Top 5 favorite REGULAR season games of the Belichick Era

[brdmaverick]

What are your TOP 5 REGULAR SEASON games of the Belichick Era?

Criteria: Let me set it up this way. Imagine that you hadn't recorded any Patriot's games in your lifetime, BUT the NFL Network agreed to re-air five Patriots' games of YOUR CHOICE from the Bill Belichick era (and you can record them). After that, the qualifications are up to you. Do you pick only games in which the Pats dominate? Or do you choose a game because of a single play? You decide

I figured that a top 10 would not get as many responses, so I am asking for top 5 but I will give you my top ten and my reasons......

1.) 2007 Pats at Giants, W 38-35
This game was a classic on many levels. The Pats rallied in a fourth quarter come from behind victory to become the first team ever to finish 16-0, and they did it in front of a national TV audience. Not to mention that the go ahead TD was a TD pass from Brady to Moss, who set the single season records for pass and rec TDs respectively on the same play. After the game it felt as if we had won the Super Bowl.

2.) 2007 Pats at Colts, W 24-20
What a mid season matchup....
Both Teams Undefeated, 8-0 Pats at 7-0 Colts
Bitter Rivals
Pats rally from 10 pt fourth quarter deficit to win
Moss has over 140 yds receiving and a TD
The game lived up to all the hype.
What many people forget about this game is that if the Pats lost, they would have been 15-1 and only have been the #2 seed.

3.) 2003 Pats at Dolphins, W 19-13
The 83 yd TD pass in OT to Troy Brown brought out a moment of pure, unexpected joy that is just incredible to us sports fans. The Pats withstood two field goal attempts that would have won the game for the fish, withstood a bad call in OT (rec caught the ball out of bounds), and broke their Sept/Oct losing streak in Miami to take the AFC East lead for good.

4.) 2003 Pats at Denver, W 30-26
I give this one a little extra meaning because I hate the Broncos. This was a great back and forth game which ended with the great strategic move of taking the intentional safety. David Givens scored the game winning TD in the final minute of the game.

5.) 2003 Pats vs Titans, W 38-30
Wild win against co-MVP Steve McNair. Back and forth shootout with Ty Law capping the victory with a pick six. What was especially great about this win was that no one gave the Pats a chance at victory, and yet this game started their 21 game win streak.

6.) 2007 Pats at Dolphins, W 49-28
Not much of a game, but this game would be great to rewatch because I think this game truly displays the fire power that the 2007 team brought to the table. Brady threw six TD passes, including two highlight catches to Moss.

7.) 2004 Pats vs Ravens, W 24-3
Not a pretty game by any means, but what I loved is that rainy, muddy conditions played right into the Ravens' strenghts of smash mouth defense and running the ball AND THE PATS STILL WON. Big bad Corey Dillon destroyed the highly acclaimed Ravens defense. I was very proud of the team after this victory.

8.) 2004 Pats vs Colts, W 27-24
Opening game of the 2004 season did not disappoint. Right after unveiling the championship banner, the Pats pulled out a win against Manning and the Colts. Big Willie came up huge with a last minute sack that set up Vander-shank's miss. Brady had over three hundred yards and a TD.

9.) 2002 Pats at Bills, W 38-7
Patriots dominate Bills in the first round of Brady vs. Bledsoe

10.) 2008 Pats at Dolphins, W 48-28
Cassel and Moss came up with near perfect games in this VERY exciting game.

Man, I've arleady listed ten games and yet there are so many more great ones that I left off including 2004 Pats/Rams, 2003 Pats/Texans, 2007 Pats/Ravens and 2002 Pats vs. Phins.

Well, let's here your faves.

 

[jmt57]

#3 is right up there for me. I was at that game, their TE (Gadsden?) was killing us. Troy caught the pass literally straight down, on the same side of the field and at the same yard line as I was sitting. Lots of Pats fans, great, good-natured banter back and forth between Pats and Dolphins on a warm day in the sun.


