If you're not watching every minute of every game, savoring everything that happens, you're a dumbass loser bitch. This is sports perfection playing out for 15 years now.
Yup.
Spent the week at an off-site meeting surrounded by Patriots haters. Yet somehow they were hedging tonight like they knew the Pats were going to find a way to win. Now they all hate life, and I am gloating.
What a team.
They are trying to find solace in constructing an "seee I told you Brady was an overrated bum!!" argument. When he comes back and puts fools on notice they'll have nothing.
Scrolling through some other message boards, there are basically two opinions when it comes to the Pats.
1. They are most certainly still cheating in some form and they will be caught eventually.
2. Brady really is just a system QB and this is tainting his legacy even more than DFG. I saw one poster even say that Brady must be totally embarrassed that this is happening.
It continues to be a glorious time to be a Pats fan. Last night had all the giddiness of a late season huge W in previous years.
1. They are most certainly still cheating in some form and they will be caught eventually.
2. Brady really is just a system QB and this is tainting his legacy even more than DFG. I saw one poster even say that Brady must be totally embarrassed that this is happening.
It continues to be a glorious time to be a Pats fan. Last night had all the giddiness of a late season huge W in previous years.
Yup, hearing the same from Patriot-hating co-workers, especially #2. A simple, "I don't care, they're 3-0 and getting Brady, Gronk, Hightower, and Nink back" results in *crickets* every time.
With color commentary from the hilarious, thoughtful, intelligent, must-listen Michael Irvin. His recent tweets are gold.
If there was an "honorary" NEP Hall of Famer category, Irvin would get my vote. So would Florio & Sally Jenkins.
Pats p*rn alert: tonight at 8pm on NFL Network is the Top 10 all time Pats, followed by Football Life: Rodney Harrison
OK, this is a fun way to pass the time on a Friday afternoon:
1. Brady
2. Hannah
Others?
Bruce Armstrong
Mike Haynes
Sam Bam Cunningham
Ty Law
Vinatieri
Gronk
R. Harrison
Bledsoe
Moss
Welker
No way on Welker. Moss wasn't here long enough. Troy Brown has to be on there. Bruschi too
I would go with (in no particular order)
Brady
Hannah
Cunningham
Armstrong
Haynes
Law
Bruschi
Brown
Bledsoe
Vinatieri (maybe as #10)
toughest omissions: Gronk, McGinest, Rodney, Milloy, Vrabel
I would go with (in no particular order)
Brady
Hannah
Cunningham
Armstrong
Haynes
Law
Bruschi
Brown
Bledsoe
Vinatieri (maybe as #10)
toughest omissions: Gronk, McGinest, Rodney, Milloy, Vrabel
I'm just sitting here, blissed out, consuming every word, highlighyt, interview...in the moment, and what a moment to be in!
first time I can remember being excited for their programming since BB football life. DVR is set, thanks!
Manish Mehta @MMehtaNYDN 3h3 hours agoThe hurt is strong this morning.
Column: I'll never doubt Belichick again. I'll never doubt Belichick again. I'll never doubt Belichick again. I'll.. http://nydn.us/2cRBYYp
Includes this bit of truth: "Bill's game plan each week is the best game plan," Patriots defensive back Duron Harmon said.
Tom Brady's career regular season record - excluding the victory over KC in 2008 since the score was 0-0 when he was injured - is 171-51, 77.0%. Without Brady, since 2001, the Patriots have gone 14-5, 73.7%. Just pure amazing.
Tippett? Dude is an NFL hall of fame. Buoniconti is too (though half his career was with Miami so maybe we can't count him).
My top 10:
1. Brady
2. Hannah
3. Tippett
4. Haynes
5. Armstrong
6. Bruschi
7. Bledsoe
8. Nelson
9. Law
10. Wilfork
This depends on your criteria but I don't know how Drew Bledsoe isn't a top 5 player for this franchise. We all know the importance of the QB in the game and Drew helped turn this team from the equivalent of the modern day Cleveland Browns into a Super Bowl contender. He had his warts and his cement cleats but he is a top 5 player in my book.
Brady
Hannah
Tippett
Haynes
Ty Law
Wilfork
Stanley Morgan
Bruschi
Bledsoe
Matt Light
Honorable mentions: Armstrong, Troy Brown, McGinest, Grogan, Nelson, Vinitieri, Clayborn, Harrison, Gronk, Welker, Moss, Edelman, Coates, Mankins, Cunningham, Faulk...
