Suddenly, the old guard looks rather old.
Tom Brady, who wants to keep playing next season at age 43, was overshadowed on wild-card weekend by a QB who threw for just 72 yards.
Drew Brees, who turns 41 this month, followed up what might have been his best season ever with a dud that featured his first multiple-turnover game of the season on a day he wasnt even the best QB on his own team.
Now, Brady and Brees join fellow graybeards Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger as spectators to these playoffs, which feature the likes of greenhorns Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson and Jimmy Garoppolo.
The Patriots 20-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium marked New Englands earliest exit from the playoffs in a decade.
Only twice in Bradys two decades in New England has his season ended earlier. In 2002, he missed the playoffs at 9-7 and in 2008 he blew out a knee in the opener and watched the Patriots miss out again despite going 11-5.
Without his usual weaponry on offense, Brady faded down the stretch. The defending Super Bowl champs looked unbeatable over the seasons first half, dominating opponents whom they outscored 250-61 through eight games.
That all changed beginning with a 37-20 loss to Jackson and the Ravens on Oct. 27 in Baltimore. From that point on, the Patriots won just four of nine games and were outscored 184-183.
It was during one of those early-season blowouts that Patriots coach Bill Belichick exploited another loophole in the NFL rule book that came back to haunt him in the playoffs.
Belichick realized he could just eat up game clock with a series of delay-of-game or false-start penalties prior to a punt and oddly he exposed this loophole late in a 33-0 blowout of the Jets on Oct. 21.
It was just the way the rules are set up, Belichick said after that game. We were able to run quite a bit of time off the clock without really having to do anything. Its a loophole thatll be closed and probably should be closed. But right now, its open.
While Belichick was smirking on the sideline when he was the one doing it to the Jets, he was furious Saturday night and yelled at the officials when Titans coach Mike Vrabel employed that same strategy — and at a much more opportune time.
Tennessee was ahead 14-13 when Vrabel had the Titans run nearly two minutes off the clock before punting the ball to New England with four minutes left. The Patriots went three-and-out and didnt get the ball back until 15 seconds remained, still down by one.
Brady forced a pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown, sealing the loss in what could be Bradys final game for New England if he decides to play elsewhere in 2020.
Weve talked about this, Belichick said afterward. Its the same thing weve talked about before. Its the same. Nothings changed.
