The Patriots - Post Dynasty

[sheajets]

I'm not calling an end to the dynasty yet though I'd very much like to. In fact I like their chances of repeating next year. Still eventually father time catches up to everybody and I don't buy this "miracle diet" hullabaloo regarding Brady. Belichick I believe is 65 and has offered no indication as to when the date is (only Kraft knows supposedly, he's told him)

Prior to 2001 the Patriots were a stabilized franchise that had enjoyed some success following the disastrous 1989-1993 period with a rather small, apathetic fanbase. New England was not a football hotbed in any way. The time I spent up there in the late 80's and early 90s I can honestly say Giants and even Bills gear creeping from upstate NY outnumbered anything Patriots related. I even remember seeing Expos hats on the beach in Maine but not Patriots gear.

It was just not a football region. They were wild about the Red Sox, and loved their Bruins and Celtics. The Patriots were a solid 4th. When there were were rumors of a move to St. Louis in 1993...nobody cared.

Since 2001 it's been a Cambrian Explosion of football excellence and accomplishing things nobody though they'd ever dream of. A Patriots dynasty was unthinkable. That this team which had spent the better part of 40 years going back and forth between middling-bad-and just ok. That they could stamp their legacy in a Steelers or Cowboys or 49ers type way was just impossible.

But they did, and 16 years later they can hang their hats with, and above a lot of those teams (I won't put them in with the Pack/Bears/Giants - the NFL stalwarts from the beginning)

But what comes next for them? When the championship run ends, will the infrastructure for sustained winning decade after decade like the Cowboys and Steelers enjoyed keep them up there as a national franchise, or once the first 4-12 season hits will they sink back to the 15,000 at Schaefer Stadium Patriots?

When the 49ers two decade run of excellence finally ended in 2003 they fairly quickly lost all semblance of being an elite national franchise. It was a run of real anonymity.

[JWL]

I have half-jokingly, half-seriously been stating that prior to 2001, the Patriots were the Jets.

You could look it up. The Patriots were 14.5 or 15 or 15.5 games better than the Jets from 1960-2000 but the Jets had a Super Bowl championship. The franchises were basically even.

Now? The Jets are like a dead possum on a road and the Patriots are the truck that ran over that possum fifty miles ago.

It is amazing what happened in the past 16 seasons.

It is my only hope as a fan that the Jets will someday have even half the metamorphosis that the Patriots had.

[falconfan58]

I want to see what the Pats will be like when Brady retires,is cut ,traded,etc.I know the season he got hurt in the first game ,they went 11-5 with Matt Casell,but he was there when the season started and they knew he'd be back.And I know they won't do as well with the 2nd or third string QB.If you look at all the great teams,they went doenhill after their great QB wasn't there anymore.And I'll be surprised if they repeat as Superbowl champs.All the Falcons had to do was kick a field goal,and use the ball better.But...

[sheajets]

I have half-jokingly, half-seriously been stating that prior to 2001, the Patriots were the Jets.

You could look it up. The Patriots were 14.5 or 15 or 15.5 games better than the Jets from 1960-2000 but the Jets had a Super Bowl championship. The franchises were basically even.

Now? The Jets are like a dead possum on a road and the Patriots are the truck that ran over that possum fifty miles ago.

It is amazing what happened in the past 16 seasons.

It is my only hope as a fan that the Jets will someday have even half the metamorphosis that the Patriots had.

Not a bad comparison. But success wise the Patriots had done quite well since 1994 or so. They got lucky in 1996 sneaking into a SB...Jaguars beat Denver and I doubt NE beats Denver if they have to face them in the playoffs (Denver absolutely walloped them earlier in the year) just tore them up for 200+ yards on the ground and won 34-8. The Patriots were still fairly anonymous on the national stage though. 1997-2000 nobody really saw them as a Super Bowl threat. For the longest time the only great player associated with the team was John Hannah

[sheajets]

I want to see what the Pats will be like when Brady retires,is cut ,traded,etc.I know the season he got hurt in the first game ,they went 11-5 with Matt Casell,but he was there when the season started and they knew he'd be back.And I know they won't do as well with the 2nd or third string QB.If you look at all the great teams,they went doenhill after their great QB wasn't there anymore.And I'll be surprised if they repeat as Superbowl champs.All the Falcons had to do was kick a field goal,and use the ball better.But...

The sample is still small but Cassel's success and then Garoppolo's this year points to the fact that the system DOES have a not insignificant effect on Brady's greatness. And to their credit they run a perfect efficient airtight system with very intelligent players (and always a good O-Line)

Very rarely do I ever see Tom Brady throw to somebody who isn't wide open.

And teams will just fall over themselves giving N.E. the moon for Garoppolo...who outside the N.E. system will be nothing special. I would put my life on the line ends up average at best.

[rhickok1109]

Very rarely do I ever see Tom Brady throw to somebody who isn't wide open.

I can't believe you mean that. With a name like "sheajets," surely you've seen the Patriots play.

[7DnBrnc53]

It is amazing what happened in the past 16 seasons.

I know, and it doesn't really make any sense. After they won their first SB, I thought they were a one-hit wonder. And, after a 9-7 2002 season and a 31-0 loss to Buffalo in Week 1 of the 03 season, they looked like pretenders.

However, after that Dolphin win in Week 7 of the 03 season (the infamous Mare FG miss OT game), this team seems to always find a way to win, and it hasn't stopped since. I don't understand it (unless they were cheating, which they were). I can't believe that the league is so pathetic compared to NE the last 13 years or so. It's not like the Pats have had that many HOF players. Heck, Brady wouldn't have been HOF if he started his career anywhere else.

[JohnH19]

Heck, Brady wouldn't have been HOF if he started his career anywhere else.

Yawn.

[Saban1]

I want to see what the Pats will be like when Brady retires,is cut ,traded,etc.I know the season he got hurt in the first game ,they went 11-5 with Matt Casell,but he was there when the season started and they knew he'd be back.And I know they won't do as well with the 2nd or third string QB.If you look at all the great teams,they went doenhill after their great QB wasn't there anymore.And I'll be surprised if they repeat as Superbowl champs.All the Falcons had to do was kick a field goal,and use the ball better.But...

The sample is still small but Cassel's success and then Garoppolo's this year points to the fact that the system DOES have a not insignificant effect on Brady's greatness. And to their credit they run a perfect efficient airtight system with very intelligent players (and always a good O-Line)

Very rarely do I ever see Tom Brady throw to somebody who isn't wide open.

And teams will just fall over themselves giving N.E. the moon for Garoppolo...who outside the N.E. system will be nothing special. I would put my life on the line ends up average at best.

I think that Brady's great, but the system does make a difference. Look at Milt Plum's stats with Cleveland and then compare them with his Detroit stats. Of course, with Cleveland a screen pass to Jim Brown or Bobby Mitchell could turn into an 80 yard pass completion.

[Jeremy Crowhurst]

the system DOES have a not insignificant effect on Brady's greatness.

Baugh, Graham, Starr, Fouts, Montana, Kelly, Young... you could say the same thing about all of them, and a few others as well.