The funny thing is though, they were also showing the playoff schedule on TV for next weekend, including the Browns in Kansas City, when the game wasn’t technically over yet (I believe there was more than a minute left). There was basically no chance for a comeback at that point but to me that was a very clear acknowledgement by the network that the game was over.
Eh, the Saints-Bears game was actually in reach. If Mitch drives them down the field a little faster and hit Graham with say 30 seconds left, the Bears are an onside kick away from a hail mary. Longshot sure, but you have to keep the door open.
Weird tidbit I just saw on the ticker.
This makes him the first player in NFL history to play for 2 different teams in the same postseason.
Not when down 21-3. A touchdown and two-point makes it 21-11. Then onside and another touchdown makes it 21-18. Then you need ANOTHER onside and a field goal.
I’m an outsider who’s lived in New England for almost the entirety of the Brady-Belchick glory years. I never liked either one, but think Brady is one of the greatest athletes of my lifetime. The ill-will expressed toward him be Patriots fans when he left was shocking even for the people who proudly call themselves Massholes. Guy gives you six Super Bowls and you grudge him cashing in for a year or two at the end of his career.
I would love to see TB12 win another one, but not at the cost of my team. If Tampa Bay are in the Super Bowl and my team is not, I’ll be cheering harder than I ever have for a team I’ve never cared about 6 months earlier.
Damn, you’re right. I was thinking that the PAT would have made it a 1 score game, but I was actually thinking about the point spread.
Huh. I’m in NE and I didn’t see any of that. Then again, I don’t generally read much sports news or listen to sports radio, so I definitely may have missed it.
Belichick shows he’s he’s not completely tone deaf and won’t accept the presidential medal of freedom from Trump.
The right choice to not accept the award, but that’s about the most passive statement I’ve ever heard. “Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award.”
He gets no points for doing literally the least a person can do to not suck the dick of a monster. Kraft is still donating to these traitors.
Oh there’s no doubt Belichick still worships at the alter of Trump, but he doesn’t want to lose the locker room completely, especially coming off a bad year. Don’t know if he can do it in total secrecy or not, Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam did theirs privately the day after the Republican coup, but it was announced at least.
Agreed, very weaselly, Bill. Hardly a profile in courage, there. The right decision “was made,” but who can say who made it from that statement?
It was all over sports radio when he left. Not as much during this season since they were concentrating on Cam Newton’s dismal performance, but now that Brady’s in the playoffs while the Pats are watching it on TV the “traitor to the dynasty” callers are showing up again all the time.
Yeah, it reeks of their entitled-ism. The guy gives them six Super Bowl titles while playing on a discounted salary, then goes to join an NFC team that isn’t a rival of the Patriots in the least after having given 20 years to New England, and he’s a “traitor” to the very dynasty he made. Welcome to Boston sports logic.
Really? I haven’t heard any of that lately. On WEEI or the Sports Hub?
I don’t listen to sports radio, but I’ve seen literally hundreds of comments on Facebook and the comments on Boston Globe articles.
Not to mention my coworkers going into paroxysms of delight every time he had a bad game.
Ah, now I see the problem. NEVER READ THE COMMENTS!! 
I don’t doubt that there is a contingent of knuckleheads who believe this “Brady = traitor” nonsense and are probably quite vocal about it, but it is certainly not widespread in my circle of acquaintances, which includes many, many Pats fans.
Sports Hub. It comes & goes, I didn’t listen this week so I don’t know if there were a lot. But when the Pats got eliminated Felger & Mazz had a bunch of anti-Brady callers.
I would guess also that after Brady left, the Patriots fanbase shrank by two-thirds.
Not even close. What’s happening now is that the under-30s who grew up knowing the Pats would make the playoffs as sure as the sun rises in the East are in a state of shock. They’re still putting their faith in Belichick to turn things around though.
But 2 or 3 years from now, when the Pats are at best clawing for a Wild card spot instead of cruising to winning the division by week 14, then yeah, I suspect the fanbase will start to evaporate.