Best Patriots Regular Season Win under BB

[RedOctober3829]

To piggyback off of the loss thread.....

I'd nominate the Sunday Night game against Denver in 2013. Down 24-0 and they come back to win 34-31.

My favorite regular season win was the '07 game against Pittsburgh when Anthony Smith talked trash before the game and then they thrashed them 34-13. Brady was 32-46 for 399 and 4 TDs.

 

[DJnVa]

The next one.

 

[tims4wins]

This is a really difficult thread. I mean, define best. I can think of tons. I'll define best as times when the Pats may not have been the favorite, or just really crucial wins within those seasons. Not favorite wins or something like that. Key wins in the season to help them accomplish what they did.

But from the SB winning seasons, (mostly) off the top of my head:
2001 at Jets: come back from 13-0 down to win 17-16, a key win en route to the division title
2001 vs. Saints: TB12 named starter for rest of season, throws 4 TDs in a blowout win. The first of the 8 straight wins to end the year
2003 week 2 at Philly: immediate W after they hate their coach. Very, very important
2003 at Indy: Willie
2004 at St. Louis: they had just lost in Pittsburgh. They were extremely banged up in the secondary (no Law or Poole and I think Samuel or Gay got knocked out of the game early in the first quarter). It was a huge road win. Vinatieri with the fake FG pass to Troy Brown
2014: on to Cincinnati

Edit:
2003 at Denver (hat tip to @Bergs )
2003 at Miami (OT thriller)
2003 vs. Titans

 

[Bergs]

I think I'd go with the intentional safety game against Denver.

 

[Pxer]

The true Patriot answer is "the next one."

2018 Pats-Chiefs 43-40

Old man Gronk went off.

 

[tims4wins]

I think I'd go with the intrentional safety game against Denver.

YES a great call. Denver was always a house of horrors. This was a phenomenal win, even though the QB was Danny Kannell

 

[E5 Yaz]

Sorry ... but the answer is The Butt Fumble Game

It's the gift that keeps on giving

 

[snowmanny]

There's always the 2014 Patriots @ 2-2, thrashed by Kansas City, sky falling, Brady being called a liar on F&M because he said he had faith in the offense, home underdogs against the undefeated Bengals...

 

[Helmet Head]

I would nominate the 2001 Jets game in the Meadowlands. It was a huge victory. The Jets were stacked and I don’t think many people took the Pats seriously at that point.

My personal favorite was 2003 @ Colts when McGinest stuffed James at the goal line to win. That one has to be up there too.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

There are like 5 or 6 games from the 2003 season alone that could be mentioned here. Intentional safety in Denver (where they almost never win) and goal line stand in Indy are two. 31-0 bookend win against the Bills to the 31-0 loss to start the season.

 

[tims4wins]

I would nominate the 2001 Jets game in the Meadowlands. It was a huge victory. The Jets were stacked and I don’t think many people took the Pats seriously at that point.

My personal favorite was 2003 @ Colts when McGinest stuffed James at the goal line to win. That one has to be up there too.

There are like 5 or 6 games from the 2003 season alone that could be mentioned here. Intentional safety in Denver (where they almost never win) and goal line stand in Indy are two. 31-0 bookend win against the Bills to the 31-0 loss to start the season.

Ha I mentioned both - including like 5 games from 2003. That was probably my favorite season all things considered

 

[E5 Yaz]

My personal favorite was 2003 @ Colts when McGinest stuffed James at the goal line to win. That one has to be up there too.

View: https://www.facebook.com/NFL-Throwback-1930290407009504/videos/2003-indianapolis-colts-vs-new-england-patriots/573208099764069/

 

[slamminsammya]

The first game that came to mind was the Denver intentional safety game.

The 2007 game in Indy with the 4th quarter comeback was up there too. Randy had a bunch of clutch catches. The hype for that game was immense, I think the Colts were 7-0 at the time and the Pats obviously were 8-0.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

Ha I mentioned both - including like 5 games from 2003. That was probably my favorite season all things considered

Mine also. Made 2001 not a fluke. Most wins in franchise history before then was 11. I was at the last game vs the Bills, tailgating before the game much of the discussion was around 14 wins, and the Pats simply never winning that many games in a season. And of course the playoffs that year were sublime with the freezing game against the Titans, thrashing Indy when many were picking the Colts, and the crazy SB vs the Panthers.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

16th win against the Giants should also be mentioned, Scottish game be damned.

 

[Import78]

For sheer domination its tough to top the 59-0 win against the Titans in '09.

