Just before driving to Pawtucket to meet Bergs at the East Ave. Cafe (unrivaled beer selection) to see if the Pats could go into Pittsburgh and pull out a huge victory, I texted my nephew Pete: "We need Brady at his best tonight... and for the rest of the season."
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WEEK 10: Motivated. |
The Pats are almost impossible to beat when Brady plays like that. He was joined by Gronkowski (3 TD catches), Chung, Big Vince, BenJarvis, McCourty, Crumpler, and many others on the list of players who were motivated by last week's dreadful loss to the Browns. Maybe the most important performance, as it has been in all the games this year, was that of the offensive line. With Stephen Neal out, the line protected Brady (only hit three times) and opened up lanes for the rushing game. Logan Mankins's return couldn't have come at a better time. The Pats broke 100 yards on the ground against a Steelers D that was giving up an average of about 50. The offensive line is the backbone of the 2010 Pats. It's a solid, veteran backbone to build on. But it all revolves around #12. He looks up to the challenge.
Bergs and I sat at the bar talking to Mark on the phone as the clocked ticked down. A stat flashed on the screen that the Pats are 23-2 in games after losses since 2002 under Belichick. There have been some great regular season victories during that time.
"Where do you rank this one?" Mark asked. Bergs and I agreed that it was top 10 among regular season wins during Belichick's 10 years. Not in simple entertainment value. That list would include the snowball game against Miami and the 31-0 revenge game against the Bills, to name two. This is a list of statement games. Regular season victories that showed just how good the team could be that year -- and beyond.
10. Brady's first start, 2001: Everyone remembers the week before this game, when Bledsoe took a shot to the chest and Brady came in to start what nobody knew at the time was a Hall of Fame career. The Pats lost that game to the Jets, but a week later Brady was making his first start against the Colts in Foxboro Stadium. Brady and the Pats 44, Manning and the Colts 13. Brady didn't throw any TDs and only put up 168 yards passing, but he didn't make any big mistakes and came up with clutch plays on third down when needed. That was the formula for victory the rest of the way. Brady the sixth-round pick outplayed Manning the golden boy. It wouldn't be the last time.
9. Foxboro finale, 2001: Later in that magical year, the Pats played their final regular season game at the old stadium against division rival Miami. Brady was now the story of the NFL, having led the team to a 9-5 record. The Pats came into the last game at their home since the '70s with a chance to clinch the division for the first time in several years. The Patriots, behind a defense that would go on to win the Super Bowl, built a 20-3 lead against the Dolphins and won decisively 20-10. The players and coaches walked around the edge of the field high-fiving fans. They would be doing it again in the Snow Bowl about a month later.
8. Roaring back, 2002: The Pats didn't make the playoffs as defending champs in 2002. But you wouldn't have known that by the way the crowd celebrated this amazing come-from-behind win against Miami in the season finale at the new Gillette Stadium. The Pats needed to win to get to 9-7 and then hope the Jets would lose later that day (they didn't). But Miami, led by Dave Wannstedt (or Wannstoop as my family nicknamed him), was in a better position. All they needed to do was beat the Pats to clinch the division. And they rolled out to a 21-7 lead behind Ricky Williams's 185 yards rushing. The Pats D could not stop him. But, for some inexplicable reason, Wannstoop stopped handing him the ball and instead had Jay Fielder start throwing passes. The Pats D could stop Fielder. The Pats scored 11 points in the last few minutes of the game and then won it in overtime. It erased the taste of a disappointing season and set the tone for the next two years.
7. Steeler smack down, 2010: Time will tell if last night's convincing win in Pittsburgh will be the start of a championship run. There are a lot of other hurdles ahead. But it was very reminiscent of many of the games on this list. Brady made big play after big play. The defense set the tone early and held the Steelers to just 10 points through three quarters. And all that coming off maybe the worst regular season defeat since winning the title in 2001. Brady's fiery sideline statement carried on to the field in the second half. Any game where Brady throws three touchdowns and runs in for another is a statement.
