What was your favorite Patriots team?

[DaBronxPats14]

I became a Pat's Fan in 1976 Because Of Steve Grogan. It was a real good team with Russ Francis, Michael Haynes, Tm Fox, Gray & Hannah. It's funny up to that year I was a Tarkenton guy & Vikes and because Pats that year in 1976 got ROBBED in playoffs on a bad call VS Raiders or that year it would have been Pats VS Vikings in Superbowl ( some justice with tuck rule) So I guess that's my favorite team. I also like some of Bledsoe seasons & of course Tom Brady era is something we're lucky enough to see in our life time. But make NO mistake about it, There was Nuthin like seeing Grogan throw flee flicker bombs & SPANKIN Jets every year like 45-3, 38-10 etc. and set a record for most rushing TDs by a QB with 12.

 

[Lansdowne]

I voted initially for 2010 because it was the most fun I've had watching the Patriots post-Spygate. But 2001 was simply magical. It can never be topped.

 

[signbabybrady]

For me it is a no brainer 2004 and the reason is watching Corey Dillon run with the football that year was the most beautiful thing I have seen on the football field. He was such a beast and finished runs with power. certainly finishing the season properly makes sure it is number one.

I think 01 is probably 2 on the list but after that it gets interesting and I think 03 would win out but 07 might beat it. Clearly 03 has the right finish going for it but 07 was magical and what really makes it compete is the fact that I traveled everywhere to watch them that year. I only missed 4 games home or away that year including playoffs and the SB. 10 home games including the playoffs, the SB, I went to Dallas, Buffallo, NJ for both the Jets and Giants. The only games I missed were at MIA, Baltimore, Cincy, and Indy.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

'04 due to their dominance, the run through the playoffs,
holding the vaunted Colts squad to 3 points
destroying the Steelers at Heinz
Clock Killing Corey Dillon
The makeshift defensive backfield
Troy Brown playing both ways
BB, Romeo, Charlie hugging on the side lines
BB and his dad
so many images

'01 is a close 2nd for so many reasons.

 

[BlueString94]

First has to be 2001. Hell, it could be made into a Hollywood movie. 2003 was awesome too, those last minute game winning drives and all. 2004 I put with 2003, total domination.

I loved 2007. When everyone hates you, it brings the team closer together, and the Patriots sure as hell showed it, ripping apart every team in the NFL.

2008 was great too. That team went through a lot and almost made the playoffs. Similar to the 2002 team, lots of heart.

2010 was amazing as well . . . man, so many great seasons!

 

[Chevy]

Thanks ...

I think the real heart breaker was Sweetness fumbling on his first carry, and the Pats going up 3 - 0. It was just business as usual (weren't the Pats +10 in turnovers over the three playoff games?).

Then reality hit .....

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.

 

[Gainzo]

1996 for me. That was my 5th year as a season ticket holder and I knew all the people around me in good old section 111 at the old place.

Bledsoe, Martin, Meggett, Gash, Byers, Coates, Jefferson and the rookie Glenn on offense to go with Willie, Johnson, Slade, Law, Otis and of course Willie Clay on defense.

I managed to hit Miami (loss), Indy (win), Dallas (loss), Giants (win), plus all 3 postseason games. I went to the Super Bowl.

My favorite regular season game was the beat down on Sunday Night Football against Jimmy Johnson and the Dolphins. Coates took a simple out pattern 80+ yards for a TD and the stadium was chanting "j-i-m-m-y" most of the 2nd half.

Fog Bowl against the Steelers? Awesome. AFCC Game? Power goes out, it's freaking cold, and Otis Smith returns a fumble for a TD that brought the house down and sent the Pats to the Super Bowl. Just an awesome season for a 24 year old!

 

[TealSox]

Old school....

Drew Bledsoe, Curtis Martin*, Terry Glenn, Bruce Armstrong* and Ben Coates* on offense. Troy Brown was still a work in progress.

Teddy Bruschi*, Ty Law*, Willie Clay, Willie McGinest*, Lawyer Milloy* and Chris Slade on defense.

7 of my all-time favorite Patriots in their designated positions were on that team.

