The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots.

[Brady6]

I have been a faithful Patriots fan for 20 or more years now and I have to say this season it has been the most entertaining I have seen. The adversity makes for great entertainment, starting out the first 30 minutes of games with one emotion only to have it shifted abruptly the other way so quickly and so drastically. It has been like getting on the biggest most badass roller coaster at 6 flags, even when we’ve lost it has been a show for the ages.

Look at the ride the team and us as fans have been on since free agency:

• Welker does his best Wade Boggs impression and signs with the enemy in Denver and Peyton Manning.
• Aaron Hernandez is revealed as an alleged murderer and sociopath.
• We lose the hearts and souls of our defense for the year Big Vince and Jerod Mayo.
• Julian Edelman goes from 3rd strong special teams player to the best offensive player we have outside of Gronkowski and Vereen.
• Week 1 we comeback to win with Amendola playing on one leg and Vereen playing with a broken wrist.
• Week 4 we hold off a furious rally by the Falcons and Talib knocks down the potential game tying touchdown with 36 seconds left.
• Week 5 as we take the field to attempt our final game tying drive a massive rain storm begins to pour down at a blinding fashion only to end almost immediately as Brady throws an interception.
• Week 6 Brady throws a touchdown pass to Thompkins with 5 seconds left to win the game.
• Week 7 we lose in OT due to a penalty call that has never been called before.
• Week 8 we comeback from a 17-3 half time deficit to win the game.
• Week 9 after struggling offensively throughout the first 8 weeks of the year we hang 55 points and over 600 total yards on the Pittsburg Steelers.
• Week 11 we rallied only to loss when on a no-call pass interference against Gronkowski resulting in an interception to end the game.
• Week 12 after 6 fumbles in the first half and being down 24-0 we rally against the #1 seed in the AFC to win 34-31 in overtime and Belichick elected to kick instead of receive the football.
• Week 13 we rallied from being down 17-0 at halftime to win 34-31.
• Week 14 despite watching our best offensive weapon be carted off the field after a dirty hit the team scores a touchdown, recovers an onside kick, our rookie who has not even dressed for a number of games gets am interference call in the end zone and we scored on the next play to win the game all in less than 62 seconds.

Personally I had to cancel my yearly physical for fear the doctor would admit me for 200/130 blood pressure :faint:

Another reason this season has been particularly enjoyable for me is it has been the first year I spent being a member of this amazing fan board. Although I may get into some heated discussions with some posters about Danny Boy or Joshy Poo or I may post at an annoying pace like a 15 year old with his first girlfriend on text message – I think you all are great, you know our team and this sport better than any other fan base I have seen, you’re all engaging and talk about so many different topics, nothing goes undiscussed on this board it is truly remarkable.

I am very grateful to Ian for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this community despite the mistakes I have made. I also want to give special thanks to the moderators and veterans of this board for being so educational and welcoming even when I act like an “A”. :love: You all have contributed to making this the best season of pro sports I have ever experienced and I thank you for that :grouphug:

I look forward to enjoying the playoffs with everyone and hopefully witnessing the perfect (which I won’t jinx and say out loud) ending to this season, happy holidays to everyone and GO PATS :rocker:

 

[BradyManny]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

It's certainly been a wild ride. But I think several years of blowing teams out of the water on a regular basis has made this season of hard-fought games seem even wilder than it otherwise is.

I love this team, and it is one of my favorite Pats teams in a while, but I can't say this season is more entertaining than some others. Yet, at least. I will say that the close victories, despite the cost on our blood pressures, is not only more entertaining, but probably at least slightly more conducive to building a team that is more playoff-ready.

 

[oldrover]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

IMHO there will NEVER be another season like 2001.

Bledsoe... to Brady... 40 points on Indy... burying the game ball after Miami... David Patten passed out in Buffalo... losing to the Rams (the first time)... the RAIDER game... the STEELER game... the SUPER BOWL...

...un-be-friggin'-lievable.













That said, this season's pretty good too. LOL

 

[Rob0729]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Funny, other than a few individual games, I think this has been the worst NFL season I can remember. Too much bad officiating and devastating injuries for the Pats and around the league to make this season remotely as enjoyable as other seasons.

 

[fnordcircle]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Too much bad officiating

I'm 100% convinced the ever increasing furor over the refs has everything to do with the growing prevalence of social media in our lives. All of these fans screeching their woeful cries skyward and joined with others across various mediums creating a crescendo of incessant whining about the refs gives rise to a perception of increased ref incompetence.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

I'm 100% convinced the ever increasing furor over the refs has everything to do with the growing prevalence of social media in our lives. All of these fans screeching their woeful cries skyward and joined with others across various mediums creating a crescendo of incessant whining about the refs gives rise to a perception of increased ref incompetence.

