That was then: Celebrating what was

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
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Feb 4, 2012
38,144
Yeah I guess I get it now. Just oddly worded. And then followed up with ‘their first super bowl since their last one’...
I’m just giving you a hard time, but you have to admit that a few additional/different words would help.
‘This first super bowl since Pollard started playing’ or even ‘since BP - Before Pollard’
Listen, I'm not very bright.
 

Al Zarilla

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Dec 8, 2005
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Anyone who thinks this is even on the same planet as the most boring Super Bowl ever never sat through the Minnesota Vikings offense crapping the bed four times in like 7 years. During their final drubbing, this time by the Raiders (thanks Ben Dreith), we switched for awhile to a movie about a singing milkman.
Made me think of the Heidi game except you intentionally switched away from the game.
 

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
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Feb 4, 2012
38,144
Are you going to do another video archive like last time m?

I loved it last time and saved a hard copy on my HD Incase they got taken down by the NFL police.
YouTube seems to be much friendlier right now. But if you guys post em, I'll pull em down and host em.
 

deanx0

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I too watched the fourth quarter and I noticed after the final kneel down, Pats offensive players and Rams defensive players shaking hands or slapping each other on the back, except for one guy--Suh just runs off. Some times reputations are accurate and earned and I assume no Patriot wanted to have any camaraderie with that guy.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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I too watched the fourth quarter and I noticed after the final kneel down, Pats offensive players and Rams defensive players shaking hands or slapping each other on the back, except for one guy--Suh just runs off. Some times reputations are accurate and earned and I assume no Patriot wanted to have any camaraderie with that guy.
True but it also seemed like he wanted no part of the sportsmanship that comes after such a game. He’s a loser and a jerk and it’s extra sweet that he lost this game.
 

Super Nomario

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REWATCHING--6 minutes left, in a game the Rams were THROTTLED, is probably not the time for Romo to call it a "genius idea" for McVay to have the Rams break the huddle with just 15 seconds left, so BB couldn't talk to the defense.
That was kinda weird. Jared Goff in a chess match with veterans like Hightower and Devin McCourty, with a pro-NE crowd?
 

loshjott

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Anyone who thinks this is even on the same planet as the most boring Super Bowl ever never sat through the Minnesota Vikings offense crapping the bed four times in like 7 years. During their final drubbing, this time by the Raiders (thanks Ben Dreith), we switched for awhile to a movie about a singing milkman.
Yes. And any close SB is better than the blowouts that were routine in the 80s-early 90s, unless you were a fan of the victors. As a Pats fan, I would have loved a 55-10 drubbing a la Niners over Broncos in 1990. But this SB was much more exciting.
 

loshjott

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Cross-posting from the defense thread:

Excellent article by Adam Kilgore in the Washington Post.

‘The best to ever do it’: How Bill Belichick out-coached Sean McVay in the Super Bowl

It gets to BB's game planning genius and also his penchant for intense preparation:

The biggest spectacle in American culture staged Belichick’s opus, but it began two weeks ago on a quiet field in Foxborough, Mass. In their first practice after the Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game, when other coaches might have rested players after an arduous, emotional game, Belichick put the Patriots in full pads and went full-bore. He added extra drills and additional practice periods. Mistakes were met with coaches demanding, “Do it again.” At the end, players toiled through an extra 12 sprints.

“It felt like we were running forever,” Slater said. “It was like, what are we doing here? We knew Bill meant business. We better mean business. We had to play a great opponent. I think it prepared us for what we needed to do.”
If that anecdote doesn't define BB and the Patriots, I don't know what does.
 

Mooch

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Jul 15, 2005
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Lost in all of the talk about which members of the Pats dynasty should eventually make the Hall of Fame is one name: Dante Scarnecchia.

You can make a VERY compelling case that he's the greatest position coach of all time and I think that he's the most important and indispensable coach on the staff outside of Belichick. This year's offensive line nearly pitched a playoff shutout against some of the best pass rushers in the game, with not a single lineman drafted above the third round. Year after year, Scar puts together cohesive lines filled with mixed bags of talent. During this run, here are all of the Pats O-Lineman listed by All-Pro/Pro Bowls:

Mankins: 1/6
Light: 1/3
Waters: 0/1
Koppen: 0/1
Woody: 0/1

That's it. That's the entire list. Yet year after year, the Pats offensive line overachieves relative to their talent in both the running and passing game. Replacing DeGuglielmo with Scar was a HUGE reason for this latest run of success and DeGuglielmo could be the SECOND best O-Line coach during that same window. Scar is amazing and should be enshrined in the Hall of Fame one day.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Can’t see Bill going anywhere anytime soon. He lives for this shit and actually seems to enjoy the process.

