The '02 season

[Joey007]

Mount Washington was acquired in a trade in 2003.

I know, I'm saying Martin wasn't near the level that Washingtom would be the following year.

 

[Joey007]

It was brutal.

The signed Steve Martin and that fat slob *****ed and moaned all year until BB sent him packing later in the year.

Anthony Pleasent's age caught up to him.

Sey was still developing.

Jarvis Green was a rookie and not stout vs the run anyway

I think Rick Lyle started as DT vs MIA in week 16 and he was only 280lb or so.

Wasn't Bobby Hamilton still there that year?

 

[RobertWeathers]

Wasn't Bobby Hamilton still there that year?

Oh yea and he continued to play well in 03 but he was never a big force. Just a high motor, 110% effort guy

 

[Joey007]

Oh yea and he continued to play well in 03 but he was never a big force. Just a high motor, 110% effort guy

I think he was able to generate a bit of pass rush, or at least he notched 7 sacks in 01 anyway.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think he was able to generate a bit of pass rush, or at least he notched 7 sacks in 01 anyway.

Did he have that many? Bobby H was a good player. Pretty quick for his size.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

That Bears game was epic. Brady's best comeback... well, until Sunday.

Better than the 24 point comeback vs Broncos in 2013?

 

[Joey007]

Did he have that many? Bobby H was a good player. Pretty quick for his size.

In 01, yes, but that was a bit of an anomaly. Didn't really have more than 2-3 the rest of his seasons in his career.

 

[mosi]

They had no business beating Miami.. the last game of the season. Miami let them back in the game. Instead of killing the clock and running the ball Miami kept trying to pass the ball and ended up giving us the chances we needed to scrape out a win. It was ugly.. Dave Wanstead.. or whatever his name was. sucked. And I believe that horrible collapse by Miami in which they had complete control over the game costed them the playoffs.

Yes, that game was insane but really showed the fight the team had. I actually still have the Chicago game and watch it every now and then. I never saw the Miami game but remember seeing a score thinking they had lost only to see the final score as a Pats win. 2002 was a weird year. I remember thinking even in the Titans game, the Pats are going to come back and they never did.

 

[stinkypete]

The '02 season was really disappointing but there were some great moments. The Bears game in Champagn, IL was one of my favorite early Tom Brady moments, coming back from 23 down. Last game of the season Kevin Faulk took over the game and the Pats came back to beat Miami at home.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Lack of depth and dl was exposed - this was addressed in 03 with drafting of warren and adding big ted. Huge difference. Great draft overall on the defensive side, and you add Rodney whos impact as a stud safety and leader was immeasurable.

Plus they didnt get alot of the lucky bounces they got in 01. The 03/04 rosters didnt need many breaks.

 

[BobDigital]

Also Troy Brown hurt his knee late vs KC and wasn't the same all year.

I forgot all about that. Good memory.

 

[BobDigital]

One somewhat surprising outcome from this season was that Brady led the league in TD passes with 28.

I call it a surprise because.......

1.) Brady had been more of a game manager the year before. (before I get roasted for this I don't mean it in a disrespectful way. He was one helluva game manager that year.)

2.) He had a lot of new targets that he had to build chemistry with (Fauria, Branch, Givens, Hayes, Cleeland).

Nothing wrong with saying Brady was a game manger in 2001. It is the truth. It was what he was asked to do. But you clearly saw at times his ability to take over games and be clutch even as a very young player. He improved a ton from 2000-2002'. He always had the ice water and calmness but he really didn't have the full skill set to back it up.

I would say he turned full blown elite in 2002. I remember that Pitt game when they decided to pass 25 or so straight plays cause the run wasn't working and that was in the first game of the year. The fact they only went 9-7 with an elite QB speaks to the rest of the team they had.

However 2001 Brady is highly educational in what makes a good QB. Even without all the tools just being able to be cool and clutch and make the right read will take you a very far way and really are the most important things.

 

[BobDigital]

Better than the 24 point comeback vs Broncos in 2013?

In some ways yes. 2013 Denver had a better D but much of the come back was made by the time they were in the 4th.

In the 02 Bears game it was more like the super bowl in that they were desperately racing against the clock and the deficit though to be fair the Bears were not good that year. I think the fact they had not as much time to come back made it a bit more a thriller as they had back to back to back do or die drives (just looked it up to refresh... the got points on the last 5 drives of the game. TD, FG, FG, TD, TD. I wish i could find a copy of it... now i want to watch it again.

Bears had a 5 minute drive in the middle of the 4th to get a FG that nearly iced it but the Pats scored 2 TDs with 5:22 on the clock.

