Patriots 2008 Season Post-Mortem

Going 11-5 and not making the playoffs because of Brett Favre makes me ill. Long story short, the Pats did very well this year and could have won the division, if Favre and the Jets had beaten the Dolphins in the final week of the season, but Favre's 38-year-old arm was not up to the task. Matt Cassell ensured his multi-millionaire status with a near Brady-esque performance all season. The Pats are likely to put the franchise tag on him to make sure either a) they can keep him if Brady's off-season rehab doesn't go as well as expected, or b) they can actually get something for him if another team wants Cassell bad enough.

Injuries made it an uphill battle this year for the Pats, even after the devastating first-quarter-of-first-game end of the season for QB Tom Brady. Other notable injuries during the season included Rodney Harrison and Adalius Thomas on defence and Laurence Maroney on offence, although the backfield was plenty full with Kevin Faulk, Sammy Morris, and LaMont Jordan sharing the ground attack duties. Even Junior Seau came out of retirement, along with late-season replacement (and former Patriot) Roosevelt Colvin, to fill out the defence. Speaking of defence, rookie Jerod Mayo won the Defensive Rookie of the Year honours. Mayo was a bright spot on an ageing defence, that needs new life next year if they are going to keep up with opponents' offensive lines.

My man Wes Welker -- one of two Patriots who were selected for the 2009 Pro Bowl, along with kicker Stephen Gostkowski -- almost broke his receptions record from last year, falling short (no pun intended) by only one catch. If not for the 2008 Snow Bowl against Arizona and the Wind Bowl against the Bills, he certainly would have broken the Patriots receptions record that he set last season.

Speaking of weather, Bill Belichick weathered the critics who believed his success was due to Brady's greatness. True, Belichick has enjoyed coaching in the Brady era, including being named the NFL Coach of the Year for last season's 16-0 record, but I think this year showed that Bill has improved since his time with the Cleveland Browns, when his team went 36-44 over 5 seasons, with only one winning season in that period. In his 9 years at New England, Belichick has a record of 102-42, or 0.708 winning record, with a post-season record of 14-3, or 0.824, including 3 Super Bowl championships. His 11-5 record this season is 0.688, or just below his average with the Pats. Although there is talk of some of his coaching staff leaving for other opportunities, Belichick will withstand these changes and will continue to prove that he is one of the best coaches in NFL history.

It will be difficult to watch the playoffs without the Patriots, but it is still football and every game is a must-win, so it should make for some exciting games.