2003 NE Patriots

[NEPats1]

Hey guys, I was bored and was googling Pats videos and found this:

Hulu - America's Game: 2003 New England Patriots - Watch the full episode now.


I'm not even halfway thru but this is some GREAT stuff. They start off with Rodney Harrison coming to NE to the Lawyer Milloy situation to the 23 game win streak and the Denver intentional safety.

I've never had a chance to see this and wanted to post for you guys who hadn't either.

You really appreciate the teachings of BB and how he keeps talking about situational football.

Enjoy!

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don't remember a team that when the moment required them to make a game-changing play, they made it. Always.

 

[BaltimorePatsFan]

Vince Wilfork's a really good player but Ted Washington was a true monster. That goal-line stand against the Colts was just out of this world.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Vince Wilfork's a really good player but Ted Washington was a true monster. That goal-line stand against the Colts was just out of this world.

Mt. Washington was the greatest NT of all-time. He was 1/2 the player in NE compared to when he was with SF and BUF.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I don't remember a team that when the moment required them to make a game-changing play, they made it. Always.

Excellent point. Interestingly that mindset started towards the end of 2002 - especially with the must win season finale against the Dolphins - an overtime victory where, in the final minutes of the game, everything that needed to go right - did.

That game always stuck out in my mind as a pivotal moment in Patriots history and I think the lesson and never give in spirit learned in that game carried on through to the 2003 and 2004 seasons and beyond.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/124260/game-of-the-week-2002-dolphins-at-patriots

They won that must win game but missed the playoffs due to tiebreakers - but still, I think the team had reached a new level in that game and it carried on through the next several seasons.

I think the 2002 season is forgotten to many as they missed the playoffs - and they did have a period of mediocre football within it - but I don't think that final game, with the inconceivably improbable turnaround that re-established their confidence and focused football was ever truly appreciated as the starting point of the 2003 - 2004 dominance.

 

[supafly]

Excellent point. Interestingly that mindset started towards the end of 2002 - especially with the must win season finale against the Dolphins - an overtime victory where, in the final minutes of the game, everything that needed to go right - did.

That game always stuck out in my mind as a pivotal moment in Patriots history and I think the lesson and never give in spirit learned in that game carried on through to the 2003 and 2004 seasons and beyond.

Hulu - Game of the Week: 2002 Dolphins at Patriots - Watch the full episode now.

They won that must win game but missed the playoffs due to tiebreakers - but still, I think the team had reached a new level in that game and it carried on through the next several seasons.

I think the 2002 season is forgotten to many as they missed the playoffs - and they did have a period of mediocre football within it - but I don't think that final game, with the inconceivably improbable turnaround that re-established their confidence and focused football was ever truly appreciated as the starting point of the 2003 - 2004 dominance.

Great point Joe!!!

 

[supafly]

Hey guys, I was bored and was googling Pats videos and found this:

Hulu - America's Game: 2003 New England Patriots - Watch the full episode now.


I'm not even halfway thru but this is some GREAT stuff. They start off with Rodney Harrison coming to NE to the Lawyer Milloy situation to the 23 game win streak and the Denver intentional safety.

I've never had a chance to see this and wanted to post for you guys who hadn't either.

You really appreciate the teachings of BB and how he keeps talking about situational football.

Enjoy!

Nice find! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[randomk1]

YouTube - Americas Game 2001 Patriots part 1 You can follow this link for the 01 Pats

I've got the 04 pats on my hard drive aswell...if anybody wants i can upload it somewhere.

 

[FCB02062]

Ah, the 2002 Patriots - the team of the "big Nickel" with Victor Green! Also Tebucky Jones and Milloy were supposed to form an intimidating package in which opposing receivers would shudder to cross the middle of the field. Problem was, that team could not stop the run to save their lives. Their shoddy run defense certainly led to the signings Ted Washington and Harrison. Man I miss those teams when the Pats actually MADE game changing plays.

 

[Don Kipines]

Ah, the 2002 Patriots - the team of the "big Nickel" with Victor Green! Also Tebucky Jones and Milloy were supposed to form an intimidating package in which opposing receivers would shudder to cross the middle of the field. Problem was, that team could not stop the run to save their lives. Their shoddy run defense certainly led to the signings Ted Washington and Harrison. Man I miss those teams when the Pats actually MADE game changing plays.

I thought the 2010 team showed a lot of the same qualities. The Ravens game was a classic 2003-ish game, from the Mesko punt to Dane Fletcher's tackle to Branch's catch before the winning FG. And there were a lot of games last year that hung on one big game-changing play: Sergio Brown's tackle in the SD game, McCourty's pick against Detroit, Sanders getting that pick against Indy. Last year in fact kind of felt like a souped-up version of 2001 or 2003 right up through the Jets loss in the playoffs. It had a lot of the same elements: a whacking of a key veteran (Milloy or Terry Glenn or Drew back then; Moss now), the rise of a few key rookies (Eugene Wilson and Samuel or Seymour and Light vs. McCourty and Gronkowski), big plays on special teams to save games, a knack for big turnovers, and a defense that improved as the year went on.

I think last year was just further evidence that the best Belichick teams tend to have a certain style. How many times have we seen the Pats sort of flounder to begin the year and then suddenly something clicks and it's like they never lose again? We saw these incredible runs in 2001, 2003-2004 (which was like one continuous streak), even 2006 to an extent, and definitely last year. Even the 1996 run, when BB was the assistant head coach, felt a lot like the later Patriots teams down the stretch; great team discipline, a knack for letting other teams beat themselves, etc.

The 2007 team was really the outlier because a) the club got worse, not better, as time went on and b) it blew out teams with explosive offense (rather than a strategy of slowly strangling opponents with a combination of their own mistakes and the Patriots' across-the-board efficiency in all three phases). 2010 was much more in the Belichick style. I was really encouraged by last year and it seems to me that BB got over his mid-life-crisisish desire to turn the Patriots into the 2000 Rams and decided to go back to his suffocating, death-by-a-thousand-cuts method of beating teams with efficiency and situational football.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Thanks. I can't wait to watch it!