Ten Years

Ten years ago today the Patriots defeated the Panthers to win their second Super Bowl in three seasons. Yes, many of us are frustrated with the team coming up short since 2004, but lets take a moment on this thread to appreciate how much success the team has had. When you consider that 1/3 of the current NFL franchises have never won a Super Bowl, winning two out of three and three out of four is outstanding.

Let's not forget that they defeated both co-MVPs on their path to the SB. That is a significant accomplishment.

I also believe the Pats had a run from around Thanksgiving to the 2nd quarter of the Super Bowl when they hadn't trailed in a game for that entire span. That is remarkable.

Unparalleled success, however many whine about what might have been...

Consider Buffalo has not been to a Superbowl in 20 years, Jets 45(one might think for all the bluster that they are perennial contenders), Dolphins(but we had Marino and an undefeated season) 29 seasons...

Good thread, it's easy to take this all for granted. Here's why the 'Super Bowl or Fail' mentality that alot of our fans have is completely wrong. Imagine had we won in Denver 2 weeks ago the excitement and anticipation running through our veins the past few days and today/tomorrow. Win or lose on Sunday, right now we'd be on cloud nine as football fans. Same feeling we had that Sunday morning before the Denver game. The thrill of seeing our team undergoing a deep playoff run, for the stretch that they are alive, is something we've gotten a majority of the past 10 years. Even without a championship since 2004, that's alot more than a vast majority of fan bases have got to experience on a consistent basis. We're so miserable when we lose in the SB, but I'm sure alot of us are longing for the feeling we had this time in 2011/2007 right now. When BB and Brady are gone, there will be a day when we long for what we had 2 weeks ago. You don't know what you have until it's gone. There are fans that have looked forward to 1 or 2 early round playoff games over the past 10 years, even less in some cases. Some say only #1 matters at the end, but from a fan/observer of the game point of view I disagree. I guess if someone wasn't following this team before 2001 they couldn't relate. That said, we better ****ing win one soon!

DarrylS said:

Unparalleled success, however many whine about what might have been...

Consider Buffalo has not been to a Superbowl in 20 years, Jets 45(one might think for all the bluster that they are perennial contenders), Dolphins(but we had Marino and an undefeated season) 29 seasons...

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Who doesn't appreciate and/or is taking this organization for granted?? NOBODY!!
Everyone realizes what we have here and because we realize what we have here it becomes a very legitimate conversation to discuss a decades long championship drought with this team.
Critiquing this team and their weaknesses is not whining or having a lack of appreciation for this team and their long held success.
The Patriots possess the best QB and the best coach in football.
They are and should be in contention every year.
If the Bills or the Jets or the Dolphins had the same combo they'd be in contention every year.
We know how lucky we are to have this team.
Why the endless handwringing from some fans because the Patriots get analyzed and criticized at times?
Why a weekly thread on this topic??
Who are the real whiners here??

1. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which the defense lost key players and played like a sieve by giving up 29 points in 30 minutes?

2. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which Tom Brady threw for 350 or so yards and put up a performance that is top 5 passing yards in the SB in the entire game's history?

3. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which Adam Vinatieri missed 2 chip shot field goals?

4. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which the Patriots had no sideline gametape on the Panthers because the last time they had played the Panthers was 3 years earlier when George Seifert was the coach?

HOLY COW, that's 4 counters to the revisionist history you hear from braindead analysts about how the Patriots won the Super Bowl.

1. It was the passing offense that won this Super Bowl, not the defense.

2. Tom Brady was on fire this Super Bowl, he wasn't a system-QB or game manager.

3. The Patriots win this Super Bowl with any other kicker in the game who can manage to convert 66% of his kicks instead of Vinatieri's 33%.

4. Spygate had absolutely nothing to do with this victory.

PatsFan24 said:

Ten years ago today the Patriots defeated the Panthers to win their second Super Bowl in three seasons. Yes, many of us are frustrated with the team coming up short since 2004

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Don't forget Super Bowl 39, which occurred Feb. 6, 2005. So actually, it's been nine years without a championship. We need to win it next year.

upstater1 said:

1. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which the defense lost key players and played like a sieve by giving up 29 points in 30 minutes?

2. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which Tom Brady threw for 350 or so yards and put up a performance that is top 5 passing yards in the SB in the entire game's history?

3. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which Adam Vinatieri missed 2 chip shot field goals?

4. Wasn't this the Super Bowl in which the Patriots had no sideline gametape on the Panthers because the last time they had played the Panthers was 3 years earlier when George Seifert was the coach?

HOLY COW, that's 4 counters to the revisionist history you hear from braindead analysts about how the Patriots won the Super Bowl.

1. It was the passing offense that won this Super Bowl, not the defense.

2. Tom Brady was on fire this Super Bowl, he wasn't a system-QB or game manager.

3. The Patriots win this Super Bowl with any other kicker in the game who can manage to convert 66% of his kicks instead of Vinatieri's 33%.

4. Spygate had absolutely nothing to do with this victory.

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That was such a weird game. One of the stranger SB's we've seen.
The teams alternated between defensive struggles and offensive explosions every other quarter. No scoring in the 1st and 3rd qtrs. and all kinds of offense in the 2nd and 4th. Best clutch kicker in NFL history misses easy ones, the Carolina kicker boots one out of bounds that gave the Patriots great field position for the game winning drive. Rodney Harrison breaks his arm yet remains in the game.......whole game had a strange ebb and flow to it.

RhodyPatriot said:

That was such a weird game. One of the stranger SB's we've seen.
The teams alternated between defensive struggles and offensive explosions every other quarter. No scoring in the 1st and 3rd qtrs. and all kinds of offense in the 2nd and 4th. Best clutch kicker in NFL history misses easy ones, the Carolina kicker boots one out of bounds that gave the Patriots great field position for the game winning drive. Rodney Harrison breaks his arm yet remains in the game.......whole game had a strange ebb and flow to it.

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I was there and remember it like yesterday. Good thing we had the ball at the end because both our starting safeties were sidelined -- Rodney and Eugene Wilson.

The Superbowl where the best defense of the Brady/BB era choked big time, giving up big play after big play on the way to 415 yards/29 points allowed.

The Superbowl where the worst offense of the Brady/BB era came up huge, putting up 481 yards of offense and 32 points on a great Carolina defense.

Very strange, but amazing superbowl.

Tunescribe said:

I was there and remember it like yesterday. Good thing we had the ball at the end because both our starting safeties were sidelined -- Rodney and Eugene Wilson.

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I agree. If Carolina's kicker doesn't put that kickoff out of bounds we might have been looking at overtime and if the Panthers won the coin flip I have no doubt they would have won that game. That Patriots D was injured and gassed by the end of that game and they weren't going to stop anyone.