Patriots Play It Safe, Drop Important Game To ‘Phins

All the New England Patriots had to do, to ensure themselves the top seed in the AFC, was head into Miami and beat a bad, 5-10 Dolphins football team. That did not happen Sunday.

So now New England's seeding fate lies in the hands of the Denver Broncos. If Denver beats the San Diego Chargers, they'll be the number one seed with an identical record to New England and the tiebreaker from their Week 12 win over the Pats. If Denver loses (fingers crossed), New England will be the number one seed and control home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

With that said, let's look at how we got here:

Vanilla, Vanilla, Vanilla- If you had to pick any flavor of ice cream to describe the New England game plan today, it's hands down the always boring, nothing special vanilla. Not even vanilla bean, just lackluster vanilla. In fact, with the exception of their first drive of the second half, it was boring watching this offense operate today. In 54 total plays, the Pats threw the ball just 25 times and managed a lowly 196 yards of total offense. With an emphasis on the running game, backs Steven Jackson, Brandon Bolden and James White combined for just 71 yards on 26 carries. That's just 2.7 yards per carry, which is not going to get it done. It was clear from the start (16 of the team's first 18 offensive plays were runs) that the Pats were going to be playing the game conservatively and really in a way to keep all of their important players free from injury. All in all, the Pats can't go vanilla in the postseason. The good news is I don't suspect that they will.

Poor Secondary Play- Along with the fact that the offense didn't really seem at all interested in winning the game, the defensive secondary didn't really give them much help. With the exception of the first quarter plus, the secondary was picked apart by Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Yes, you read that right; the secondary was picked apart by Ryan Tannehill. On the game, the less-than-stellar signal caller threw for 350 yards and two scores. For a guy who couldn't beat the Indianapolis Colts last week, that's not a good look for the New England secondary.

On To The Playoffs- New England is now officially on to the playoffs, as the regular season has wrapped up. They'll go in as either the AFC's top or second seed, as noted above. Regardless of their exact place, they'll be off for the first week of the postseason, as they enjoy a first round bye. It's impossible to tell who they'll play in two weeks, but they will be at home and they will hopefully have a close to full compliment of players at their disposal. If that's the case, the god news is that New England still has to be the favorites in the conference. Also, they finished the regular season at 12-4, which with all of their injuries is absurdly impressive. Just stating a fact.