Sam Darnold

Yeah.

I mean, I thought that the Patriots would make the playoffs just simply because of the strength of their schedule.

And it turned out to be the weakest in the NFL.

And then, of course, they caught some breaks here playing Stidham in the AFC Championship game, and that turned out to hurt Denver.

If we would be sitting here this morning with a Denver helmet in front of us, if Bo Nix was playing, I wouldn't be shocked.

That's how close that game was yesterday.

No, of course.

And I mean, it was just a huge mistake there, obviously, with the backwards pass.

It changed everything because the Broncos had all the momentum in that game and obviously could have had that 10 point lead, which would have changed the outcome, too.

But instead, they end up going for it on fourth down and not getting it.

And that's really when the Patriots became alive.

After that, as live as they could, they only scored three points on offense.

But you think about a blocked field goal that would have went through, that would have tied the game at 10.

You're talking about another missed field goal at the end of the first half by both teams.

This kicking was impossible in this game.

And then, you know, the Patriots basically said in the third quarter, we're not even going to attempt to throw any more passes.

We're just going to run it the rest of the way.

Ended up being the right thing to do.

Yeah, because I think the coaching staff, I bet you Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniel said, look, you know, as long as we don't turn it over, we're not going to lose this game.

It's going to be tight, but we're not going to lose the game.