But at some point, the losses are going to add up. The biggest postseason games often come down to which team gets top performances from their elite players. The Patriots had been on the losing side of that equation for more than a few years. It looked like they had a chance at the right formula this season, if things went right on the injury front. They haven’t, and you can only beat so many teams without blue-chip players like Wilfork and Mayo. At some point they’re going to run into a team that just has better (healthy) players than they do.
In New England, ‘Next Man Up’ Isn’t Enough | The MMQB with Peter King
Ah, the Wet Blanket of Reason returneth… Hard to disagree, we can only hope the Pats get the bounces in January. They used to beat teams that had “better (healthy) players” with superior team discipline and mistake-free football. No matter what they’ll go down swinging and that is all we can ask for.