I have to say the first game after Bledsoe got hurt should be up there somewhere too. Honestly, I thought the Pats would be lucky to win three games at that point and was fearful they might do much worse. Looking at the roster going in to the season I had low expectations, and now the "best" player on the team was gone. Granted it was against another bad team, but Brady and the Pats blew the Colts out by about four touchdowns. I had a whole different outlook on the season after that game; I thought they might have a chance to come close to, or even be, a .500 team.

I guess my prognostication was off by just a little bit . . .

 

[Patriot Missile]

NE vs LA Rams 1986-87. Jim Everett comes in for his first game and makes a name for himself by throwing 3 tds to take the lead. But Eason throws the Hail Mary as time expires to Irving Fryar to win the game and spoil Everetts party.

NE vs Miami 1993-94? Opening day. Bledsoe Marino shootout. Both Qbs put up staggering numbers and Miami comes out with the win. But non the less Bledsoe establishes himself as one of the new gun slingers of the NFL.

NE vs Minnesota 1994. NE trails the Viking 20-0 at the half. Bledsoe and the defense step up big time. NE goes onto to win 24-20 behind a record 45 completions and 70 attempts.

 

[Free_Pacman]

NE vs LA Rams 1986-87. Jim Everett comes in for his first game and makes a name for himself by throwing 3 tds to take the lead. But Eason throws the Hail Mary as time expires to Irving Fryar to win the game and spoil Everetts party.

NE vs Miami 1993-94? Opening day. Bledsoe Marino shootout. Both Qbs put up staggering numbers and Miami comes out with the win. But non the less Bledsoe establishes himself as one of the new gun slingers of the NFL.

NE vs Minnesota 1994. NE trails the Viking 20-0 at the half. Bledsoe and the defense step up big time. NE goes onto to win 24-20 behind a record 45 completions and 70 attempts.

I'd have a hard time leaving the chargers 2007 game off there. After the hell the media put bb through that week, there was nothing better than going nuts for bb when they announced his name. The chants of bellichick! gave me goosebumps.

 

[jmt57]

NE vs LA Rams 1986-87. Jim Everett comes in for his first game and makes a name for himself by throwing 3 tds to take the lead. But Eason throws the Hail Mary as time expires to Irving Fryar to win the game and spoil Everetts party.

NE vs Miami 1993-94? Opening day. Bledsoe Marino shootout. Both Qbs put up staggering numbers and Miami comes out with the win. But none the less Bledsoe establishes himself as one of the new gun slingers of the NFL.

NE vs Minnesota 1994. NE trails the Viking 20-0 at the half. Bledsoe and the defense step up big time. NE goes onto to win 24-20 behind a record 45 completions and 70 attempts.

All great games - thanks for the awesome memories! - but, the OP was asking about the Belichick era.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Youre right!! lol I'm freaking tired. It's time to go rest my brain.

 

[realtime]

1.) 2007 Pats at Giants, W 38-35
This game was a classic on many levels. The Pats rallied in a fourth quarter come from behind victory to become the first team ever to finish 16-0, and they did it in front of a national TV audience. Not to mention that the go ahead TD was a TD pass from Brady to Moss, who set the single season records for pass and rec TDs respectively on the same play. After the game it felt as if we had won the Super Bowl.

No offense, but that's just pathetic.

 

[jmt57]

I somehow forgot about this one, it is certainly worthy of consideration as well: Pats-Jets 2nd meeting in 2001.

First meeting after the Mo Lewis-Drew Bledsoe collision.
Jets are in first place with a 7-3 record.
Pats are just starting to get in the picture after a 1-3 start, with a 6-5 record.
At halftime the Jets lead 13-0 and outgained the Pats 225 yards to 67. It could have been worse; the Jets had 12 1st downs and the Pats had 3.
First play of the second half?
Brady was sacked.

Pats adjusted to the Jets' pass rush in the second half with quicker passes. Pats 'bend-don't-break' (sound familiar?) held the Jets to FGs rather than TDs. Tipped passes resulted in INTs and Brady threw a crucial long pass to a guy even I don't remember.