Nah! Social media has been around like this for several years. There hasn't been as many games being decided on bad or questionable calls in any other year than this.

I may agree to a point that social media has increased the scrutiny of the refs in general, but I cannot remember a year where there have been so many bad or questionable calls at key times as this year. Social media was here last year and I didn't think the refs were nearly as bad as they are this year.

Look at the Pats alone. They lost a game in late October because the refs decided to call an obscure rule for the first time ever in overtime on a 50 something yard field goal attempt that had no shot of being made where the penalty had nothing to do with the missed FG attempt. That isn't something in the norm.

 

[Brady6]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Funny, other than a few individual games, I think this has been the worst NFL season I can remember. Too much bad officiating and devastating injuries for the Pats and around the league to make this season remotely as enjoyable as other seasons.

Yeah but to see players come from no place and rally to overcome adversity that’s Rocky Balboa **** right there.

This speech by Al Pacino is perfect for what I see this team do and how they rally week in and week out:

I don't know what to say really.
Three minutes
to the biggest battle of our professional lives
all comes down to today.
Either
we heal
as a team
or we are going to crumble.
Inch by inch
play by play
till we're finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen
believe me
and
we can stay here
and get the **** kicked out of us
or
we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you.
I'm too old.
I look around and I see these young faces
and I think
I mean
I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I uh....
I pissed away all my money
believe it or not.
I chased off
anyone who has ever loved me.
And lately,
I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life
things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life.
But,
you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or to early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know
when we add up all those inches
that's going to make the ******* difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know
if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy
who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen
and either we heal now, as a team,
or we will die as individuals.
That's football guys.
That's all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?

 

[Brady6]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

I'm 100% convinced the ever increasing furor over the refs has everything to do with the growing prevalence of social media in our lives. All of these fans screeching their woeful cries skyward and joined with others across various mediums creating a crescendo of incessant whining about the refs gives rise to a perception of increased ref incompetence.

Nah! Social media has been around like this for several years. There hasn't been as many games being decided on bad or questionable calls in any other year than this.

I may agree to a point that social media has increased the scrutiny of the refs in general, but I cannot remember a year where there have been so many bad or questionable calls at key times as this year. Social media was here last year and I didn't think the refs were nearly as bad as they are this year.

Look at the Pats alone. They lost a game in late October because the refs decided to call an obscure rule for the first time ever in overtime on a 50 something yard field goal attempt that had no shot of being made where the penalty had nothing to do with the missed FG attempt. That isn't something in the norm.

I think you both make solid points here, Rob is absolutely correct social media has been around a long time that said it has never been this viable. I think more than social media its technology in general, fans can upload a **** call or play on youtube within seconds and it goes viral. Police officers and others in that line of work have made mention of this for the better part of the 2000’s that they have to be cautious of everything they do because someone could be sitting there with a camera. The refs police the football games and are faced with the same challenges. The other thing is the league is a billion dollar corporation so it is investing heavily in its technology and using that to assess the performance of the refs more and more. As technology grows awareness will continue to grow and that is going to always weigh on the minds of people who have to make decisions that determine outcomes, nobody no matter what they claim wants to be disliked it is in our makeup as humans to please people and look for positive reinforcement/recognition.

The hope is eventually technology can expand to a level where it can be reviewed instantaneously for verification, right now we’re in this middle stage where it could be hurting certain elements more than helping..

 

[Brady6]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

IMHO there will NEVER be another season like 2001.

Bledsoe... to Brady... 40 points on Indy... burying the game ball after Miami... David Patten passed out in Buffalo... losing to the Rams (the first time)... the RAIDER game... the STEELER game... the SUPER BOWL...

...un-be-friggin'-lievable.

That said, this season's pretty good too. LOL

I was deployed overseas back in 2001 so I didn’t get the opportunity to see that season. That does sound very entertaining and everything I have read about it has made it sound epic as well. I hope that this season as a similar ending, Brady may not have his best stats ever but to me this is his best season in my opinion. Think about it this team is 10-3 despite everything and its 3 losses are by all came down to the last drive and were by a combined 14 points, we were legitimately in every single game for at least 59 minutes.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Respectfully disagree. Have had some fantastic finishes but overall the quality of play has been quite mediocre both on the local level and throughout the league.
On the entertainment scale this has been a down year.

 

[Brady6]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Respectfully disagree. Have had some fantastic finishes but overall the quality of play has been quite mediocre both on the local level and throughout the league.
On the entertainment scale this has been a down year.