There are certainly more important games than that one, but it might be their best (regular season) game. It is probably not very high on the importance scale.

On a personal note, I was at the 2010 45-3 game that was also Bruschi night. That one might have been better since both teams were having a strong season and it was a divisional game.

 

[Jungleland]

Pats-Bills 1998 where Ben Coates scored on the untimed down - one of the great sports memories of my childhood, will stick with me forever
Colts 2003 goal line stand game - is there a better representation of how magical that 2 season stretch was?
2007 Steelers Anthony Smith guarantee game (most fun regular season game I've ever been to bar none)
2014 onto Cincinnati - in hindsight among the most significant games in team history
2016 Texans - Brissett starts and we shut out the Texans, downright hilarious win

Feel like I've gotta be missing one of the 2010 games right after Branch came back and the offense was just humming. Most pure fun stretch of regular season games there was, imo.

Edit: Also just realized we're talking under BB only, as if the 98 Bills game wasn't already an outlier here haha

 

[worm0082]

The 59-0 game in the snow in classic uniforms View: https://youtu.be/7A7cJp0f-e4

 

[RIrooter09]

The 59-0 game in the snow in classic uniforms View: https://youtu.be/7A7cJp0f-e4

I gave away tickets to this one. Still maybe the right move in hindsight.

 

[tims4wins]

Mine also. Made 2001 not a fluke. Most wins in franchise history before then was 11. I was at the last game vs the Bills, tailgating before the game much of the discussion was around 14 wins, and the Pats simply never winning that many games in a season. And of course the playoffs that year were sublime with the freezing game against the Titans, thrashing Indy when many were picking the Colts, and the crazy SB vs the Panthers.

Pats-Bills 1998 where Ben Coates scored on the untimed down - one of the great sports memories of my childhood, will stick with me forever
Colts 2003 goal line stand game - is there a better representation of how magical that 2 season stretch was?
2007 Steelers Anthony Smith guarantee game (most fun regular season game I've ever been to bar none)
2014 onto Cincinnati - in hindsight among the most significant games in team history
2016 Texans - Brissett starts and we shut out the Texans, downright hilarious win

Feel like I've gotta be missing one of the 2010 games right after Branch came back and the offense was just humming. Most pure fun stretch of regular season games there was, imo.

I was skiing in Colorado for the 2003 finale - 11am kickoff out there - my dad and I sat down at the bar in the lodge and ended up watching the whole thing (and drinking a bit too much to be skiing after). I also went to the Super Bowl so year that stands out.

Great call on the 2016 Texans game - that was a lot of fun.

Edit: for a 2010 game, there were a lot, but Thanksgiving @ Detroit and 45-3 vs. the Jets were a lot of fun. I remember the Pats fell behind to Miami late in the season at home - by multiple scores, I think - and I remember saying to my dad, "Pats by 3 scores". And then they ended up winning both big.

 

[SumnerH]

Sorry ... but the answer is The Butt Fumble Game

It's the gift that keeps on giving

No other game has brought so much joy to so many.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Another great win was the 39-26 (wasn't really that close) demolition of the Steelers in 2010. It came right after the awful Browns loss mentioned in the other thread, when a lot of people were questioning whether the new look Patriots were actually legit, Gronk announced himself on the league with three TDs, we absolutely wrecked what many people thought was the best team in the league, and it was really just the start of the new era in a way.

 

[Helmet Head]

View: https://www.facebook.com/NFL-Throwback-1930290407009504/videos/2003-indianapolis-colts-vs-new-england-patriots/573208099764069/

Wow, I had forgotten how putrid the offense was in the second half. Would have been a blowout had they not turned it over 3 times.

Also, game ball to Bethel Johnson

 

[Nator]

The intentional safety game in Denver is mine. Instead of being 6-3 they were 7-2 coming out of that game.

But the Cinci 2014 game is a sneaky good one. I was talking to buddy (a Lions fan, poor bastard) on the Friday prior to the game. It was of course after the MNF KC shellacking. I told him, "This is what they do. They play like shit, they lose big, everyone starts shoveling dirt of them, and then they'll come out and kick the crap out of the Bengals on Sunday night."

2003 and 2014 are my two favorite teams of the Brady era. Those regular seasons were fun rides.

 

[m0ckduck]

Not the best, but a wildly entertaining and forgotten one is week 17, 2002 against the Dolphins. Brady leads a furious comeback in the final minutes, Pats win in OT to put themselves in position to go to the postseason (if the Jets will oblige by losing later that day, which they don't).

