tobias funke

I know it's chic to believe it's a 'wasted season' if you don't win the Super Bowl, but I've never really thought that way. It's not about one day in February, it's about sitting down for 3 hours every week, cheering your team on for 4 months. I think it can be easy to forget that, because we're being conditioned to move on from the past immediately. The previous season gets broken down statistically, and is reduced to being referred to numerically.

For that reason, I thought maybe it would be nice to hear your favorite memories of the 2011 season.

Here are the first 10 things that come to my mind, hopefully getting some of the obvious ones out of the way:

- Gronk drags Redskins. I think this would be a pretty popular one. His preseason gronkdrag of Laurinitis should be on the list, too.
- Gronk channels Gumby while landing on his neck. Still very tough to watch, but once I'm watching, I can't look away.
- Gronk eats an energy bar.
- Vince picks off two passes.
- Wes Welker comes up with an utterly incredible diving fingertip catch in Denver on the goal line. For all the **** he'll take for the SB drop, this catch showed off how great of a receiver he really is.
- Gronkowski tips the ball to himself in mid-air against the Broncos in the playoffs.
- The back-to-back comebacks vs. the Bills & the Dolphins.
- Ninkovich having his yearly multiple-interception game against a divisional opponent.
- Sterling Moore vs. Lee Evans. I'll file Cundiff's miss under this one, also.
- Brady's touchdown pass to Hernandez to beat the Cowboys.

Frezo

Watching the D chase Tebow 20 yards deep into his back field late in the Denver game.
Watching Gronk land on his head in the endzone and then get up to spike the ball.

Jackson 2

Watching the replay of "Sugg's a Thug" mouthing the words "Oh my God" (as if any deity in her/his right mind would ever listen to that a-hole) as Cundiff's kick hooked wide. I'm laughing even as I type this remembering...

PatriotReign

Beating those putrid Ratbirds in the AFC Championship game.

supafly

If I HAD to vote for one moment that I felt was 'the' turning point of the season, it would be the NYJ primetime game where we fielded some no-names on defense that the network crew didn't even have pictures for.

That was a must-win game having come off of 2 straight losses to the Steelers and NYG.

That Jets game (#2) was probably the biggest turning point of the season, and it allowed us to remain the team to beat in the division, as many were predicting the 'changing of the guard' that night.

Later on in the season, I feel that the DEN game was also a very defining moment, as they came back from an early deficit to stop the Broncos cold in their tracks and prove the whole world 'wrong' once again. That momentum allowed them to carry some good vibes down the stretch towards wrapping up HFA going into the playoffs, and also probably gave them some momentum towards their 2nd meeting in the divisional round here in Foxborough when January rolled around.

2 defining moments that happened at key times during the season.

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Patiently waiting to defend the next "bubble" player in this summer's training camp.....

Nikolai

In no order...

1. Gronk against the Skins. He made two really nice plays in that game.
2. BJGE paying his respect to MHK.
3. Kyle Love blowing up Lilja. He has at least one of those hits a year. Eye-popping.
4. Exposing Tebow in Denver.
5. Wilfork's first interception. I know he had two, but that first one was just sweet.
6. Tom Brady's punt.
7. WWW's 99-yarder against Miami.
8. The comeback against Miami. I was watching in a room full of Pats haters, and to hear the sweet silence after three quarters of blabber was...cathartic.

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We get what we deserve.

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“On a day when they could have had impact players David Terrell or Koren Robinson..they took Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who had 1 sacks last season in the pass-happy SEC and is too tall to play tackle at 6-6 and too slow to play defensive end. This genius move was followed by trading out of a spot where they could have gotten the last decent receiver in Robert Ferguson and settled for tackle Matt Light, who will not help any time soon.”

tobias funke

I completely forgot about the punt.

BradyManny

It's truly unfortunate that the depressing ending of the season makes looking back on even the great moments of 2011 a painful act. For me, at least.

The #1 moment for me was without a doubt the Brady-to-Hernandez TD pass in the Super Bowl and then Brady pointing to the MHK patch. I would've bet my life at that point they were going to win that game.

BradyManny

I agree with this sentiment, and it's rational - and right. But it doesn't translate to feeling for me. Logically, I know we should be proud of how far this team got as it continues to rebuild, and as it fought injuries and a weak roster in the secondary. But emotionally, it's impossible for me to look back without agonizing over how close we were to something I'd just about kill for.

The_Chuck_Rule

The Chicago Bears "Snow Game"...and listening to Brian Urlacher's comments after it.