Putting 2007 to bed

[Ring 6]

I can't really put my shock and disappointment in falling short of a Championship in words.
My overall opinion of the 2007 season:

1) For 18 weeks it was the best ride ever.
2) I'd trade as many of the regular season wins as needed to have the end result be a Championship.
3) I think there is no more disappointment in not finishing because the team was 18-0. I'd feel exactly the same way if it was a 10-6 season that ended in a SB loss.
4) How many teams' fans can be disappointed in 18-1 and no Championhsip? Ever, in any season?
5) How many teams' fans can be distraught that its been 3 whole years since a title, and feel somehow shortchanged by that?
6) If my #s are correct, over the last 7 years we have won more games, more playoff games, as many conference championships, and one less SB than any team ever has in 7 years.
7) I see absolutely no reason the Pats don't come back next year equally as competitive for a Championship as they were this year, hopefully, not being blind-sided at the end next year.
8) I see no team in the NFL more prepared to win the most of the next 5 SBs than the Patriots.
9) I think that when all is said and done, and the 'dynasty' is over, this year will be looked at as a point somewhere near the middle of the run, and if its closer to the end than the beginning, it won't be by much.
10) In the last 7 years, we have won 3 SBs, lost in the SB once, the AFCC once, fell short of getting to the AFCC once, and missed the playoffs once. Overall:
7 years
3 Championships
4 SBs
6 division titles
6 trips to the playoffs
A 50% success rate in turning making the playoffs into winning the SB
-If I had to guess at what I'd expect of the next 7 years, I would say just about the same.

Finally, it is important that everyone recognizes that this run has been based upon every aspect of the organization top to bottom. We had, I believe 5 players who were here from the first title through this year. I count 11 guys who started in this SB that were here in SB XXXIX. That is half of the team turned over (well over half of the roster, 50% is just starters) from winning the SB in 2004 to being 18-0 then falling short in 2007. The very process of competing for Championships, builiding rosters, teaching and coaching players, etc, is the basis for the success, moreso that who is wearing the jersey. Certainly Tom Brady has been the consistent factor through all of it, but keeping him and the braintrust in place tells me that the most successful team of the last 7 years, will also be the most successful of the next 7. Unfortunately for us they have been so good, that our expectations are to be even greater than great.

 

[thechris]

Thanks for this post. Really puts being a Patriot fan in perspective. We have enjoyed a lot of good times and will hopefully enjoy a lot more!

 

[BelichickFan]

I've settled in to "a year we didn't win the Super Bowl". I get no more satisfaction out of it for having gone to the Super Bowl; nor more frustration for having been so close. We've had a hell of a run and have the infrastructure in place to have 5-7 more good runs at it while Brady is still here. I'm OK with 3 SB wins and another 5-7 shots with Brady.

 

[#12]

Great post...i REALLY can't wait til the Pats are back on the field in '08!

 

[karran_s]

Excellent points....

Just proves how spoilt we are compared to most other teams.

The Pats are still the best team in the league this decade and will continue to shine in the next season. I think the whole 19-0 pressure was put on by the media and if the players were loose, without this hanging over their heads, they would have won. I'm glad this whole "perfect" tag is behind us..

We are not perfect and I hate that word. NOBODY's perfect, I mean nobody. I really hated the media this year, especially ESPN. I will only watch the NFL network .. their coverage is pretty good, especially the Replays, which cut out all the unnecessary interruptions.

As any Pats fan could see, we should have won that game, despite putting the fewest points in our entire season in the most important game. However, when just one small play in our favor in the last 2 mins would have changed the game for us, everything worked for the giants including two miraculous plays (actually one play - Manning to Tyree) that ended this dream.

Well, I'm moving on and will wait to see how the Pats regroup and bounce back. I'm sure they will and we will see them raising the Lombardi trophy again soon.

 

[Poker]

Andy,

Great post, puts 2007 in perspective. I completely agree there is absolutely so reason we cannot extend the BB/Brady dynasty for a number of additional years. The 49ers dynasty lasted from '82 to the mid 90's according to some.

One additional thought. the Pittsburgh run in the 70s went from 74 to 79 with 4 super bowls. Any many experts who watched them closely feel that the BEST team of all those years was actually the 1976 edition, who did not win the SB but lost to Oakland in the AFCC after losing a bunch of players to injury.

I think it's possible that looking back in 10 years, the Pats will have won 2 more Super Bowls between 1908 and 1912, and people might look back and say the the 2007 edition of the dynasty was actually the best team of them all, even though the didn't close the deal.

 

[jbb9s]

Andy,
The 49ers dynasty lasted from '82 to the mid 90's according to some.
.

Well if you think Matt Cassell is going to be a 6 time pro-bowler, we have some hope then of matching the 49ers because thats essentially what they had loaded behind Montana.

 

[Bertil]

I just can't help but think the Patriots are 2 plays away from 5 SB Titles (4 yard completion to Troy Brown in the '07 AFCCG and a Asante INT in SB42). Thanks, I needed a fresh perspective.

 

[dhamz]

We had, I believe 5 players who were here from the first title through this year.

it is actually 8-10 depending on how you want to classify Troy who was only active for 1 regular season and 1 post season game this year and Neal who was a practice squad guy in 2001 I believe.

Brady, Faulk, Light, Seymour, Bruschi, Vrabel, Izzo, and Paxton are the other 8.

 

[Ootball]

I just can't help but think the Patriots are 2 plays away from 5 SB Titles (4 yard completion to Troy Brown in the '07 AFCCG and a Asante INT in SB42). Thanks, I needed a fresh perspective.