 

[Kontradiction]

I've only been following the Patriots since '95 (and was extremely young then) so, for me, it would be between 2001's team and 2004's team. 2001 was the year the team finally brought home the Lombardi. But 2004's team was an awesome sight to behold. In the poll, however, I voted for "2001".

 

[Bill B.]

Despite not winning the Super Bowl and getting hosed in the playoffs, the 1976 Patriots was the best, IMHO. With Grogan at QB, and a running tandem of Cunningham, Johnson and Calhoun, thet were loaded with talent. I thought the 1978 team could be considered one of the best, but the rift between Fairbanks and the Sulivans caused this team to self destruct at the end of the season. That team set a team rushing record that still stands today. This team was great and should at least be on the list.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Anyone who is over 40 HAS to love the 85/86 team the best.

How could you not love a team that came from nowhere to win and into the playoffs where they landed in the Orange Bowl to end the jinx that was the apparent horror for years and years of futility for the Pats.

Sure we didn't win a super bowl but that team was as special as they got and Ray Berry was an awesome coach back then.

The most overachived team in Pats history was the 1985 team....yes,more so than the 2001 team

 

[JoeSixPat]

I followed the Patriots closely through the 80s and stuck with them through the blackout years of the late 80s and early 90s (the Hugh Millen, Scott Secules/Rod Rust, **** McPhearson years) - attending games in the cold sitting on a rock hard ice cold aluminum stadiums seat that sucked the heat right out your a$s.

So I hold a special affection for the impact made by Parcells, Bledsoe and Kraft along with a young Tedy Bruschi and an incredible Ben Coates etc. to restore credibility to the organization.

Without that foundation there'd be no Belichick/Brady Dynasty - but there's no question in my mind that the 2001 team was special in many different ways.

The 2001 team did it on heart, guile, and teamwork - veteran re-treads like Andruzzi, Cox, Phifer, Vrabel, et al helped establish the hard working attitude that became the team's trademark for Super Bowl rings even after they had left. That attitude remains today even, carried by Brady and others with the baton of that winning attitude now being passed to teammates who may have been in elementary school in 2001

... and to top it off, although the team wasn't expected to contend until a few years of rebuilding into Belichick's regime, a team known as the Patriots embodied a nation's resolve post 9-11 and overcame a 14 point spread against a self-proclaimed Rams dynasty

I think I was smiling for a month after that Super Bowl win - I loved 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2010 in their own ways - but nothing made me smile as much as 2001

 

[italian pat patriot]

not easy to answer but I must admit that having to choose just one team i would go to 1985 one - that was the period in which, even with great difficulty, i managed to follow the ride of the Patriots and I still remember the emotions I had just reading the newspapers...

 

[Skeeter712]

2007, that was such a great experience as a fan. until the super bowl...but I loved everyone on that team and they were one broken play (tyree catch) away from winning the super bowl.

 

[IcyPatriot]

More 1976'ers than I expected ... it was a fun year and our linebackers ... that was special.

 

[reflexblue]

I voted 04, Two in a row, but i did think about putting the 76 team that was robbed of a Super Bowl imo.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

Despite not winning the Super Bowl and getting hosed in the playoffs, the 1976 Patriots was the best, IMHO. With Grogan at QB, and a running tandem of Cunningham, Johnson and Calhoun, thet were loaded with talent. I thought the 1978 team could be considered one of the best, but the rift between Fairbanks and the Sulivans caused this team to self destruct at the end of the season. That team set a team rushing record that still stands today. This team was great and should at least be on the list.

Agreed, Well Said!

 

[Rob0729]

I love the 2003 team best. I love defense and that was arguably the best defense in team history. It was also an under the radar team who I guess I saw was special before most of the region was. I love that team. The snow game vs. Miami (probably the best experience I had in a regular season game that I attended and I got a signed picture of Bruschi throwing up snow in my man cave). The goalline stance in Indy. Shutting out Parcells and Dallas. The nail-biter vs. Tennessee in the division round. The Pats intercepting Manning 4 times in the AFC Championship game (I got a signed Harrison picture of his INT in the end zone in my man cave).

 

[townes]

2001-The first was special. I was truly in disbelief when the kick went through and i realized they had actually won it all.