So the excuse is now the slow starts?
Here's some news for you, and I'm using 2 games, not 4, since 2001 Bledsoe only lasted 2 starts:
2000 and 2001 both started at 0-2. From 2002-2006, the Patriots never went 0-2, and had a total combined record of 8-2
I didn't vacillate between 2001 and 2003, as I pointed out in a specific paragraph:
So you've gone from goalpost moving, to strawman building, to out and out lying.
lol I’m lying again, anyone who doesn’t agree Tom is a sacred cow is a liar.
In 2001 BB had his system in place and imported a bunch of
old and in some cases
really old players, value vets as we'd call them today.
They won a ring and then he essentially had to rebuild the team again in 2002-2003 to get younger, better and deeper.
When he got to the Pats the first thing he had to fix was the money, and method of paying players.
They had no stockpile of draft picks and gave up a 1 for BB, they had no resources. There were a bunch of bad contracts.
They weren't a deep team and the "value vets" they brought in, too old or middling in their careers, these guys played well and stayed healthy.
A good example is Joe Andruzzi, the guy was basically unwanted in free agency, not a splashy name, he started 16 games for us at a crucial position because depth behind him was paper thin. He was 26 in 2001, had played three years and only started 15 games.
Mike Compton our starting guard on the other side was a very good player for Detroit having blocked for Barry Sanders for years, but he was considered washed up when they acquired and started him every game in 2001, he was 31.
Bobby Hamilton was 30, had only started 12 games in a four year career before coming to NE but from 2000-2006 he started every game but two.
Anthony Pleasant had been a very good player for a long time including on Bill's early Browns teams, he was already 33 years old in 2001.
Roman Phifer was an iron man, played for 15 years, he was 33 years old in 2001.
Otis Smith was also an iron man, he was 36 years old in 2001.
We got extremely lucky, we had key pieces but also were very fortunate none of these old starters went down. They also brought in talented rookies like Seymour and Light.
Using 2000 vs 2001 as a comparable team is a straw man. it’s you lying... < see how dumb that sounds? Probably not...