don't get me wrong—Wes Welker is a great receiver, but he does not deserve the Calvin Johnson kind of money.
Much like Tom Brady, Welker puts up great regular season numbers, but seems to always find a way to make costly mistakes in the playoffs.
Welker was targeted 12 times and recorded just eight receptions. Out of those four in-completions, at least half of those were drops, if not three or even all four of them.
Elite wide receivers don't have costly drops in the playoffs—therefore, Welker does not deserve elite money.
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