Can the Patriots get better from a talent perspective on defense? Certainly.
But I’m not sure they could have played much better last night as a group.
And they did it on the biggest stage.
You couldn’t ask anymore of the defense. Holding that Giants offense to 15 points until that late touchdown, when the Patriots allowed the Giants to score, was the type of performance many thought they weren’t capable of. But they proved us wrong.
The Patriots defense had a winning performance.
The offense did not, and that’s why the Patriots lost this Super Bowl.
Much-maligned defense wasn’t the problem – The Boston Globe
This just goes to show you can spend all season talking about how the defense was the Patriots’ Achilles Heal yet it was the most trusted part of the team that couldn’t come through in the clutch.