Why did it take 10 years to win more SuperBowls?

[RecoveringCowboy]

Because they lost two tough ones.

That would be point #6 on the OP. Tom Coughlin knows BB. He fielded talented teams, unlike most coaches could play football chess with BB, and in the first Giants SB win, had some luck added.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

Can you make it easy on us simple folk and do a poll? I like ready-made answers to life's complexities. Thank you.

Or you can always pick a conspiracy theory.

 

[patrickscribe]

The first three Super Bowls had Brady on the cheap...$3.3M in 2003 and $5M in 2004.

Once he was being paid at all like his performance warranted, the cap hit limited depth.

Luck played a big role too, but it's hard to win when you pay a QB a giant chunk of your cap.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

Defense had a larger role in the early part of this era. They say defense wins championships - why? I'll take a stab and say it's because they can win the battle of possession time and turnovers. Some of you might have a different/better take.

 

[50-yard-line]

Usually the simplest answer is the best answer.

Okay...

If Ryan hadn't dropped back and fumbled on 3rd and 1...

If the Falcons had run 3 times from the Pats' 20 and kicked a chip shot field goal...

If if if...there are dozens of little plays in every game.

 

[Jackson 2]

I agree mostly. However, I can't think of a season we were stopped because another team had a lights out season? Maybe 13 Broncos but with Gronk, Edleman, etc, and HFA we would have beat them, so I credit that to injuries.

Maybe the Ravens...

 

[XLIX]

If I could change 1 play per season - and not even a major change, just something like a catch that should've been made or whatnot - then I could give the Patriots 0 Championships or I could give them 8.

I am very happy we have 5, and hope to get more.

 

[tasmlab]

Despite the 2 SB appearances during the middle of the trophy-free decade, the defense was never sound enough...until 2014.

You make many good points, but holding the Giants to 17 and 21 probably should've been enough defense for Tom Brady's offense to win. The 2001 and 2004 defenses did the same, and the other three winners were worse.

 

[PatsDeb]

Bad PI call
Flu
Miracle
Drop

That about sums it up.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Okay...

If Ryan hadn't dropped back and fumbled on 3rd and 1...

If the Falcons had run 3 times from the Pats' 20 and kicked a chip shot field goal...

If if if...there are dozens of little plays in every game.

So what... you can play the same game with any of the wins, as your post illustrates... or the whole 17-year run for that matter. Or anything else in the history of time. Lol

But at the end of the day the results simply are what they are... The Pats are 5-2 because they lost two in between. Was it Tyree? Was it Asante? Was it Gronk's ankle? Was it Welker's drop? Was it bend but don't break? Was Revis the difference in 2014? What if Carroll runs the ball? What if Bill didn't draft Hightower? Who knows for sure? I feel a better OLine and HFA and last Sunday would have been a three-peat. So what? That didn't happen. But alas, enjoy yourself playing the what if game. What does it matter to you what I think anyway? Neither of our thoughts are changing history anyway.

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

Another honest answer to this question would be, because the greatest team of all time blew it in the SB against an inferior team. I can forgive all other patriots losses but not that one. Beyond inexcusable.

 

[50-yard-line]

So what... you can play the same game with any of the wins, as your post illustrates... or the whole 17-year run for that matter. Or anything else in the history of time. Lol

But at the end of the day the results simply are what they are... The Pats are 5-2 because they lost two in between. Was it Tyree? Was it Asante? Was it Gronk's ankle? Was it Welker's drop? Was it bend but don't break? Was Revis the difference in 2014? What if Carroll runs the ball? What if Bill didn't draft Hightower? Who knows for sure? I feel a better OLine and HFA and last Sunday would have been a three-peat. So what? That didn't happen. But alas, enjoy yourself playing the what if game. What does it matter to you what I think anyway? Neither of our thoughts are changing history anyway.

Really?

Okay. Bottom line, as someone else posted: the Pats were good enough to win the Superbowl almost every year since 2001. Their 2007 team still might be the gold standard.

Several teams are good enough to win every year.

There's your magic formula.

 

[PatriotReign]

Here's my take..............

With the exception of maybe 2009 and 2002, the Patriots have always had a team worthy of championship consideration. The problem is that it takes more than that to 'win it all'. You still need to have the ball bounce your way.

For instance, the 2007 team was probably better than the 2014 and 2016 teams, but when you get down to the final four (or final two), you need some things to go your way. Asante Samuel didn't catch the potential INT in SB 42, but Butler caught it in SB 49. The Pats didn't make the critical sack of Manning in SB 42, but Hightower/Flowers made them in SB 51.


