New England Patriots - "Full Circle"

In case you hadn't caught on by now, everything I just said to describe the 2001 Patriots can also be said for the 2007 New York Giants. If that doesn't freak you out a little bit as a Patriots fan, then you're probably six years old or younger. Any New England fan who was alive in 2001, remembers the pure elation of pulling off the greatest upset in Super Bowl history. Yet at the same time, we're also well aware of what our victory did to the opposing Rams. That evening in New Orleans, the "Greatest Show on Turf", came plummeting down to earth, and has never been the same since. When the parallel is drawn between the 2001 Pats and the 2007 G-Men, we can't help but realize that our 18-0 Patriots, the "Greatest Show. Period.", have potentially been set up to reenact the disappointing role of St. Louis.

That's a pretty sobering thought. It makes those who are crowing that 19-0 is a foregone conclusion seem pretty foolish, doesn't it? After all, history does have a way of repeating itself. Nobody gave the Giants a chance against the Buccaneers. Nobody gave them a chance versus Dallas either. Nobody gave Eli Manning a chance against Brett Favre in the cold. So it should come as no surprise that after three times of having those "lock" predictions shoved down their throats, the media is once again saying that the Giants have no chance of defeating the Patriots. Unfortunately for New England, we all know how those scenarios played out. You may say, "but those Giants' victories were against teams in the weak NFC, not the undefeated Patriots." That's an extremely valid point. Just keep in mind that the same arguments were made about the Patriots wins over Raiders and Steelers heading into their clash with the Rams.

The similarities between those legendary Patriots and today's Giants is truly uncanny. Days before that fateful thirty-sixth Super Bowl, the St. Louis players were quoted as saying "The only team that can beat us, is ourselves." While that sentiment was clearly proven false for the Rams, it's becoming increasingly clear that it's fact for the New England. I say this not out of arrogance, but because the only team that stands between the Patriots and perfection is a carbon copy of their former selves. Talk about irony!

Yes, the New England Patriots have certainly come full circle. The lovable "little guys" have morphed into the definitive juggernaut they once defeated six years ago. As they head toward Super Bowl XLII, the Patriots must find a way to avoid a massive upset at the hands of a new breed of underdogs and stop history's cycle. It certainly won't be and easy task, not with the impending pressure to go 19-0 and a collective football nation rooting for their downfall. But the point of this article is not to list all the reasons why the Patriots won't win their fourth title, although it may seem that way with the case I just made for the New York Giants. No, as one of their most fervid fans, I'm here to tell you exactly why I believe The New England Patriots are bound for glory.

It certainly may appear that the Patriots have history against them. If you believe in such things, you could make the argument that karma should have it out for them as well. Between Spy Gate, HGH, super model canoodling, and running up scores, New England has all the makings of a Goliath just waiting to tumble. However, if you look beyond all the hype and hyperbole that's shrouded the NFL's "Evil Empire", it's clear that there's another side to the Patriots the world has largely been missing.

Seven years ago, this team was built on the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There was not a selfish soul on the roster who put himself above his teammates. When the St. Louis Rams entered the Superdome that night, they were announced as individuals. As legend now holds, the Patriots instead chose to run onto the field as a team. They attacked and pounded the Rams as a team, they drove that final trip down the field as a team, and, in the end, they won as a team. It was a trend that continued through their other two Super Bowl wins and is still carried on today.

Another trend that came to define these past seven seasons of New England Patriots football is the talk of "No Respect". Those sentiments were often met with a roll of the eyes and viewed as a ploy by Bill Belichick to motivate his team; but no matter how you want to spin them, those cries were justifiable. No team that's ever won multiple Super Bowls in a few years has ever been as overlooked as the Patriots. They were constantly told that some other team was better, despite evidence in the trophy case that proved otherwise. It was always about Peyton Manning and his points, and never about Brady and his rings. When the media at large consistently picks against you in big games, even after you've consistently won big game after big game, that certainly qualifies as "No Respect".

Combine the two trends and you've got an inexplicable aberration. How could the Patriots, who worked so hard to be everything a sports team should, be so universally despised? Is America really so shallow that it only takes a constant barrage of commercials showing you wearing fake mustaches and participating in Oreo-licking contests to win the heart of the nation? In the end, is it actually the touchdowns, stats, and individual awards that come to define you, not what you mean to the men who walked out to battle with you every day?

It's the struggle against those questions that motivated the Patriots through their Super Bowl seasons and the two disappointing years that followed. 2005 and 2006 were injury-plagued years where the franchise dealt with their aging veterans and the loss of players who decided to cash in on their newfound success. It was in these two seasons that Tom Brady's hard-work and leadership shined brightest, as he elevated his rag-tag crew of no-names to consecutive 12-4 records. If you think Brady was impressive this year, you should've watched him each game the previous two seaons. Tossing bombs to Randy Moss isn't that difficult. Squeezing every ounce of talent from Reche Caldwell is the true measure of an MVP. Of course none of his courage was discussed in the National spotlight. It was still all about Peyton, and Ben, and LT, and whoever else happened to not have "Brady" sewn on the back of their jerseys.

All in all, it was a very difficult two seasons to swallow. However, when it came time for the '06 playoffs, it appeared that the Patriots would finally have their moment of redemption. After knocking down the Jets and stunning the Chargers, the Patriots once again met the Colts in the AFC Championship. Despite the fact that New England was surging and the Colts practically "backed-in" to the title game after two shaky-at-best wins, the media once again began to label Indianapolis as unstoppable. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Patriots to turn the tables once again. As fate would have it, though, a nasty flu bug, the piped-in crowd noise, and the season-long lack of a reliable wide receiver ultimately left Tom Brady and the Patriots short. The resulting nation-wide exultation and Colts Super Bowl victory were nauseating to say the least.

