What was your favorite Patriots team?

[DarrylStingley]

I don't mean result. I don't mean Super Bowl. I mean what TEAM did you relate to/love the most?

And why?

Edit: Yeah, 1986 is 1985?

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don't mean result. I don't mean Super Bowl. I mean what TEAM did you relate to/love the most?

And why?

Not to tarnish your OP but you may want to change the 1986 to 1985. 85 is known as the run to the SB vs the Bears. 1986 is the 11-5 season and the loss @ Denver.

2001 for everything. SB Champs. Surprise. Unlikely. Underdogs.

 

[PittPatriot]

Not to tarnish your post OP but you may want to change the 1986 to 1985. 85 is known as the run to the SB vs the Bears. 1986 is the 11-5 season and the loss @ Denver.

2001 for everything. SB Champs. Surprise. Unlikely. Underdogs.

I loved the 2004 team the most because start to finish, they were the best team in football. Plus, beating the Eagles was a bigger achievement than the Panthers.

 

[PatsDeb]

2001 hands down. So unexpected; so spectacular!!!

 

[Garbanza]

2001 hands down. So unexpected; so spectacular!!!

This! Add the wonderful mix of aged, hungry vets, wide-eyed youth, team staples coming into their own and the genesis of the "disrespected" swagger.....Loved that team!

 

[randomk1]

Gotta be 04.Great offense with a powerful running game and a dominating defense.The game vs the Colts in the playoffs was just a masterpiece.Destroying the Steelers was as sweet as it gets.The 04 Pats were not just the best Patriots team but one of the all time great teams imo.

07 and 10 were just chokejobs that i'd like to forget.The 2010 Pats might have been overachievers but they should've atleast beaten the Jets..no excuse for that and had they done that we would've faced a team that we constantly beat.

 

[Kid~Brady]

even though we didnt win the big game... 16-0 still hasnt been done again by another team.

 

[Dufflebagz]

2004 was such a great season, such a balanced team and they were simply dominant.

But 2001 was amazing, nobody expected it, they were overachievers, and they were such a great group of guys. '01 will never be passed...idc if we go 19-0 (or 21-0), 2001 will always be my favorite team.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

It's almost like the OP should have left 2001 out and asked us for our second choices, since those feelings after all those years of waiting are just too strong for me to put aside for another choice. Goddamit, I still tear up when I hear a replay of Madden's "what Tom Brady just did gives me goosebumps," as Brady casually clocks the ball and yields the stage to Adam.

Beyond that, I think I'd have said this last year's team. No team did more with its strengths and limitations than this team. I feel especially good about the new guys from McC to Gronk and Aaron and Woody, not to mention how Brady played through pain to make the most of everything, except the last game.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

If you are basing it on the final finish, obviously there are only three choices. If you are basing it on just plain likeability, and not necessarily glory, I'd have to go with 2010.

Perhaps we all forgot that this team was ON THE BRINK of mediocrity. The 2009 team showed the most un-Brady/Belichick like tendencies of the era, with terrible situational football, attitude problems, a lack of leadership, and some complete chokes; and I mean "choke" in the sense of quitting after three quarters.

Perhaps it's best to ask which is your favorite non-championship team. When teams lose in the end, it's hard to keep those sweet memories.

Regardless of how the Pats finished, that 45-3 moment was one to savor for a long time.

 

[Dufflebagz]

If you are basing it on the final finish, obviously there are only three choices. If you are basing it on just plain likeability, and not necessarily glory, I'd have to go with 2010.

Perhaps we all forgot that this team was ON THE BRINK of mediocrity. The 2009 team showed the most un-Brady/Belichick like tendencies of the era, with terrible situational football, attitude problems, a lack of leadership, and some complete chokes; and I mean "choke" in the sense of quitting after three quarters.

Perhaps it's best to ask which is your favorite non-championship team. When teams lose in the end, it's hard to keep those sweet memories.

Regardless of how the Pats finished, that 45-3 moment was one to savor for a long time.

2010 is up there, I have it at 3rd just being beat out by '04. The problem is that success makes you like a team more, so it's hard to not factor that in....but I do have '03 behind '10, so at least I tried.

 

[Chevy]

I had to go with 1985.

Event with the blowout that was SuperBowl XX, it was a season to be proud of. The final home game vs Cincy to get in, going on the road three times and winning (especially the Raiders and then to end the Orange Bowl losing streak that stood at 18 straight).

Grogan's naked bootleg that suckered the entire Jets D, Mosi's killer special teams play, Holloway-Hannah-Brock-Wooten-Moore (the Big House!) - an absolutely incredible O Line.

Tippett and Blackmon - probably the best pair of OLB's ever, Veris and Old Man Julius Adams.

I believe that if the Pats had played one of those games at home, or even had a bye, the outcome of SB XX would have been a lot different. I think the emotional drain of those games, plus instead of reading their own press and believing it, they let the Bears press get in their heads, was just too much.

 

[Mark12]

2007. Spectacular until the end. It began with the spygate story coming up and then trashing every team for 2 months and breaking records. The moment after the Pats beat the Charges in the AFCCG where Mr. Kraft says "18-0" was spectacular.

