Well, it was a good run while it lasted; It just sucks that we had to go out with a loss.

We did what we could, but it was clear Philly came to play last night. I’ve got to give it to Philly. Not many mistakes were made that night, and their run game was beautiful.

Jay Ajayi was always a standout when we played him on the Dolphins, but tonight he truly shined. LeGarrette Blount did was he does best in the post season, and that’s wrecking defenses for crazy amounts of yards. Nick Foles also threw well when he had to, only coming away with one pick. Philly deserved tonight’s win. We did not deserve to win this game.

Here are some things to address about this game, and things to improve in the off season.

Brady has proved tonight that age ain’t a thing just yet. That was one of Brady’s best performances. It’s just unfortunate that he’s not the entirety of the team.

Our defense let us down tonight like they have in many games during the regular season. Matt Patricia did what he could but, the injuries caught up to us. There is also the very questionable benching of Malcolm Butler, which I have heard many stories about. I will say this though: Butler hasn’t played as well as he usually does this season. I throw that one around, and many are quick to come to his defense, and then I feel like I’m crazy at times because I feel like I’m the only person whose noticed his downward trend in performance.

Butler used to be pretty stellar at shutting down the guys he was assigned. This season I watched a shell of the guy who caught the game ending interception in Superbowl XLIX. I watch the shell of a guy who shutdown receivers like Odell Beckham and even finished tackles to force incomplete passes that prevented game winning touchdowns.

You can say what you want, but Butler went off a cliff the moment New England decided to pay Stephan Gilmore over him. If you go into my Facebook timeline, every game has me saying What the fuck Butler? at least once. Props too to the guys he was covering, but he’s just not as reliable as he used to be. This was his last season in New England. The Pats will let him walk, and some team is going to pay him more than what he’s worth. He’ll either play well and redeem himself, or he’ll fade in to obscurity like every over paid corner and DT that played for the Pats. How often have you heard of Darrelle Revis, Jamie Collins and Aquib Talib? Exactly.

We really need a pass rush. Rob Ninkovich retiring during the last off season hurt us. The loss of Derek Rivers and Dont’a Hightower to injuries also hurt us. We really have to rebuild this defense. Brady can’t win games all by himself like he has all season.

The O-line was surprisingly solid the entire game. It would be great to find some pieces that can really aid in the protection of Brady. Brady is getting older and there are only so many hits he can take in an entire game. Hopefully some O-Line talent shows up in free agency and, the draft.

Our QB situation needs to be addressed and I ain’t talking about Brady. I’m talking about the guy who is going to be the next man up the day Brady gets injured, or decides to hang it up. Brian Hoyer knows our system but, I can’t count on him to carry a team like Jimmy Garappolo did. We’ll need to draft a guy or two cause our QB depth chart sucks right now.

We will most certainly lose both coordinators this off season. We will need to find guys that can run a good defense and, a more practical offense. The Josh McDaniels trick plays were cute several years ago when they helped us beat the Ravens in the Divisional round. They unfortunately hurt us a lot last night. A more practical offense that doesn’t rely on gimmicks and hits the ground running would be great. I feel like McDaniels’ offenses took way too long to get going at times. This “sit and wait to see what these guys do” plans are not sustainable. We can’t make an entire career out of playing from behind because eventually you end up playing a team like the Eagles who just never take their foot off the gas.

Stephen Gostkowski worries me a bit. That first missed kick I was willing to forgive due to the bad hold, but the other ones were just awful. He seems to really blow it when it counts the most.

You can blame that one controversial Eagles touchdown all you want, but we did a lot wrong in that game for it to come to that one play. From missed tackles on defense to the few drives that didn’t result in points, we shot ourselves in the foot many times last night. That call did drive home a serious problem in the NFL with the consistency of the NFL catch rules. The owners better sit Roger Goodell the fuck down and come to an agreement as to what the fuck a catch looks like.

What’s done is done. In Bellichick fashion we’re on the next season. There is much work to do, and there will be many controversial Bellichick decisions to come. Hopefully we can get our shit together and run the table once again.

Once again it’s been fun writing these reports. I’m blessed to be able to entertain every week, and I’m thankful to those who get a kick out of my posts. I’m also thankful I get to write about such an awesome team, even though they sometimes blow it when it matters. The next six months are going to blow, but a much needed break is long due. I can finally be productive on Sundays again. It’s been real!

Epic Autistic out!

 

Flemmings Beaubrun is an avid gamer and lover of music. When not working, Flemmings likes to spend his time whipping up dank beats for the masses. He also spends his weekends thrift shopping for rare video games and obscure electronics. Other times he’s in front of a TV with a giant bowl of cereal enjoying shows from the 90s.