GLENDALE, Ariz. - So, who exactly are the New England Patriots?
Patsies. Vagabonds. Underachievers. Louts. Champions. Cheaters. Wow, that's some brand.
If you are alive to have seen all 54 years of the Patriots, when they were based in Boston as well as Foxborough, which of these terms stands out the most? You young folk will immediately say "champions" and dismiss all the others, as well as "cheaters". But there are still many living, breathing New Englanders who do remember all the years, and who do remember both the good and the bad.
Right around now, on Super Bowl Eve, it's always a good time to sit down and reflect on your team. It's still really something for the Patriots to come this far. It's especially wonderful for them to have come this far for the eighth time. Here we are, twenty-four hours from the world championship game of professional football, and the winner could be your team.
In 2004, just after completing the historic comeback against the Yankees, Red Sox owner John Henry had to catch his breath as he said "Wow! There's going to be a World Series at Fenway this year!" He was more overcome with that notion than the rally from down three games to none. You could say that the Super Bowl feels the same way, even though this is the eighth time.
Wow. The Patriots are in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Again, younger Patriot fans don't pay much heed to the full impact of saying that. All they know is the Belichick Patriots. All they know is that Tom Brady needs to get back to winning these things instead of losing them. All they know is that it's about time for still another duck boat parade, it's been a year and a half now since the last one.
Okay. Here we go again. Patriot Nation, this is a big deal. Bigger than you think. There are many of us still left who fully understand the real impact of this. Go ahead and find anyone who saw Babe Parilli, Jim Nance, Jim Plunkett, Sam Cunningham, Mike Haynes, Russ Francis and Steve Grogan play that one day the Patriots would be tied with Dallas for the most Super Bowl appearances by any NFL team.
This writer turned one year old the day Billy Sullivan was granted a new AFL franchise. He ran the team on a shoestring during his and his family's ownership. In his 28 years of owning the Patriots, they only had three seasons to really squawk about. They won a divisional playoff game in 1963 but got blown out by San Diego in the AFL title game. They should have won Super Bowl XI but got booted by Oakland in the Divisional Round thanks to a bad call by referee Ben Dreith. They made it to Super Bowl XX but got blasted by the Chicago Bears.
During the Boston days, the team was marked by mediocre to good teams, a low overhead, no certain, reliable home venue, and allowing someone like Clive Rush to coach the team. If you research the brief history of the old WFL (1974-75), their history mirrors the Boston Patriots in some ways. The Bruins can play at Fenway Park, certainly not the Patriots. But that's where they spent most of their Boston existence.
Moving to Foxborough in 1971, the team cheaped out on a new stadium. It was known mostly for toilets, power failures, traffic jams and drunken louts long before it became known for a Snow Bowl and the Tuck Rule. The Patriots got Heisman Trophy winner Plunkett, but became a great team when they traded him to San Francisco for several draft picks.
Greatness finally came to the Patriots in 1976. But that one year of glory, ruined by that bad call out at Oakland, begat several years of underachievement. They won their first division title in 1978, but Chuck Fairbanks' coaching exit strategy resulted in a home playoff loss to Houston (now Tennessee). The Patriots would spend the next seven seasons wasting some very good talent with non-playoff seasons.
Dante Scarnecchia recently retired after having coached the Patriots in all six previous Super Bowls. His long term perspective on the Patriots is perhaps better than most people. (USA TODAY Images) |
Their first Super Bowl was a nightmare. They had the misfortune of playing perhaps the best one-season defense in NFL history. Chicago won, 46-10, and totally overwhelmed the Patriots in doing so. They made the playoffs the next year as division champs, but then went into a ten-year period of mostly lousy teams.
1990 was the worst season in team history. A 1-15 record was overshadowed by the Lisa Olson scandal. The sexual harassment of a very good reporter, who managed to resurrect her career in New York, portrayed the Patriots as bigger louts than their drunken, fight-happy fans.
Bill Parcells would come on in 1993, but his one big day in the sun was ruined by his zeal to leave the Patriots and defect to the Jets. The Patriots lost Super Bowl XXXI to Green Bay, Parcells resigned five days later, and went to the Jets for four first round picks. Pete Carroll would take over, preside over three lackluster seasons, then get fired in 1999. The team that Parcells built in the 1990s underachieved much like several good teams from the 1970s and 1980s.
Belichick came in 2000 and brought three Super Bowl wins to the region. He has been to six of them in all, won three, lost two, and we'll see about the sixth on Sunday. The Patriots are now thought of as dynastic. This is 14 years now of making the playoffs almost every year, featuring nine AFC Championship Games and six Super Bowls. The Patriots are now mentioned among the best teams in history.
But at what price? SpyGate. DeflateGate. Bending rules. The owner perceived as too close to the commissioner. The Patriots are now as hated as the Yankees, called cheaters by everyone outside of this region.
So now, we come to Sunday and Super Bowl XLIX. The Patriots will try and wrench the title back from the team that owns it at present, the Seattle Seahawks. It is still another red-letter day for the franchise win or lose, but a major moment in NFL history if they win.
Still, you the Patriot fan need to remember everything about your team. Yes, that means having to play a home game in Birmingham, Alabama. Howard Cosell jumping ugly on your team on live national television thanks to the unruly fans. The Ken Sims Bowl of 1981. Irving Fryar and his wife settling an argument at knifepoint. Zeke Mowatt's utter disregard for female reporters. Parcells and Curtis Martin for six of the worst draft picks in team history.
Now you can enjoy the game. And please, if they win, celebrate, but don't take it for granted and remember what a Super Bowl win really means to the Patriots.
More News Headlines: