Favorite/Least favorite team in Brady/BB era?

Tough to pick between 2001 and 2014.

2004 was our best overall team, imo. But 2001 was the big underdog that gave us our first ever Super Bowl.

And 2014 was an amazing SB win when we all had the 'wtf another miracle catch this is such BS why does Allah hate us?' moment that was saved by a UDFA. AND it was the win that put the nail in the coffin of that idiotic '0 wins since spygate' meme.

'04 team did it all.....in the playoffs, held the number one offense to 3 points, then scored 41 on the number one defense.
'09 ugggg

'01 was my favorite season. That season had some sort of magic/luck to it with the the rise of Brady, the gelling of relatively unknowns/cast offs, the Patten "catch" against Buffalo, and of course the tuck rule. I don't think anyone in their wildest dreams could have imagine that would turn into the juggernaut the organization is now. 2014 is a close second as it had been so long since the last one and it helped ease a little (definitely not all) of the pain from the two Giants losses and got Brady ring number four.

As for least favorite I would say 2013 just edges out '09 for me. That was such a frustrating season to watch. The receiving group was a disaster. Amendola was banged up and didn't live up to lofty expectations while Brady was throwing to Dobson, Thompkins, Boyce and Austin Collie. They could never seem to get on the same page and the offense struggled for most the year. That combined with Gronk's ACL and losing to Peyton in the AFCCG edges out '09.

I'm sure to get a bunch of crap but I like them all. I'm a pats fan. I dealt with. 1-15 and still watched because I love my patriots.

04 all the way. Back-back takes mental toughness.

I didn't like 02. The last game, to give them "a chance" (thanks for rolling over Favre) was the right spot of a "non 10 win team".

farn said:

04 all the way. Back-back takes mental toughness.

I didn't like 02. The last game, to give them "a chance" (thanks for rolling over Favre) was the right spot of a "non 10 win team".

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I'll always hate Favre. Screwed us out of the playoffs twice. 02 he couldn't beat the Jets and '08 he couldn't beat the Dolphins. And obviously the Super Bowl.

While I cannot disagree with 2001 for obvious reasons, 2003 was pretty special too because it proved that the Patriots were not just a one-time fluke. 2014 was awesome because it felt like getting a monkey off our backs, though that would turn out to not be the case with the haters after the atrocious frame job and witch hunt. While the 2004 team was the most dominant, I can't place them higher on my own list because of each season's circumstances.

Worst was 2009 by far for reasons that have already been mentioned. The empty feeling after the end of 2007 was put on hold for all of 2008, and then that '09 season was a huge letdown rather than retribution. Right behind '09 I would say 2002; it was a big pfffft after '01 from both a performance standpoint as well as a (seemingly) relative lack of urgency and inspiration.

2004 the only deep playoff run where i didnt feel like i was going to die during a game. So they win


2009 is easy choice for least favorite. aside from edelman and maybe vince, zero heart in the playoff game

01 is my favorite team because they were the ultimate underdogs. The Pats really haven't had the underdog status since then, which is another reason for that season being so special.

It felt, at the time, like that Super Bowl winning season was a fluke, or that it would turn out to be a one hit wonder type season. In retrospect, we can see that all the things that went in the Pats favor in '01 proved to have less to do with "magic" or "flukes" and more to do with belichick-style preparation and situational football. It was the birth of one of the greatest dynastys in sports history, but nobody (including many of us) even saw it coming.

Least favorite team for me is 09 for all the reasons already perfectly stated.

I always thought that the 2006 offense was the toughest to stomach... seemed to me Belichick went into the season with very few weapons for Brady and it finally caught up with him...

When your leading receiver is Reche Caldwell, who not only didn't make the team the following year - and was out of the NFL before the end of 2007 - you know the offense is under-stocked

Belichick rectified that in 2007

That being said, with all that working against them, the fact that the 2006 team went as far as they did really said a lot about some of the elements on that team. A lot of guys stepped up that season.

Worst-2015. Felt like I was watching one of those old Colt teams from the early part of the millennium. Crash through the season starting 10-0, then puking on themselves to go 3-5 the rest of the way.

Favorite-2003. Brady throws a pedestrian 23 TDs but we still manage to go 17-2 and win one of the most awesome SB's ever as Tom shined and the rest of the world knew then this was a dynasty and no fluke. I wore that championship hat with great pride.

I'm going with 2001 as my favorite where we announced we were Patsies no more. It became clear as the season went on that something special was unfolding.

I concur with 2009 as my least favorite. Didn't care much for 2002 and 2005 either though that was more based on the product on the field.

