Patriots regular season review: Ranking 16 games by most fun to watch

16. Week 13 – Eagles 35, Patriots 28

What was fun to watch

• Tom Brady catching a pass for 36 yards, the second catch of his career. His first was a 24-yarder back in 2001.

6 frustrations from Week 17 loss

What wasn’t fun to watch

• The special teams imploding. A blocked Ryan Allen punt translated into a touchdown return for Najee Goode, and then late in the third quarter, Darren Sproles returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown. No one on the Patriots’ punt coverage unit looked like they wanted to make a tackle on that play.
• Brady getting pressured. The Eagles pressured or sacked him on 34 percent of his dropbacks.
• Brady throwing avoidable and costly interceptions. The first occurred on the goal line when Brady forced a slant pass into double coverage and Malcolm Jenkins picked it off and returned the ball 99 yards for a touchdown. The second happened right after Brady’s 36-yard reception; evidently pumped up from the previous play, Brady took an ill-advised shot downfield and Byron Maxwell made the easy interception.

This was an extremely frustrating game to watch because it came on the heels of the Patriots’ first loss of the season. The Pats were expected to get back on track against a mediocre Eagles team, but instead they faltered so badly on special teams that the game spiraled out of control.

Next: 15. Loss to Dolphins