(pro-football-reference AV really likes OL: 5 of their top 20 players for the Pats are OL, with Mankins at #4, and Koppen at #20)
Hannah
Tippett
Haynes
Ty Law
Wilfork
Stanley Morgan
Bruschi
Bledsoe
Matt Light
Honorable mentions: Armstrong, Troy Brown, McGinest, Grogan, Nelson, Vinitieri, Clayborn, Harrison, Gronk, Welker, Moss, Edelman, Coates, Mankins, Cunningham, Faulk...
(pro-football-reference AV really likes OL: 5 of their top 20 players for the Pats are OL, with Mankins at #4, and Koppen at #20)
This is a pretty good list but I'd probably replace Light with Gronk. Gronk is going to the HOF (unless he completely falls off a cliff). Matt Light was a very good player for the Pats at an important position for a very long time, but he was never elite IMO.
Even if Gronk never played another game I think he is one of the Top 10 at his position to ever play.
Your lists probably have too many players. Consider picking nine. Belichick will most likely be number one since Tom Landry was number one on their "Top 10 All Time Cowboys" list.
I think Jim Nance and Babe Parelli get some love as well as Steve Grogan. I don't think Cunningham and Haynes belong on that list. Haynes was HOF, but only played about 1/2 his careear with the Pats
Love it. Best response is "Exactly. Joe Montana's backups never had success like this!"
As a 21 year season ticket holder (wow, getting old sucks), who has seen just about every "great" Patriot come through, this is exactly right. He was Welker and Edelman before there was a place for guys like them. I would argue that if not for Troy Brown, Tom Brady's career (and the Pats as a team) may be completely different from what it is now. In 2001, Troy Brown basically threw Tom on his shoulders when Bledsoe went down. Prior to that season, he had one season with more than 41 catches (in 2000, he had 83), but in 2001, he had 101 receptions for 1,199 yards, and he was the guy running the short routes that allowed a rookie QB to manage a game. That same year, he returned 2 punts for TD's, and another against Pittsburgh in the AFCG that I'm sure most remember. He led the team in receiving again in 2002, and at that point, a dynasty was born and a legend was being created. If he isn't the kind of player he is in 2001 though, it's easy to see that team finish 7-9 and not make the playoffs, never have the tuck rule game, never win that first Super Bowl, etc. The 2nd leading receiver for that 2001 team was David Patten with 51 receptions (50 less than Brown), and the only guys on the team besides them with more than 20 receptions were Kevin Faulk (30) and the immortal Marc Edwards (25).
IMO, 2001 is the most important season in Patriots history, and Troy Brown was the MVP of that team. Tom Brady owes a huge amount of his early success to what Brown was able to do that season.
For me, the top 10 (well, 11, can't get rid of any of these guys) list looks like this, not necessarily in order:
Brady
Hannah
Tippett
Wilfork
Ty Law
Bledsoe
Bruschi
McGinest
Vinatieri: Greatest kicker, and clutch kicker of all time. Three game winning Super Bowl kicks? Yeah, he's on.
Gronk: Like someone else said, he is in the HOF if his career ends right now.
Brown
I wrote briefly about Vinatieri and Gronk above. For me, Bruschi and McGinest made so many huge plays in so many huge moments for so long that they deserve to be here. Their numbers deserve to be retired. Ty Law was the reason BB's defenses worked for so many years. His defenses back then required a shut down corner, and that guy was Law. I don't think the other 5 need explanation.
For me, the guy I struggled the most to not include was Richard Seymour. It's easy to overlook him, because he was never a guy who put up huge numbers, and wasn't expected to, but he was the guy who took up 2-3 blockers and allowed the guys behind him to make plays. He was a huge part of he defenses here.
I have to take issue with so many people taking Mike Haynes. Mike Haynes was a great player, but he was here for what, 7 years? And he wasn't even all that great near the end of those years. Give me Asante Samuel's years in New England over his all day long. I think that's a bit of a nostalgic pick, which is fine, but he can't crack the top 10 for a team with a run of success as high and as long as this one.
Last edited:
Anyone who includes Steve Grogan is smoking dope. Loved the guy, and he was a very good player in his best years in addition to being a warrior, but the only justification for including him would be if you think that the (very distant) third best QB in franchise history is more deserving than some borderline HOfers who played on Super Bowl teams.
Wow. I could not disagree more. Haynes was a generational talent. The Patriots had never had a player as gifted before him.
Haynes was the better player for sure. Clayborn was really good for the Pats for a long time.
I may still be better that Haynes went to the Raiders though.