I certainly wasn't a part of the decision-making process, but based on what happened this off-season, I'm guessing that AFC Championship loss played a big role in the direction Bill Belichick mapped out for this team heading into 2007. Watching the Patriots fight the good fight for six years, only to have everyone dance around his fallen team in celebration, had to have been the final straw. If the only way to garner the nation's approval was to be the next Peyton Manning, Jerry Rice, '98 Vikings, and '72 Dolphins, then that's exactly what they would get.

Enter Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and the '07 Patriots.

It worked like a charm. Before the first quarter of Week 1 was over, the Patriots had already become the most polarizing figures in the new millenium of sports. The stat-hungry Manning supporters had just been introduced to an all-you-can-eat buffet of numbers. Those who weren't so quick to flip sides after knocking the Pats for six years were given a brand-new reason to hate. Seemingly overnight, the team nobody wanted to acknowledge had become the toast of the NFL town. The media surge continue to power on through the first ten weeks of the season as the Patriots racked up accolades faster than they did touchdowns. They amassed over 400 points while taking down the undefeated Cowboys and Colts en route to a 10-0 undefeated streak of their own. And then, it all stopped.

You probably didn't notice it, not with the never-ending barrage of "perfection" coverage displayed by ESPN and their counterparts, but the Patriots clearly flipped off the domination switch right after Thanksgiving. Since the turkey was carved, the Patriots have managed to cover the spread all of once in eight tries. (You can thank the disrespect shown by the Steelers' Anthony Smith for that one.) Tom Brady has thrown 17 touchdowns since that day, compared to 38 beforehand. The squad that was blowing teams out of the water with 40-point victorie, has since had three contests decided by a field goal. You can try to explain this night and day difference by saying that opposing defenses are beginning to figure the Patriots out or that it's simply a matter of tried and true regression towards the mean. However, I look at the Patriots' lack of explosiveness as a deliberate decision by Bill Belichick to pull back on the reigns and get his team to play the type of football that wins championships.

It's a fact that you don't win playoff football games in January in New England by putting up 56 points in an aerial assault. In the games that count, in difficult conditions, you win by limiting your turnovers, playing solid defense, managing the clock, and grinding it out. If you look at the Patriots' body of work over the last eight games, especially their recent victories over the Jaguars and Chargers, it's clear that they've taken this approach. While their offensive lineup still boasts the big names like Moss, Stallworth, and Welker, the Patriots are back to playing the way they did when the jerseys read Brown, Patten, and Branch. They're winning games by making good blocks for Lawrence Maroney, and by having #55 (now Seau, then McGinnest) come up with the big play on defense at the biggest possible time.

It's because of this unheralded change in philosophy that I believe the New England Patriots are on their way to a fourth NFL title. By picking and choosing parts of the storyline, you can certainly make the case that Super Bowl XLII is in some ways a rematch between the 2001 Patriots and the Rams. However, if you look past all the euphemisms, you can plainly see that the Patriots, as they're currently playing, have almost nothing in common with "The Greatest Show on Turf". In many ways, they barely resemble the team that stepped on the field in Week 1.

Over the first ten games of the season, it certainly appeared that the Patriots had turned heel in a fashion that would impress even Vince McMahon. It looked as if the constant perception of disrespect, coupled with the accusations of cheating and the asterisks unfairly placed on their titles, had finally caused New England to snap. The team that had once represented everything that was good and pure in professional sports apparently went over to the dark side and turned into a merciless machine. I can only imagine that as we approach the big game, the match-up will continue to be hyped as David vs. an unholy Goliath.

The truth, however, is that there was never anything "Evil" about the Patriots' empire. I'll admit that I enjoyed the "villain" storyline and bought into the bad guy mentality as much as anybody. It certainly made things interesting, but in reality, was nothing more than WWF-esque hype to create interest in the games and keep people watching Sports Center. Throughout that run of piling on the points, this team never fixated on stats, breaking records, or going undefeated. The entire time, their solitary goal was to win the Super Bowl, and I challenge anyone to find anything evil about that. The Patriots simply focused on winning that week's game and nothing else. The players ate Bill Belichick's humble pie. They never sat back and were satisfied with a performance, no matter how dominating it was. They were always looking for a way to get better. If they ran up scores, it was only to keep their hunger alive, to learn to never take their foot off the pedal. If they refused to rest their starters after the top seed was clinched, it was only to stay sharp for the playoffs. Everything that this team accomplished this season was in preparation to win the Super Bowl. If they happened to go 18-0 and erase Peyton Manning from the record books along the way, that was purely a bonus. 

Most importantly, throughout this entire eighteen-week-long chain of events, the Patriots never stopped playing like the ultimate "team". Brady is constantly giving credit to his line and receivers. Moss is continually throwing the respect back at Brady. After his MVP performance in the AFC Championship, the first words out of Lawrence Maroney's mouth were how incredible his blockers played. It's that thread of undying unity, selflessness, and teamwork that has stitched together this incredible seven season run by the New England Patriots. While they may have come full-circle from the unlikeliest of underdogs to the greatest of favorites and now sit on the cusp of perfection, those constant ideals have remained as the foundation of this franchise. Ultimately, they will serve as the rallying point for New England on February 3rd, in Glendale, Arizona, when the Patriots once again run out onto the field as a team...

...And into "ever".