Patriots lose to the Dolphins at home... good grief

The Patriots seemed like they were going to repeat their thrashing of the league early on this year but then just seemed to go awry around week 9. They lost to the Ravens, lost to the Chiefs, and lost to the Texans.

This would still be a stellar season for pretty much any other team but the Patriots are kind of on a different level.

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The patriots are still at the top of the AFC east and all they needed to do was defeat one of the worst teams in the NFL at home in order to secure a first-round Bye in the playoffs. All they had to do was defeat a team that kind of stunned the football world by winning any games at all this season and they were on the path of easy street once again. But they couldn't pull it off.

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The dolphins were a near 17 point underdog in this matchup and the Patriots did not look like a playoff-ready team as the Dolphins went toe-to-toe with the Pats the whole game and then exploded with a near last minute touchdown that would only grand the Pats one more possession before time ran out. Tommy Brady and the Patriots were unable to produce anything that even appeared to be a somewhat meaningful offence on the next possession and the Dolphins pulled off the biggest upset of the season, 27-24

Some big name news organizations already printed their playoff brackets and predictions based on the assumption that the Patriots were definitely going to win. Ouch! That's what you get you busybodies!

Now the Chiefs (who I personally prefer to the Patriots anyway) will get a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Can the Pats get their junk together to make a strong showing in the post-season? It's going to be interesting to me to find out.

In other news, the troubled Cleveland Browns failed to beat the worst team in the NFL during their final game of the season. It seems Cleveland simply can't catch a break.