Hell, Wade Phillips is 71 and still going strong.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Lost in all of the talk about which members of the Pats dynasty should eventually make the Hall of Fame is one name: Dante Scarnecchia.

You can make a VERY compelling case that he's the greatest position coach of all time and I think that he's the most important and indispensable coach on the staff outside of Belichick. This year's offensive line nearly pitched a playoff shutout against some of the best pass rushers in the game, with not a single lineman drafted above the third round. Year after year, Scar puts together cohesive lines filled with mixed bags of talent. During this run, here are all of the Pats O-Lineman listed by All-Pro/Pro Bowls:

Mankins: 1/6
Light: 1/3
Waters: 0/1
Koppen: 0/1
Woody: 0/1

That's it. That's the entire list. Yet year after year, the Pats offensive line overachieves relative to their talent in both the running and passing game. Replacing DeGuglielmo with Scar was a HUGE reason for this latest run of success and DeGuglielmo could be the SECOND best O-Line coach during that same window. Scar is amazing and should be enshrined in the Hall of Fame one day.
Not disagreeing but let’s not forget that they won a Super Bowl with DeGuglielmo coaching the O-line.
 

JohnnyK

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May 8, 2007
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From reddit:
There are now 16 active players with at least three Super Bowl rings: 14 are current Patriots and the other two are Adam Vinatieri and LeGarrette Blount
  • Tom Brady - 6
  • Adam Vinatieri - 4
  • LeGarrette Blount, Marcus Cannon, James White, James Develin, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Dont'a Hightower, Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, Duron Harmon, Matthew Slater, Nate Ebner, Ryan Allen, and Stephen Gostkowski - 3
 

Seels

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Jul 20, 2005
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Nate Ebner and Ryan Allen have three rings. Who'd have thought.

McCourty has now played in 5 superbowls, and 8 championship games in a 9 year career.

This team has done a seriously good job drafting in the post Pioli era.
 

sheamonu

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Nov 11, 2004
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Dublin, Ireland
Lost in all of the talk about which members of the Pats dynasty should eventually make the Hall of Fame is one name: Dante Scarnecchia.

You can make a VERY compelling case that he's the greatest position coach of all time and I think that he's the most important and indispensable coach on the staff outside of Belichick. This year's offensive line nearly pitched a playoff shutout against some of the best pass rushers in the game, with not a single lineman drafted above the third round. Year after year, Scar puts together cohesive lines filled with mixed bags of talent. During this run, here are all of the Pats O-Lineman listed by All-Pro/Pro Bowls:

Mankins: 1/6
Light: 1/3
Waters: 0/1
Koppen: 0/1
Woody: 0/1

That's it. That's the entire list. Yet year after year, the Pats offensive line overachieves relative to their talent in both the running and passing game. Replacing DeGuglielmo with Scar was a HUGE reason for this latest run of success and DeGuglielmo could be the SECOND best O-Line coach during that same window. Scar is amazing and should be enshrined in the Hall of Fame one day.
Amen to this - there is no clear path/precedent for an assistant coach to gain consideration for the Hall but there is also nothing that prevents anyone who has the correct status from nominating him. Any objective review of people who have been the most influential in creating the greatest dynasty in league history would have to include Scar. Given the fact that it is likely a fraction of the players associated with the Patriots' run will make the Hall (when compared to, say, the number of Steelers, Cowboys or Packers) - it makes sense to look to more unconventional individuals when accounting for the team's success.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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Whirlwind year for Jason McCourty. Going from 0-16 in Cleveland to making one of the key plays in a Super Bowl-winning plays and winning a ring with your twin.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
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Nov 4, 2007
62,312
Has any SB champion knocked off 3 teams with better records? That was quite the gauntlet.
 

snowmanny

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Dec 8, 2005
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Can’t see Bill going anywhere anytime soon. He lives for this shit and actually seems to enjoy the process.

