Pats have major letdown...still win the game

This young Patriots team seemed like the rest of the season was going to be them stomping all over the rest of the NFL.We all know though that anything can happen on any given Sunday. One mental lapse and a team goes from one seed to six seed overall. The Patriots certainly did not play their best game ever last night. They did do enough to come away with a 31-27 win over Green Bay lead by third year(first start) QB Matt Flynn who at times looked like Johnny Unitas out there against the young defense. Tom Brady then only passed for 163 yards and without much of a consistent running attack, this game seemed lost. The Packer held the ball for over 30 minutes longer than the Patriots yet this team found a way to win the game. The big plays were a 36 yard INT returned by Kyle Arrington for a TD and a 71 yard kickoff return by offensive lineman Dan Connolly which is making highlights(see below) all over the country today. Those plays lead to 14 points and the defense came up big on the last drive with two key sacks by Dane Fletcher and Tully Banta-Cain(after a costly penalty that negated an interception that would have ended the game). Overall, no one played great or had a stand-out game but the team did enough to win once again. The Patriots now sit two games above the rest of the AFC and one win or a Jets loss from clinching home field through the playoffs which is huge for this team that is undefeated at home the last three years with Tom Brady as QB.

Winners:
1. Tom Brady- not a great game by any means but he managed the game and threaded the needle when he needed to move the chains.
2. Aaron Hernandez- two TD's and another solid performance by one of the rookie TE's.
3. Dan Connolly- The video below says it all but he left the game at the half for a concussion or from being so tired from this run...I am not quite sure.
4. Kyle Arrington- He responded nicely from getting beat on a Greg Jennings(click on it if you wanna laugh) touchdown to pick off the next slant he saw and have a great return on it for a TD.
5. Dane Fletcher- The rookie out of Montana State had a huge sack at the end of the game to seal the deal and is showing some good stuff with his improved playing time with Brandon Spikes out four games due to suspension.
6. Devin McCourty- plays through a rib injury to make some great plays including his first career sack.
7. Vince Wilfork- played a ton this week due to injuries to Ron Brace, Mike Wright, and Gerard Warren and made a huge impact on the game throughout.

Losers:
1. Rob Ninkovich- missed a tackle on John Kuhn that lead to a Packer third down TD in the third quarter and could have cost the Pats the game
2. Tully Banta-Cain- Yes, he had a sack late but the game should have never come down to that as he got called for a dumb illegal hands penalty that negated a Brandon Meriweather INT that would have sealed the game.
3. Brandon Meriweather- He knocked his own defender(McCourty) off the ball that lead to a James Jones TD in the first and his pick didn't end up counting so he is a loser this week.

Press Conferences: Tom Brady,Vince Wilfork, Bill Belichick, Danny Woodhead




-Rumblin, stumblin,bumblin