Pats 25th Anniversary of 1st Super Bowl Appearance

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Its astonishing to me to think 25 years have passed to the very day the Patriots vaulted past 3 road game wins into their first Super Bowl Appearance...One that I was so happy out of my mind to be a fan only to have the happiness ripped out from under just minutes into the 2nd quarter with Eason out of commision and where you could see it was not going to be our day even though Grogan was a true warrior against the fiercest pass rush of a stacked Bears team that I have ever seen and may ever see again.

Thankfully after 2 consecutive defeats in the big game and thinking we may just be one of those teams to never win it and end up bridesmaids forever like the Bills of the 90s and the Vikings of the 70s,along comes Bill Belichick who later teamed up with a guy named Tom Brady and here we now sit with 3 up and 3 down...still not bad after that rocky start.

Happy 25th Anniversary Mr.Grogan,Mr Raymond Berry and Mr. Andre Tippett and Co,you deserved all the accolades even in defeat,you made up proud to be Pats fans ....

It was a fun time and it feels today like I am reliving the death of the Orange Bowl curse and the excitement that would follow back then regardless of the outcome that was almost considered inevitable against ...it was great then and 25 years later its still a time to relish!

For those of you in here that was not alive yet and lucky enough to relive the moments leading up to the Pats first Super Bowl,you do not know what you missed....I wouldn't trade it again for anything in the world...even though we lost,I will never forget.

In fact I still have a SB 20 Hat and the SI Magazine from the game.

 

[Triumph]

Things started to go awry in the 1st quarter.

IIRC, the Pats received, marched down and booted a FG. Those were the Pats highlights.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Things started to go awry in the 1st quarter.

IIRC, the Pats received, marched down and booted a FG. Those were the Pats highlights.

Yep a 3-0 lead overshadowed by the knockout of Tony Eason after just 6 Passes IIAC

Grogan was literally thrown into the Lions Den that game...I truly felt bad for him,it was like he was raw meat or like a Matador dressed in all red with no cape to wave...he was dead meat.

 

[Triumph]

Yep a 3-0 lead overshadowed by the knockout of Tony Eason after just 6 Passes IIAC

Grogan was literally thrown into the Lions Den that game...I truly felt bad for him,it was like he was raw meat or like a Matador dressed in all red with no cape to wave...he was dead meat.

Grogan was pretty much spent at that point of his career.

 

[groundgame]

Go-To Pats TE Lin Dawson rips his knee to shreds early-on the SuperDome left sideline turf and is toast for the season. However, the legendary Stanley Morgan catches a perfect touchdown pass in the end zone which he takes in at his numbers for any early New England 7-0 lead over Da Beerrs.

One Big problem....The Steamer muffed the room service pass he would have caught in 99 out of 100 other passes. The Bears went on to crush the Pats, but, much like Alge Crumpler's TD drop (which forced NE to settle for FG and same 3-0 lead) early in last week's Jet's loss, you never know how much a first touchdown will affect an opponent, because the opponent knows that if they respond with a touchdown, they are still not leading the game, no matter who is the slight favorite or heavy underdog.

 

[Patsrock]

Technically it is tomorrow the 26th. And it is also the 14th anniversary of SB XXXI which was also on the 26th. Then the 27th will be the 9th anniversary of the Pats beating Pitt in the 2001 AFC Championship.

 

[Wax Frog]

...Grogan was a true warrior against the fiercest pass rush of a stacked Bears team that I have ever seen and may ever see again.

Though it was a losing effort, the memory burned into my mind comes from the 1987 matchup against the Giants, seeing Steve smoothly and calmly duck a full-speed sack attempt by the real LT He was wearing the collar at the time, which only added to my sense of awe. I can also remember my Dad, sometime in the '86 season, pointing out to this NFL newb how his throws were perfect rainbows; I watched with utter fascination from that point on.

For those of you in here that was not alive yet and lucky enough to relive the moments leading up to the Pats first Super Bowl,you do not know what you missed....I wouldn't trade it again for anything in the world...even though we lost,I will never forget.

I was there, by pure chance, having spotted a TV Guide "Highlight" for the late reg-season game against Miami and gotten locked in to the playoff run right after*. The ride that came after hooked me right in, and I've been hooked since. As my rage against the Bears faded over the years, it was replaced by a nostalgic feeling of respect for what that bunch accomplished...

*Growing up in Redskins country, and having no prior interest in sports, I never knew they even existed until that night. My reaction was something like "What the *#(@*#*? NEW ENGLAND HAS A TEAM?!?!?!"

 

[italian pat patriot]

at 3-0 i started to dream

 

[Willie55]

Things started to go awry in the 1st quarter.

