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BELOW THIS IS MY FORMER NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS' FRANCHISE

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Season 5, AFC Divisional Round - Chiefs outlast Patriots with last minute FG

Season 5, AFC Divisional Round - Late in the fourth with under 2 minutes left on the clock and the game tied at 17-17, Chiefs' QB Peyton Manning sliced up New England's defense and put his team in field goal range. The Chiefs' special teams unit did the rest, and with that, the incumbent champions were eliminated from the Season 5 playoffs, 20-17.

Season 5's Super Bowl pitted Kansas City, who did indeed reach the big dance, against a total Cinderella, the wildcard 9-7 Cleveland Browns:

And in nothing short of a shocker, upstart Colt McCoy leads Cleveland and the Dawg Pound finally reigns supreme with a dramatic 20-10 victory over Peyton's KC squad.

 

Season 5, Wildcard Round - Shocker! Patriots barely eek past Colts, 21-17

Season 5, Wildcard Round - Facing the only team (9-7) that just blew them (10-6) out in the regular season (to the tune of 7-24), New England knew they had a tough task ahead in coming anywhere close to defeating their wildcard opponent, the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots' defense managed to keep the game scoreless until late in the 2nd quarter, when Indy found the endzone with some excellent passing by Peyton Manning's successor, Colts' 3rd year veteran QB Chase Anderson. If it wasn't for not one, but two, KR TDs by key offseason free agent acquisition/X-factor return specialist Leonard Massey, comprising 14 points of New England's 21 total points, NE would have likely lost this one. For his outstanding, and more importantly, user-unprecedented (!) performance (in a playoff game, no less!), Massey was awarded the "Leon Washington award" after the game:

Prospectively: will New England's Special Teams unit keep having to score to help the sputtering offense that clearly misses offensive powerhouse TE Rob Gronkowski? Offseason free agent acquisition TE Heath Miller has been all you could ask for as a capable back-up coming up with several clutch catches, but without Gronk, New England lacks a true go-to guy. Will New England's defense step up better than it has thus far? Will it help that NE will face a Chiefs team that, although lead by future Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning, lost to the Patriots during their regular season match-up at Arrowhead Stadium?

Season 5, Week 17 - Patriots Convincingly Defeat Division Leader Jets in Season Finale, 24-10

Season 5, Week 17 - For the first time since "season one," the Patriots did not win the AFC East - this time that feat was achieved by the 11-4 New York Jets. However, still having (barely!) clinched a wildcard berth with a 9-6 record (as did division rival Miami), the returning champs made the playoffs before Week 17 and had ostensibly the option to rest their starters for the playoffs. However, facing the opponent that they likely would face in the playoffs should they advance far enough, wanting to continue their momentum from their Week 16 win over Tennessee, and wanting to prove their Week 3 win over the new division leader was no fluke, new head coach Scott Riley decided to play the "on fire" Tom Brady and #1 WR Wes Welker. His decision was rewarded, as no starters were injured and the Patriots were winning at one point with a score of 24-3, before finishing the game with the win at 24-10. It remains to be seen, however, whom shall be New England's wildcard round opponent.