“We’ve got a lot of work to do before our next game so that’s what we’ll do; we’ll get back at it”. If the outcome of the Patriots’ regular season finale wasn’t any indication, neither worked in the 20-10 loss to the Dolphins. The Chiefs met the Texans in Houston back in Week 1, and Kansas City came away with a 27-20 victory. Although he didn’t miss any snaps until being replaced with 1:56 left, Brady was limping noticeably after the loss.
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This would not be as easy as it seemed, New England would struggle in both games, and would fall to the New York Jets, and the Miami Dolphins. “But it will be all right”. Patriots WR Julian Edelman (foot), LT Sebastian Vollmer (ankle), DE Chandler Jones (toe/abdomen) and LB Dont’a Hightower (knee) sat out but are on track to return for the playoffs. But overall, this was a team that was clearly not at full strength on either side of the football. Given the staggering number of injuries this team has experienced this season, it appeared as though they were trying to play it as safe as possible.
Brady only threw the ball 21 times, as he was just 12-for-21 passing for 134 with no touchdown passes and no interceptions.
This has been a tough season for the New England Patriots, and it continued to be tough yesterday. New England’s running game gained only 2.6 yards per rush on 27 attempts. “Yeah, I mean it was good to have him out there”. Brady was hit often and at one point early in the second quarter, needed to have his right ankle retaped when his leg took a direct hit from. The Patriots did bring in Players that would eventually bring in players who would have large contributions to the team, such as Running Back Dion Lewis, and Linebacker Jabaal Sheard. So, with that, New England satisfied the primary objective of its trip to Sun Life Stadium. And that’s believable. There was no real benefit to the Patriots losing; there were too many other variables still in play across the league to think Belichick was somehow scheming for a particular matchup. A more-reasonable approach would have been to rest all injured players, because having a healthy team on the road in the playoffs may be better than having a banged-up team at home. The Super Bowl won’t be played in Foxboro anyway, so it will ultimately come down to how they’re playing, not where.
“I’ve had worse”, Brady said of the injury.
“We’ve just got to play well two weeks from now. What’s going to matter is how well we play in two weeks, that’s what’s going to matter”.
“I’m doing all right, he said”.
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The only way for the Patriots (12-4) to earn the top spot is if the 11-4 lose to the visiting (4-11) on Sunday afternoon.