It is hard to compare them but both were at that point must have regular season games as one was a tie breaker and one was when you were starting to fall behind in the playoff race.

 

[brdmaverick]

Better than the 24 point comeback vs Broncos in 2013?

Well, the comebacks were very different almost making them tough to compare.

Reasons for 2013 Broncos being the best REGULAR season comeback:

It was against Peyton Manning of all people. Oh, and at the time it had SIGNIFICANT playoff implications as it pushed the Pats in first. This one was at home so you felt the home crowd energy during the comeback. But yes, the opposing QB (Peyton) and team being great certainly makes this one very impressive. The only downside is that the comeback almost happened too early. The Pats had caught up by the early fourth quarter, and the winning points were on an opponents blunder than a great play by the Pats. Still great, an instant classic.

Reasons for 2002 against Chicago being the best REGULAR season comeback:

The dramatic finish. This was a real fight against the clock where things had to go perfectly. 1) Kevin Faulk scores a long TD. 2) Pats make crucial defensive stand (I think on a 3rd and 1 too). 3) The game winning drive was epic for the following reasons........

1.) All seemed loss when Brady threw a game ending interception......or did he? Instant replay showed Brady alertly batted the ball away from the defender as he was juggling it. Pass Incomplete.........brought up instant memories of tuck rule....just when you thought the game was over the Pats had another chance.

2.) Controversial 4th down? - ON like a 3rd and 2 (or 4th down, I forget) or so Brady did a QB sneak. It was close as to whether or not he got the first down. Because time was critical the Pats instantly got over the ball to clock it. THe only problem was that as the Pats were snapping the ball the refs were trying to blow the play dead. They wanted an official measurement. The problem was that the ball had already been moved (and the chain gang had moved too). They had no choice but ot award the first down. What was even better was that the 'clocking' down didn't count. Pats actually got another play from it.

3.) Roosevelt Colvin offsides - there was one play where Bears were flagged for offsides and we were all scratching our heads (it didn't look like anyone was offsides to me) but oh wait, off camera 15-20 yards behind the play is Colvin just chilling (completely gassed). Free 5 yards for the Pats.

4.) Brady being Brady - maybe I have my drives wrong, but there was another play (I think on the last drive) in which Brady was able to avoid a sack and pass the ball to Faulk as Brady was being taken to the ground. Instead of losing yards they gained yards during this crucial drive.

5.) Dramatic Patten catch - oh, and the actually game winning play.......what a thing of beauty. He barely got two feet in but managed to somehow bring down that second foot to 'dot the turf' as he caught the ball in the back of the end zone.\

Reasons for this game not being the greaetest comeback.......Jim Miller and the Bears weren't good and certainly didn't have anything close to the rivalry that existed between Manning and Brady.

 

[captain stone]

2002 was also the year that Lawyer Milloy had "no stats": zero INTs, zero sacks,
zero FFs and zero FRs. Tebucky Jones performed worse than Milloy, and decrepit old Victor Green (another failed FA signing) performed worse than Jones.

The following offseason, Bill signed Rodney Harrison and drafted Geno Wilson.

 

[pheenix11]

Brett Favre screwed us in the last game of the season, just another reason to hate that overrated attention whore.

 

[LuRkeR1978]

Brett Favre screwed us in the last game of the season, just another reason to hate that overrated attention whore.

He did it to us again in 08. I swear it was on purpose to keep us out of the playoffs.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Nothing wrong with saying Brady was a game manger in 2001. It is the truth. It was what he was asked to do. But you clearly saw at times his ability to take over games and be clutch even as a very young player. He improved a ton from 2000-2002'. He always had the ice water and calmness but he really didn't have the full skill set to back it up.

I would say he turned full blown elite in 2002. I remember that Pitt game when they decided to pass 25 or so straight plays cause the run wasn't working and that was in the first game of the year. The fact they only went 9-7 with an elite QB speaks to the rest of the team they had.

However 2001 Brady is highly educational in what makes a good QB. Even without all the tools just being able to be cool and clutch and make the right read will take you a very far way and really are the most important things.

I forget which interview but BB said he finally came to the conclusion TB12 was "special" was midway through the 03 season. He said was was already playing very well, but he just started doing what great players do on a regular basis.

 

[pheenix11]

He did it to us again in 08. I swear it was on purpose to keep us out of the playoffs.

He really screwed us in 07, losing to the Giants. I have no doubt if we faced the Packers and his ****ty decision making, we'd have gone 19-0.

Damn you Favre! Win or lose he always did exactly the opposite of what helped us.