Hell, Wade Phillips is 71 and still going strong.
I'm not saying you're wrong but here's Joe Posnanski from a few years back:

Belichick fact: He will NOT coach in his 70s the way Marv Levy did. He could not make that more clear. People think he can’t live without football. They’re wrong. He CAN live without football, and he will not coach when he’s in his 70s, and he says you can take that to the bank. Bill Belichick turns 63 in April.

https://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/everyones-got-a-bill-belichick-story/
 

Red Averages

owes you $50
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Apr 20, 2003
9,055
Outdated, though, per the CNBC interview from 2 years ago. The quote about Marv Levy was from A Football Life in 2009.
Right. Now he is working with his kids and seemingly having a great time. As long as he can retain some great assistants (McDaniels, Nick Caserio, Berj Najarian, Ernie Adams) to ease some of the burden. I'd bet more on him leaving if the grind/pressure from having to fill to many roles caught up, but for now he's had good continuity and overall seems to be really enjoying it.
 

dynomite

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That's always struck me the same way as Mick Jagger saying he'd rather be dead than sing Satisfaction at age 45. It's easy to say but harder to walk away from the money, fame, and most of all, status that comes from being on top.
Interesting. Speaking of Dante Scarnecchia, I think that might be relevant regarding Belichick.

Dante retired for two years in his mid-60s... and then came back because he missed it so much, just like Parcells. Ten years ago Belichick didn’t know his son Steve would come and coach with him, or that Brady would really play until he was 45 at the highest level in NFL history. A lot has changed since 2009.
 

Red Averages

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Interesting. Speaking of Dante Scarnecchia, I think that might be relevant regarding Belichick.

Dante retired for two years in his mid-60s... and then came back because he missed it so much, just like Parcells. Ten years ago Belichick didn’t know his son Steve would come and coach with him, or that Brady would really play until he was 45 at the highest level in NFL history. A lot has changed since 2009.
‘07 - lost the perfect season in the Super Bowl on one of the flukiest plays ever.
‘08 - lose your QB in week 1
‘09 - a frustrating year where he couldn’t get the team mentally there despite a lot of talent culminating in the worst playoff game in the BB era.

Vs

4 Super Bowls in 5 years including 3 Championships and coaching along with his sons.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
24,375
So what's been better?

- 3 championships in 4 years, with a missed playoffs in-between to establish something we never imagined possible with the Pats?

or

- 3 championships in 5 years, with a gut-wrenching loss in the SB and a gut-wrenching loss to the Broncos in the AFCCG to re-establish the greatest dynasty ever?
 

bigq

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Jul 15, 2005
11,084
So what's been better?

- 3 championships in 4 years, with a missed playoffs in-between?

or

- 3 championships in 5 years, with a gut-wrenching loss in the SB and a gut-wrenching loss to the Broncos in the AFCCG?
I’ll take the former because of math 0.75 > 0.6.
 

Archer1979

shazowies
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So what's been better?

- 3 championships in 4 years, with a missed playoffs in-between to establish something we never imagined possible with the Pats?

or

- 3 championships in 5 years, with a gut-wrenching loss in the SB and a gut-wrenching loss to the Broncos in the AFCCG to re-establish the greatest dynasty ever?
This is like asking to choose to extract my right ball or my left.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
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Jul 15, 2005
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Probably the only reason I’d choose 2001-2004 is because it was so ridiculously sweet beating Peyton in the playoffs back to back years
 

Bierman9

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Jul 19, 2005
108
Nashua NH
I remember being super drunk in the hot tub with my wife in a hot tub in park city watching the Lions trounce the Pats earlier this year.

My wife and I were in a really bad place and took a vacation to try and remedy our marriage of ten years. It temporarily worked but the vacation ended about as bad as one can without someone dying.

But I remember thinking that maybe this was the cliff year. For the Pats and my marriage.

Fast forward several months and the marriage is good and the Pats are champions.
Best of luck to you both... My wife and I (married in 1986) had a 2-year hiatus in 2016 and 2017.... but we worked it out and are very happy again. And I'm very happy with the Pats, but she still hates football.. oh well... All the best!!
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
21,764
Pittsburgh, PA
So what's been better?

