Playoff panic?

When Tom Brady and the New England Patriots culminated the 2004 season with a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles for a third championship in four seasons, the sky was the limit for the star quarterback. Brady and Patriots coach Bill Belichick comprised the most-feared duo in the NFL, the pair nobody could beat, a modern-day Bill Walsh and Joe Montana.

The win over the Eagles was Brady’s ninth straight playoff victory to start his career. Since then, though, he’s just 5-5 in the postseason, looking more like Jim Kelly than Montana. That record includes a 27-13 setback against the Denver Broncos in 2005 and a 38-34 loss against the Indianapolis Colts in the 2006 AFC championship game, a contest in which the Patriots led 21-3.

Of course, it also includes the 17-14 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, which could have completed the league’s first 19-game perfect season. The other two losses came in the last two seasons, Brady’s first two home playoff losses. In 2009, it was a 33-14 drubbing at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, and on Sunday, the New York Jets, nine-point underdogs entering the game, claimed a 28-21 win at Gillette Stadium.

In these five losses, Brady hasn’t been overwhelming. He has completed just 59.5 percent (122-for-205) of his passes for an average of 258 yards with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Sure, Brady will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and one of the league’s all-time great winners. But after this latest postseason defeat, that win over the Eagles seems oh so long ago.

- Like many of you, I watched the game from the comfort of my own home, meaning I couldn’t really get a grasp of what Brady was seeing. But I noticed that with the exception of an overthrown ball to Brandon Tate, who was facing double coverage, the Patriots didn’t really attack the Jets downfield. Most of Brady’s passes were intermediate, or screens. Yes, the dink-and-dunk method is how they got to this point, but I was just waiting for the time when that compact offense would allow for a game-changing play.

It never happened. There were too many times when New England was lined up in a two-tight end set, too many times when Brady was under center. I kept screaming at the television, “Spread them out! No backs and five receivers!” But no, instead, they ran the ball and took time off the clock, even when they were facing a double-digit deficit.

Let’s face it, Rex Ryan talked the talked and from a coaching standpoint, he walked all over Belichick in this one.