Krause: Sometimes you just have to concede the other team was better

Sometimes, you just have to concede defeat.Sometimes, the other team is just better. It has better talent, and it plays better when the money is on the table.So buck up, Patriots fans. The Broncos played better. They earned it. There’s no use complaining about injuries. You can’t use injuries as an excuse after you’ve spent the entire season extolling the team for overcoming them.Sunday, the Patriots ran into a better football team. There can be no “if only we had Vince Wilfork … or Rob Gronkowski … or Jerod Mayo.” Or whomever else. The Patriots didn’t have them. There are no guarantees they’d have won if all those players had been healthy.But before we put this baby to bed, let’s go over a few things. From the 2001 through 2013 seasons, the Patriots have been in eight conference championship games. Name me another team that has been to that many in that span.From the 2001 through 2013 seasons, the Patriots have racked up 153 regular-season wins. They’ve only lost 50. They’ve made the playoffs every season save for two, and on both of those occasions their fate came down to the final day. And in 2008 they went 11-5 with Matt Cassel calling signals.For 13 seasons, during all of autumn and well into the winter, the Patriots have kept us glued to our televisions with the knowledge that whatever else was going on in our lives, we’d get our weekly dose of everything that’s right with team sports … on the field, at least. They’ve played as a unit and they have never cared who did what along the way as long as winning was the result.Last week, Tom Brady didn’t throw a touchdown pass and was the happiest guy in the building because his team won.The Patriots have spoiled us. And that’s why – ever after the stink bomb they detonated yesterday – it might be time for all of us to acknowledge what they’ve done for most of the last 13 years and cut them a little slack for this one.Yesterday, when Brady ran for five yards and a touchdown, and the Patriots had whittled the Denver advantage down to 10 points, how many of you immediately said to yourselves, “Gee, if they go for two, recover the onside kick, come back down the field and score eight again … we’re tied! Yeow!”I confess. I did.We’ve been conditioned to expect frantic finishes. The Patriots were never out of a game. Even in the four games they lost, they were behind by less than a touchdown, with the ball, as time was winding down. How can you criticize that?But the sands in the hourglass ran out. The Patriots weren’t ever in it, even for the few seconds it seemed as if they’d improbably climbed back to the point where a two-point conversion would have made it a one-score game.One loss – even a playoff loss – doesn’t negate the pluck this team showed through most of the year. It does, however, reinforce the reality that even pluck can’t overcome a deep talent disparity.As much as victories tend to obscure the flaws, losses tend to magnify them. And without dwelling on it too much, if Julian Edelman, who is certainly a nice player, is your first option at receiver you’re in serious trouble against a Denver team with four receivers, all of whom would be better options if playing for New England.Two years should be enough time for the coaching staff to determine that this isn’t a group put together to win big games. So the question is this: Do the Patriots focus more on ensuring Tom Brady’s legacy via a patchwork rebuilding process in hopes that they catch lightning in a bottle and win a fourth Super Bowl? Maybe they just concede that this group, for all its mental toughness, was simply not talented enough to do the job and that’s it’s time to move on from there.