Phin Phanatic
FanSided

AFC East loses big and Ryan Tannehill sends Patriots out of playoffs

By Brian Miller

FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 04: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots is hit as they take on the Tennessee Titans in the first half of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 04, 2020 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 04: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots is hit as they take on the Tennessee Titans in the first half of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 04, 2020 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The AFC East was well represented in the AFC Wildcard round but at the end of the day, both East teams will be watching the division round from home.

Earlier today the Buffalo Bills lost in overtime to the Houston Texans and then the afternoon game kicked off and ended with the Patriots being kicked out of the post-season ending any hopes for the AFC East teams in the playoffs.

While Miami fans were hoping that the Bills would knock off the Texans to improve the Texans first-round draft pick most fans agreed that watching the Bills go down was satisfying. If that was the case then the loss by New England was euphoric.

We can skip the Bills game, they lost in overtime. It was hard fought but Josh Allen showed his inexperience. The real joy from Sunday came when the Patriots lost to the Ryan Tannehill led Tennessee Titans.

There was two great parts to this game. The first came with over 6:00 minutes left in the game when Titans Mike Vrable decided that after a 3rd and short failed attempt took a delay of game penalty, then waited until the final seconds of the play clock to click down to zero and taking a false start. Then they were going to take another delay but a Patriot defender jumped off-sides. When Vrabel was done, the game clock read less than 5:00 minutes and 1:46 had run off the clock.

Why was this great? On the Patriots sideline a livid Bill Belichick, the King of Cheat was fuming and could do nothing to stop what his former player was doing to him now.

The second came with the game all but over. The Titans punter put the ball on the one-yard line with 15 seconds left and Tom Brady threw a pick-6 interception that gave the Titans a seven point lead with 9 seconds left on the clock. The Patriots bungled their way through the kick-off and the game was over.

In week 17, the Miami Dolphins upset the Patriots at Gillette Stadium and in doing so forced the Patriots to play on Wildcard weekend rather than sit through an extra bye-week.

With the AFC games done in round one, round two will feature the Texans visiting the Chiefs and the Titans facing the Ravens in Baltimore. The Patriots? Well, they get to watch it like the rest of us.

Home/Dolphins News