I can respect that but I want to explain what I mean by most entertaining season to watch. The adversity, the mistakes and such they’ve added this level of entertainment in a different way than watching us surgically dissect teams for 40 PPG and go 14-2 or 13-3 with relative ease. This season for me has been entertaining in the sense of jumping out of an airplane,

• First you’re nervous as hell and filled with doubts on the plane.
• Then you jump and your adrenaline is rushing and you’re horrified.
• Then you pull the parachute and you are suddenly delighted because it appears you are going to live.
• Then you hit the ground and you’re just relieved you survived and it is over.

 

[RobAllan]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

I can respect that but I want to explain what I mean by most entertaining season to watch. The adversity, the mistakes and such they’ve added this level of entertainment in a different way than watching us surgically dissect teams for 40 PPG and go 14-2 or 13-3 with relative ease. This season for me has been entertaining in the sense of jumping out of an airplane,

• First you’re nervous as hell and filled with doubts on the plane.
• Then you jump and your adrenaline is rushing and you’re horrified.
• Then you pull the parachute and you are suddenly delighted because it appears you are going to live.
• Then you hit the ground and you’re just relieved you survived and it is over.

I absolutely understand this viewpoint. However, it does require one to value the same things in entertainment that you do. (And hey, that's fine!) But certainly not all of us will feel that way.

For a person like me, for example, 2001 was the best. It was the best because of how it ended, those Patriots, that halftime, that kite "blowing in the wind." Had we lost the SB, it also wouldn't even be on my list of Top 3 most entertaining seasons. Because I, personally, judge how much I was entertained after the fact based on the end result.

My runner-ups are blowout kind of seasons. I don't subscribe to closer games being more entertaining. I love watching my team paste division rivals or have legendary blowout games like Vs. Titans and Vs. Redskins. That's what floats my boat when championships aren't at issue.

I'm glad you're enjoying this one and I'm ready to board the train with you if we win the SB. If we don't, this season will never make my list because all the stress was literally for nothing. And I will feel ultimately let down by personnel decisions, injuries, and officiating. I've already twice considered giving the WWnFl up twice this season seriously.

 

[wolverinejoe80]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

this year is the ultimate roller coaster ride. you can't script this stuff. It's heart breaking, entertaining, and just exhausting. just not good for my health!

i kinda prefer 07 dominance with no surprises(well until very bitter end).

 

[Patjew]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

I'm 100% convinced the ever increasing furor over the refs has everything to do with the growing prevalence of social media in our lives. All of these fans screeching their woeful cries skyward and joined with others across various mediums creating a crescendo of incessant whining about the refs gives rise to a perception of increased ref incompetence.

That second sentence is a masterpiece!

 

[captain stone]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Funny, other than a few individual games, I think this has been the worst NFL season I can remember. Too much bad officiating and devastating injuries for the Pats and around the league to make this season remotely as enjoyable as other seasons.

I agree. This season hasn't been the least bit entertaining, beginning with the Offseason
From Hell.

 

[Jackson 2]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

The second half comebacks have been exhilarating, but the Hernandez stuff and all of the injuries have put a damper on the season for me. As a usual eternal optimist, I always feel we have a legit shot at winning it all. The injuries, more so those on defense rather than even Gronk's, have left me thinking we'll put up a fight but will fall short. More frustrating is that at the start of the season I thought we had potentially our best defense in years. Finally, Id love just one Sunday featuring us tearing it up in the first half about 28-0 so that the cold ones would flow easily and I wouldn't have to bounce my remote off of my family room walls.

 

[fnordcircle]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Nah! Social media has been around like this for several years.

Sure but it's come to the point where your Great Uncle Badtouch is on twitter and facebook when that wasn't the case 10 years ago. We have more angles and more capacity to share media and quickly create things like animated gifs and stills of a TV broadcast. Back in 2004 I was the only dude I knew with a PVR card in his computer everyone else was taking pictures of their TV like an idiot.

More options to create and share means a greater volume of noise.

 

[pats4life12]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

It's been very entertaining and fun and it still is not over yet. But nothing beats the 2001 season.

 

[brdmaverick]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

Sometimes we get too caught up in the emotion of the here and now and don't quite put it into proper historic perspective.

Sure, this has certainly been a fun season with some memorable comebacks, but I don't think anything can outdo the 2003 team.

Let's look at some of the highlights from that game........


vs Tennessee - Mike Cloud TD runs and TY Law pick six cap off back and forth wild second half

at Miami - Miami misses two would be game winners, then an 83 yard TD to Brown in OT (does it get any wilder?)

at Denver - intentional safety game, followed by last minute game winning TD drive (Givens catch)

at INDY - last minute goal line stand to preserve the win

at Houston - last minute drive to tie the game (on a fourth down play none the less), win in OT

oh, and it helps that they won the Super Bowl

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Re: The most entertaining season I’ve witnessed in 20 years of following the Patriots

i am sure every pats fan has needed at least 1 prescription of anti anxiety meds this season