The rest is history, but here's a look at it - from a NY perspective:
Jets Swagger Turns To Stagger

 

[jmt57]

A few others to throw out there that are well worthy of consideration:

2001, week 15, 12/22: Pats 20, Dolphins 13 - Pats wrap up playoff spot
2002, week 2, 9/15: Pats 44, Jets 7 - score says it all
2003, week 2, 9/14: Pats 31, Eagles 10 - one week after Tom Jackson proclaimed that the Pats' players hated their coach
2003, week 17, 12/27: Pats 31, Bills 0 - a unique reversal to the Lawyer Milloy story
2006, week 11, 11/19: Pats 35, Packers 0 - a blow out after rare back-to-back losses
2007, week 2, 9/16: Pats 38, Chargers 14 - first post-spygate game; Pats are expected to get blown out due to the distraction

 

[Brettlax3434]

2002 week 17 we needed a win vs. miami to get in the playoffs and won on a last second adam v. field goal, if the jets didn't beat the Packers later, we would have made the playoffs and won number two of what would have been an eventual four.

 

[muslimman]

4.) 2003 Pats at Denver, W 30-26
I give this one a little extra meaning because I hate the Broncos. This was a great back and forth game which ended with the great strategic move of taking the intentional safety. David Givens scored the game winning TD in the final minute of the game.

I didnt get to watch that game unfortunately and to this day I dont understand what happened with the intentional safety. How is it possible that giving up two points and punting the ball away helped us?

 

[Pats Fanatic]

The 2001 comeback against the Charges may have been the most important regular season game in team history. If the the pats lose that game they would have been sitting at 1-4 and more then likely no play-offs or Superbowl. It as the game that Tom Brady emerged with the a great come back in the 4Th quarter.

 

[ScottieC]

I'll go all TFB on ya - MY favorite 5 regular season games? The NEXT five.

 

[TeamPats]

Help me out here guys as I am not all that old. But around 1996 the Patriots played the Bills and were down 3+ points with like 5 seconds to play and Bledsoe heaved a hail mary to the end zone and I believe they called a dubious Pass Interference on Terry Glenn.

Then with no time remaining we got the TD to win the game and the refs demanded we play the extra point but Buffalo would not come on the field out of protest. So when the balled was snapped I believe it was Vinatieri or possibly Tupa who ran it in for 2.

If I recall this game was played possibly in December with Carrol at the healm and we were clawing our way back in to the playoff race.

 

[Patjew]

2001 game at Bills where Patten was unconscious w/the ball resting against him, to our benefit. OT win.

2002 comeback against Bears.

2003 snow game vs. Dolphins

2005 comeback win in Pitt.

2003 31-0 against Bills, sweet revenge.

Some non-BB era games: The above details are probably almost all nearly correct.

1997 comeback vs Bills (?) when Bledsoe ignored Carroll telling him to call timeout.

1986 at Rams, won with a hail mary.

1986 season finale against Dolphins to clinch the AFCE.

 

[Patjew]

I didnt get to watch that game unfortunately and to this day I dont understand what happened with the intentional safety. How is it possible that giving up two points and punting the ball away helped us?

Because the free kick put the Denver O in far worse field position that they would have if the Pats had to punt from the 1 yd line. Denver ended up botching the return and going 3 and out, and TFB marched the Pats right down to a TD.

 

[brdmaverick]

there were just so many great games

one that I did completely forget about that Patjew brings up is the 2005 win against the Steelers. That was pretty sweet for me, because beyond my hatred for the Broncos, I ABSOLUTELY LOATHE THE STEELERS..

 

[brdmaverick]

No offense, but that's just pathetic.

How can I not take offense to that?

Maybe I should clarify though. That felt as close to a Super Bowl victory as any regular season game could get and mostly because of the amount of coverage it got. Try to remember back to that night.........

Players did post game interviews and reminisced on their accomplishments thus far. "16-0" T shirts were already being distributed. It was the lead story on all local news stations, with many shots of the downtown Boston area showing people celebrating.

