The Patriots went 14-2 in the regular season, but failed to win a playoff game. Does that make this season a disappointment? Yes, and no, On one hand, when you win 14 games, if you fall on your faces in your first playoff game, it hurts, especially against a divisional rival. However, this team wasn’t even supposed to win 14 games in the first place.

Coming into the season, all the talk was about how Tom Brady is washed up and not as competitive as he was before, and about how this defense was too young and inexperienced, especially after both Leigh Bodden and Ty Warren went down in the preseason. There was talk that the Jets might even win this division. Though they didn’t win a playoff game, they still proved that they were consistently the best team in this division. The Jets may have won 2 of 3, but the Patriots still won the division by 3 games.

Even better, they should be even more dangerous next year. Ty Warren and Leigh Bodden are back. Their young defensive players will get more experienced. They have 3 of the first 33 picks in the draft, 4 of the first 60, 5 of the first 74, 6 of the first 88, as well as the Broncos 2^nd pick in the 4^th round. They still have Brady and Belicheck and they have more bulliten board material, which is what really motivates them. If you don’t think this team is going to spend the entire offseason motivated by “28-21,” you don’t know Brady and Belicheck.

So yes, a Super Bowl title would have been nice for this team this year, but they exceeded expectations greatly and they can be even tougher in 2010. It’s tough to call this a disappointing season when so many expected them to win 10-11 games and be looking up at the Jets going into 2011. That’s not where they are now. And as for Tom Brady losing 3 straight playoff games, Montana did that once too, and he was pretty good.