What is your favorite Patriots team

[Rob0729]

2001. You never forget your first time.... Your team wins a Super Bowl of course.

 

[NoCal Patriot]

I say 2001 since no team in Patriots History ever got so much out of so little.They played and won like a team and as someone who attended his first Patrriots" Game in 1970 this marked the end of a very long and winding road that lead us finally to the top of the mountain wher the view is magnificent!

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Tough, tough call on favorite.

2001 will always be special, being first and everything. The run to the superbowl, the snowbowl, the win in Pittsburgh, being introduced as a team at the Superbowl, the drive at the end......

But 2003 is my favorite. The injuries, the stumble out of the gate, going 2-2 and then winning out.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

2001........none of the others come close........

 

[rabthepat]

My favorite Patriots team happens to be the greatest Patriots team of all time - the 2004 Patriots.

2nd - 2001 Patriots

3rd - 1985 Patriots

 

[RoughingthePasser]

2001 (10char)

 

[Deus Irae]

16-0 and the most potent offense in league history. A fluke catch off a helmet from being considered the greatest team in NFL history.

 

[Kontradiction]

16-0 and the most potent offense in league history. A fluke catch off a helmet from being considered the greatest team in NFL history.

A lot of people have trouble including teams that lost in the Super Bowl as their favorite teams for some reason. I'm one of those people. If they had won, they would have been hands down my favorite Patriot team. As of right now, they are my second.

 

[patsfan55]

Good thread and worthy of a bump. I voted the 2004 edition of our beloved Pats. That was simply the best team I have ever seen assembled in New England from front to bottom. Brady was on his game, the defense was staunch and loaded, Branch and Givens were coming into their own, Corey Dillon was an absolute BEAST, and Troy Brown was (in my opinion) the team MVP that season willingly moving to defense to play cornerback when injuries took their toll.

The 2007 team was great, and I would put them right behind 2004 despite the fact that they didn't win the Super Bowl. After that, I would say 2001 then 2003 even though the 2003 edition was better. I just loved the fact that we were underdogs that won it all in '01.

Thanks for the bump. For a second there I was nervous thinking someone went on my username. "What the heck, I definitely have not posted anything this month, let alone this poll...oh wait this is from 2008...oh yeah I remember posting that...wow my memory isn't what it once was"

I would definitely put the 2008 team up there. I think my list would look like this:
1-2001
2-2003
3-2004
4-2008
5-2007
6-1996
7-1994

There's just something about this past season's team that made me very proud to watch. Maybe it was all the adversity they had to face. Maybe it was the fact that we were finally written off again, and had to prove people wrong. But, at the end of the day, even though we didn't make the playoffs I was EXTREMELY proud to be a Patriot fan. There was so much negativity towards the team in 2007, and I feel the defense was worse than what it was this past season. It was an amazing run last year, but through it all there was something that bothered me, as I alluded to a little over a year ago, we had become a team like the old colts. Amazing passing offense, but not really all that physical, at least not when compared to the 2001 and 2003 teams. Those teams would punch you in the mouth three times before you hit the ground (hence the reason they were my top 2).

 

[patsfan55]

I would agree with this.

I loved the 2003 team - best Pats defense, and I love defense. But 2004 was the most balanced team we've ever had thanks to the dominant running game with Dillon. Defense just a shade below 2003, Brady and the passing game brilliant, and a crushing power running game. We beat teams up with our D and the running game, and sliced them apart with the pass. Can't get much better. I'll take that well-rounded team over the one-dimensional 2007 team any day.

Reading that last sentence really struck a chord with me.
It's true, if I had to wish for one type of team in 2009 I would definitely pick 03 and 04 over 07. Not only did I personally like those teams better, but they were equipped to win any type of game. In other words, let's hope our defense can improve FAST.

 

[Kontradiction]

Reading that last sentence really struck a chord with me.
It's true, if I had to wish for one type of team in 2009 I would definitely pick 03 and 04 over 07. Not only did I personally like those teams better, but they were equipped to win any type of game. In other words, let's hope our defense can improve FAST.

With the amount of draft picks we're likely looking at this April, it's not far fetched to say the defense can improve fast. That, and our injured guys will all be coming back. Brady will probably start out slow (for Tommy that is) but as the season rolls on, he should make more and more progress. I hate to say it, because I want our team to do good under ANY circumstance, but I hope the same thing happens next season as what happened this season (sans that many losses of course)... start out a little slower then build steam as the season goes on. I would have loved to see the Pats enter the playoffs in 2008. I think we could have done A LOT of damage. But alas, we'll have to wait a few more months for the revenge tour.

 

[SunnyDenmark]

'01 team obviously was special in that many (including myself) didn't think they could do it (especially being a Red Sox fan before they won it all).

'03 team - that was great to prove to the rest of the league that Pats were not just a 'flash in the pan' - especially as we didn't make playoffs in '02.

But '04 was (for me) the best. To show beyond all doubt that to repeat and above that, to win 3 Lombardis in 4 years. That proved that we were amoung the best teams ever to play the game and be considered (or crowned) a DYNASTY.

