This team doesn’t need to win a Super Bowl to make us proud…

For more than a decade I have been fortunate enough as a Patriots fan to expect to win a Super Bowl every year. I really don’t feel it is fair to expect this team to win a Super Bowl anymore and for me I am going to extremely proud of this team if it simply makes the playoffs, anything above and beyond that will be a bonus for me. My reasoning for scaling down my expectations from previous years is simple I have been following pro sports for over 25 years and never have a I seen a team face this much adversity, this team is built of champions to even be relevant in my opinion, no other team would fight through this, most would be engaging in some type of “suck for Luck” campaign.

• Wes Welker gone…
• Rob Gronkowski yet to play after 5 surgeries in 9 months…
• Brandon Lloyd revealed as a head case…
• Aaron Hernandez is facing 25 to life…
• Donald Jones forced to retire at age 25 due to rare kidney disorder…
• Jake Ballard and Daniel Fells fail to make the team out of camp due to health issues…
• Adrian Wilson goes on injured reserve without ever taking a regular season snap…
• Shane Vereen broke his wrist in week 1 and was placed on in season injured reserve…
• Danny Amendola yet to play a game in good health…
• Vince Wilfork out for the season…
• Jerod Mayo out for the season now too…

I did not even include other players like Talib, Ridley, Kelly, Dobson, Connolly and Thompkins have or are hampered with different injuries.

I have never been more proud of a Patriots team, we’re 5-1 and are only loss came at the hands of a rain storm that started when we took the field as an offense and ended when we walked off it. This team needs no ring or trophy to be considered the champion of the NFL in my opinion.

**Disclaimer: This is a homer thread, if you’re not a homer you will likely throw up on your feet**

If anything, because of all this crazy s***, they DESERVE that fourth ring.

If this team overcomes these injuries and keeps winning, I expect a Super Bowl win. It's certainly got a unique storyline if they make it that far. Really, this team is not out of it. Only 1 AFC team scares me a little and that's Kansas City. This team will miss mayo and wilfork, but with 2 rising start rookies, hooman rising up, collie and then the return of gronk and vereen, this will be a great offense. One that can strike anywhere, anytime. The defense is still not bad. We lost talib and mayo and still held the saints. This team is resilient, and as long as bb and Tom can keep this team focused, we can be great. You guys have to believe! I always have this little saying, "if you believe, it will happen".

We're 5-1, i want them to win more than ever, Injury or not. The only issue is they will need new leaders to rise up and inspire the team.

I'm already proud of this team, nothing that happens from here out will ever, ever change that.

That said, it's Super Bowl or bust, baby.

Amazing year. I expected to lose to Atlanta, Cincy AND NO because of the injuries we had after a 3-0 start vs inferior teams, I expected losing those games, and that was BEFORE losing Wilfork and Kelly. This team never ceases to amaze me. To beat NO with the injuries prior to the game and then during, just amazing. Hopefully they keep winning, but it's bound to catch up with them sooner or later. You can't lose your top 3 defender, top WR, not have an all world TE, and keep on winning, can ya ?

But Denver lost a 35 year old CB that got torched for two TDs in the playoffs, Von Miller for 6 games, and Ryan Clady for the year. It's equal I tell ya!

/sarcasm

This team is amazing. Who knows how good they could of been at full strength. We'll still win #4.

Yes, it does.

Don't care about whether they make me proud or not; in fact, that never crosses my mind. Superbowl is only thing that makes me happy. Anything else and that means I will go into my self imposed football blackout until draft time.

In 2003 we had 42 different starters by the regular season's end. The defense was the hero, and the offense could barely score a point.

The 2013 team has faced more adversity in 6 games than the 03 team did all season. The defense is still the hero, and the offense has 100x the potential than the 03 offense ever had.

They had Rodney and Ty, we have DMac and Talib

They had Bru, Phifer and Seymour, we have Jones, Hightower, and Spikes.

They had Brady, We have Brady...

We can do this.

Archeryaddict12 said:

If this team overcomes these injuries and keeps winning, I expect a Super Bowl win. It's certainly got a unique storyline if they make it that far. Really, this team is not out of it. Only 1 AFC team scares me a little and that's Kansas City. This team will miss mayo and wilfork, but with 2 rising start rookies, hooman rising up, collie and then the return of gronk and vereen, this will be a great offense. One that can strike anywhere, anytime. The defense is still not bad. We lost talib and mayo and still held the saints. This team is resilient, and as long as bb and Tom can keep this team focused, we can be great. You guys have to believe! I always have this little saying, "if you believe, it will happen".

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This team is playing like last year's ravens, that's how I feel right now

I would agree that they don't necessarily need to win the SB this year to make us all appreciate the fighting through adversity/team building philosophy that occurs just about every year.

This current 2013 season seems to have more of the "fighting" and playing like a team aspect than in many of our recent seasons, at least through 6 games anyway.

Let's see how they continue to do moving forward, but I fail to see many scenarios where they aren't 12-4, possibly even 13-3 with a rather deep playoff run.

It all depends on if you care about seeing Brady officially stamp his claim to the GOAT QB.

At this point I think its arguable to say Brady is best of all time...its all about the RINGS ,not the stats or wins along the way and Montana is still the guy that a good majority of people outside of NE look to as best of all time.

