Good news, bad news

Photo Courtesy of Gerry Broome

Well....that sucked.

So we'll start with the bad news. And that is that the Patriots lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Carolina Panthers. Much of the talk about this game will be about the final play of the game. Referees absolutely made the wrong call picking up the flag, no questions about it.

But honestly, New England should never have been in that situation. In each of the Panther's last scoring drives, the Patriots had the Panthers on third and long and let Cam Newton beat them with his feet. Not to mention Devin McCourty's bone headed holding penalty on third down on the Panther's final drive of the game. So credit the Panthers, they made more plays. It shouldn't have come down to that last play.

Now the good news. If there is any silver lining it is that Bill Belichick took Stevan Ridley out of the dog house after a first half, red zone fumble. That is huge for this team. Ridley is clearly the best runner on the team and the offense is not the same without him. His fumbling issue needs to be corrected for sure, but that isn't going to happen from the sideline. If the Patriot's are going to have success late and the season it is going to stem from a successful running game, and that starts with Ridley.

The Patriots are now in a bit of a tough spot with a matchup against the high octane Denver Broncos coming on the short week. Avoiding back to back losses will be no easy feat.

-Ryan Cereola
-@ryancereola