- 3 championships in 4 years, with a missed playoffs in-between to establish something we never imagined possible with the Pats?

or

- 3 championships in 5 years, with a gut-wrenching loss in the SB and a gut-wrenching loss to the Broncos in the AFCCG to re-establish the greatest dynasty ever?
Why dwell on the failures rather than the successes? In my mind it's between:

(A) underestimated, defense-first juggernauts
- Beating a heavily-favored team with an all-time level of talent, behind a brilliant game plan and cold-as-ice rookie QB, on a last-second FG
- Edging an overachieving John Fox squad who gave us some heart-pounding back-and-forth, also on a last-second FG
- Rolling the best team Andy Reid has assembled, exposing their weaknesses and silencing the doubters

vs
(B) grand-dame pillar of the league with an offense-first reputation
- Beating the defending champs after a dramatic comeback, coaching brilliance and arguably the greatest single moment in US pro sports
- Crushing the souls of a front-running, talented group led by an MVP out over his skis, with the greatest comeback in NFL history
- Rolling the predictable, inexperienced team led by young upstarts, in some of the greatest defensive game-planning and execution ever

I mean that's an impossible choice. They're both amazing feats, each of them burned into our collective memories and the annals of NFL history.

Gun to my head, the first trio was more fun overall because of how unexpected it was, and how much positive coverage and general-public encouragement built up around it. But there's no denying the appeal of seeing a smarter, harder-working team slowly grinding the life out of more "talented" teams, time and again, in the biggest moments.
 

simplyeric

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But there's no denying the appeal of seeing a smarter, harder-working team slowly grinding the life out of more "talented" teams, time and again, in the biggest moments.
Ahhhhhhhhh.

At the end of the first run everyone had turned against us. We had turned the Colts and Steelers into bitter Gauls and Carthaginians pressing at the gates....

But with the recent run we have made good on our promise to destroy Carthage and Gaul. We have vanquished and oppressed them. It is sweet...oh so sweet.
 

Helmet Head

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How has it been 10 years since the BB football life
And after that year I thought it was the beginning of the end of the Brady - BB era. The roster was not in a great spot, specifically on the defensive side. I remember specifically driving home from the Ravens playoff game and talking to my dad about what an incredible run it was. 4 Super Bowl appearances and 3 Super Bowl championships and we were lucky to have witnessed it.

Then they drafted Gronk and McCourty and here we are 10 years later with 3 more super bowl championships and 5 super bowl appearances. It’s truly remarkable.
 

dynomite

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Probably the only reason I’d choose 2001-2004 is because it was so ridiculously sweet beating Peyton in the playoffs back to back years
Yes, and also, once again, those of us growing up Patriots fans in the 80s/90s we were so used to being Charlie Brown when it came not just to football, but baseball and basketball and hockey too. The idea of even being mentioned in conversation with the 70s Steelers, 80s Niners, and 90s Cowboys was just hilariously, impossibly far-fetched.

After two decades of failure, before the Roberts steal forever turned our whole region into frontrunners the whole country can't stand, we had the joyous "Hollywood couldn't write this" story of the 2001 Patriots and the "we weren't a fluke" 2003 Patriots. And after the Sox finally won, we followed all that with the "yes, it's a dynasty" 2004 Patriots romping through the league.

Now we go into every season expecting another banner. Back then making the playoffs was a champagne-worthy celebration.
 

Super Nomario

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In spite of, considering how they knew they had to block Bennett and still couldn't.
Brady was sacked only once on 51 dropbacks in the Super Bowl. It is true they couldn't run the ball at all.

We also have to consider that Googe was dealt a pretty tough hand. They traded Mankins on the eve of the season and went into the year with Cannon and Jordan Devey at guard. Eventually they figured something out by putting rookie Stork in at center and moving Wendell and Connolly to G. They also won two playoff games with Josh Kline starting.

Scar has definitely gotten more out of some guys, Cannon especially, but he also returned to a much more favorable situation than the one he left. In 2015 they had to deal with injuries to Solder and Stork, Vollmer on his last legs, Mason, Andrews, and Tre Jackson were rookies, etc. Kline led all Pats OL in snaps in 2015.
 

DJnVa

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Inside the NFL on now. Mic'd up.

BB apparently wants to watch the opposing coach on the sideline. "Where's McVay? I can't find him."

Brady, after pick, "I won't make another mistake all game."