How do you feel about last year NOW?

[WhiZa]

If you don't want to that's fine, but some of us do want to. I also look forward, and am eagerly anticipating what the new season may bring, but as a fan there is nothing wrong with talking about the past.

I would talk about the past, I just can't be opening a bottle of scotch each time I do.

 

[sieglo]

I am focused on preparing the team for week one. We've got a few weeks of camp left, and although there are some things to build on, we need to get better in all three phases of the game.

 

[hwc]

Last year was last year. I'm just taking it day by day, trying to get myself ready for this season. I've got a long way to go, and I don't expect to be in midseason form at the start of season. But, with each additional practice and preseason game, I see some improvement.

 

[Keegs]

I still feel like one of my important body parts is in a vice manned by World's Strongest Man Magnus VerMagnussen

 

[Sicilian]

I'll never lose the disappointment of the Super Bowl loss. How can you? And it's not just the lost chance at history, there were so many factors that made that loss devastating:

- The overreaction to spygate. Sticking it to everyone by going undefeated the one year we couldn't tape signals would have just been incredible.

- Eli Manning. It made back to back seasons that a Manning beat us and eventually won the super bowl. I can't think of two goobers I enjoyed watching win the super bowl LESS.

- Junior Seau. If he doesn't come back this year, that was his only chance at a ring.

- The 1972 Miami Dolphins. There's no group of crotchety old men I wanted to see dethroned than those whiny a-holes.

And the # 1 reason for me personally:

- Certain Giants fans / media experts. We heard some of the MOST ridiculous arguments as to why the Giants were going to win. Everything from "The Giants are hot while the Pats are on the decline", even though we still won by greater margins against more quality opponents leading up to the Super Bowl, to "Well, in the first game, Rodney Harrison got 'trucked' by Brandon Jacobs, thus their whole defense will be unable to stop the Giants."

Ridiculous arguments that completely ignored the one reason the Giants did have a chance: They're going to go balls out, and were willing to lose big for the chance to win it. But, since they did win it, all of these arguments were unofficially "validated" in the minds of the idiots that spewed them, only making the dips***s more arrogant in their uneducated opinions.

Now, rant aside, it's time to move on. I actually think talent wise we have a better team this year than last year. Secondary loses Samuel, but we add depth and Meriweather looks vastly improved. LB's have an injection of youth and the DL looks to be 100% healthy. On offense, if the OL holds we should have no trouble scoring, and should be more balanced with more depth at RB.

I highly doubt we go 19-0, as that's just not realistic, but I feel better going into this year than I did going into last year.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Nah, for me it's like when I found out this chick I was with was bangin another dude, I could never remember the good times we had with fondness ever again.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

This was actually the fastest offseason ever for me. Why? Because the Pats didn't sign anybody exciting like Moss, Stallworth, Welker and Thomas. Also, I promised myself to shut football out of my life for a while and it worked. Luckily, my hometown and favorite basketball team (Los Angeles Lakers) made a nice run to the NBA finals which took my mind of of the Pats. Lastly, I finally realized I have more important issues in my life than football. Now that August came so fast, I'm back and more excited than ever for the new football season. Once again, I'm in denial and think that there isn't a better team in football than the Patriots.

 

[fgssand]

. Luckily, my hometown and favorite basketball team (Los Angeles Lakers) made a nice run to the NBA finals which took my mind of of the Pats.

I guess one never has too look to far to find someone worse off in sports life, you win, a Pats heartbreak followed by Laker melt down -- let me know your favorite baseball team so i can bet against them.

 

[PromisedLand]

This was actually the fastest offseason ever for me. Why? Because the Pats didn't sign anybody exciting like Moss, Stallworth, Welker and Thomas. Also, I promised myself to shut football out of my life for a while and it worked. Luckily, my hometown and favorite basketball team (Los Angeles Lakers) made a nice run to the NBA finals which took my mind of of the Pats. Lastly, I finally realized I have more important issues in my life than football. Now that August came so fast, I'm back and more excited than ever for the new football season. Once again, I'm in denial and think that there isn't a better team in football than the Patriots.

That's ironic, because for me (and probably a lot of us here) seeing the Celtics, a team we never expected to see win it all this year, actually win took a bit of the sting off of seeing the team we all expected to win it all, lose.

But, nothing against the Lakers (even though I personally put them in the same barrel as the Jets or Colts) - didn't it burn you when they too, came up as runners-up?

 

[PatsFan24]

After the Super Bowl I felt that was the worst feeling I've ever had as a sports fan. To be so close to the immortality of being the ONLY team to have a perfect 19-0 season, and then to lose the Super Bowl in which we were heavily favored, in the manner in which we did, was a real kick in the kajunas. In other words, it hurt. Bad.

And the offseason felt long. Agonizingly long.

