Oh yeah - ALOT has HAPPENED this 1st decade of the 21st century alone! At the turn of the century, there are alot of current NFL stars now that you never even heard of then! My, my, how things CHANGE!
Anyhow, I ended up seeing alot of Pats games myself b/c since the Brady era started, alot of Pats games were broadcasted in the 3:15pm prime time slot. So here goes, FWIW...(in no particular order)
1) The 2001 Saints/Pats game at Gillette in the rain - the Pats currently had a 3 game losing streak at 5-5(after winning 5 straight), and the Saints were making a playoff push. Pats won that game to start their run toward that Super Bowl.
2) The Snow Bowl 2002 playoff game against the Raiders - I wasn't a fan of either team then, but my heart was really pounding in the end.
3) The 2001 Super Bowl in New Orleans - I lived in the Big Easy at the time, so we ended up hearing all the media coverage throughout the entire week. The Pats practiced over on Tulane's practice field, but I wasn't able to see it b/c I moved from Uptown(where I used to live right by the universities) to another part of town, and I was back in school, which really limited my time in terms of dropping by and taking pictures of the Pats practices. Anyhow - at that time, I just had this GUT feeling that the Pats would pull off the upset, b/c of the favorable matchups their secondary had against the Rams receivers - they just seemed more physical. Even the local New Orleans media guys were 100% sure it would be a Rams blowout.
That game also defined Mike Martz's career - no longer was he seen as this "offensive mastermind" he was labeled as for 3 years. In recent years, he's just lucky to be able to bounce around from team to team.
4) 2002 regular season finale against the Fins at Gillette - a great come from behind win by the Pats, however, Wanstedt/Turner yet again committed another bonehead chokejob at the end. You have to admit - calling 3 straight pass plays enabled the Pats to KEEP their 3 TOs. Again - not trying to take anything away from the Pats, but Wanstedt proved yet again he's no NFL coach.
5) The 12-0 shutout against my team(Dallas) in Parcells' yet again return to New England, this time as a Cowboys coach. If the Pats receivers had been healthy(if memory serves, you guys ended up signing JJ Stokes just to get a healthy body in thee at the time), the game would have gotten ugly in a hurry, b/c the Dallas offense did next to nothing all game save one drive in the 2nd half, which we ended up fumbling away in FG range. It was an exciting game all around, but despite numerous Pats miscues(a missed extra point, one of the Pats receivers taunting a Cowboys CB after a long pass play that took them out of FG range, etc), they pretty much won this kinda easily.
Also - if anything, this game exposed our weaknesses - it was the first game all year where the opposition picked up our blitzes successfully, and our pass rush wasn't the same for the rest of the year.
6) The 2003 playoff game against Tennessee - the Titans were probably the only playoff team that year that matched up the best with the Pats on both sides of the ball, and the game turned out to be a dandy. Clutch Vinetteri kicked a toughy 47 yarder in harsh weather to win it at the end.
7) The 2003 Super Bowl against the Panthers - too bad Jake Delhomme didn't have a long, successful career. He really played great that year, and I don't know why he really stunk it up afterwards. Yet another very exciting Super Bowl game down to the wire with clutch Brady delivering.
8) The 2004 game @St. Louis - after getting pounded by Pittsburgh the week before, losing both starting corners, and Corey Dillon being banged up, it sure looked like the Pats quest to win 3 SBs in 4 years was dead in the water, but nonetheless the Pats came out with a very strong performance against a very potent offense.
9) The 2003 season finale against the Bills at Gillette - wow, who would have thought the score would be same(31-0) from the wk1 meeting, except this time the winner would be different? I mean you talk about a tale of 2 cities or whatever - the Bills sure looked like they were Super Bowl bound after wk1(and Belichick looked like he completely lost the Pats locker room), and then by wk17, the complete opposite was true. The Bledsoe experiment was finally coming to a close in Buffalo.
10) Both of the Steelers games @Heinz Field in the AFC Title games - both times, it sure looked like the Steelers were locks to win those games, until the Pats jumped out early and made a statement in both.