The 2 improbable catches strike me as more tantalizing: Reggie Wayne's mid-air fumble recovery last year (still not sure how that happened), and, of course, Tyree's helmet grab.

But, as someone mentioned in another article, there was a play or 2 in either the Rams or Carolina SB (and even Philly) that could have turned the outcome as equally, so it all kinda evens out...

 

[richpats]

I think, considering our habit for close games in the playoffs, that we have 3 Super Bowls in the first place. We could just as easily have 1 and be the Atlanta Braves.

 

[oldskool138]

Here are my final thoughs:

When the Pats lost in '06 in the AFCCG, we all could see what the problems were. They needed an impact LB, a revamped WR corp and some depth at RB and S.

The Pats went out and got all those things and more...and completed a perfect regular season and got to the Super Bowl. Along the way they set a new standard for excellence in TD passes, points scored and a litany of other offensive categories.

The Pats lost the Super Bowl...Why? The answer isn't clear. They got man-handled worse than any time I can remember in the BB era (the Lawyer Buffalo game and the Miami shutout are the two games that come sort of close).

What do the Pats do? Get a better offensive line? They didn't have any problems pass protecting during the other 18 games. Better WR's? Moss and Welker are going to be back next year. LB depth? Okay, but BB doesn't like drafting rookie LB's and the FA market is thin. Play better? They went 18-1.

Lots of questions. No answers. And that's the maddening part.

 

[Poker]

The 2 improbable catches strike me as more tantalizing: Reggie Wayne's mid-air fumble recovery last year (still not sure how that happened), and, of course, Tyree's helmet grab.

But, as someone mentioned in another article, there was a play or 2 in either the Rams or Carolina SB (and even Philly) that could have turned the outcome as equally, so it all kinda evens out...

No question. The more you watch parity football, with a lot of close outcomes, the more you realize how razor-thin the margins are between winning and losing. Even in blowouts, there's normally a tipping point in a close game where if the play went the other way, you get a totally different result.

You could look at the Pats and easily argue that if a couple more plays went their way, they would be the 5-time SB champions out of the last 7. Likewise, no tuck ruling, a play here or there in the Rams SB, or even the 03 and 04 super bowls, and we could easily have only 1 title. You can always look back by definition on any close game or season and say it hinged on small differences or one different ref call.

I have seen Indy fans argue that with a couple of different plays, they also could have at least three rings as well by now. And, while that may seem like wishful thinking to a Pats fan, listening to their logic it's not that ridiculous imo. In 2003, they were very close to playing the AFCC in Indy, but we squeaked out a regular season win. In the AFCC that year, we won 24-14, which doesn't seem like a one play difference, but Indy fans will point to a key play or two that totally changed the momentum of the game. Had they won, the argument goes, they would have beaten Carolina too in the SB (yes, I realize...). In 2004, they were pretty soundly beaten in the AFC divisional game by the Pats, no really a one play difference there--even the Colts fans can't argue that one. 2005 is an easy one for them to claim hinged on a key play in the AFCC against Pittsburgh. The most obvious is that if Big Ben doesn't make the game-saving tackle on the fumble return, they go to the SB and probably take care of Seattle.

It's funny about Belichick--at the end of these close games, win or lose, BB unfailingly says "We won because we made a few more plays than them" or "We lost, they just made a few more plays than us there at the end..."
You get so used to hearing this that you almost tune it out, but the thing is that it's TRUE, and actually very insightful in a simple way.

 

[mgteich]

This 18-1 team was one of the very best of all time. Our dynasty is one of the very best of all time, whether measured from when Kraft arrived (my choice), when Belichick arrived, or from when we won our first SB.

Yes, it does get better than this. We could have won. But very few sets of fans have ever sat where we sit now.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

It's funny about Belichick--at the end of these close games, win or lose, BB unfailingly says "We won because we made a few more plays than them" or "We lost, they just made a few more plays than us there at the end..."
You get so used to hearing this that you almost tune it out, but the thing is that it's TRUE, and actually very insightful in a simple way.

That's one of the best comments I've read out here in a long time. I still think that the 2007 Patriots were one of the best teams in the history of the NFL, but the level of excellence is so great on so many teams nowadays that the gap between the best team and a very good team with excellent coaching is narrowing with every season.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

What do the Pats do? Get a better offensive line? They didn't have any problems pass protecting during the other 18 games. Better WR's? Moss and Welker are going to be back next year. LB depth? Okay, but BB doesn't like drafting rookie LB's and the FA market is thin. Play better? They went 18-1.

Lots of questions. No answers. And that's the maddening part.

Well said, expressing the frustration that many of us are feeling.

"What do the Pats do?" One answer to your question could simply be: "Get luckier, and the ball bounces off the guy's helmet." "Get luckier, and the ball arrives a split-second later and Asante gets an easy INT."

In other words, "it's football." It's why we love it and why we die with it when we lose like we did. I, for one, still can't wait for the Opener.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Finally, it is important that everyone recognizes that this run has been based upon every aspect of the organization top to bottom. ...The very process of competing for Championships, builiding rosters, teaching and coaching players, etc, is the basis for the success, moreso that who is wearing the jersey. Certainly Tom Brady has been the consistent factor through all of it, but keeping him and the braintrust in place tells me that the most successful team of the last 7 years, will also be the most successful of the next 7. Unfortunately for us they have been so good, that our expectations are to be even greater than great.

Thanks for the perspective. Time to move on!