That was then: Celebrating what was

Super Nomario

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- We'd all have very happily taken them allowing 21 to the Giants (they averaged 24.6 that year while the Pats averaged 32.0).
Agreed with your overall point, but this was actually a piss-poor defensive performance given the Giants only had 9 drives (and one was a kneeldown at the end of the first half). Every other drive, Giants ran at least 7 plays, putting the Pats O in awful field position all game (best starting field position was the 29, and they started drives inside the 10 on 3/9 drives).
 

Euclis20

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By that same measure, did they do just an ok job against Atlanta (34 points allowed vs season average of 33.8) and Seattle (24 points allowed vs season average of 24.6)? Regardless of what happened earlier, the defense crumbled down the stretch for the first 5 super bowls (for the most part) and was rock solid down the stretch of the last 4 (again, for the most part). I'd definitely take overall points allowed before the game started, it's just odd to note that in the first 5 SBs they allowed an average of 12 points in the 4th quarter, then for the last 4 SBs they allowed 12 points total in the 4th quarter (all in 52).

*edit - agreed on the above regarding the Giants total in 42. They averaged just 1.77 points per drive that year, on 9 drives they should have only scored about 16 points. The offense was brutal that day but the defense wasn't much better, and they still would've won if the defense hadn't shit the bed several times on that last drive.
 

Dduncan6er

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Agreed with your overall point, but this was actually a piss-poor defensive performance given the Giants only had 9 drives (and one was a kneeldown at the end of the first half). Every other drive, Giants ran at least 7 plays, putting the Pats O in awful field position all game (best starting field position was the 29, and they started drives inside the 10 on 3/9 drives).
I was at that game and I left thinking that the Giants punter had a legitimate case for the MVP. I don't remember his name but I remember him constantly pinning them inside the 10 yard line.
 

Bergs

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...and they still would've won if the defense hadn't shit the bed several times on that last drive.
Or if the officials didn't ignore some of the most egregious offensive holding in NFL history. God, I will never get over that fucking game.
 

BaseballJones

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Agreed with your overall point, but this was actually a piss-poor defensive performance given the Giants only had 9 drives (and one was a kneeldown at the end of the first half). Every other drive, Giants ran at least 7 plays, putting the Pats O in awful field position all game (best starting field position was the 29, and they started drives inside the 10 on 3/9 drives).
Yeah fair enough. That wasn't the worst performance, but it wasn't a good one. Still, the Pats that year averaged 32 points a game that year. They should have scored more than 21 on 9 possessions. The Giants' D that year was bad - #25 in points allowed, #27 in yards allowed. The Pats' offense should have done more with what they had.

I mean, they did rip off 17 straight points during that game and looked like they were handily in control. Then the offense simply vanished. They had 17 points with 11:25 left in the third quarter.

They had three more real drives left in that game (not counting their last minute desperation possession).

3 plays, -2 yards, punt
5 plays, 23 yards, interception
11 plays, 48 yards, punt

19 plays, 69 yards (3.6 yds per play), 2 punts, 1 interception

I mean, they had several chances to put this game away and the offense crapped the bed.

The point being that both units share blame, as is almost always the case. But yes, you're right - the defense wasn't good that day.
 

Dollar

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I was at that game and I left thinking that the Giants punter had a legitimate case for the MVP. I don't remember his name but I remember him constantly pinning them inside the 10 yard line.
I watched SB 42 with a handful of people that included the world's biggest Jeff Feagles fan. He even wore a Feagles jersey to the Super Bowl party that year. When the game started I thought it was just a big joke, but I can clearly remember being convinced that he was going to be named MVP as the game was winding down. Needless to say, I never watched another football game with that guy.
 

jmcc5400

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By that same measure, did they do just an ok job against Atlanta (34 points allowed vs season average of 33.8) and Seattle (24 points allowed vs season average of 24.6)?
Defense only gave 21 to Atlanta (which I think bolsters your point).
 

54thMA

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- We'd all have very happily taken them allowing just 17 to the Rams (no matter at what point in the game they came). Those Rams averaged 31.4 a game that year.
The comical thing about that game was they were up 17-3 and the Rams went for it on fourth and goal; Warner got stopped/had the ball punched out and Jones ran it back 99 yards for a TD that should have iced that game, but McGinest tackled Faulk as he tried to go out of the backfield to run a pass route; Warner looked his way, then ran the ball.

That was so pre 2001 Patriots; I thought for sure when that TD got called back and the Rams then scored that they would somehow blow that game.

I was happy to be wrong, the FG at the end was good and the dynasty was born.
 