I mean think about this...........In 2014 the Pats had their best and deepest secondary in like forever. Their top injury prone targets like Gronk, Edelman, and Amendola were all healthy, and YET they STILL could very easily have lost that game.

So there isn't much difference between many of these championship teams and the non championship teams other than they made the key plays when they had to. But let's not pretend that the other teams in between 2004 and 2014 were not capable of winning.

People forget by how things turned out. Adailus Thomas made the game winning strip sack of Eli Manning late in Superbowl 42, unfortunately no one could recover the ball.

 

[captain stone]

2006: Bill naPolian, the Indy Clots & the crooked zebras cheated;
No Rodney Harrison, and no decent backup to take his place.

2007: Pierre Woods allowed a RB he out-weighed by 50 lbs to take a fumble recovery away from him;
Brady gets sacked in 3rd quarter within easy FG range, then Bill goes for it on 4th/13;
And that other thing too.

2011: Taking a Safety on the very first offensive play from scrimmage because of dumb-ass play-calling;
Too Many Men nullifying a fumble recovery inside their own 10;
Brady not seeing a wide-open Edelman on 3rd/4 inside the vaGiants 15, then settling for a FG;
And that other thing too. If the Receiver had turned towards the sideline LIKE HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN TO DO, then they kill most of the clock and the game becomes out of reach, especially if the above scenarios don't happen.

2012: The Prisoner & Brady completely feck up the end of the first half. They should've scored 7 points instead of only 3;
The Receiver drops another 3rd-down pass that would've extended a drive into the edge of FG range;
And at this point the talent drain is becoming obvious, due in no small part to Bill's continued wasting of a 2nd-round draft pick every year since 2008, which continues unabated today.

2015: Thanksgiving Sunday night in Denver. Bad coaching, Gronk injury, and the zebras missing an obvious holding call by the Donkeys during their only TD of the first half;
The worst end-of-season collapse of the Brady-Belichick era, including an inexcusable loss to the imploding Eagles at home that included a totally unnecessary on-sides kick after going up 14-0.

 

[Joey007]

1. Brady evolved as a QB. You saw in the 2014 season where we won SB XLIX, he started scrambling and running the ball more than ever before. Defenses gave him space and he took it if he couldn't find an open receiver. This paid off big time in this years Super Bowl as well, as his 15 year run at the time was a big momentum swing and our best run of the entire game up to that point. After drafting Jimmy Garopollo, who was praised coming out of the draft for his quick release.... Tom Brady's release got super fast. He started making decisions and releasing the ball so quick it's become hard for most edge rushers to get to him before he throws it. He also improved pre-snap and became more like Peyton Manning in this area. It's as if Brady is able to take the best parts of other QB's and add it to his repertoire. Brady is the best student of the game. It's amazing that such an old QB is still evolving and adding new things to his game.

2. Consistency at the Offensive and Defensive coordinator positions. We won 3 lombardi's with Romeo Crenel and Charlie Weis. After they left it took 10 years to win another Lombardi! We went through Mangini, Dom Capers, and Dean Pees at defensive coordinator. Josh McD and then Bill OBrien, then back to Josh McDaniels at Offensive coordinator. Finally there is stability and both of our coordinators are amongst the best in the NFL.

3. We have a defense again. After the 3 SB wins in the early 2000's, our defense was aging. We eventually lost key players like Seymour and Ty Law. Bruschi, Vrabel, Seau, Harrison, all got old and retired. The next generation of defenders didn't carry the torch. Asante Samuel wanted too much money, Meriweather didn't pan out, and Jerod Mayo was good but not great. Finally we have a real defense again. Devin McCourty and Chung took a few years to find their groove but now their one of the top safety tandems in the league. Malcolm Butler came out of nowhere and is a top CB in the league. Hightower might go down as the best Patriots MLB ever if he sticks around. You really have to credit Belichick, Nick Caserio, and the rest of the front office for the bargain bin finds they've picked up.... Alan Branch. Akeem Ayers. Kyle Van Noy. Chris Long. Eric Rowe. Matt Patricia has obviously been a big reason for our defensive improvement.

