There are franchises that have out stood out over the history of the National Football League – the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers among them. The New England Patriots not only have proven to be one of the best, but are rising above them all.
Since 2000, when Bill Belichick was hired as head coach by the Kraft family, the owners of the Patriots, the team has compiled a 201-71 record during the regular season and a playoff record of 24-9.
Those victories translated into 11 conference championships, including a current streak of six in a row.
Including this year, the Patriots have earned the right to play in the Super Bowl seven times during this century, with four wins to their credit. During this same 17-year span, the second most number of Super Bowl appearances is three, an accomplishment shared by three teams.
The Patriots have been a dominant force in the NFL since 2000, and a win against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI would put them in even more rarified air. A win and ring on Feb. 5 would put New England in a three-way tie with Dallas and San Francisco for overall Super Bowl titles, with five, trailing only the Steelers who have six.
And beating the Falcons would make “one for the thumb,” a ring that would have special significance for Belichick, the team, the men, women and children of Patriots Nation and, particularly quarterback Tom Brady.
The 39-year-old veteran has already punched his ticket to the NFL Hall of Fame with his performance. But this Super Bowl follows the two-year entanglement with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over what has become known as “Deflategate.”
We doubt there is any football fan, Patriots or not, who doesn’t have an opinion on this saga. It began with under-inflated footballs in the 2015 AFC championship game between Brady’s Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. This led to plenty of headlines, and an internal investigation by the league over roughly four months, resulting in a 243-page document. Goodell’s punishment, publicized as protecting the integrity of the game, included a four-game suspension for Brady, and a $1 million fine for the team, which also had two draft picks taken away — a first-round selection in 2016 and a fourth-rounder for 2017.
Brady’s suspension was appealed by the NFL Players Association, leading to Goodell upholding his own penalty. The union then sued the league, with the case winding up in U.S. District Court in New York. However, Judge Richard M. Berman vacated the suspension for the 2015-2016 season. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated Brady’s suspension for the first four games of this season.
If all of this motivated the team and its coaches, it also fueled the passions of Patriots fans and detractors alike. While many in New England were looking for their team to have success on the field, the other clubs and their fans were hoping for the Patriots to get their comeuppance.
The Patriots began the season 3-1 without Brady and upon his return went 11-1 to finish 14-2 and first in the AFC East. And the Patriots have taken care of business during their first two playoffs with ease by beating the Houston Texans, 34-16, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, 36-17.
Now the team is poised to take a fifth Super Bowl title. A victory would be the sweetest kind of revenge for the Patriots over the rest of the league, their haters and, of course, the NFL commissioner.
Go Patriots.