The Patriots Are, At Last, Losers. Like The Rest Of Us.

It is rare in the world of sports to find a moment when two revelatory, unifying moments converge into something that stuns us all, from every direction. Around 10:20 p.m. ET last night, the sports planet's tectonic plates shifted so dramatically that we thought our heads would never stop spinning. Eli Manning changed every thought anyone had ever had about him, but we talked about that last night and will talk more about that later. Let's talk about the Patriots for a moment ... shall we?

Of all the great wallow-in-the-Patriots'-misery moments from last night, we still think nothing's gonna beat bringing back Tom Brady's own words to haunt him. To remind:

"We're only going to score 17 points? OK," a surprised Brady said.

At a certain level, all mockery directed at Brady and the Patriots can only sting so much: After all, they still have three rings, the Boston area still has a chance to add an NBA championship to their ridiculous resume and Brady still, at the very least, enjoyed manual manipulation from a supermodel to climax last night. But for one night, they were beneath all of us, losers not just to the Giants, but to all of us. They may win Super Bowls and date supermodels, but they are still human beings who can fail. And fail gloriously.

It is not that they did not play to the top of their capabilities. It is not that they were too cocky. (Probably.) It is just that they lost, despite doing their absolute best. We all know that feeling. Today, so do they.