The Giants loss was by far the most painful loss in history. It was devastating. I remember everyone ready to crown the 19-0 Perfect Patriots and Brady as the G.O.A.T. I still get nightmares from that game and every time I watch the 3rd and 5 play where Manning should have been sacked, but Tyree made the play...WOW

 

[Dufflebagz]

2007. Spectacular until the end. It began with the spygate story coming up and then trashing every team for 2 months and breaking records. The moment after the Pats beat the Charges in the AFCCG where Mr. Kraft says "18-0" was spectacular.

The Giants loss was by far the most painful loss in history. It was devastating. I remember everyone ready to crown the 19-0 Perfect Patriots and Brady as the G.O.A.T. I still get nightmares from that game and every time I watch the 3rd and 5 play where Manning should have been sacked, but Tyree made the play...WOW

I have gone back and watched highlights of many heartbreaking games....but I have yet to watch highlights of SB 42 and hopefully never will (Except for when the Tyree catch pops up in commercials, can't help that).

Luckily I don't remember too much of the game, it is slowly slipping out of my mind....and I'll make sure it stays that way.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I have gone back and watched highlights of many heartbreaking games....but I have yet to watch highlights of SB 42 and hopefully never will (Except for when the Tyree catch pops up in commercials, can't help that).

Luckily I don't remember too much of the game, it is slowly slipping out of my mind....and I'll make sure it stays that way.

I live in NYC and still have to click off of replays of the velcro helmet every now and then. in the four years since "that day," i've been able to watch "that play" only once from snap to whistle. and, watching it left no doubt in my mind that Eli was "in the grasp." but, let's not go there.

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

'76 is my favorite because that was the year I really fell in love with the Pats!

'01 because that was the team that changed us from perennial losers to a model NFL franchise.

'03/'04 because that group is among the greatest teams talent wise in the history of the league and I am a HUGE Corey Dillon fan!

'90 is another favorite because it was the year I really became a hard core fan, thinking, "If I still love this team after they went 1-15, I must be a true fan!"

'96 because that was the team when I got my Pats tattoo in time for my buddy Rudy's Super Bowl party!

'10 because I just did not see 14-2 coming at all. A pleasant surprise.

 

[PatriotsInGA]

2003.

What a dominant defense. After a disappointing 2002, people expected us to fall off. Didn't happen. Rodney joined the D leaders of Bruschi and Seymour. I still love that imagine of Willie McGinest stopping Edgerrin James at the 2 yard line to seal the win over the Colts. To make it better, I was just outside of Indianapolis watching the game at an Applebee's-like place. My friends and I were the only ones celebrating...and we loved that.

 

[Patters]

2001 was just pure joy. I'm sure like most of us, I kept waiting for the Patriots to lose, expecting to be content if they kept it close, and they certainly did that, but they were mostly on the winning side. And that Superbowl, when even the most diehard Pats fans were having trouble making a case for a Pats victory and the experts were predicting a blowout, how many games have there been like that? I still enjoy the memories of watching that game.

 

[sieglo]

I'm with TFB for my answer:

The next one.

 

[DarrylStingley]

I had to go with 1985.

Event with the blowout that was SuperBowl XX, it was a season to be proud of. The final home game vs Cincy to get in, going on the road three times and winning (especially the Raiders and then to end the Orange Bowl losing streak that stood at 18 straight).

Grogan's naked bootleg that suckered the entire Jets D, Mosi's killer special teams play, Holloway-Hannah-Brock-Wooten-Moore (the Big House!) - an absolutely incredible O Line.

Tippett and Blackmon - probably the best pair of OLB's ever, Veris and Old Man Julius Adams.

I believe that if the Pats had played one of those games at home, or even had a bye, the outcome of SB XX would have been a lot different. I think the emotional drain of those games, plus instead of reading their own press and believing it, they let the Bears press get in their heads, was just too much.

What an enjoyable post.

I know that most people disagree, but I think that the Pats had a legitimate chance to win SB 20. If Don Blackmon picks a pass that hits him between the 5s, it's 10-0 Pats. If the TE catches that ball on the sideline rather than blowing out his knee. If Grogan started the game instead of that clown in the Skirt. Now I know the Bears were better. A lot better. But football is a game of momentum. We'll never know but I just think that the 1985 Pats really could have gotten on a roll in that game.

I chose the 1976 Pats. I just loved that team. All of the characters. The fact that they came out of nowhere. And I guess the fact that they got royally screwed makes them extremely lovable.

That said, the 2001 team is hard for me to pass up. First Super Bowl. The crazy Snow Game. People focus on the Tuck Play and that obscures the many incredible moments along the way. The stuff on the Raiders when they ran on 2nd 3 and 3rd and 1 or 1. All the catches by Wiggins and Patten. The kicks by Judas.

And, of course, who can forget that Super Bowl. For the record, I thought the Pats would win it. I bet the game on the money line and won a lot of money. That last drive was such redemption. It redeemed:

- those horrifying 14 points to tie it up

- the 15 year championship gap in Boston sports

- Willie McGinest

- all of Patriots history until then

- the possibility of yet another excruciating near miss for a Boston team

- and so much more.

Plus, that was the first year of the best Patriots QB in our lives. The beginning of Our Tom.

What a team.

Yeah, for me, the only contenders are 1976 and 2001, and nothing else even comes close. I did love that 2004 team and would choose them if I had to pick a third. But it's like the QB debate. You have Brady and Manning, and everyone else is pretty far away. Same thing here.

Cheers, Pats fans.