Favorite team is a split between 2004 and 2014 but for different reasons. I'm not going to lie, I thought they were finished after KC and then they remembered who they were. The 2004 Pats, I'll put them up against any other team in the history of the NFL knowing they will find a way to win.

As for least favorite, 2002 because well... yeah.

TB12TheGoat said:

What is it for you guys? For me it's


Favorite
2007 Patriots
The best team in NFL history IMO. The 315 PD will never be broken in our lifetime. Beat a ton of playoff teams that year, and it took refs, O-line sucking, horrible luck, a questionable coaching choice (Ghost not kicking the FG) for them to lose.


Least favorite
2009 Patriots
No heart. It seems that BB disliked this team as well. You would figure a team that had Brady, Moss, Welker would be a lot better, but this year was just odd. Amazingly, if I remember correctly, the team did not have a 40+ yard play until week 6 (correct me if I'm wrong)



PS does anyone have a link to the thread that asked people to rank each team in the Brady/BB era?

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I don't like the "no heart" adage but I know where you are coming from, especially with the saints and colts games. I think it was more of an issue that the team had a lot of deficiencies that their off-season failed to fix and nothing about the team was good enough to overcome the deficiencies.

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dtbrks said:

I'm sure to get a bunch of crap but I like them all. I'm a pats fan. I dealt with. 1-15 and still watched because I love my patriots.

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I respect that. But saying one team was your least favorite is not necessarily saying you didn't like the team. It's a comparative statement.

fnordcircle said:

Tough to pick between 2001 and 2014.

2004 was our best overall team, imo. But 2001 was the big underdog that gave us our first ever Super Bowl.

And 2014 was an amazing SB win when we all had the 'wtf another miracle catch this is such BS why does Allah hate us?' moment that was saved by a UDFA. AND it was the win that put the nail in the coffin of that idiotic '0 wins since spygate' meme.

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The 2014 playoff run was the most exciting for sure.

The Super Bowl and divisional game vs the Ravens will go down with the snow bowl as probably the 3 most exciting games in franchise history.

I wish I was able to say 07 without even thinking about it................

I loved the 2001 season and that finish to the super bowl was magical. That said 2014 edges it out, we were all hyped we expected a win we got to the big show and overturned a lead, to have the ball on the 2 and think it was all over but still win it. They were magical seasons but my favourite team was the 08 team. They fought hard when other teams would give up. When you lose one of the greatest QBs ever you go 1-15 when you lose the greatest QB of all time and your team finds a way to go 11-5 and miss out on a division title by a tiebreaker you have to love that. With Brady we likely go 16-0 back to back. I think all of the heart and fight of that team makes 09 worse.

I look back and should hate 2002 however I don't at that point we were a one year wonder. We didn't know what to expect. 2009 team just had no heart no fight I hate that team they just weren't the patriots.

JoeSixPat said:

I always thought that the 2006 offense was the toughest to stomach... seemed to me Belichick went into the season with very few weapons for Brady and it finally caught up with him...

When your leading receiver is Reche Caldwell, who not only didn't make the team the following year - and was out of the NFL before the end of 2007 - you know the offense is under-stocked

Belichick rectified that in 2007

That being said, with all that working against them, the fact that the 2006 team went as far as they did really said a lot about some of the elements on that team. A lot of guys stepped up that season.

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I look back and cringe thinking about Brady throwing to the likes of Reche Caldwell, Doug Gabriel, Jabar Gaffney, and Bryan Lloyd.

Batman said:

I loved the 2001 season and that finish to the super bowl was magical. That said 2014 edges it out, we were all hyped we expected a win we got to the big show and overturned a lead, to have the ball on the 2 and think it was all over but still win it. They were magical seasons but my favourite team was the 08 team. They fought hard when other teams would give up. When you lose one of the greatest QBs ever you go 1-15 when you lose the greatest QB of all time and your team finds a way to go 11-5 and miss out on a division title by a tiebreaker you have to love that. With Brady we likely go 16-0 back to back. I think all of the heart and fight of that team makes 09 worse.

I look back and should hate 2002 however I don't at that point we were a one year wonder. We didn't know what to expect. 2009 team just had no heart no fight I hate that team they just weren't the patriots.

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Yea that was such a weird season. It was essentially a transition from the dynasty teams as we lost a ton of leadership. Vrabel and Seymour were traded, Harrison and Bruschi retired, Paxton and Izzo were let walk in FA while a lot of role players/depth guys were traded or released. The team ended up being made up mostly of free agency busts, draft busts, and underachievers and even Bill and Brady knew that the chemistry was off as evidenced by the A Football Life that followed Belichick that season.