Pats (instead of Patsies) would have to be in discussion of one of the best teams dynasties. That made me very satisfied as a Pats fan. As I remember all too well the Patsie teams of the '70s, '80's & 90's. Where occationally the team would get it all together one year (only to be spanked in the Super Bowl) and then fall back to earth the preceeding years.

P.S. And now NE has reversed places with the Raider teams of the 70's in the sense that we are now the feared team to play against -and an organization of excellence. And instead the Raiders are now the laughing stock of the NFL on how to run an organization. instead of the Patsies. Yes, that is satisfying as I do remember all to well the 'Ben Dryfus' game. Oh sweet vengence.

 

[37Harrison]

2004.

That was the team that turned the Pats into a Dynasty. That team was all round great. Dillion gave us a running game that we hadn't seen since Martin and since his departure haven't seen since. Branch/Givens/Brown were severly underrated as a group and the defense was one of the best in the league.

I love the 2004 team and the story lines through the season and playoffs (especially the "patchwork" backfield that was going to get lit up by Manning in the playoffs and then limited them to 3 points, then they went to Heinz field and trounced the Steelers).

BTW, Rodney should've been the SB MVP that year.

 

[stephens44]

I have to go with the 2004 team, that was a really enjoyable and satisfying season to watch from end to end.
However, I will mention an obscure team (user name gives it away) in the 1988 team. If not for a set of horrendous kickers (Tedy Garcia 46.2% kicker), one of which who cost both games to Buffalo that year, this team would have won the division. They were #1 in rushing attempts that year and had the #5 defense, so no telling what kind of Flutie magic might have been possible in the playoffs. I do recall they beat the Bengals that year who would later take the 49er's to wire in the SB. I enjoy smashmouth ball and great defense, which is what this team had (even if they couldn't really throw).

 

[YorkHarbor]

I have to go with 01. The whole underdog story. Plus the world got its first look at The man known as Thomas Brady

 

[italian pat patriot]

2001 for me: an unbelievible year

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I voted OTHER

The 1990 Pats team was MY favorite

The QB Sucked
The OL Sucked
The DL Sucked
The WRs Sucked
The CBs Sucked
The Safeties Sucked
The Coaches Sucked
The RBs Sucked
The Kickers Sucked

BUT The most important thing of all was that they were all a bunch of good guys that you really couldn't help but like as people

 

[Seymour93]

I voted for the '03 team. Most people see the '04 team as the most dominant during the run, but I gotta say that the '03 team would beat that '04 team. They beat TEN teams who had 10 wins or more, shut down the greatest chicken dance on turf in the AFCC, and had more "fun" wins than any other team in Patriots' history (Both Colts games, the post-blizzard game vs. Miami, the Texans game (an oft forgotten, improbable game where Brady hit Daniel Graham on 4th and 1 to tie it, and Vinatieri shook off two misses and drilled a game winner with seconds left in OT), reversing 31-0 on the last Saturday of the season, beating Miami in OT after getting no breaks whatsoever, the intentional safety in Denver, and so on). Plus that defense was just AWESOME...

Good post. 2003 was epic, but almost every game after Week 1 of the 2001 season was equally important and dramatic. The 2003 defense had Bruschi (seriously, how many big plays did he make that year?) and Vrabel at their very best, plus Ted Washington and Ted Johnson were run stuffing beasts... even Tyrone Poole had an awesome year. But the defense of 2001 was just as efficient even though it wasn't as talented. Hamilton and Pleasant on the ends with a rookie Seymour and Mitchell in the middle... a LB corps that would be a foundation for the next four years (Vrabel, Bruschi, Phifer, and don't forget the intensity Bryan Cox brought before one of the Denver OL cheapshoted him) and the underrated secondary which had the likes of Terrance Shaw, Antwan Harris, and Matt Stevens contributing while the mainstays of Law, Milloy, O-T-I-S, Tebucky Jones, and Terrell Buckley steadied the ship.

Some of the best regular season games of the BB era came in the 2001 season. Overtime victory over the hot Chargers, the Patten game in Indy, the close loss to the Greatest Show on Turf, the comeback win in the Meadowlands, and the gritty victory in Buffalo are the obvious choices but even the games that weren't as high profile, such as the victory in Atlanta over rookie sensation Michael Vick and the Falcons (where we also saw the immaculate reception part 2), our win over the Saints after Bledsoe was cleared to play but Brady was named starter, and the final regular season game in the old stadium (where Kevin Faulk threw a 23 yard pass to Brady that was nearly a TD) were also memorable games. With both of them being so close, what puts the 2001 team over the 2003 team for me was the underdog story, and the brilliance of the three playoff games that year.

 

[moss4ever]

Has to be the 2007 Team for me. Great offense; average defense...Brady to Moss was the best. Loved seeing Moss happy and Brady finally getting the attention that he deserves!

 

[TimU]

1976!

I loved the ground game: Sam Bam, Andy Johnson, Don Calhoun - what a troika! The team averaged 5 yds per carry that year, behind Hannah and Gray. Many of the Pats best players of all time were on that squad. Mike Haynes, for example, was the best DB the team has ever had.

They didn't get it done in the playoff though. I really believe that if they had gotten past Oakland they would have won the whole thing.

I can still see Phil f----g Villapiano hanging onto Russ Francis' arm with both hands!!!