(This reply ended up being way longer than anticipated)
The Pats OLine was a mess, so were many others we get that, never good. But you got that far with it so no excuses. If the line was as bad as you say against everyone then the AFC is awful because you shouldn't have gotten there.
You gotta understand that the injury thing was a war of attrition. It wasn't just this game. They had lost 4 of 6 going into the playoffs--struggling. I personally think the "we are getting all our guys" back was a bit over done by Boston fans and media. Guys were still hurting. And the line had zero continuity throughout the year so couldn't develop that necessary cohesiveness. From SB nation:
The Patriots have used 13 different starting offensive line combinations this season; that's more than any NFL team in more than two decades. Most of it was forced by injuries. They lost Nate Solder for the year after only four games. Five other regulars have missed time with injury this year as well. But what's even more impressive is that the line combinations didn't stop there. Head coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels used a rotating cast of characters throughout games this season, making for 37 different blocking combinations, according to one count.
You can also see what the affect of losing Legarrette Blount and Damion Lewis did to the running game. Steven Jackson didnt get a call from any NFL team until late December for a reason.
And it's not, oh we only lost because of injuries. It's merely one of the explanations as to what transpired.
Finally, I think everyone knows the AFC was worse than the NFC this year.
Thing is Tom needs more time than ever.
Tom gets rid of the ball one of the quickest in the league (in the top 3). How does that make sense? The thing about that particular game was there was less time to throw than was physically possible to do so. No QB in history can get rid of the ball in under two seconds more than a few times.
Edelman caught what 11 balls the week before or something so can't listen to him being hurt.
I read that he tweaked his foot again in the game prior. They sent him in for Xrays after the game, which the Patriots (in their usual 'obfuscatory' manner) said was precautionary. It did look like he wasn't quite all there, but Harris was all over him in the short part of the field anyway. So it wouldn't have mattered because Tom couldn't have gotten the ball off fast enough.
Ground made one of the greatest plays on a ball coming from behind defenders with an advantage and getting to it - amazing last 2 catches. He helped Tom with the last TD because that was destined for pick 6 and instead ground was the best player in that area.
First: Gronk's really good.
Second: You gotta give Brady a lot of credit for that 4th down throw up the middle. That was shear perfection and took a lot of balls to make in that particular situation.
The Denver D is really good and the pass rush was outrageous, just 3? Thought there were 4-5 all the time but they were fast as hell off the ball. Kudos to them for being the difference in this matchup
The Pass rush was more than 3 most of the game. It was 4-5. The guys in the center were blowing it up too. But the two DEs just murdered the OTs. Actually Malik Jackson was a beast too. And yeah, they did rush three a couple times and had moderate success with that too. The ultimate key though is they did not have to blitz much. When a team does that, Brady usually carves them up. Same way the Giants won in 2007.