 

[Mooch]

For me, it's an early one:

Patriots 44, Colts 13.

The arrival of Tom Brady and more importantly, the first time that you could sense that this was a new era of Patriot football. If you could capture the birth of the modern era Pats, it's this game and this one play in particular:

View: https://twitter.com/bostonsportsinf/status/1362044753735516160

 

[tims4wins]

Not the best, but a wildly entertaining and forgotten one is week 17, 2002 against the Dolphins. Brady leads a furious comeback in the final minutes, Pats win in OT to put themselves in position to go to the postseason (if the Jets will oblige by losing later that day, which they don't).

2002 also had the epic comeback in Chicago (well, Champaign).

 

[Kliq]

2017 Week 15 against the Steelers. Pats 10-3, Steelers 11-2. Gronk just had an all-time dominant performance in the second half, including on the game-winning drive where he was the closest a pass catcher had ever been to being unstoppable.

Steelers made a combeack on the final drive, a TD got overturned on a controversial catch call, then Ben totally choked with an all-time bad pick in the end zone (when a FG would have tied the game).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMXeLqj_dhc

 

[Ralphwiggum]

Not the best, but a wildly entertaining and forgotten one is week 17, 2002 against the Dolphins. Brady leads a furious comeback in the final minutes, Pats win in OT to put themselves in position to go to the postseason (if the Jets will oblige by losing later that day, which they don't).

I was at this game. First time (of many) that I saw Tom Brady play in person.

 

[peeves5478]

For sheer domination its tough to top the 59-0 win against the Titans in '09.

There are certainly more important games than that one, but it might be their best (regular season) game. It is probably not very high on the importance scale.

On a personal note, I was at the 2010 45-3 game that was also Bruschi night. That one might have been better since both teams were having a strong season and it was a divisional game.

2 completions and -7 yards passing for Tennessee in a game they were losing by 59 in the 3rd quarter. It almost didn't seem possible in this era. They couldn't wait to get out of that stadium.

I tried to think of a few before reading the thread, and most were covered here already. The intentional safety, 59-0, the comeback against the Broncos, butt fumble, goal line stand against Indy, etc.

I was going to say the Vikes game in 1994, which seemed to be the turning point in this franchise after Kraft's acquisition, until I reread the title of the thread. But keeping with that theme I'll go with Brady's 1st start of his career where they lit up a 2-0 Peyton team that was coming off of 2 blowouts. The David Patten game a few weeks later was a fun one as well.

 

[m0ckduck]

For sheer entertainment value, the Gonk “threw him out of the club” game in 2014 is hard to top. Featuring the crazy Gronk rumble for TD while switching ball to his free hand to swat away defenders. And throwing the Colts DB Into a camera well. And an absolute beatdown of Indy team who was thought by many pundits to be the class of the AFC. And the Jonas Gray 201 yard game.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

My personal favorite was 2003 @ Colts when McGinest stuffed James at the goal line to win. That one has to be up there too.

I think the thing that is most notable about that game is the heroic effort that the defense put up in that last drive to save what likely would have been an excellent candidate for the worst Patriots' regular season loss of all time.

That would have been one of most epic collapses and comebacks of all time had it not been for that goal line stand. The Patriots were awful situationally in the back half of that game. It was 28-3 level awfulness. But they pulled it out of their asses in a game that really came to exemplify what the Patriots were about -- each unit almost always had the others' backs.

 

[Mugsy's Jock]

No other game has brought so much joy to so many.

...for so many years.

Butt-fumble FTW.

 

[lexrageorge]

I think all of my personal favorites have been mentioned. So I'll add an honorable mention to the 2003 game against the Dolphins immediate after a massive blizzard blanketed New England. Bruschi ran back a pick 6 and the fans threw snow to the TD celebration music.

 

[tims4wins]

I think all of my personal favorites have been mentioned. So I'll add an honorable mention to the 2003 game against the Dolphins immediate after a massive blizzard blanketed New England. Bruschi ran back a pick 6 and the fans threw snow to the TD celebration music.

Not one but two 12-0 wins that season. That team won by every single way possible.

 

[Deathofthebambino]

I was at this game. First time (of many) that I saw Tom Brady play in person.

There isn't a home game in this thread that I wasn't there in person. It would be like choosing between my children which ones were the best (ftr, my dog is my best child, so that's probably an easier call). I never missed a single Gronk home game, saw Brady's first 100+ home games, and every playoff game. The Titans beat down, the Jets wins, the Peyton Manning beatings, the 28-0 win in the finale against the Dolphins with the snow flying, the Tedy Brushi game also in the snow against Miami, the 34-3 demolition of the Chiefs when Gronk went ass over tea kettle into the end zone and on and on and on....

