Tom Brady rallies the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Not long after Tom Brady had rallied his Tampa Bay Buccaneers from a 17-0 halftime deficit to remain in the National Football League playoff hunt, the New England Patriots did not survive in their quest for an 11th straight playoff appearance.

If there was a connection, there isn’t any now, for as the 43-year-old Brady runs the show now for the Bucs in his initial season there, down went his former team. He was replaced at quarterback by Cam Newton, and it just hasn’t worked out. No Brady, no post-season.

“I wasn’t concerned about any other team,” said Brady after the 31-27 comeback that put Tampa Bay at 9-4 and a game behind the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South. “I was just happy to make up for our inefficient first half, put our offense in gear, and get the win.”

This was on the road against the Atlanta Falcons, and if that sounds familiar, can’t  forget the way Brady, in the Super Bowl, brought New England back from a 31-0 first half gap to win its sixth Super Bowl. That was than, this was now. Same with the Patriots, that was than, and this was now, no Brady, no playoffs as New England dropped to 6-8 and a disappointing third place in the AFC East.

Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills abruptly ended the long Patriots run as AFC East champions, claiming the top spot for the first time in two decades. They currently hold down the No. 2 seed at 11-3 after the struggling PittsburghSteelers won their first 11 starts and replaced it with three-straight losses following Sunday’s stunning  27-17 setback at the Cincinnati Bengals‘ Paul Brown Stadium.

With 3rd string quarterback Jeff Finley running things, Cincinnati led 3-0 after one quarter, 17-0 at the half, 17-10 after three quarters, and then outscoring Pittsburgh 10-7 in the final quarter that was followed by the limited Bengals crowd celebrating along with the team, as Steeler fans just groaned and moaned.

This came only one day after the winless New York Jets won for the first time in 13 outings by traveling 3,000 miles to upset the Los Angeles Rams, 23-20, after they, too, led 17-0 at the intermission. It was a shocking defeat for the Rams as they slid from first place in the NFC West to 9-5 and a game behind the Seattle Seahawks, who they play Sunday.

As for New England, long-time head coach Bill Billecheck  got right to the point of the 22-12 loss at the Miami Dolphins, and avoided any questions regarding Newton.

“We played well in the first half and was outplayed and outcoached after that. It became a game where we just fell apart, Miami took over both on offense and on defense. We scored on four field goals and haven’t scored a touchdown in our last two games, so that’s that.”,

And the Fins remained in the wild card hunt, 9-5 in second place in the AFC East, and with a tiebreaker over the Baltimore Ravens, who are also 9-5 and third in the AFC North behind Pitt and the surprising Cleveland Browns,10-4 and now with a chance to catch the first place Steelers  On Sunday at MetLifeStadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Cleveland was again led by its quarterback Blake Mayfield, who passed for three touchdowns in the 28-3 rout that was costly to the Giants as they try to win the NFC East against the likes of the Washington Football Team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Dallas Cowboys.

But the first place lead that the Giants had has faded with two-straight losses that dropped them to third place at 5-9, kept Washington on top at 6-8 despite its tough 20-15 defeat at Seattle, Dallas 5-9 after turning back the visiting San Francisco 49ers, 41-33, and Philadelphia 4-10 after losing, 33-26, at the Arizona Cardinals. Two games to go for each, the Footballers home to Seattle and at Philadelphia, the Cowboys home to Philly and at the Giants, who are at Baltimore before facing Dallas, and the Eagles at the Cowboys and then home to Washington.

As of now, the AFC has the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (13-1) as its No. 1 seed, then come the Bills and Steelersand Tennessee Titans, who are tied with the Indianapolis Colts at 10-4 in the AFC South, but hold the tiebreaker over Indy, which shares the wild card spot with Cleveland, and with Miami with the current tiebreaker over Baltimore. The Colts are at Pittsburgh Sunday and Cleveland returns to New Jersey to play the Jets.

In the NFC, the Green Bay Packers (11-3) are presently the top seed, New Orleans and Seattle as the next two, and then the East winner. And the Rams are now a wild card and all even with the Bucs at 9-5, while Arizona (8-6) is holding off the surging Chicago Bears, who are all even at 7-7, and play at the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, with the Jags, at 1-13, now holding the tiebreaker over the Jets for the No. 1 pick in the college draft.

And Monday night, it’s not the usual Buffalo at New England clash, but for the soaring Bills to avoid injuries and remain a legitimate contender, and the Patriots to show up and be happy that their stadium won’t be packed this time with the frontrunning fans. Buffalo moves on, New England can hardly wait for the campaign to end.

As for Newton, he had another mediocre game, no touchdowns again, a 17-for-32 passing game for only 114 yards, and a ground game of 61 yards in which he was sacked three times and gained only 23 yards in eight carries. As for Brady, he remains ageless, doing what he’s done all these years for New England, but before new fans and sunny days instead of the die-hard fans and winter days.