8slim

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The comical thing about that game was they were up 17-3 and the Rams went for it on fourth and goal; Warner got stopped/had the ball punched out and Jones ran it back 99 yards for a TD that should have iced that game, but McGinest tackled Faulk as he tried to go out of the backfield to run a pass route; Warner looked his way, then ran the ball.

That was so pre 2001 Patriots; I thought for sure when that TD got called back and the Rams then scored that they would somehow blow that game.

I was happy to be wrong, the FG at the end was good and the dynasty was born.
I'm a Syracuse alum, so when Tebucky was on his way to the end zone I thought that it might be the most incredible moment in my sports fan life... an Orange Man clinching a Super Bowl for my beloved hometown Pats. Alas, Willie kinda held there, just a tad!
 

bsj

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I'm a Syracuse alum, so when Tebucky was on his way to the end zone I thought that it might be the most incredible moment in my sports fan life... an Orange Man clinching a Super Bowl for my beloved hometown Pats. Alas, Willie kinda held there, just a tad!
Same as another SU alum. i remember that play well.
 

54thMA

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I'm a Syracuse alum, so when Tebucky was on his way to the end zone I thought that it might be the most incredible moment in my sports fan life... an Orange Man clinching a Super Bowl for my beloved hometown Pats. Alas, Willie kinda held there, just a tad!
Yeah, Willie kinda held there just a tad, or mauled the guy, depends on what team you were rooting for, he was going out for a pass out of the backfield, just pop him there and knock him off his route, would have served the same purpose.
 

Old Fart Tree

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LOL Willie tackled the shit out of him. I was furious at the penalty flag until they showed the replay and it's like oh, yeah, he fuckin' mauled him. :)
 

Van Everyman

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Willie was the best. His miracle recovery to stuff Edgerin James at the goal line to beat the Colts in 2003 is probably in my top 20 dynasty plays.
 

Ed Hillel

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LOL Willie tackled the shit out of him. I was furious at the penalty flag until they showed the replay and it's like oh, yeah, he fuckin' mauled him. :)
Defensive holding was almost NEVER called 20 years ago, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t reluctantly nod my head in agreement with the call when they showed the replay lol.
 

PedroKsBambino

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It's interesting how years after Belichick's defense stuffed these guys cold over and over, all they can do is talk about Brady.
There was a SNL skit years ago where the James Bond villians sat around and talked about how they should have killed Bond in some simple way rather than an intricate one which he could escape from. McVay and Shanny talking about their Super Bowl playcalls and then complimenting the Seahawks on throwing at the end of the Super Bowl is kind of like that.
 

Norm Siebern

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Or if the officials didn't ignore some of the most egregious offensive holding in NFL history. God, I will never get over that fucking game.
Spot on, completely accurate. I could have written this I agree with it so much. It will take ten more championships to wash this taste out.
 

Import78

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I was on a bus in Jamaica a couple of days ago. Heading from the resort to the airport and 2 10 year old boys were talking about KC sports. Batting averages, comparing teams from previous years, slugging etc. Eventually, we passed by a field of goats. One of them said "look at those goats", the other replied "Tom Brady!"
 

johnmd20

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I was on a bus in Jamaica a couple of days ago. Heading from the resort to the airport and 2 10 year old boys were talking about KC sports. Batting averages, comparing teams from previous years, slugging etc. Eventually, we passed by a field of goats. One of them said "look at those goats", the other replied "Tom Brady!"
This is great.
 

tims4wins

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Things forgotten in the passage of time...

I was reading some stuff on the NHL expansion draft, which got me curious about the rules for the 2002 NFL expansion draft when the Texans came into being. That led me to look up who the Pats left unprotected. Among the 5 names were none other than Willie McGinest and Ted Johnson. I don't think it's a huge reach to say that the Pats might not have won in both 2003 and 2004 without those guys.
 

Silverdude2167

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Things forgotten in the passage of time...

I was reading some stuff on the NHL expansion draft, which got me curious about the rules for the 2002 NFL expansion draft when the Texans came into being. That led me to look up who the Pats left unprotected. Among the 5 names were none other than Willie McGinest and Ted Johnson. I don't think it's a huge reach to say that the Pats might not have won in both 2003 and 2004 without those guys.
That can't be right, why would you leave Willie unprotected?
 

johnmd20

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Things forgotten in the passage of time...

I was reading some stuff on the NHL expansion draft, which got me curious about the rules for the 2002 NFL expansion draft when the Texans came into being. That led me to look up who the Pats left unprotected. Among the 5 names were none other than Willie McGinest and Ted Johnson. I don't think it's a huge reach to say that the Pats might not have won in both 2003 and 2004 without those guys.
Next man up!
 

