GLENDALE, Ariz. -- When Tom Brady last week was asked what might happen if the Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII he said he -- they -- would always look back at it as a missed opportunity.
Well, they lost. So now what?
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| What went wrong? It's going to be a loooong offseason for Tom Brady and the Pats. (AP) |
When they fell, they collapsed, and if you don't think their 17-14 loss hurt, then you weren't there to see Bill Belichick. The Patriots' head coach not only quit the sideline with one second left, leaving his team on the field behind, he was back to his abrupt, brusque and awkward self afterward.
"They played well," he said more than once. "They made some plays. We made some plays. In the end, they made a couple more than we did."
Belichick can be pardoned for not knowing what to say. He hasn't had to rehearse a losing speech in more than a year. That was the 2006 AFC Championship Game when Peyton, not Eli, Manning ruined his afternoon with a magnificent second-half comeback.
Belichick was downright rude then, but on Sunday he was practically speechless. He did not smile. He barely offered sound bites longer than five seconds. And he was gone in three to four minutes.
"Was this the most disappointing loss of your career?" he was asked.
"I don't rank them," he said. "It's disappointing."
"What did the Giants do to stop you on offense?"
"They are a very good defensive football team," he said. "They played well."
"Was Tom Brady hurt?"
"No."
