Everything in between...: Looking Back on the Patriots Decade of Decadance

Today is Tuesday, January 15^th and my New England Patriots will be facing the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, January 20^th. To say I’m wicked pumped for that game is an understatement. Tom Brady and the high octane Patriots offense (minus Gronk) play against Ray Lewis (my favorite player of all time, except when he’s playing the Pats) and a Ravens team that was way to close to beating us last year. Frankly, last year the Patriots got extremely lucky to come out of Foxborough with a win and trip to the Super Bowl. Thank god for Billy Cundiff and Lee Evans.

Well, me being me, I like to analyze the crap out of everything. So, I started thinking about how the Patriots we know and love now came to be a Super-franchise. Most people would probably say that Adam Vinateri hitting that game winning field goal at the end of Super Bowl XXXVI, which is somewhat true. But to really understand how the Patriots dominance came to be, you have to go way before that ever kick ever happened.

One of the biggest, if not THE biggest event in Patriots history would be the trade for Bill Belicheck from the New York Jets. Belicheck was scheduled to take over as the Head Coach for Bill Parcells in 1999, whom he’d worked under for many years. The funny thing is, Bill Belicheck was the head coach of the New York Jets for just a day. HAHA sucks to be you New York! Anyway, Belicheck took over as coach of the Patriots and the rest is history. The weird thing is, he actually didn’t have much success in his first campaign with the Patriots in the 1999-2000 season, posting an unimpressive 5-11 record.

Tom Terrific looking like a stud...

But then in the 2000 NFL Draft, the football gods blessed the New England Patriots with a man named… Adrian Klemm. Just kidding, that was the first guy the Pats took in that draft with the 46^th pick. Of course, I’m talking about the man, the myth, the legend… Tom Brady. Before he was Tom Brady, fashion icon, sex symbol, UGG model (hey they’re pretty comfy) with a smoking hot wife, he was Tom Brady, a lanky kid from Cali who was probably destined for a life of being a back up his whole career.
He was picked 199^th overall...behind people who would amount to absolutely nothing in the NFL. Tommy boy sat on the bench behind Drew Bledsoe, until one hit from Bo Lewis (He played for the Jets, we steal Belicheck from the Jets, coincidence? I think not.) When Drew Bledsoe went down, and a young Tom Brady stepped in, THAT changed everything. The Patriots would not be in the position they are in today had that not happened.

I, personally, am not what you would call a religious freak. I was brought up Episcopalian, I go to church every once in a while, but I just don’t get the whole church thing. Call me crazy, sacrilegious, whatever. What my “religion” has kind of evolved into is watching football on the day of the Sabbath (hey, god said and on the 7^th day men shall rest, I think). My Sundays in the fall and into the winter for as long as I can remember have involved sitting and watching football, especially my beloved Patriots. I, like many other New Englanders, put my trust into Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady to bring some joy and victory to New England, week after week. And most of the time, it never fails. The New England Patriots have become the bar to which other franchises try to measure up to. On Sunday, they have a chance to go to their 6^th superbowl in the past 13 years. I’m no mathematician or anything, but that means we’ve gotten to the big game almost half the time from the turn of the century. But back to my religion thing, I am a very firm believer in the Football Gods. They rule over heaven and stadiums, and one day Brady will return to be seated at the right hand of the father, (which is probably Vince Lombardi). It’s as though the Football Gods blessed the Patriots in order for some kind of weird, freakish storyline to occur. Let me break it down….

We somehow get Bill Belicheck in 1999, snatching him away from the enemy New York Jets.
We somehow end up with Tom Brady in the 6^th round who IS THE GREATEST QUARTERBACK OF ALL TIME. (If anybody wants to debate, just shut up cuz your wrong)
Drew Bledsoe goes down with injury.
Tom Terrific steps in and works miracles as only Tom Brady can do.
AFC Championship Game, 2001 vs Raiders. The infamous Tuck Rule game. Brady fumbles, but again the football gods are on our side, so of course Tommy Boy drives the team down the field, setting up Adam Vinateri with THE best field goal of all time.
The underdog Patriots stun the heavily favored “Greatest Show on Turf” St Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXVI.
Dynasty...

That Superbowl victory was almost biblical, like it was right out of a book. It’s the classic David vs Goliath, David wins, everyone likes him, but David just keeps winning so people just start to hate him. Keep hating everyone, the Patriots are here to stay.