Live blog recap: The final 7 hours of the Patriots season

do you think that throwing to wes welker as much as matt cassel has will shorten his career? He has taken too many hits as the saftey value?

why did it take 13 wks b4 Pees finally brought some differnt blitz packages? Seymour vastly overated need more blitzes from Vrabel from different areas up the middle from right side move him around

Chris Forsberg, given your earlier comments on the Jets/Dolphins scheduling change (especially that the players are too professional to be affected by such), here is Peter King's take on S.I.com: "THIS IS A GOOD, AND UNDERRATED, POINT. From Blaise Laveay, of Kelowna, British Columbia: 'Peter, I just heard that the Jets/Dolphins game has been moved to 4:15 on Sunday. While I applaud the NFL's idea to have some interesting games on throughout the day, I believe this is a huge travesty!! If the Patriots win the early game, the Jets will have no chance at winning the division. Are we really to believe that if push comes to shove late in that game that the Jets are going to do everything in their power to win... and hand their hated rivals the division crown? This is a poor move by a league that usually thinks things through better than this.'
Excellent, excellent point. I agree. The league should have the Patriots and Dolphins and Jets playing at the same time Sunday. I understand the desire to maximize the East Coast ratings Sunday for CBS, but it creates a competitive disadvantage for the Patriots to be sure. However, the Ravens also are playing at 4 p.m., and the Jets can get in with a win and a Ravens loss."

Remember if you have Sirius Sattelite radio you will be able to listen to the Baltimore game today at 4:15, while watching the Jets tie with the Dolphins

Why should the Jets lose on purpose. Outside the football field they always got from the Pats what they wanted:

- first Parcells
- then Curtis Martin
- next in line: Magin
- the Branch incident
- put the pats in football hell by starting spygate
- this year they landed Ty Law

ok, the Pats got BB but at all the times nobody knew how it would work out.
What else do the Jets want ? That the pats should intentionally lose when they play them all the time.
Before the 90s the Pats were no real factor.
And in 2002 the Pats FIRST (at 1pm) had beaten the division leading Dophins so that the Jets could easily win their homegame vs the Pack to get the AFC East title (The Jets game startet at 4pm then ! Interesting. Had the Dolphins won at the Pats the Jets game would have been meaningless).

I just hope the Pats win in Buffalo to find out if the Jets will show up.

Are we looking at historic wind gusts in Buffalo?

Smart move ,start shoving at the end of the half and the clock runs out.

Is Kevin Faulk hurt?

HEY children, Predict the games and scores of the Pats v Bills and how much the Ravens lose by on the blog!

Typical Favre INT

jim cassell, the reason they were able to do those blitzes is because they didn't need to drop every LB in coverage to make up for the crappy secondary.

brett farve sucks

Hey wing boy, time to look for another job!!! Time for Favre to retire!!

typical farve, when's the last time he won a big game? 1996?

pats' season is over... too many jets and jags mistakes.... neither will rebound in time remaining.

Not looking good. Jets suck.

As much as i want Jets to win it just doesn't feel like it will happen.

The old gunslinger is doing what he does best over the last 7 or 8 years: throwing killer INT's. And for some reason they disproportionately tend to hurt the Pats (2002, last year in the NFC title game when the Pats would have smoked the Pack in the SB, and now).

Neither of these teams look like a playoff team. I can't believe one of them (prob the Dolphins) is going to be playing postseason ball while the Pats are not.

I can't believe the Jets didn't go for it on 4th and 2 from the MIA 42. What's Mangini thinking? Instead, they have the punt blocked and they give it away on their own 49. Pathetic!

Can the Jets be anymore obvious in their attempt to throw the game? Great season for the Pats, just fall short.

jets are PATHETIC!

jets are PATHETIC!

Thanks for that last pick, Brett. Way to send us out of the Playoffs.

start of 4th QTR jets fans start to leave. 7:00 left in game jest have n NO hope of PLAYOFF birth. Tell us why the time changes for these most important games make sense now? Kraft is to the NFL as the US to the UN.

See you next year...it's been fun!

Brett Favre and the entire New York Bretts suck! I hope Pennington and the Fish win it all. Would make for a great story, and rub the Brett's noses in it!

Favre...Pro Bowl...what a joke!!!

Favred. We got Favred.

Brett Favre and the entire New York Bretts suck! I hope Pennington and the Fish win it all. Would make for a great story, and rub the Brett's noses in it!

