Putting 2007 to bed
 

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.

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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!

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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.

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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.

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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.

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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.

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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.

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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.

Re: Putting 2007 to bed
 

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...