 

[Ralphwiggum]

2003 really was a ridiculous year. They also won in OT in Miami (another place where, at the time, they never won) on an 82 yard Brady to Troy Brown bomb after Olindo Mare missed a short FG kicking off of the dirt baseball infield.

 

[tims4wins]

2003 really was a ridiculous year. They also won in OT in Miami (another place where, at the time, they never won) on an 82 yard Brady to Troy Brown bomb after Olindo Mare missed a short FG kicking off of the dirt baseball infield.

And had another blocked.

 

[bankshot1]

The Denver safety game was the first that came to mind. The next level Spockian use of logic, tactics and execution was spocktacular.

 

[lexrageorge]

Not one but two 12-0 wins that season. That team won by every single way possible.

That 2003 season was really cool. It was great to see the team go 14-2, which really started a long stretch of league dominance (even if many of the games were close).

A couple of other favorites from that season:

- In Miami in October. Pre-game buzz was that the Pats always wilt in the Florida heat. Game goes to OT when Olindo Mare misses a chip shot FG from the Marlins infield dirt. Same thing happens again in OT. Only reason there is dirt is because the Marlins are in the World Series, beating up on the Yankees. OT ends when Brady throws a pass to a wide open Troy Brown for an 82 yard catch-and-run TD. After the game, Bill says something to the effect "Yeah, everyone said it would be too hot for us to win down here"

- The other 12-0 win was the Tuna Bowl against Dallas, the first meeting of the former friends turned rivals. Bill Parcells looked shellshocked after the 7-2 Cowboys were shut out thanks to 3 picks.

And one from 2004, for a different reason altogether:

- 5-0 Patriots meet the 5-0 Jets in Foxborough. Pats won 13-10 after holding Jets to 115 yards total offense in the 2nd half. After the game ends, the fans start chanting "Who's your daddy?", as the game was all of 4 days after the Sox miracle comeback in the Bronx.

 

[JOBU]

I gave away tickets to this one. Still maybe the right move in hindsight.

I was at this game. Flew in from AZ because I was hopeful the Red Sox were going to advance to the ALCS against the Yankees. Wound up going to this game instead. I didn’t prepare for the trip properly (really New England in the fall is quite pleasant). I attended the game in jeans, sneakers and a hoodie (with layers) I was completely soaked through and the most miserable/uncomfortable I’ve ever been at a sporting event and I’ve been in a lot of bullshit conditions

 

[jmcc5400]

An obscure one, but a late November 2004 game at the Blade against the Ravens. Baltimore was 7-3 and the Pats were 9-1. An absolute defensive slugfest, but the Pats D strangled the Ravens (and scored a touchdown of their own) while Corey Dillon ground out 120 yards on the ground and pounded in a two-point conversion. 24-3 Pats in a dominant win that was emblematic of those extraordinary 2003-2004 teams.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/241128017

View: https://youtu.be/ueGrCOnL--s

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

I think I'd go with the intentional safety game against Denver.

This is what I came to post when I saw the thread title.

 

[Euclis20]

2017 Week 15 against the Steelers. Pats 10-3, Steelers 11-2. Gronk just had an all-time dominant performance in the second half, including on the game-winning drive where he was the closest a pass catcher had ever been to being unstoppable.

Steelers made a combeack on the final drive, a TD got overturned on a controversial catch call, then Ben totally choked with an all-time bad pick in the end zone (when a FG would have tied the game).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMXeLqj_dhc

Gronk's celebration on the 2 point conversion is my favorite celebration of all-time.

 

[moretsyndrome]

This is a really difficult thread. I mean, define best. I can think of tons. I'll define best as times when the Pats may not have been the favorite, or just really crucial wins within those seasons. Not favorite wins or something like that. Key wins in the season to help them accomplish what they did.

