What a difference a few years makes.

[brdmaverick]

I think the 2007 and 2012 teams could give the 2014/2016 teams a run for their money. As we've seen, winning vs not winning can come down to a few plays.

As for 2013, that was an odd year. If you remember Brady lost something crazy like 4 of his top 5 targets from the year before (Welker, Hernandez, Lloyd, Woodhead) and the one who did stay (Gronk) was injured for a good portion of the year.

They had two rookies getting (Dobson and Thompkins) getting big minutes in the early going, and it showed. Brady's TD streak came to an end in Cincy when they failed to score a TD in like the first time in forever. After going something like 60+ games with a TD pass Brayd almost went 2 straight games without a TD when he needed a last second TD to Thompkins to get on the board vs the Saints.

With the emergence of Blount the offense becamse much better and more balanced down the stretch. The Pats seemed to look like 'the Pats' again.

But yes, as cool as it was always being in the mix, being so close only to have our dreams shattered was pretty tough. I felt like it would mean a lot to Brady to get a title later in his career after the early success he had.

These last two Super Bowl wins have certainly helped ease the pain of the Giants losses.

 

[bormio]

We have been in 7 Super Bowls decided by 6 points or less, 6 by 4 points or less. Any thought we could be 7-0 is unrealistic. We have had good breaks and bad ones - the football gods have been fair.