I’ve been a fan of the Patriots for the decade-plus years that I’ve been enjoying the sport of football. I was a fan through the drought in the 90’s that saw the Pats eek out 2, 3, 4-wins a seasons and the bounty in the 2000’s that heralded not only 3 Super Bowl victories, but the moniker of being a dynasty team for this decade.
Through the droughts and bounties, however, the Patriots were always a bunch of no-name underdogs seemingly plucking victories out of thin air with sheer team spirit and drive. Even with victories in Super Bowl’s XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX to their name, the Patriots were never a “feared” team like the 90’s St. Louis Rams a.k.a “The Greatest Show on Turf” or the Indianapolis Colts.
The Rams could overcome point deficit in the blink of an eye and it took just as long for a fan to completely miss a brilliant play. The Colts were, and to a large extent still are, equally potent in their offense. The emergence of the defense last year allowed them to scale the Everest-like peak that is a Super Bowl game.
But now, with the players on the 2007 New England Patriots team, I know what it feels like to be a fan of those Rams or these Colts. Tom Brady has never had the kind of weapons that have been amassed this season. This is purely evident in the 2 touchdown passes thrown to Randy Moss in the game against the Miami Dolphins.
Moss had been held without a catch until he caught his first reception, incidentally, not only against double coverage, but clearly jumping well over the better positioned defender to snatch the ball into his arms. The second reception was for a much longer TD reception once again into double coverage. This kind of faith in a receiver is absolutely astounding, and from a defenders perspective scary. What more could they do against Moss to prevent such spectacular receptions?
During the off-season with the wonderful wide receiver acquisitions, I felt that this season would be different than the others, but I couldn’t have truly anticipated the kind of statistics that Brady and the team are piling up. The Dallas Cowboys were a wonderful challenge and have bested them, the upcoming Colts game is going to be the one everyone is going to speak about before and well after.
To say that Patriots will make the playoffs is almost akin to saying that the Sun will rise. I do think we have a team that should progress far into the Playoffs and make the Super Bowl again. Knowing that the AFC has been the stronger of the two conferences for quite a while now, it is virtually a guarantee that the AFC team that makes the Super Bowl will be the team that will hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy.
Cheers