It is always with sadness that our family greets the end of the football season — especially when our beloved Patriots are shut out of the playoffs with an 11-5 record, while some 8-8 teams go on to the postseason.

But there are some consolations that can be taken away from this great effort by Belichick and Co. A bright new star as quarterback has arisen in Matt Cassel, who finally got his chance to shine after Tom Brady’s season-ending injury. With the unfavorable reports on Brady’s rehab coming out of Foxboro, Cassel may play more next season.

The return of Junior Seau and Roosevelt Covin to the depleted defense shows how much respect players have for Coach Bill Belichick and this team. As Seau said, he wouldn’t have come back to football for anyone but the Patriots. What an example to people everywhere when someone like Seau not only returns but is also a huge contributor, regularly tackling players almost half his age!

Wes Welker and Steven Gostkowski deservedly made the Pro Bowl and Belichick had arguably one of his most impressive coaching seasons ever. We are saddened that we will not have a chance to see how far this crew could go in the postseason, but we can hold our heads high at the tremendous effort by the Patriots in the face of adversity.

The news of Eric Mangini’s firing as coach of the New York Jets is the ironic icing on the cake.

Go, Pats!

MARTIN G. BRADBURN

West Greenwich