OK, I admit I might have jumped a little unnecessarily ugly on my post and, FWIW, I wasn’t accusing you of making excuses, though I can certainly see how my post could be read that way.

My point is simply that emphasizing the O isn’t what did the Pates in — besides, they REALLY needed to emphasize the offense, despite their past Super Bowl success (which was two years removed as of this year’s game and now, I guess, three years removed). The defensive shortcomings, though, are independent of the offensive re-tooling. The D had to do largely with an aging (though still elite) corps handling more of the workload than anticipated, once Colvin and some of the younger guys, like Oscar Lua, either got injured or just didn’t pan out for one reason or another.

There were also too many times where I found myself yelling, “WHERE’S THE PASS RUSH?!!…say what you want about the offence but if the defense did it’s job the last 2 years it could have been 5 in 7

As far as excuse-making – you’ve got the wrong guy. You can’t tell past Super Bowl whiners to STFU and then start bleeding excuses the first time (literally) the things didn’t go the Pats way. If you can find anywhere on past posts where I made an excuse for that loss, I owe you $5.

Niether is anybody blaming Moss for anything. I’ve said from the beginning of this discussion that he is a unique talent, and that if they lost him, it would leave a big hole in their offense as we know it today. You’d have to first be concerned about the impact on Welker, for example.

The point all along has been about offensive philosophy, and that such a unique resource like Moss almost compels you to lean heavily towards the pass as an orientation. That leads to things like lining up with four wide receivers on 3rd and short or 1st and goal inside the 5, which is kind of a tone setting thing in my opinion, for better or worse. I draw a line from that to things like being unable to cope with the physical pounding they took along the front line in early February, or in the Ravens game, or the Eagles game. That’s the point. If you want to read that as me blaming Randy Moss, go ahead, but I’d say philosophical decisions are made by Moss, they’re made by the coaching staff and the personnel department. If I’m blaming anyone, its them. Except I’m not blaming them either. Just maybe disagreeing with them.

To review, the “all-pro” front line was tormented all night by a fast and physical Football Giants D-line. Brady was pummeled like Floyd Mayweather’s speed bag. And the Pates D was just worn down by a never-say-die New York offense.

As much as it pains me to write this, the Patriots were beaten in the Super Bowl. No excuses.

Oh wait, here’s one: It’s all Randy Moss’ fault.