The New England Patriots failed to capitalize on a chance to clinch the AFC East when Tom Brady was intercepted in the end zone on their final drive Sunday to seal a 24-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
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Brady was concise in his postgame analysis of his team's play.
"We got plenty of chances all day," Brady said. "We make some good plays and we make plenty of (expletive) plays."
The quarterback expounded on his potty-mouth comment Monday morning.
"We had a lot of great opportunities to win the game and win a division title and just came up short," Brady told WEEI-FM's "Dennis & Callahan." "It's just frustrating all the way around. ... It felt like we moved the ball pretty good all day, we just couldn't get enough points on the board. We've got to try to figure out a way to get the ball in the end zone."
The loss of Rob Gronkowski for the season was evident, especially in the red zone. However, Brady said missing the stud tight end isn't an excuse.
"The truth is we had plenty of chances anyway, so I don't think any of those things really matter yesterday," Brady said. "Is it great to have everyone healthy? Yeah, of course it is. But that didn't matter yesterday. We had plenty of chances without those guys on the field. We just have to come up with ways to score more points, because it's not going to cut it, 20 points."
The Patriots' myriad injuries have shown up on the scoreboard, which seemed to add to Brady's postgame frustration. The returns of rookie receivers Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins will help stretch the field, but there is no replacing Gronk's production.
Brady has carried the Patriots this season, as the defense precipitately has worsened with each new obstacle. But his lack of weapons seems to be instigating the return of his early-season frustrations.
We debated on Sunday's "Around The League Podcast" whether the Patriots even should be considered the second-best team in the AFC given their injuries and recent quality of play.
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