IIRC, the Pats received, marched down and booted a FG. Those were the Pats highlights.

I thought the Pats recovered a Bears fumble on the Bears side of the 50 yard line and had to settle for the FG.

One of the biggest injustices in Super Bowl history is that the Bears gave the ball to Perry down by the goal line for the touchdown instead of Walter Payton.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

The Pats had feasted on turnovers in the 3 road wins. Then in SBXX the Pats forced Payton to fumble within the first few plays. It looked like the Pats were continuing their string of getting key turnovers. First offensive play the Pats go play-action and fool the Bears, but Lin Dawson tears up his knee as the ball sails by him. Second play the Pats go play-action and Eason has Morgan over the middle for a TD, but Singletary drops deep and got close enough to distract Stanley just enough. Third play the Bears aren't falling for any play-action crap and storm in on Eason who throws it wildly away as the rush is right on him. Franklin kicks the FG for the early lead, but it seemed readily apparent that the Pats were going to need a lot more turnovers if they wanted points. Then of course the opposite happened as the Pats coughed it up repeatedly and got smothered.

Still, those 3 road wins leading up to New Orleans were amazing. The Orange Bowl Curse was a huge monkey the Pats needed to get off their backs and they did so in the biggest game possible.

Regards,
Chris

 

[WTE]

Stanley Morgan dropped a sure 1st down pass from Eason on a slant that would have given New England a lot of confidence. Instead I think they had to punt.

That was a big drop.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

The Pats had feasted on turnovers in the 3 road wins. Then in SBXX the Pats forced Payton to fumble within the first few plays. It looked like the Pats were continuing their string of getting key turnovers. First offensive play the Pats go play-action and fool the Bears, but Lin Dawson tears up his knee as the ball sails by him. Second play the Pats go play-action and Eason has Morgan over the middle for a TD, but Singletary drops deep and got close enough to distract Stanley just enough. Third play the Bears aren't falling for any play-action crap and storm in on Eason who throws it wildly away as the rush is right on him. Franklin kicks the FG for the early lead, but it seemed readily apparent that the Pats were going to need a lot more turnovers if they wanted points. Then of course the opposite happened as the Pats coughed it up repeatedly and got smothered.

Still, those 3 road wins leading up to New Orleans were amazing. The Orange Bowl Curse was a huge monkey the Pats needed to get off their backs and they did so in the biggest game possible.

Regards,
Chris

Not to forget that Craig James was a beast on that team...one of my all time favorite RBs in Pats history.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Not to forget that Craig James was a beast on that team...one of my all time favorite RBs in Pats history.

Craig James was an enigma. Guy was amazing in '84 and especially '85. In those 3 road wins he was THE MAN. He tore up the Raiders and Dolphins. Then he fell apart in SBXX with the rest of the team, but could not recover in '86 and beyond. It's like his confidence was shattered in that game or something. Maybe it was Hannah retiring as well, but James just wasn't the same thereafter.

Regards,
Chris

 

[fair catch fryar]

Things started to go awry in the 1st quarter.

IIRC, the Pats received, marched down and booted a FG. Those were the Pats highlights.

Didn't they recover a fumble in Bears territory and the field goal resulted from that?

 

[fair catch fryar]

Stanley Morgan dropped a sure 1st down pass from Eason on a slant that would have given New England a lot of confidence. Instead I think they had to punt.

That was a big drop.

It still wouldn't have mattered. That Bears team was not to be denied that day. It was a phenomenal run for the Pats though. I think they were the first wildcard team to win all their games on the road and actually make it to the Super Bowl. One of my all time favorite games was the win at Oakland, even more than the "Squish the Fish" game, and ending the Jets season, because the Raiders were such pricks and had tormented the Pats for a long time. Howie Long going after Pat Sullivan was priceless.

Man, I'm getting old.

 

[jmt57]

Pats' first Super Bowl team turns 25 - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News | Glen Farley

Still, if the Bears left their mark on the Patriots that January night, the Patriots made their mark on New England that season.

"That was my 11th year in the league and it was really the first time - '76 a little bit, but in '85 - I felt that people appreciated professional football in New England and what we were doing down in Foxboro," said Grogan, the former quarterback whose 16 seasons in a Patriots uniform stand as a franchise record. "We had the rally when we were leaving town for the AFC Championship Game, thousands of people at Government Center in Boston.

"We came back to the airport in Providence (after defeating Miami, 31-14, to reach the Super Bowl) and there were thousands of people greeting the plane and people pulling their cars over on the highway and jumping out and waving (at the team bus) and honking their horns. It was just really a very special experience."

Very special, indeed.

