Pats Mental Errors leads to third loss

11.3.08 12:55AM

Christmas Came Early for the Colts

Pats defeated from the brink of victory

Entering the game the Colts had the edge because their season was on the line with a 3-4 record. If they lost this game, their chances of making the playoffs would fall further from slim to none. Coming into the game, the Patriots were leading the AFC East at 5-2 thanks to the Bills loss to the Jets earlier. Nothing was on the line for the Pats and it showed. The The Patriots had the game in the bag but gave the Colts an early Christmas present with mental errors leading to stupid penalties. Thus giving the Colts new life and bolstering their confidence for a strong second half push.

After last week’s 23-16 come-from-behind victory against the St. Louis Rams on the back of Matt Cassel, Cassel once again put the team on his back in Indianapolis.

After Adam Vinatieri put the Colts on top 18-15 with a 52-yard field, his longest in six years, Cassel drove the Patriots down field from their own 19 and into Colts territory. The Pats were rolling. Cassel was converting every third down the team was in and it looked as if the Patriots were going to get a touchdown on the 49-yard drive. There was no way the Colts were going to stop the Pats.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed up the middle on second and two for a one yard gain but after the play, tight end, David Thomas, joined the likes of Grady Little and Terry Francona. Thomas made the stupidest play a player can make under Bill Belichick as he was flagged for unnecessary roughness after he charged into a Colts safety after the play had been whistled dead. Just as Little and Francona cost the Red Sox the game by leaving Pedro Martinez and Josh Beckett, respectively, in the game two long, Thomas’s brain fart cost the Patriots the chance to steal a win away from the enemy. There is no doubt that he will be in Belichick’s dog house tomorrow afternoon.

But Thomas will not be alone in Belichick’s dog house this week. Belichick might as well put himself in his dog house as he contributed to the Patriots’ three point loss. In unconventional fashion, the Patriots head coach made two key mistakes in the second half that ended up costing the Pats the win.

Early into the second half, on second and 10, Cassel tried to catch Indianapolis with two many men on the field but the 12^th Colt was able to get off before the Pats QB snapped the ball. Whoever gave Belichick the idea that the 12^th man did not get off the field fast enough and to challenge the play, probably does not have a job anymore this week.

The Patriots lost the challenge therefore also losing a crucial time-out. Later during the same drive, Cassel had to take the Patriots second time out as he could not get the play off before the play clock dripped down to zero. Even though the Patriots found the endzone on the drive, it cost them another two times, which would have come in real handy 30 minutes later. Well that is the benefit of 20-20 hind-sight.

At the tail-end of the third quarter Peyton Manning put the Colts back in the lead with a nine yard pass to Anthony Gonzalez plus a converting a two-point conversion. But Cassel, who in Tom Brady’s absence, really has improved as a quarterback and proved he can put a team on his back and lead them to victory. He was doing it again after Indianapolis took the three point lead. Once again it looked as if the Pats were going to get into the endzone but when Wes Welker came up one-yard shy on third down and the offense was still on the field, Belichick decided upon calling his last time out in favor of bringing out Stephen Gostkowski to tie the score at 15 all. Brain fart number two.

A team that prides itself on composure both on the field and on the sidelines certainly was not the team that took the field against the Colts on Sunday night, in front of a national audience. The rest of the country probably loved seeing Belichick shit his pants in front of the world but many Patriots fans threw up in their mouths when they saw the man who is worshipped as God in New England turn into Grady Little.

Now it is not fair to put the blame solely on Thomas and Belichick because there were a plethora of other mistakes made. Rookie cornerback Jonathan Wilhite got burned by opposing wide receivers for the second week in a row. After Peyton Manning completed a third and long to Reggie Wayne early in the first quarter, it became painfully obvious Manning was going to go to Wilhite’s side. Manning can make a veteran corner look silly but a first-year was way to easy for the former league MVP. It was Wilhite who was responsible for Gonzalez in the first quarter where the Colts wide-out walked uncontested into the endzone a caught the12-yard pass for an easy six points.

Matt Cassel did everything in his power to win the game for the Patriots. He threw for 204 yards completing 25 of 34 attempts (73.5) – better than Manning’s 21 for 29 (72.4). Even though he did throw one pick, the interception was because of Thomas’s egregious penalty that pushed the Pats well out of field goal range. Every week that goes by, Cassel has improved and is “leaps and bounds” above where he was even four weeks ago. He is no Brady but he has done a tremendous job filling in for some big shoes and you must tip your cap to him. If Cassel plays like he has in the past games and keeps improving, the Patriots will be in the playoff hunt in December.

This may sound like the bitterness talking here but the Colts did not the win the game. It was the Patriots beating themselves with the stupid mental mistakes and some bad coaching at critical times.

We all talked at the beginning of the season about Cassel looking like he regressed during his time in the pros but last night it was Belichick who regressed to his days with the Browns. So this is what the man who has a 15-4 post-season record was like in Cleveland?