Brady's window to win another is closing fast,if anyone deserves another trophy and another accomplishment added to his lengthly list,its Brady.

Brady got screwed by so many things the past year (Welker gone,Hernandez,Gronkowski) that if he doesn't get another this year it may get even tougher as he climbs steadily into his upper 30s.

Bottom line is,if you really hope that Brady gets his just desserts and gets to hold that trophy one last time then anything but a Super Bowl victory is a disappointment and another lost season.

No..they NEED to win this Super Bowl with all these major injuries, the Ahern debacle, the freakin' Doctorgate crap and who knows what else yet to transpire...if they do, it'll bring a giant sledgehammer down on the idiotic hate driven morons like Marshall Fork,Tom Jerkson and Wrecks DeBlubbergutsterson aka biggest whiny mouthed, azzole degenerate in sports history.

ESPN would have to hire the entire east coast division of ServPro to clean up the mess....and I could die a happy Pats fan knowing that ,figuratively speaking, those azzoles brains are splattered all over the cyber landscape like Humpty Dumpty humps mashed into the concrete.

Once you make the playoffs anything can happen and the team with the most heart often defeats one with the most talent. Blowouts happen, but in a close game, I'll take the team with heart and guts.

Joker said:

No..they NEED to win this Super Bowl with all these major injuries, the Ahern debacle, the freakin' Doctorgate crap and who knows what else yet to transpire...if they do, it'll bring a giant sledgehammer down on the idiotic hate driven morons like Marshall Fork,Tom Jerkson and Wrecks DeBlubbergutsterson aka biggest whiny mouthed, azzole degenerate in sports history.

ESPN would have to hire the entire east coast division of ServPro to clean up the mess....and I could die a happy Pats fan knowing that ,figuratively speaking, those azzoles brains are splattered all over the cyber landscape like Humpty Dumpty humps mashed into the concrete.

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As much as I'd love to see your scenario come true Joker, I think that so far through the first 6 games of the season, they have proven all of the doubters wrong already.

Even if it's only a playoff run (I used the term "deep" playoff run in my earlier post which I would compare to last season's AFCCG loss) I think that all of those idiotic mediots are quickly realizing that no team does more with less talent and all of the challenges that are presented to them.

Whether we win the SB or not, we're going to remind all of those jerks that the team is here to continue to compete no matter what, and once again will be right in the mix of a first round bye come playoff time with a 12-4 (approx) record.

Just think of how many reporters consistently predicted our demise with all of the trouble and challenges. They are quickly realizing that no matter what happens, you always have to account for the success of the NE Patriots.

Just thinking of that article that predicted a 9-7 season with a 1-7 record on the road makes me smile.

supafly said:

Just thinking of that article that predicted a 9-7 season with a 1-7 record on the road makes me smile.

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They've already exceeded THAT lofty bar (set by ESPN and none other than Pro Football Focus).

PATRIOTSFANINPA said:

Bottom line is,if you really hope that Brady gets his just desserts and gets to hold that trophy one last time then anything but a Super Bowl victory is a disappointment and another lost season.

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My thoughts are that if you keep kicking on the door, eventually you're going to knock it in. We consistently come close and are known to make deeper playoff runs just about every single year. Eventually I think things line up and our luck doesn't go the way of a once in a lifetime helmet catch, and another 3rd down late game heave ala 2011.

As far as Brady's window quickly closing, we can only assume that is the case. For all we know he will play another 4-5 years after this one. There have been a lot of very good QB's to play into their late 30's and early 40's.

Joker said:

No..they NEED to win this Super Bowl with all these major injuries, the Ahern debacle, the freakin' Doctorgate crap and who knows what else yet to transpire...if they do, it'll bring a giant sledgehammer down on the idiotic hate driven morons like Marshall Fork,Tom Jerkson and Wrecks DeBlubbergutsterson aka biggest whiny mouthed, azzole degenerate in sports history.

ESPN would have to hire the entire east coast division of ServPro to clean up the mess....and I could die a happy Pats fan knowing that ,figuratively speaking, those azzoles brains are splattered all over the cyber landscape like Humpty Dumpty humps mashed into the concrete.

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You forgot to mention the continuous Manning ball washing and Brady is looking his age reports by the media with failure and ignorance to acknowledge that Manning has Caviar and Lobster at his disposal on offense while Brady has Tuna Fish and stale Potato Chips at his.


(no disrespect to the young rookies but lets face it,Manning has superior talent at his disposal this year and we have developing Rookies)

supafly said:

My thoughts are that if you keep kicking on the door, eventually you're going to knock it in. We consistently come close and are known to make deeper playoff runs just about every single year. Eventually I think things line up and our luck doesn't go the way of a once in a lifetime helmet catch, and another 3rd down late game heave ala 2011.

As far as Brady's window quickly closing, we can only assume that is the case. For all we know he will play another 4-5 years after this one. There have been a lot of very good QB's to play into their late 30's and early 40's.

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Not to forget that the Super Bowl nightmare otherwise known as the New York Giants will not be the NFC Rep in the SB unless they go 13-0 starting this week and into the playoffs.

Here's how I see it through the eyes of General George Patton...we all know who the "enemy" is...

My God, I actually pity those poor bastards we're going up against. My God, I do. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Jet bastards by the bushel. Now some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty. The Jets are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood, shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo, that a moment before was your best friends face, you'll know what to do.