Don't understand the disagree, we are the most hated, so if we were to fall off a cliff in the future what makes you think the NYJFL won't act like we never existed? Considering the probagana the last few years, media wise what makes you think they won't act act we never existed should we fall off a cliff, we would get the 50s Browns treatment imo no mention.
Indeed.
We were competitive and offensively dominant from 1976-1980, for example, and all the media cared about was Chuck Fairbanks being driven out of town by Billy Sullivan.
Oh, but in 1981, when Sam Cunningham sat out and the team had its
only losing season in a stretch that would last 13 years, the media trumpeted
"The hapless Patriots are the absolute bottom of the National Football League, a hapless humiliation and the franchise should fold".
In '82, we returned to the playoffs but all the media cared about was a snowplow.
In '84, all the media cared about was the new head coach, after rehiring the DC who was fired by the previous head coach, spent his first game mostly scribbling players' names down on the sidelines trying to learn them.
In '85, we went to the Super Bowl in unprecedented fashion, but all the media cared about was the maintenance crew at the Superdome complaining about their difficulty painting the Patriots' logo in the end zone, the record margin of the loss (and not its reason: the utter stupidity of starting a marginal, flu-affected inferior kid ahead of a seasoned, veteran team MVP), and the subsequent drug "scandal" involving five players? or was it six? that "rocked the league".
In '96, we went to the Super Bowl but all the media cared about was the head coach going to the Jets.
In '00, we signed our greatest head coach, but all the media cared about was how much they hate him and how the Jets were complaining.
In '01, we won our last game at the old stadium in the snow but all the media cared about was an obscure rule, properly enforced, that had also been used against us earlier in the season against the Jets.
Then, a week later, after beating the favored Steelers in Pittsburgh, all the media cared about was that the Patriots probably cheated to win and were a less attractive inevitable victim for the Rams in the Super Bowl.
...need we elaborate with the fake scandals etc. since?
...so yeah, the media will only behave like we existed in the context that every single victory was tainted by cheating accusations and scandals.
