I don't consider it betrayal. When I think of being betrayed, I assume intent. As in, they said they were going to be good but lied and didn't even try to be good.

The media hype machine is what built the expectations, not the team. The team just added players and tried to get better.

I think what you are seeing is just how hard it is to be good consistently in this league. We ended last year on a high in large part thanks to catching other teams by surprise, momentum we built up, a very weak schedule, and a Steelers team that was reeling at the end of the season.

It takes a lot to show up every year able to compete and win games and win the division. You have to change enough to be fresh but you also have to stay true to the talent you have, it's not easy. We have a 2nd year coach who was only an OC for a year and a half before that. A lot of our talent is still relatively young and isn't used to winning at this level, which is a learned thing. Even though we aren't where we all hoped we would be, we are still a playoff contending team that nobody is going to "look past" and we have a much tougher schedule.

It takes a lot of key things, all working together, to be good year in and year out in this league.. and we haven't figured out that symmetry yet.

Everybody laughed last year when Brady went to the Bucs and the Pats struggled and the Bucs, with a highly regarded veteran coach, went on to win the super bowl.. they said, "See, I told you it was all about Tom Brady".... are they saying that now? It took Belichick one down year to retool, go get a young QB that he liked, figure out an offense for him.. and the Patriots are probably the best team in the AFC right now. It wasn't all Tom Brady, it was they synergy of things and Belichick just needed a year to find replacements for what he had lost because he is that freakin' good as a coach.

We have whined and complained that defenses are putting 7 men in the box and stopping our run.. Belichick said "I don't care" and the Bills had 8 and 9 in the box and he ran anyway, with success. Threw the ball THREE TIMES and won the game. Does Stefanski have the strength of conviction to do that? No, at least not yet. There is a lot to like about Stefanski but he is still very inexperienced at his job and he needs to figure these things out. And the team, from Baker on down, need to learn how to win in this league, how to win late, how to win ugly, how to win unconventionally, just win...