Pressure forces Brady, Pats out of their game

GLENDALE, ARIZ. - The New England Patriots were 3-for-3 in Super Bowls under coach Bill Belichick and they were 18-0 for this season. All that perfection came to an end with the 17-14, last-minute loss to the New York Giants on Sunday night.

"It's a tough way to finish," linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. "Not even what was on the line [a perfect season] ... just that it's the Super Bowl. The winner is the world champion and the loser is just grouped into the 31 other teams."

Asked if the defeat had sunk in, Bruschi said: "I think it's evident when you lose the Super Bowl when you're walking off the field and you're getting confetti sprayed in your face with the other team's colors."

Tom Brady was the winning quarterback in three Super Bowls, and all were decided by the margin of a field goal. "We're usually on the right side of these three-point games," he said.

An intense Giants' rush victimized Brady in the first half. He was sacked three times for 21 yards and was knocked down another three times.

The Patriots led 7-3 at halftime, fell behind 10-7 in the fourth quarter, then put together what appeared to be a winning drive, scoring with 2:42 remaining. Brady completed 8 of 11 passes for 71 yards on that drive, the last being a 6-yarder to Randy Moss for the touchdown.

"The Giants are very good on defense," Brady said. "They have some great pressure schemes ... obviously great pass rushers. Once we got an idea of what we were doing, I thought we handled it much better. We just didn't get the ball in the end zone enough."

Brady shrugged, then said: "You score 14 points. That was our lowest total of the year and that got us beat."

Wes Welker, Brady's slot receiver, tied a Super Bowl record with 11 receptions. "We should move the ball a lot more effectively than we did," Welker said. "We didn't do that the whole game, and we should have."

Moss caught five passes for 62 yards, compared to 11 catches for 103 yards for Welker, who works the short middle for the Patriots.

"We had a game plan as a whole unit and we just didn't execute it," Moss said.

He's a free agent. Will he be back with the Patriots?

"If I am in a New England Patriot uniform next year, I would love to be in one," Moss said. "If I am not, the show must go on."