Tragedy Depends on the Observer's Reference Frame

We all need a little perspective now and then. It may seem like our pigskin reality has dissolved into a plasma of doubt and confusion as New Englander's consider the fresh six inches of snow this raw Monday morning but the reality is that our team is in the NFL playoffs, a single elimination tournament where the stakes have doubled and anything can happen.

It is just a game, after all.

Yeah, Sunday was tough. The Defense was the one thing the 2019 Patriots could count on until… they couldn't. Brady's pick-6 most certainly did not help. Beyond any specific play it was the general affect of the players that was more troubling. Cue Trent Dilfer. New England did not look good in losing, at home, with a first round bye hanging the balance, to the Miami Dolphins.

No, I'm not immune to the obvious. 

Is this the end?

Or, the beginning of the end, at least? 

We know it is going to end. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are (we think) mortal beings. We know everything ends badly (or else it wouldn't end) and Sunday was, well, bad. So bad it's fair to wonder how much the bye week would've meant for the Patriots Super Bowl aspirations.

It doesn't help that most of the pre-game chatter from local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads was focused on "last game" takes. Could this be Brady's last regular season game for the Patriots? Will Josh McDaniels get a Head Coaching gig next year (in Cleveland)? Is Nick Caserio as good as gone? 

With Bill O'Brien and Mike Vrabel leading their teams into the playoffs and Brian Flores just having kicked Belichick's ass, is it fair to wonder if the students have become the masters? Perhaps the Pigskin Yoda should consider retiring to relative obscurity on his own personal planet Dagobah at this point?

Back to that reference frame…

Some teams have an off year and they miss the playoffs; the Patriots have an off year and fail to win a first round bye. Or so it would seem today in Patriots Nation. We haven't had a lot of experience with losing over these last 20 years. It's startling and confusing and we tend to overreact to these strange, unfamiliar, and baffling feelings. 

We have no coping skills. 

It's been a long time since 5-11-0.

But here's the reality in that reference frame.

It isn't over. 

The reality is that the Patriots will host a playoff game this Saturday. 

That's something they can't say in Dallas, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or New York.

Let's go!