Goat trophy for the whole team. That was rough.
I actually thought the onside kick was well done. That ball was a slow crawl towards 10 yards forcing the receiving team to run up. Doing that with 9 guys running at you can't be easy.
I can't believe a Bill Belichick coached team would be looking ahead, but I don't know how else to explain the way they played last night. Shitty game all around, but it doesn't really change anything. Win next week and we're back in the driver's seat. I full expect them to go into Pittsburgh prepared and ready to go.
It's not that hard to explain, really. The Patriots typically struggle in Miami. Here are all of Brady's regular season games in Miami during what has been the greatest career in the greatest run in NFL history, a run which has seen the Pats destroy the entire league for like 16 straight seasons:
10/7/01 - L, 30-10, Brady: 12-24, 86 yds, 0 td, 0 int, 58.7 rating (SB win)
10/6/02 - L, 26-13, Brady: 17-31, 240 yds, 2 td, 2 int, 74.7 rating
10/19/03 - W, 19-13 (OT), Brady: 24-34, 283 yds, 2 td, 0 int, 115.2 rating (SB win)
12/20/04 - L, 29-28, Brady: 18-29, 171 yds, 3 td, 4 int, 73.3 rating (SB win)
11/13/05 - W, 23-16, Brady: 21-36, 275 yds, 2 td, 2 int, 77.9 rating
12/10/06 - L, 21-0, Brady: 12-25, 78 yds, 0 td, 0 int, 55.1 rating
10/21/07 - W, 49-28, Brady: 21-25, 365 yds, 6 td, 0 int, 158.3 rating
12/6/09 - L, 22-21, Brady: 19-29, 352 yds, 2 td, 2 int, 101.5 rating
10/4/10 - W, 41-14, Brady: 19-24, 153 yds, 1 td, 0 int, 107.1 rating
9/12/11 - W, 38-24, Brady: 32-48, 517 yds, 4 td, 1 int, 121.6 rating
12/2/12 - W, 23-16, Brady: 24-40, 238 yds, 1 td, 1 int, 74.8 rating
12/15/13 - L, 24-20, Brady: 34-55, 364 yds, 1 td, 2 int, 85.7 rating
9/17/14 - L, 33-20, Brady: 29-56, 249 yds, 1 td, 0 int, 69.7 rating (SB win)
1/3/16 - L, 20-10, Brady: 12-21, 134 yds, 0 td, 0 int, 76.3 rating
1/1/17 - W, 35-14, Brady: 25-33, 276 yds, 3 td, 0 int, 130.4 rating (SB win)
12/11/17 - L, 27-20, Brady: 24-43, 233 yds, 1 td, 2 int, 59.5 rating
TOTALS: 7 wins, 9 losses, 343-553 (62.0%), 4014 yds, 29 td, 18 int, 87.9 rating
In other words, even when the Pats have been great, playing in Miami has just been really, really hard for them. Brady has performed, with a few exceptions, very modestly in Miami, and often very poorly. The team has struggled. Just a few blowout wins during a run which has seen the Patriots crush nearly everyone else in the league on a regular basis. They've won 2 of the last 3 SBs and yet have lost 4 of the last 5 times down in Miami.
So remember this going forward. If they somehow grind out a 24-23 win next year in ugly fashion, just be grateful and move on to the next week. It's hard to look at these numbers and not come away with some sense that for whatever reason, it's just a tough place for New England to play, even during the greatest run the sport has ever known.