New England Patriots Tickets

The New England Patriots are always one of the most feared teams in all of the NFL, but they limp into this postseason and look ripe for the picking.

The Patriots obviously looked vulnerable last year with Matt Cassel under center, but this is the first time they have had pretty much their entire team healthy and still looked shaky.

Quarterback Tom Brady has been inconsistent in his return from a serious knee injury. He seems to be putting it all together one week only to see injuries or a tough defensive scheme set him back again. Brady is now dealing with what is reported to be three broken ribs and a broken finger on his throwing hand, but the Patriots have vehemently denied those rumors.

The Patriots suffered a critical blow in the season finale, as star wide receiver Wes Welker went to juke a defender and went down untouched. Welker's knee slipped out from under him at an awkward angle, and it was determined he tore both his ACL and MCL. His season is over.

Head coach Bill Belichick had to deal with a lot of second guessing of his decisions throughout the year, and now he has had to deal with criticism for playing his starters in the meaningless season finale.

Julian Edelman, a former college quarterback, will now have the challenge of stepping into Welker's shoes for a potential playoff run. He was surprisingly effective playing in place of Welker earlier in the season, but the playoffs are a completely different animal.

The Patriots can still lean on star wideout Randy Moss, but he has been criticized this year for folding up the tent if he doesn't see a lot of balls coming his way early in games.

The offense is still pretty one dimensional, but the Patriots have tried to run the ball more this year in an effort to at least try to have some semblance of a balanced attack. The offensive line is built more for pass protection than run blocking, and their stable of running backs is either old, injury prone or just plain inconsistent. Sammy Morris is probably the most physical of the group, but always seems to miss time with one injury or another. Fred Taylor was signed in the offseason but missed most of the year with an injury, while Laurence Maroney hasn't lived up to expectations.

New England's defense has also had its share of growing pains this year as the team has tried to get younger as many of its star players from the Super Bowl teams have lost a step or two and retired or been let go.

The result is an inconsistent unit that is still learning and growing together and can't really be counted upon to make big stops in crunch time. The loss to the Indianapolis Colts is a perfect example of their defensive struggles and lack of confidence Belichick has in the unit.

New England certainly has the moxie and the players to win now, but is it their year? Only time will tell.