It had the feel of a Super Bowl victory.

I wouldn't consider that pathetic.

 

[LoganMankinsPancakeBlocks]

One I haven't seen mentioned: the goal line stand against Indy. Bethel had the kick return TD to answer the Colts score as time expired in the 1st half as well. Unreal game. Not entirely sure on the year, but I think it was '03.

 

[Ryan]

I really can't narrow it down to 5, so I'll just mention a bunch of my other favorites that haven't been mentioned as much:

2000 @ Buffalo: bad season, but a really good late season game in a crazy snowstorm. Pats won 13-10 in OT on a Vinatieri field goal.

2001 vs. Indy: Brady's 1st start, and the Pats first win of what would be a championship season. Brady played well, but it was the defense that really stepped up. 2 pick-sixes by Ty Law and Otis Smith lead to a 44-13 demolition of the Colts. This Colts pretty much floundered after this game.

2001 vs. New Orleans: the first win of what would be 9 in a row to end the season. The Pats had just come off of a hard-fought loss to the powerhouse Rams on national TV. The Saints were hovering around .500 just like the Pats at the time. Brady throws 4 TDs, Antowain smith scores 2, the Pats D forces 2 picks, and the Pats end up winning 34-17. From then on, they rolled.

2002 vs. Pittsburgh: the season opener, Gillette Stadium opener, and rematch of the AFC Championship game. Pats stomp the Steelers 30-14. Brady lights the Steelers D up for close to 300 yards passing and 3 TDs, and the Pats D picks off Kordell 3 times.

2002 @ Detroit: Thanksgiving Day game. Nothing spectacular but a solid 20-12 road win that put the Pats at 8-5 late in the season. They looked like they were headed for another late season surge, but unfortunately they went on to drop the next two. Brown had a big game (over 100 yards receiving and some big first down grabs). Bruschi returned a pick for a score, and the Pats ate up a big chunk of time at the end of the game to seal it.

2003 vs. Cleveland: the game sandwiched in between the classic games in Miami and Denver that year; a tough 9-3 win with nothing but field goals.

2003 vs. Dallas: Belichick vs. Parcells on Sunday Night Football. The Pats D shuts down the Boys, picking off Quincy Carter 3 times and earning a 12-0 shutout. I believe Ty Law had 2 of the picks that night.

2003 vs. Miami: another 12-0 shutout. The crowd tossing snow in the air in celebration was an awesome sight.

2004 @ St. Louis: This has always been one of my favorites. That game really epitomizes what the Belichick-lead Patriots have been about: TEAM effort. Everyone contributed in that game. Brady had a very efficient day (200+ yards, 2 TDs, no picks); Dillon has 100+ yards rushing and a TD; Givens had 100 yards receiving; Vrabel made an outstanding TD catch in the corner of the endzone; Vinatieri threw a TD pass on a great fake play; the defense forced several turnovers and sacked Bulger at least 5 times. All of that lead to a convincing 40-22 victory on the road. Great game.

2005 vs. Tampa Bay: 28-0 domination of the Bucs. This was the Pats defense's finest effort in a year where they really struggled. Tampa put up only 138 total yards. The Pats also registered 7 sacks. On offense, Brady throws 3 TDs, one of them to lineman Tom Ashworth.

2006 @ Minnesota: Brady lights up Minnesota for over 300 yards passing and 4 TDs with his band of less-than-steller receivers. The Pats D picks off 4 passes and the only Vikes TD is on a punt return. Pats win 31-7.

2006 vs. Chicago: The Pats knock off the NFC's #1 team in a turnover filled game highlighted by Brady juking out Urlacher. It's too bad there wasn't a rematch in the Super Bowl that year....

2007 vs. Washington and @ Buffalo: The two biggest blowouts of the Pats dominant 16-0 season. 52-7 and 56-10 respectively.

2008 @ Seattle, @ Buffalo: obviously these games are still fresh in everyone's minds...