Hoya81

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IIRC, both McGinest and Johnson had been hurt for big stretches of '01 and were fairly expensive. I always thought Colvin signing was to replace Willie long term, but then he got hurt and McGinest became a key piece again.
 

8slim

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Things forgotten in the passage of time...

I was reading some stuff on the NHL expansion draft, which got me curious about the rules for the 2002 NFL expansion draft when the Texans came into being. That led me to look up who the Pats left unprotected. Among the 5 names were none other than Willie McGinest and Ted Johnson. I don't think it's a huge reach to say that the Pats might not have won in both 2003 and 2004 without those guys.
I wonder if this is one of the reasons why Ted Johnson is vocally not a fan of BB?
 

Section30

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He's working on getting his EGOT (Emmy,Grammy.Oscar,Tony).

Taking simplyerics astute observation on it qualifying as a Tony he can also get an Oscar for best live performance on the sidelines for the last 20 years.

The Grammy will be tough but he could get one for performing the spoken word narration of the the Bio-Pic of Tom Brady.

To be humbly named,The GOAT speaks on the GOAT
 

BaseballJones

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Not too smart. But then, to be honest, the Falcons dominated most of the third quarter too so it didn’t seem to impact them on the field.
 

lexrageorge

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I'm sure emotions were riding high in the locker room, given that the Falcons had a 21-3 lead and held the Pats offense to a single field goal in 6 drives (3 punts, fumble, and pick-6). It's more of a fun story line in retrospect than anything significant to the ultimate result.
 

simplyeric

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I'm sure emotions were riding high in the locker room, given that the Falcons had a 21-3 lead and held the Pats offense to a single field goal in 6 drives (3 punts, fumble, and pick-6). It's more of a fun story line in retrospect than anything significant to the ultimate result.
Obviously who knows but, given the fact that there were multiple plays that the Pats barely pulled off, any minimal extra expenditure of energy or loss of focus could have contributed to the result.

For want of a nail the war was lost...
 

johnmd20

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This is unbelievable. Like, a broken clock is right twice a day. Rob Parker hasn't been right in a decade. Unbelievably brutal, what a bum. Hang it up Rob, you foolish, foolish man.

One other thing stuck out to me is that Joe Buck announcing is so much better than Nantzy, who is so bad. Finally, Amendola really did have some humongous catches over those SB runs.
 

Jimbodandy

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This is unbelievable. Like, a broken clock is right twice a day. Rob Parker hasn't been right in a decade. Unbelievably brutal, what a bum. Hang it up Rob, you foolish, foolish man.

One other thing stuck out to me is that Joe Buck announcing is so much better than Nantzy, who is so bad. Finally, Amendola really did have some humongous catches over those SB runs.
A quick google of Rob's recent work showed an article from two weeks back headlined "Sorry Lakers Fans, pairing Russ with Lebron won't work". This disappoints me greatly to know that pairing Russ with Lebron is going to go really well for the Lakers.
 

Ralphwiggum

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I don’t consume sports media like that so I dont really know who Rob Parker is but this is just confirmation that I‘m not the target audience here. What’s the point of that? Theres no analysis or even reasons why (beyond “he’s old”) and of course some day he will be right but in the meantime who wants to watch Rob Parker doubling and tripling down on the same bad take for the better half of a decade? I hope there’s another compilation video out there of him eating crow over and over again but somehow I doubt it. Man, the media fucking sucks.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Revis says Bill "ain't his guy" but I can understand where he's coming from.

A player like Bruschi (or even Trent Brown) likes the structure & culture that BB has set up. Others like Revis do not.

I like where Moss is. Obviously he wasn't happy when he left. However, the Hof WR has said nothing but glowingly positive things about the Patriots since he left, including his old coach.
 

wilked

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It’s worth listening, but it’s hard to take it too seriously when he leads with referencing Deflategate / alluding to cheating
 

rodderick

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Revis says Bill "ain't his guy" but I can understand where he's coming from.

A player like Bruschi (or even Trent Brown) likes the structure & culture that BB has set up. Others like Revis do not.

I like where Moss is. Obviously he wasn't happy when he left. However, the Hof WR has said nothing but glowingly positive things about the Patriots since he left, including his old coach.
I think there's a pretty clear distinction among the guys who were there at the beginning and experienced the whole culture change and the start of the process of winning and the guys who came when everything was already established and they had already won. I think the first group is far more likely to credit Bill for changing the culture around the organization, while the Revis' of the world could come to the conclusion of "man, why be this strict? You have Tom, you'll win". It's not an environment for everyone and I do kinda worry what will happen if some of the pieces who were a part of the success retire and the team isn't at the point of contending.