By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years

The 28-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game Sunday night left the Patriots without a Super Bowl title for the eighth straight year and sent them into an offseason when they could lose two key players.

Matchups for the AFC championship game Sunday between the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Alfonzo Dennard watched himself on the video board as he raced 87 yards with an interception for a touchdown. He wanted to see if the star rookie who threw the pass might catch him.

Another game was slipping away from the New England Patriots down the stretch. This time, their opponent made the biggest mistakes.
The New England Patriots (4-3) beat the New York Jets 29-26 on Sunday to move into sole possession of first place in the AFC East. Rob Ninkovich recovered a fumble by Mark Sanchez after Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 48-yard field goal in overtime as the Patriots held on for the win.
The Buffalo Bills will have to shuffle their offensive line after losing two starters to injuries in a 52-28 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday.
For every Drew Brees and Ray Lewis, there is a David Tyree or Larry Brown. Not only do superstars win Super Bowls, super nobodies are heroes, too.
Tim Tebow needs more R&R than anyone thought.
John Kasay kicked a 26-yard field goal in overtime to give the New Orleans Saints a 26-23 victory over Atlanta after Falcons coach Mike Smith decided to go for it on fourth down deep in his own territory Sunday.
The New England Patriots defense picked the perfect time to deliver its best effort of the season.
Tom Brady has done plenty of traveling this offseason _ to Brazil for Carnival, to Mexico where he navigated a water slide and to the Kentucky Derby where he sported a Panama hat over his long locks.

Patrick Chung blocked two kicks and returned an interception for a touchdown, and the New England Patriots scored twice on special teams to beat the hapless Miami Dolphins 41-14 on Monday night.
"That whole era is over with. It's gone," defensive end Rob Ninkovich said. "This is a whole new team. This is a different bunch of guys so we all have to experience it and learn for ourselves what that's like."
"That was quick," Patriots defensive end Rob Ninkovich said. "They were some of the quickest scores I've ever seen on any level. As a defense, that's a good sign, when we're putting good pressure on the ball. It then means something when the offense capitalizes on the mistakes we caused."