6. New streak starts, 2004: This one came after the Steelers put a beating on the Pats, ending their then NFL record winning streak at 21. The Steelers stomped on New England 34-20 and it was worse than that. Ty Law was carried off the field. The Pats limped to St. Louis to play the Mike Martz coached Rams. There were lots of critics salivating at the thoughts of a Pats collapse. In one of Belichick and his staff's best coaching jobs of those years, the Pats rolled to a 40-22 road win that included a trick Vinatieri to Troy Brown TD pass that Martz is still trying to figure out. The Pats would lose only one more game on their way to title No. 3.
5. Spygate, 2007: One of the team's best home games. The Pats spent the week having the entire world -- Congress included -- climb up their zoom lens. The Jets had ratted on Belichick about the guy with the video camera and suddenly the Pats were the nation's new villains. Nice going, Bill. The team had to somehow get ready to play San Diego, one of their biggest rivals. The Chargers were looking to add insult to the Pats' injured reputation. The only pain being handed out that night was by the Pats. They demolished San Diego 38-14 in an emotion-filled game that had the stadium rocking.
4. OT in South Beach, 2003: The Patriots were 4-2 and still trying to recapture their Super Bowl mojo. Miami was 4-1 and mulling playoff dreams of their own. It was a classic AFC East war in the October Miami heat in a place where the Pats rarely won. Dolphin kicker Olindo Mare had two chances to win the game -- one at the end of regulation that was blocked and one in OT that he missed because he was kicking off the baseball infield dirt. Brady ended it with an 82-yard bomb -- a thing of beauty -- after scrambling to avoid the rush. The ball landed in Troy Brown's arms and he high-stepped his way into the end zone. The Pats wouldn't lose again that year.
3. Perfection, 2007: A perfect final game to the perfect season. The Pats arrived at Giants Stadium just one win shy of the first 16-0 season ever. It was a great game. The Giants, who had already clinched a playoff spot, could have rested guys and not challenged the Pats. But that's not Tom Coughlin's way. The Giants played the game as if it was the Super Bowl, which probably had a lot to do with the outcome when the two teams actually met in the Super Bowl a few weeks later. Brady's record-breaking bomb to Moss capped a great win and an amazing season.
2. Mile High win, 2003: Every team has its house of horrors where they just can't win. Denver was that place for the Patriots. Two weeks after their overtime win in Miami, the 6-2 Pats headed to Mile High for what was expected to be their almost-annual dose of heartbreak. New England has lost many road games over the years, but some of the most painful took place in the shadow of the Rockies. But 2003 was certainly a year when things were different. Denver lead 24-23 with just a few minutes left in the game and the Pats were backed up inside their own 10. A punt there would have given the Broncos the ball at midfield or better and a chance to put the game away. So Belichick told the team to take a safety and give Denver two more points. That allowed them a free kick from a better spot on the field. The Broncos muffed the kick, got pinned inside their 25, and had to punt it back to the Pats. Brady then led the offense on one of his greatest drives, ending with a clutch throw to David Givens in the front corner of the end zone. Belichick gave Charlie Weiss a huge hug. You know it's a big win when that happens.
1. Goal line stand, 2003: Just say goal line stand and every Patriots fan will know what you are talking about. The 9-2 Pats went into 9-2 Indy two weeks after the Denver win (it was that kind of season) and rolled out to a 31-10 lead early into the second half. The team was looking unbeatable. Everything was clicking. Then Peyton Manning and the Colts -- as often happens in the greatest rivalry in football -- responded and made a furious rally to cut the score to 38-34. The Colts then made one last drive down the field in front of their delirious fans -- setting up a 1st-and-goal at the 2-yard line with less than a minute to play. The Pats stopped two runs and a Manning fade pass to force a fourth down winner-take-all play. Willie McGinest, who had been kneeling in pain a few plays before, bolted towards Edgerin James and stopped the Colt running back dead in his tracks. Willie ran off the field with right arm raised and the whole team followed him from there to back-to-back Super Bowls.
The Pats have home games left against the 6-3 Colts, the 7-2 Jets, the 6-3 Packers, and the 5-4 Dolphins to close out the 2010 regular season on January 2. A dominating win in any of those games would make it a contender for this list. But it will be hard for any of them to top my No. 1. (This is the complete game if you have 45 mins to kill. If not, head to the end for the greatest goal line stand in Pats history).
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