2014 Patriots vs 2016 Patriots

[Ring 6]

2015 may have been better than either if they had stayed healthy.

 

[sean10mm]

The 2014 team had:

A much harder strength of schedule
Healthy Gronk
More talent on defense (Revis's last elite NFL season, Browner's last good season, Jones,Wilfork's last big (lol) season, younger & faster versions of Chung, McCourty and Hightower)

The bad 2014 start makes them look worse on paper than they were by the time the playoffs came around, and the 2014 versions of the Ravens and the Seahawks were tougher opponents than anyone in the 2016 postseason IMO.

Even with all that, I kind of go back and forth between the two. You can't argue with the greatest comeback win in the entire history of the sport, and that 2016 team was such a well oiled machine, from top to bottom, right out of the gate, that you have to admire it. They were just so good as a total unit.

2015 may have been better than either if they had stayed healthy.

I like this take, and it was too bad the wheels just kind of fell off.

 

[Maho Hiyajo]

The stats don't necessarily show it, but the 2014 team had a few great defensive players with Revis being the cornerstone. McCourty once upon a time was an All-Pro centerfielder. Hightower and Collins were tackling machines. I would say the biggest "weakness" was still the d-line, but even that unit had guys like CJ and Wilfork (who was still a space eater) and of course Nink who had a nose for the ball. We can't forget about Alan Branch either! One thing the 2016 team had going for it was their depth on the d-line, which was fairly deep.

The 2016 team led the league in points allowed (hard to do in any year), but as sean pointed out the 2014 team had a tougher schedule. You can erase that KC game from 2014 and they would have been under 300 points allowed on the year so it'd be more like 270-280, I suppose?

It's a shame we weren't able to keep Hicks after 2015...

 

[Vindicate]

2015 may have been better than either if they had stayed healthy.

2015 Dion was insane. That offense was absurd.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

2015 Dion was insane. That offense was absurd.

That was such a frustrating season. May have been 15-1 or 16-0 if everyone stayed healthy.

 

[Redstorm]

The team that didn’t get dominated for 3 quarters in the Superbowl

2014 Patriots. 12-4, but played a tough schedule

And you know, 12-4 isn’t exactly a weak record. Sometimes Pats fans forget this

 

[Bradyking12]

That was such a frustrating season. May have been 15-1 or 16-0 if everyone stayed healthy.

Yea once Dion got hurt I know it was over, 16-0 imo if everyone stayed healthy, what a crap show the back end of the reg season was, don't even mention week 17.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Yea once Dion got hurt I know it was over, 16-0 imo if everyone stayed healthy, what a crap show the back end of the reg season was, don't even mention week 17.

Also lost Solder, Blount, Develin, Mayo...16 guys on IR. Just a perfect **** storm.

 

[PF_SU]

Yea once Dion got hurt I know it was over, 16-0 imo if everyone stayed healthy, what a crap show the back end of the reg season was, don't even mention week 17.

I agree, most likely 16-0 if they'd stay healthy. They'd almost pulled out the win in Denver with a depleted squad (and Denver benefitted from the muffed punt by Harper when it was 21-7 and iffy reffing). The team played the Eagles at home in a weird game without Gronk and during the last two games against the Jets and Dolphins the team was clearly running on fumes.

 

[Snooky97]

I want to say that 15 team had over 20+ O-Line combinations during the season, might even be more than that

 

[mosslost]

I voted 2007...

kidding. 2016 for me

 

[TennisBallHead]

I'd go 2014. They had better players and were dominant through a tough regular season schedule. The defense did suck in the playoffs, though, while the 2016 defense was great.

 

[HailHydra]

Of 2014, 16, 18.

18 has the best offense imo (with all healthy)

14 had best defense.

 

[fightingirish595]

Something about that 2014 team. Cant put my finger on it

 

[Brick27]

2014 will always be super special to me. Maybe it was because of waiting a decade between Super Bowl trophies. Maybe it was a personal thing because of moving from homegrown Vermont in May of 2014 to Mass, and being in the thick of things to discuss it constantly.

