By: Phil Shore, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
New England Patriots fans were faced with a harsh reality at the hands of a crushing defeat to the Baltimore Ravens: their team just wasn’t good enough.
Sure they had their moments of brilliance during the season, but they also frequently looked far from the team that was a three-time Super Bowl champion this decade, or even the team that went 11-5 without Tom Brady playing an entire game.
And please, don’t even try to say that if Wes Welker played that last game he would’ve made a difference between winning and losing.
That’s why this offseason fans should expect a lot of changes in New England.
The glaring weaknesses the Patriots have are on defense. Watching Ray Rice shred through the Pats in the first minute of the AFC Wild Card round should’ve made that fact evident.
The first thing the team needs to take care of is hiring a new defensive coordinator.
Dean Pees, who has held the position the past four years, is stepping down.
Bill Belichick has hired in-house for that position the past two times it was open, so it’s possible that he would do so again. Defensive line coach Pepper Johnson, a ten-year member of [...]

By: Ian Tasso, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer
Not much surprises New England Patriots fans anymore. Fifty Brady touchdowns, a 16-0 record and three Super Bowls in four years will do that to you. But 2009’s Patriot defense might buck the trend. Ranked sixth in the NFL in pass defense and third in points allowed, the New England defense deprived of big names and bright stars has officially shocked – and even surprised – the football world. Overall they’ve been tremendous. But how do they stack up individually? Grades are in once again, and class is back in session.
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Defensive Line: The loss of Richard Seymour is a little bit more apparent than New Englanders would have hoped. Even so, the Patriot defensive line is performing admirably, with Mike Wright stepping up in number 93’s stead. Wright leads the team with 4.0 sacks, but unfortunately is the only member of the D-Line with more than one. Vince Wilfork is yet to record his first. With Jarvis Green now out, the Patriot’s inability to apply pressure with just the front men will prove to be testing, but as evident by the defense’s success thus far, it’s not a hugely concerning issue.
Individual Grades: Wright, [...]

By: Scott Jackson, YawkeyTalkies Correspondent
The Patriots are riding high as they head into their bye week. They’ve beaten their last two opponents 94-7 after beating the Bucs 35-7 in London.
Quarterbacks:
Yes, he did throw two interceptions. But he also threw for three touchdowns, and finished with a passer rating of 107. He threw for over 300 yards on just 32 attempts. Brady connected on three plays of 30+ yards, and looks like he’s recovered from last year’s knee surgery.
My Grade: B
Runningbacks:
The corps averaged a subpar 3 yards per carry, totaling just 85 (not including rushes by receivers or quarterbacks). This against a Tampa defense that allowed 162 yards per game coming into the contest. The group was nearly non-existent in the passing game; only Kevin Faulk caught the ball. Expect Belichick to work on the ground attack during the team’s bye.
My Grade: C-
Receivers/Tight Ends:
Wes Welker came up big again, catching ten passes for 107 yards. Randy Moss had five grabs of his own. Special teams captain Sam Aiken keeps making strides on offense. His 54 yard catch and go is the Pats longest run of the year. Ben Watson is finally maturing into a legit number one tight end. He made [...]

By Ian Tasso, YawkeyTalkies Correspondent
He read the play. He jumped the route. He looked the ball into his hands. He did everything right.
That’s what made it all the more surprising when the pass clunked off his fingertips and fell to the ground. Meriweather blankly stared at his hands in shock. Meanwhile, the clock still read :51, and while the safety’s world stopped, Super bowl XLII went on.
Two plays later, Eli Manning gently lofted a pass high over Ellis Hobbs and right into the hands of a wide open Plaxico Burress. Giants 17, Patriots 14; a shocking end to greatness. A dagger into the heart of perfection.
It could have never happened that way. It should have never happened that way. And for Brandon Meriweather, it almost didn’t.
But for number 31, it was just another small hurdle on the route to greatness – of which he’s faced many.
The hardships started at an early age for Meriweather, whose mother gave birth to him when she was only 13-years old. She then succumbed to the difficulty of raising a son at such a young age, handing over legal guardianship to his high school assistant principle, Mary Bridgeses, and her husband Tom when Meriweather was just [...]