But from the SB winning seasons, (mostly) off the top of my head:
2001 at Jets: come back from 13-0 down to win 17-16, a key win en route to the division title
2001 vs. Saints: TB12 named starter for rest of season, throws 4 TDs in a blowout win. The first of the 8 straight wins to end the year
2003 week 2 at Philly: immediate W after they hate their coach. Very, very important
2003 at Indy: Willie
2004 at St. Louis: they had just lost in Pittsburgh. They were extremely banged up in the secondary (no Law or Poole and I think Samuel or Gay got knocked out of the game early in the first quarter). It was a huge road win. Vinatieri with the fake FG pass to Troy Brown
2014: on to Cincinnati

Edit:
2003 at Denver (hat tip to @Bergs )
2003 at Miami (OT thriller)
2003 vs. Titans

The bolded Philly game is the one for me. There was still the dismissive aura of "fluke" around this team, based on 2002 and game 1 of 2003 did not help, at all. Given how good Philly was that year, I was not super confident, and they delivered a pretty sound ass-kicking that really kicked this whole thing into overdrive.

2007 at NYG. Only Tecmo Bowl games end like that. Incredible.

 

[wilked]

maybe not top, but the first game with Brady sidelined with his bogus deflate gate suspension in 2016.

jimmyG vs Arizona, no one knew exactly what to expect, and just like always NE rolls out a tough win. That 3-0 run with two different backups was tremendously satisfying

 

[cornwalls@6]

I think I'd go with the intentional safety game against Denver.

I think that's mine as well. Everything about it, the strategy, the physicality of the game, the primetime setting, doing it in a city, through 2 stadiums, that had traditionally been a house of horrors for them, etc. That's the night I really believed they were going to win No. 2, which validated the skin of 2001, and set them off on the dynasty. Obviously, wasn't thinking of all those things at the time. But in retrospect, that feels like a big game in the story of their unprecedented run.

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

The bolded Philly game is the one for me. There was still the dismissive aura of "fluke" around this team, based on 2002 and game 1 of 2003 did not help, at all. Given how good Philly was that year, I was not super confident, and they delivered a pretty sound ass-kicking that really kicked this whole thing into overdrive.

2007 at NYG. Only Tecmo Bowl games end like that. Incredible.

2007 was full of amazing games, and games that were amazing for wildly different reasons. Unfortunately that whole season lives under the cloud of its ending.

• The opener @NYJ was an all-time "put everyone on notice" game, especially after the rubbish about Moss being cut
• The game in Dallas was great fun and I remember it being looked at as big early prove-it game.
• Extremely hard-fought win against Indy including what is one of the best catches I've ever seen by Moss
• The batshit crazy ending to the Baltimore game
• As you said, the just-missed bomb to Moss followed IMMEDIATELY by the successful bomb to Moss was absurd. Just absurd. What a season. It's a damn shame.

 

[jmcc5400]

2007 was full of amazing games, and games that were amazing for wildly different reasons. Unfortunately that whole season lives under the cloud of its ending.

• The opener @NYJ was an all-time "put everyone on notice" game, especially after the rubbish about Moss being cut
• The game in Dallas was great fun and I remember it being looked at as big early prove-it game.
• Extremely hard-fought win against Indy including what is one of the best catches I've ever seen by Moss
• The batshit crazy ending to the Baltimore game
• As you said, the just-missed bomb to Moss followed IMMEDIATELY by the successful bomb to Moss was absurd. Just absurd. What a season. It's a damn shame.

Also, just how absurdly good Welker was. That he was stolen from the Dolphins made it that much sweeter.

 

[tims4wins]

2017 Week 15 against the Steelers. Pats 10-3, Steelers 11-2. Gronk just had an all-time dominant performance in the second half, including on the game-winning drive where he was the closest a pass catcher had ever been to being unstoppable.

Steelers made a combeack on the final drive, a TD got overturned on a controversial catch call, then Ben totally choked with an all-time bad pick in the end zone (when a FG would have tied the game).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMXeLqj_dhc

Great call, this was so much fun in real time

An obscure one, but a late November 2004 game at the Blade against the Ravens. Baltimore was 7-3 and the Pats were 9-1. An absolute defensive slugfest, but the Pats D strangled the Ravens (and scored a touchdown of their own) while Corey Dillon ground out 120 yards on the ground and pounded in a two-point conversion. 24-3 Pats in a dominant win that was emblematic of those extraordinary 2003-2004 teams.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/241128017

View: https://youtu.be/ueGrCOnL--s

I remember... cuz I was there. Fun game.

Here's an unmentioned one: 2009 opener vs. the Bills. Brady's first game back after missing 2008. Down 24-12 late 4th quarter. TD pass to Watson. Bills for whatever reason decide to run the kick out of the endzone (LOL Bills). They fumble, Pats recover, another TD pass to Watson. Epic win.

And another: 2016 @ Cleveland. Brady's first game back, part 2. He threw TDs and was BACK.