New England Patriots Gameday: Seattle 24 – New England 23

Rookie mistakes cost the New England Patriots a win against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon.

Problem is, it wasn’t a rookie making the mistakes.

Patriots’ Quarterback Tom Brady threw two interceptions deep in Seahawks territory amid a variety of other miscues, and New England’s defense couldn’t bail out the 13 year veteran despite forcing three turnovers of their own, as the Patriots took an ugly 24-23 loss in Seattle.

Seahawk’s rookie quarterback Russell Wilson threw a 46 yard bomb to reciever Sidney Rice with 1:27 remaining in the game, giving Seattle the winning margin.

Brady had a tough day in the red zone, mismanaging the clock at the end of the second half and taking a bad intentional grounding penalty that kept New England from scoring, forcing them into the locker room with just a 17-10 lead that should have been much more.  He had another intentional grounding penalty in the 4th quarter which ended a critical drive.

Wes Welker had another great afternoon, catching 10 balls for 138 yards – his 4th consecutive 100 yard recieving day.  Brandon Lloyd, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez each caught 6 balls and Danny Woodhead came down with five more clutch recpetions, but the Patriots dropped to 3-3 tie with the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins in the AFC East.

Seattle’s rookie quarterback Russell Wilson went deep often on New England’s secondary, finding 8 different recievers for 293 yards and three touchdowns while picking up two key pass interference penalties.

Neither team could generate much of a ground game, so it became a battle of the Quarterbacks in the misty rain.  In the end, it was the two time MVP Brady that came away the loser as the illusive Wilson had a career day on a 16 for 27 performance that frustrated the Patriots’ defense despite taking two sacks at the hands of New England rookie Defensive End Chandler Jones – one producing a fumble that ended a promising drive.Despite the miscues that forced New England to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns, the Patriots led 23-10 on a 35 yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with 9:25 left in the game.

That’s when Wilson worked his rookie magic.

Wilson threw deep to Golden Tate for 51 yards on the first play of the ensuing possession, taking a Brandon Spikes’ forearm to the head for additional 15 yards.  3 plays later, Wilson hit Braylon Edwards, who made an acrobatic catch along the sideline for a 10 yard touchdown to bring the Seahawks, 4-2, to within 6 points at 23-17 with just over 7 minutes remaining.

Both teams traded punts, then New England was forced to punt for a second consecutive drive.  Seattle’s Leon Washington returned the punt 25 yards to the Seahawk 43 yard line, setting up Wilson’s heroics.

With no timeouts and the raucous CenturyLink Field crowd making plenty of noise, Seattle’s #1 ranked defense rose to the occasion, sacking Brady once and forced him to throw short to Welker on the Patriots final drive, ending any hope for a New England comeback.