"Every man on that team that year will tell you, even watching the teams since then that have gone on and even won, still it's an accomplishment for that time and place," said Tippett. "You were one of the two best teams in the National Football League."

On the night of Jan. 26, 1986 in New Orleans, though, the '85 Bears were in a league of their own.

"To this day, when I get to see the highlights and see the tapes of the game, I'm like, 'Wow, those guys were crazy out there.' I say it all the time," said Tippett. "I don't even think we even could have put an all-star team together and gone up against those guys the way they were playing that year."

The early loss of Dawson is often overlooked or dismissed:

"Raymond put together a game plan that included two tight ends (Derrick Ramsey and Lin Dawson) to balance against their '46' defense, and when Lin went down early (with a knee injury) that kind of threw that out the window," said Grogan. "We had our chances to make plays early in the game and didn't and then things started going downhill. Kind of like what happened to the Patriots this year (in their 28-21 AFC divisional playoff loss to the New York Jets). We just couldn't turn the thing around.

"We kicked the field goal to go ahead, 3-0, and then Dawson blows his knee out, the ball gets barely tipped just before it gets to Stanley Morgan, who had a chance to score a touchdown. Then Don Blackmon had a sure interception hit him right in the stomach on a play that probably would have gone for a score. There was no looking back after that. We couldn't get anything going."

 

[PatsFanInVa]

The 85 team gave long suffering fans a glimpse, and I thank those guys for that. You have to. Still, the game itself was a day to forget and regret... forgret, I think would be the word for it. Still it's interesting looking at the observations after the fact... the idea that until that game was played, there was nothing fore-ordained about a Bears victory. There is such a feeling of destiny about that team (85 Bears) that I can't even play the "if only" game on that one.

 

[ivanvamp]

It was a great run. I still have the AFCCG victory over Miami saved on VHS tape, and I do watch it from time to time. One thing that shows the difference between the game then and now. That Miami team had Mike Charles playing NT, and **** Enberg at one point commented on just how huge Charles was. He was listed at 283 (NBC had him at 271 for that game). Certainly a large man if he was to walk into my home for sure. But he'd be *tiny* by today's NFL standards. Wilfork is listed at 325, but he's gotta be 350. Ngata is listed at 350. Teams routinely have DT or NT that weigh 325+ pounds. That's nearly 50 pounds heavier than Charles. John Hannah was 265 playing guard. Logan Mankins, 25 years later, plays the same position at 307, 42 pounds heavier. Unbelievable.

Anyway, the thing that really frustrated me about that Super Bowl was not the smothering Bears' 46 defense. I knew they'd be tough. It was how awful the Patriots' defense was. Chicago came in with an excellent offense (#2 points, #7 yards), but the Pats had an excellent defense too (#6 points, #7 yards). I didn't think the Pats would do much with the ball, but I had hopes that they would at least keep Chicago within arm's reach. Nope.

Chicago had 23 first downs, 167 yds rushing, 256 yds passing, 408 total yds, and pretty much did whatever they wanted to do on offense. That really annoyed me. That game, if the defense had shown up, almost certainly would still have been a Patriots' loss, but it could have been something like 17-10...something not mortally embarrassing.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Anyway, the thing that really frustrated me about that Super Bowl was not the smothering Bears' 46 defense. I knew they'd be tough. It was how awful the Patriots' defense was. Chicago came in with an excellent offense (#2 points, #7 yards), but the Pats had an excellent defense too (#6 points, #7 yards). I didn't think the Pats would do much with the ball, but I had hopes that they would at least keep Chicago within arm's reach. Nope.

Chicago had 23 first downs, 167 yds rushing, 256 yds passing, 408 total yds, and pretty much did whatever they wanted to do on offense. That really annoyed me.

I remember Willie Gault torching Lippett for two long bombs. I remember everybody BUT Payton ripping off good chunks of yardage on the ground. Steve Nelson had one job that day: Stuff Walter Payton. He did it very well.

That game, if the defense had shown up, almost certainly would still have been a Patriots' loss, but it could have been something like 17-10...something not mortally embarrassing.

Or 20-7...the score when the two teams met in Chicago in week 2.

Regards,
Chris

 

[RayClay]

Yeah, Dawson and Morgan. Starting out picking apart that defense short and long was our 1 in 100 chance of beating that team by getting a lead. Eason threw a nice catchable ball and had good accuracy. They had Hannah to make a lead last a while. Oh well...

Nevertheless, for sheer excitement, that road trip playoff run beats anything I've had as a Pats fan, with Brady's drive on the Rams close. So much emotion and payback from getting spit in our face for 25 years by Oakland and Miami.