Miscalculation

Chalk up the Patriots loss last night to mental errors. Both from the players and from the coaching staff (something that one does not say often about Bill Belichick's staff). The Patriots lost to the Colts last night 18-15 but it should have been a 20-17 victory. They moved the ball well and with the exception of only a couple of series did a good job defensively on Peyton Manning.

The errors really began when Belichick challenged the 12-men on the field play early in the 3rd quarter. It seems silly to challenge a play that would have only gained him 5 yards and in the end made no difference as the Pats scored a touchdown on the drive anyway. Challenges should be for something meaningful like a key first down on a 4th down play or a touchdown not a 5-yard penalty call. This cost him a valuable time out that the Pats would need later but we'll get to that in a moment.

The next poor decision came after the Pats scored their lone touchdown of the contest when they went for 2. Granted, the two point conversion would have put them up by 7 points but it was still early in the 3rd and they were not desperately trying to make up ground. I have always been of the theory that unless it is late in the game or you are trying to cut down the number of scores it would take to make a come back, you always go with the sure thing and put the points on the board. The extra point would have made the game 13-7 and when the Colts scored their next touchdown they would not have gone for two making it a 14-13 game. This is a big difference from 15-12 in my opinion. Now you play looking to take a lead by simply scoring and not just to tie the game with a field goal.

We move on to late in the third where Jabbar Gaffney dropped what would have been a sure-fire touchdown and a 19-15 lead for the Pats. This directly lead to the next mistake of calling the time out on 4th down when they actually would have converted. Instead, we have yet another field goal that because of prior mistakes now only makes the game 15-15. If they had kicked the original extra point and either allow the 4th down play to run on Jabbar Gaffney makes that catch, suddenly the game is 20-14 (and maybe you go for two in this case looking to have that late 7 point advantage where it didn't make as much sense on the first touchdown, but for these purposes lets assume the "put up points when you can" philosophy).

But the worst error was yet to come as a rookie mistake was compounded by a veteran error and the earlier coaching decision to effectively end the game. Now trailing 18-15, on a second down and short, Green-Ellis inexplicably attempts to push the run to the outside when he had a clear path to a 1 or 2 yard gain that would have given the Pats the first down. He gets stopped short and David Thomas shoves a Colt defender after the whistle for a 15-yard personal foul call. Even if Thomas still commits the foul, if Green-Ellis gets the first at least the Pats are operating on 1st and 10 and with some momentum to try and tie the game to at least force overtime. Instead, its 3rd and 16 and because of the failed challenge on the penalty call the Pats are without timeouts and they have to rush a play to beat the play clock and the pass is intercepted to end the drive.

Mental errors and coaching mistakes. These are things not often seen with the Patriots over the past few seasons. They have a wealth of talent but due to injuries much of that talent is young and inexperienced. Green-Ellis has played well after 3 running backs have gone down with injury and made some good plays last night. Cassel is really starting to settle in as the leader of the offense. Jarod Mayo and Gary Guyton have brought some much needed youth and energy to the linebacking core. But last night showed that the Pats still have a way to go if they want to make the playoffs and compete at a championship level in the year without Brady. They have the schedule to still make the push. They just need to minimize the errors and finish when they are in the position to win which they did not do last night and 20-17 became 18-15.