Obviously, everyone's talking this Monday about New England's second straight 14-point meltdown, which is universally being classified as "shocking."
We'll start with the Boston Herald, which recounts all the big mistakes the Patriots made against Philly. It also looks closely at Tom Brady, as TB12 shouldered the blame for New England’s offensive woes against Philadelphia.
A *Boston Globe *editorial says the Patriots are headed in the wrong direction.
"Instead of peaking this time of year, the Patriots have plateaued for a few weeks," the author writes. "On Sunday, they went downhill, following up their overtime loss in Denver with another to drop consecutive games for the first time since the second and third games of the 2012 season. The fact is the Patriots were a better team in September and October."
The *Globe *also has a separate story on how poorly the Patriots’ special teams units played against the Eagles.
The Providence Journal, in an opinion column, puts the blame for the loss squarely on the head coach. “Belichick outsmarted only himself,” says the headline.
"It was a rare instance of Belichick not thinking clearly. Because, clearly, a game the Patriots seemingly had in hand could not have turned out worse, suddenly getting wildly out of hand," the writer continued. "In this case, the gridiron genius was too smart for his own – and his team's – good."
On CSNNE.com, you'll find another opinion piece that states the loss went deeper than just a flubbed onside kick attempt.
"To me, the bigger issue in this game is that the onside kick, the Brady throwback pass and his two forced interceptions were all indicators that the Patriots were trying too hard. And they really didn't need to. What they needed to do was simply be themselves.
Comcast also shines a spotlight on one of New England’s bright spots in the loss, running back James White, who was clutch in the closing moments.
From the Eagles' perspective, the Philadelphia Inquirer declares that it wasn’t a smart day for Belichick. There's also an interesting piece about the Eagles’ owner, a Boston native, who delivered an effective pre-game speech to his team that inspired them to play the way they did Sunday.
WEEI.com also took a trip inside the Philly locker room to hear from some Eagles, and one of them called New England’s first onside kick attempt “stupid.”
An EEI column described the Patriots' approach versus the Eagles "too cute," and that it could ultimately cost New England in playoff seeding.