Justice served 2 years in a row......what goes around comes around for BB......LOL!!!!!!!

can you say jets throw the game...hate them more than ever

it looks like we aint going

The Jets & Farve didn't even try. He should have retired last year so he wouldn't have been a factor this season. I will always hate the Dolphins for running up the score against the Pats in 1972 by the score of 52-0. Last year when the Pats were up 28-0 at half time, the Miami fans were whinning that Bilecheck was running up the score, and he played the second team in the second half, unlike Shula did in '72.

Wait 'til Brady gets back 100% next year!!

Stupid Jets.

Enough already with the bad karma.

Let's hope it doesn't extend into 2009.

Thanks again for nothing Brett! you blew it in 2002 and and now in 2008..Moral of the story....If you have to depend on Brett to get into the playoffs...you should book your tee time because you have no shot! Brett is the most overrated QB in history...He has the worst field vision of any QB in history..This is why he throws so many d@mn picks!

Thanks again for nothing Brett! you blew it in 2002 and and now in 2008..Moral of the story....If you have to depend on Brett to get into the playoffs...you should book your tee time because you have no shot! Brett is the most overrated QB in history...He has the worst field vision of any QB in history..This is why he throws so many d@mn picks!

A successful season, though it hardly feels like it right now. But still:

Pats go 11-5 after we all know that, deep down, we felt the season ended in Q1 of Game 1. Great story for BB, even though he'll be bitter and dry as toast in post-game discussions. That's our Bill.

Pats will franchise Cassell to trade for a (late) first-rounder or something like that.

Mangini will likely get fired.

Favre exposed for the old, over-rated, INT-chucking hillbilly he's always been.

Jets left without a QB, head coach, or any shot at the AFC East next year.

Until next year...

brett...hes not comeing back so now the jets might be a threat next year.
if they fire mangini then the jets might have a chance.
If mangini does get the pink slip where will he go ?
everyone knows he has know loyalty and can't be trusted . who wants someone who is a backstaber.

The Jets had absolutely no incentive to win the game.....And Goodell is a jerk. Will someone please explain why the times of today's game were changed? Seems to me that the NFL as a collective whole just wanted to make sure the Pats weren't in the mix this year.... Did the Jets throw the game? My bet says they did unless someone can convince me otherwise...no more football for me this season - and NOT because the Pats aren't in the mix, but because of the way it played out on the last day. The NFL has issues...fans are the only ones who can change those "issues"....Oh well, another season, another year...

There are 5 teams in the NFL with better records than the Patriots and they're going home.

Brett - you better retire!

Here's what I want to know: Why did the Giants go with their starters in the last game of the 2007 season against the Patriots when they already knew their playoff fate? Yet this year, also knowing their playoff fate, they go with their second stringers and give the game to Minnesota? Everyone was talking about how much guts and integrity the Giants showed last year playing the final game to win, yet this year they played to loose. I hope this decision comes back to bite them in the butt.

Oh yeah, Brett Favre sucks. At the very least maybe today's game will FINALLY put the last nail in his coffin and we can stop hearing about how great he is.

I think Mangini is a horrible coach. I can't believe he didn't go for it at 4th and 2. That was the end of the game there!!! I just feel bad for Cassel as this was probably one of only a few chances to lead a team in the playoffs. If they keep him as a backup to Brady, he turns into that again, just a backup. If they let him go in free agency, he's going to end up on a lousy team and if they franchise him, he either ends up as the backup or gets trade to a lousy team. Not very pleasant options for him. Can't believe they have the same or better record than 7 of the teams going to the playoffs, but that's how the tiebreakers work and in the end, they didn't win enough games to get in. They were two field goals away from going 13-3 (Colts and Jets), but them's the breaks! Looking forward to next year and what they do at the quarterback position.

Yes, there were many moments during the season, but at 11-5 there should have been no reason not to make the playoffs, except for one play.

Kudos to the team, they rose to the occasion and they deserve our gratitude, but one play and one totally asinine and ignorant decision by a coach was the catalyst, actually IMO, the reason this team did not get to the playoffs.

Overtime at Gillette Stadium at home, versus the Jets.

Jets receive and after two plays have a third and 17 on their own 15 yard line.

No excuse, none at all, for defensive coordinator Dean Pees playing a soft defense, especially with a seasoned quarterbak like Brett Favre, and allowing him to stand there, with no pressure, and find an open receiver for the first down.

Yes, we can say there were many, many instances during the season,l but I, for one, hold Dean Pees as the number one bad guy, the guy that, IMO, cost the Patriots the playoffs, and possibly another trip to the Super Bowl because right now they were peaking and playing some of the best football of any team in the NFL.

Dean Pees should be given his walkiing papers. He is a piss poor defensive coordinator.