Seems like a lot of people point to the games where they played us closely in late December and the wild card. Yes, they played us close both times. The playoff game was more of us shooting ourselves in the foot but they really went toe to toe with us in the December game. That being said, I don't remember anyone claiming we "closed the gap" with Brady and NE after the week 1 MNF game in 09 when we outplayed them the majority of the game and then just barely blew it in the end.