4. Rebuilding takes time. Most won't admit that we went through a rebuilding phase, but we definitely did. You look at the 2009 to 2013 draft classes. Almost ALL of those players that stuck with the team took a few years to develop. Edelman certainly wasn't this good during his first few years in the league. He kept getting injured, made mistakes, and had to gain a lot of muscle. 2014 was really his break out season. Chung was drafted in 2009, got labeled a bust, went to another team, came back as "camp fodder" in 2014 and that was really his break out season as well. McCourtey bounced around CB to Safety, then took some time to master his craft at Safety. Now he's one of the best in the league. Marcus Cannon was drafted in 2011 and looked like a bench warmer up until this season. In 2016 he was one of the best RT in the NFL and a huge reason Brady was kept upright this year. Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon were both drafted in 2013. Ryan in particular has had a lot of ups and downs, but he looks like he finally settled in this year. Those two Rutgers defensive backs solidified our secondary.

Players like Gronk and Hightower that come in and beast from Day 1 are the exception not the rule.

5. Brady got injured. 2008 and 2009 were wasted seasons due to Bradys knee injury. Obviously he came back in 2009 but I felt like it took him a whole season to really come back from that injury. If Brady's healthy those years, who knows what happens.

Our team sucked in 09. If you don't believe it, just watch the BB A Football Life when they played the Saints.

All the old vet leaders retired, and Brady was the only reason we even made it to January.

 

[mosslost]

You make many good points, but holding the Giants to 17 and 21 probably should've been enough defense for Tom Brady's offense to win. The 2001 and 2004 defenses did the same, and the other three winners were worse.

easily should have won both. The Defense was fine in both

 

[mosslost]

Despite the 2 SB appearances during the middle of the trophy-free decade, the defense was never sound enough...until 2014.
Face it, NE had to replace so many quality defenders who helped win championships from 2001-04...
Seymour, Law, Phifer, Johnson, Bruschi, Vrabel, Harrison, etc.
And during this decade, LB play was an issue, pass rush was an issue, pass defense was an issue...with many of these issues overlapping.
And lets not ignore the coaching upheaval that took place after 2004 and going forward.
Factor in some poor drafting
Factor in a few FA busts
Factor in Brady's elevated income from his 2nd contract ...the contract that has stymied so many organizations forced to compensate skilled young QBs. With less cap space to play with, NE was forced to make roster choices that resulted in deficiencies in certain groupings.

When you think about the NE roster this past 3 years, where are the holes? But during the "lost decade" ....holes were glaring.

Better drafting, manageable contracts, solid front office work, stable coaching....and a QB intent on dominance

This is known as the sweet spot and NE is deep in it now. And with $50+ mill in cap space, I feel like this team is transitioning from 2003 to 2004....when BB built his greatest team. Oh yeah!

It was nothing more than luck, etc.

 

[GorBelSer]

2005 and 2009 we had no shot. 2005 the offense simply was not good enough (aging Dillon, Brown and Fauria) and season-ending injuries to Harrison, Gay and Poole certainly did not help when it mattered the most. 2009 we were relying too much on Welker, he went down in a meaningless game at Houston and the team was in a state of disarray heading into the playoffs.

 

[patsfan13]

Injuries did not play a part in the ten year drought, no. Injuries played a part in 2012,13,15
EDIT:I guess maybe Gronk's ankle in SB 46 but he did play.
2nd Edit: My bad... you are correct. 2012 and 2013 would be in that window.

Brady got a high ankle sprain the week before the SB in 2007 SB and suffered a separated shoulder in the 3rd qtr of the 2011 SB. Both injuries were huge.

 

[deroc5050]

While I agree with your points, I think luck and health play as much factors. 2006 easily could've ended with a SB victory and same for the 07/11 losses.

2006 the Chargers were the best team in the league.. we beat them and blew a huge lead in the AFC C vs the Colts.. we would have smoked the bears with Reche Caldwell as our #1/2 WR lol.

2007 we had the game won 3x.. We got 1 stolen from us.

2008 Brady injured case closed

2009 A come back year for Brady and Injuries.. and we just weren't good enough.

2010.. Good team.. good enough to win the Super Bowl.. Got knocked out by a divisional opponent... in the Div Round lol.. painful loss..

2011 we were in control of winning the game and blew it.. with a key drop. However 2011's team much like 2006's team wasn't great, but good enough to win the Super Bowl.

The 2012 Ravens .. I dunno what to say we got out played. Did we have Gronk?

The 2013 Broncos.. We were injured and beat to ****.. we had no bullets left in the gun.

If things went all right for New England we could have a legit 9 Super Bowls. 3 of those Super Bowls 2006, 2010, 2011 were close regardless of where we got knocked out. I am not even counting 2007 because we should have won that game.