No wrong answer on this one, but as good as kicking Goodell’s D in was in the 2016 season, 2014 felt more special.

 

[1960Pats]

I've been bouncing back and forth on which was my favorite. I finally decided not to vote for either.

2014 was the year that Goody and the 32 tried to defame our QB but instead got two awesome comebacks, one vs the Ratbirds and the other in the SB vs Seattle (the first 10 point comeback in SB history).

2016 was the year that Goody and the 32 tried to punish Brady by taking him out of the first 4 games only to see him lead the team to the greatest SB comeback of all time vs Atlanta.

It was during one of those runs that we found out that the reason Brady dropped his fight in the courts against the NYFL was because of the toll it was taking on his cancer-stricken mother.

I have to agree with @oldrover that it's like picking a favorite child and it can't be done. What will be happening though is a divorce between myself and the NYFL as soon as Brady leaves home.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Of 2014, 16, 18.

18 has the best offense imo (with all healthy)

14 had best defense.

This is a joke, right? The NFL sucks now. The Patriots may be averaging a lot of points because every team is unstoppable, but this is easily their worst offense since 2013. Outside of Sony Michel I don’t see a single reason why this offense is anywhere close to 2014, 2015, 2016, or 2017. Gronk and Edelman are their worst versions by a large margin. Their only receiver who can beat single coverage is currently peeing into a cup for the third time today. Hogan is a shell of himself. Brady may be just as good as before - it’s debateable- but he definitely isn’t better than a previous version and may be worse. No Dion Lewis or Danny Amendola either, two guys who were amazing and clutch and weren’t really replaced.

 

[HailHydra]

This is a joke, right? The NFL sucks now. The Patriots may be averaging a lot of points because every team is unstoppable, but this is easily their worst offense since 2013. Outside of Sony Michel I don’t see a single reason why this offense is anywhere close to 2014, 2015, 2016, or 2017. Gronk and Edelman are their worst versions by a large margin. Their only receiver who can beat single coverage is currently peeing into a cup for the third time today. Hogan is a shell of himself. Brady may be just as good as before - it’s debateable- but he definitely isn’t better than a previous version and may be worse. No Dion Lewis or Danny Amendola either, two guys who were amazing and clutch and weren’t really replaced.

That's honestly pretty funny.

Rob Gronkowski isn't noticeably worse than he was in 2014. His lack of production in the first 4 games was due to a mix of having 0 other threats on offense and ankle hindrances. But can you honestly say from a less than stellar first couple games that Gronkowski is worse than he has ever been? Less than a year ago, Gronk had 116 yards and 2 TDs in the Super Bowl. All of last year, he had up and down games - which is to be expected for a player that isn't a full time receiver.

Edelman isn't his "worst" version either. We've seen plenty of players come from ACL injuries - and Edelman has done fine since he's come back. Can we veritably say that Edelman has been worse until we've lost a game because our receiving group hasn't shown up? Right now, we have a balanced offense with many threats across the field. Edelman wasn't ever going to get 100 receptions in the season with our current personnel because we have many mouths to feed - White has been getting a ton of receptions, Gordon is being integrated into the offense, Edelman has gotten 4+ receptions over the last few games, Michel has been getting many more carries per game than we've given to a RB in a long time, Gronk is always getting catches in high pressure situations, etc. I didn't even include Patterson who always gets a couple plays per game. This isn't an offense where Edelman and Gronk were the only threats. Our offense now is much more multifaceted and balanced than what we've seen in a while - and completely different from the personnel we had in the first couple weeks. Take it not from me, but from other coaches who feel that NE has more talented skill players now than they have had in a while.

Josh Gordon is a guy who has shown to be growing into the bonafide #1 WR that we haven't had anytime from 2013-2017 (Cooks was a bit different). Michel is a RB that our coach has the trust in giving 20 carries a game, like other star RBs. Our offensive line has been very good, and we've let up the 2nd least sacks all season (and OL is probably more crucial to our offensive prowess than anything else). We have guys like Phillip Dorsett and Chris Hogan who aren't getting as much playing time, but would start on a majority of other NFL teams. This offense can be more dynamic than any unit we've had in a long time.