Krause: The signs were there if anyone was paying attention

FOXBOROUGH – Things just weren?t quite right with this team all season. The signs were there. But not only did you have to pay attention, you had to want to pay attention.As early as Week 2 – an embarrassing (as it turns out) home loss to the Arizona Cardinals when the offense couldn?t find any kind of rhythm – it was obvious the pre-season picks that had the Patriots waltzing to the Super Bowl were suspect.As the first half of the season wore on, it became obvious that the problems that plagued the Patriots last season – a woefully sieve-like defensive backfield – were back in full force despite coach Bill Belichick?s attempts to fortify his front four so that quarterbacks didn?t have all day to pick the DBs apart.Didn?t work. Receivers were open early and often in the first half, with 20-plus yard completions the norm as opposed to the exception.There was a nail-biting overtime win over the Jets in a game where Mark Sanchez – to be blunt – stunk. There was the “whew!” win over the Buffalo Bills where the Patriots put up 41 points and almost lost.Things got so bad that Belichick went out during the bye week and brought Aqib Talib – hardly a model citizen in the “Patriot Way” – to stabilize the secondary ? and he did.Talib was the type of corner who could blanket the other team?s best receiver and keep him from dominating the game.So when he got hurt Sunday, and the same cast of characters who added new meaning to the words “Swiss Cheese” were left on their own, the result was fairly predictable.But there were other reasons this season didn?t go as planned ? and can only be seen as a disappointment.Tom Brady is 35, and he?s starting to look every day of it. This isn?t to say that 35-year-old quarterbacks can?t still succeed, but at the level of the Brady 10 years ago? With the consistency? That?s hard. There are mid-30s quarterbacks who can still will their teams to victories on any given day ? but as they age, those magic moments are fewer and farther between. We saw Brady less and less eager to stand in there and take hits. In fact, Brady was involved in two plays Sunday that – had he made the right decision – could have made it more of a game.First, in the second half, he ran for three yards, slid, and didn?t call a timeout, which could have cost the team. One wonders whether a 20-something Brady might have stayed in there the extra second and then just heaved it out of bounds.The other one came later in the game. With a clear path a first down had he tucked it in and run, Brady instead spotted Deion Branch in the end zone and underthrew him.The Patriots also had to win Sunday?s game without Rob Gronkowski – which turned out to be a tall order. Without Gronkowski, and with Welker – like Brady showing some signs of slowing down – dropping as many passes as he caught, Brady had to throw to a group of receivers who, let?s be honest, were quite underwhelming.Or, to put it another way, the Ravens suited up three receivers (Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin and Dennis Pitta) who were better than the best Patriots receiver.Finally ? let?s talk about the team?s defensive philosophy ? and defenses in general. Since the Patriots lost to the 2008 Super Bowl to the Giants, it?s pretty much been a given that snarling, nasty, mean defenses rule the playoffs. The Patriots do not have one of those. Few quarterbacks took their lives in their hands this year stepping up and throwing. Few receivers feared being knocked silly coming across the middle the way Stevan Ridley was when he fumbled the ball Sunday.Receivers crossed the middle with impunity all season. Not once – or very few times – was anyone ever made to pay for doing that.In fact, you could make a very good argument that one of the reasons quarterbacks kept making those 20-yard plays over the middle was because of the defense?s – as a whole – lack of meanness.Both times the Patriots lost to the Giants, they were beaten up. Every time the Pittsburgh Steelers have won, it?s been not so muc