But, now that the 2008 season has finally started - well, at least preseason has - my feelings have changed somewhat. I have realized that even though we didn't "close the deal", it was still an amazing season. We accomplished a lot. A LOT. No other team has even been 18-0. No other team has ever won all 16 games in the regular season. Scoring records, individual and team, fell like bowling pins in a PBA championship match. And we did all that despite the distraction of the constant hate and jealousy about Spygate - the media harping, the inappropriate and morally questionable threats from Senator Specter, the Matt Walsh sideshow. And it if hadn't been for the false accusations by the Herald on the eve of the Super Bowl, which necessitated meetings between team and league officials when the coaches could have been preparing for the game, we might have won.

In short, I am still damn proud of what our team did, and as the pain of the Super Bowl loss fades into the past it is getting less painful. Time does heal all wounds.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else is feeling the same way.

i wish they had been able to pick off eli on that final drive, otherwise it was an amazing season

 

[DynastyDriven]

Time heals all wounds right? Each day it gets a little better. I am finally past the stage where I thought about it every 10 mins like clockwork.

This offseason was the fastest ever for me anyways. After the loss I just needed to escape from football for a good 3 months and just shut it down and not watch or listen to everything like I normally would in an offseason. Now I'm fresh, a little anxious and ready to see what this team is really made of.

 

[RayClay]

The 2007 Pats were the culmination of everything the Belichick-era Patriots stood to defeat. The record-breaking, "unbeatable" teams like the Colts, Rams or Chargers. After 8 seasons of winning with an aggressive, physical style of play, the Patriots ultimately fell to an aggressive, physical team not unlike the '01 Pats.

What he said.

 

[RayClay]

I'll never get over the loss, you can't. The stakes were too high. However it was still a great year and adds to the Patriots' resume. SB appearance. 16-0. A million records. When people talk about this team in 20 years, it will be a mroe impressive story because of last year.

Football teams have resumes now?

 

[IcyPatriot]

We've won 3 Super Bowls since 2001 ... not knocking people but really ... all this get over it stuff ... enjoy the game, enjoy the team. I think we'll win at least one more before Brady hangs them up ... it's all good.

There are many good players and coaches out there. We don't have a monopoly on playing or coaching. The Giants kicked our butt for most of the day ... they deserved it and I hope they enjoy it.

 

[DynastyDriven]

2 more... Brady will get 5! and have the most Super Bowl championships in NFL history.

Sept 8 yet?

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

I guess one never has too look to far to find someone worse off in sports life, you win, a Pats heartbreak followed by Laker melt down -- let me know your favorite baseball team so i can bet against them.

That's ironic, because for me (and probably a lot of us here) seeing the Celtics, a team we never expected to see win it all this year, actually win took a bit of the sting off of seeing the team we all expected to win it all, lose.

But, nothing against the Lakers (even though I personally put them in the same barrel as the Jets or Colts) - didn't it burn you when they too, came up as runners-up?

I wasn't as upset when the Lakers had their meltdown because they are so soft on defense and they weren't the favorites throughout the season like the Pats. Also, I'm not as passionate about basketball as I am football. There will never be anything more worse than what I witnessed in last years superbowl unless the Pats go 18-0 again and lose next years superbowl in the final two minutes. I thought the Lakers had a great run and were lucky to be in the finals with all the good teams in the western conference. Whether the Lakers are good or bad, I always have followed them and didn't think they would go far in the playoffs with their roster before the Gasol trade. The Celtics had the best record in the NBA and deserved to win the NBA finals. Now the Lakers are going to be considered one of the favorites to come out of the western conference with the return of Andrew Bynum. So to answer your question, I now would be upset because I expect them to win.

 

[fgssand]

I wasn't as upset when the Lakers had their meltdown because they are so soft on defense and they weren't the favorites throughout the season like the Pats. Also, I'm not as passionate about basketball as I am football. There will never be anything more worse than what I witnessed in last years superbowl unless the Pats go 18-0 again and lose next years superbowl in the final two minutes. I thought the Lakers had a great run and were lucky to be in the finals with all the good teams in the western conference. Whether the Lakers are good or bad, I always have followed them and didn't think they would go far in the playoffs with their roster before the Gasol trade. The Celtics had the best record in the NBA and deserved to win the NBA finals. Now the Lakers are going to be considered one of the favorites to come out of the western conference with the return of Andrew Bynum. So to answer your question, I now would be upset because I expect them to win.

This won't help at all....
Oh, the Humanity!

Remember when 19-0 was so close you could taste it? A New York Giants fan treks the dirt roads to a one-room shack in an impoverished Nicaraguan village in search of a painful piece of Super Bowl memorabilia for Patriots fans everywhere

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Aaron Kaplowitz
August 10, 2008

IN A PERFECT WORLD, the hat would be sitting on Tom Brady's mantle and the woman holding the hat in an impoverished and remote village in Central America would still have her teeth.





http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2008/08/06/oh_the_humanity/?page=full

 

[DaveW]

Nope.
Still pretty pissed off about the SB loss.



Maybe once the regular season starts.....

 

[alvinnf]

Not something you get over..... It is unfortunately, imfamous history.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

Yeah it was something to me that will take a while to get over....but I am soo looking forward to 3 weeks from now and the real schedule kicking off....