The Patriots are underachieving in the second half of the season.

First of all, you say the Patriots have ridiculous expectations to fulfill, but if they didn't want this much pressure, they shouldn't have run up the score on teams in the first place. Also, you say they played mediokre teams in the first half and are starting to see some real competition now. Their first game of the season was against the Jets where they roasted them 38-14. Their last game was also against the Jets (who were now missing Jonathan Vilma, Justin Miller, and Cody Spencer, key players on the team) almost turned into an upset. They got lucky on a missed field goal, so they were able to put the game away. But, the Jets QB Chad Pennington along with their SECOND and THIRD string QB's out threw Brady, throwing for 186 yards with a .63 completion percentage, while Brady only threw for 140 yards (a season low) with a .51 completion percentage. Also, in the first half they roasted the chargers 38-14, but now they almost lose to the Eagles, who are last place in their division, barely pulling it out 31-28. (No offense to any Eagles fans. ) Also, I'm going to have to disagree with you that the Patriots have one gameplan. Although everyone know Brady is just after all of Peyton Mannings passing records, they have lots of tools and are using them. They just aren't working. In the Jets game, Laurence Maroney was running alot since Brady was not doing well throwing the ball. Also, Lawrence Maroney is getting to be a presence around the league. If they just passed the whole time, no one would know Lawrence Maroney. They are using all of the tools they have, (Maroney, Randy Moss, Wes Welker), and they are still falling short of the bar. In addition, winter should be a non-factor for the Patriots. Alot of people would like to blame the bad weather for the Patriots dulling their competitive edge, but the weather is not even close to a legitimate excuse for this. The Patriots play in Foxboro, where they see snow all the time. The Patriots are well acquaintited with snow, and have used it to their advantage. Not many teams are as fortunate as the patriots to have played in snow. Whenever the Patriots play in snow, they have a valuable advantage. All of the playoff games you saw the Patriots pull out against very good teams, (alot of them against the Colts), have been in snow and cold temperatures. The colts coming in from Indy havn't seen snow much, so they have trouble adapting to the weather. The Patriots are right at home. Bottom line, for the Patriots, snow is a valuable tool, and this should aid them to win games. It is not a legitimate excuse for why they are not winning games, and in fact, a good question would be why they aren't dominant again now that they have reached their most comfortable weather and conditions. Last, don't bust on the Colts when they are playing very well for their circucstances. You say they are just edging out games they should be winning, but you even say yourself they have been rocked by injuries all season. The Colts are starting to lose their edge also, but they have a very good excuse. They are losing valuable players every week, and they will be very healthy when they get all of their resting players back for the playoffs. Anyway, even with all of these lost players, Manning is still leading a team of second string players to wins week after week. The Patriots have had all of their superstars very healthy all season. But, they are still declining. What I think they are messing up in is keeping all of their key players in every week to get Brady past Manning's record and not giving anybody any rest. About the Cowboys, I don't really know, because I don't follow their team. I do love the Any Given Sunday aspect of the NFL. It makes any game interesting. But their is still skill involved. We aren't dealing with set up games yet. This pattern in the Patriots playing is definately a sign of their slow downfall.