Starting Up: We briefly went over the development of the American Football League when I profiled the Denver Broncos. All you need to know here is that the eight-team league had only seven teams set on November 15, 1959. The following day, Billy Sullivan, a newspaper man who also had ties to the oil industry, was awarded the eighth and final team for the startup league, after paying a whopping $25,000 entry fee.
Sullivan's road to pro-football ownership was similar to inaugural Broncos owner Bob Howsman's path, though Sullivan inadvertently left more bodies in his wake.
Sullivan tried to get a meeting with the NFL about putting a team in Boston. Then-commissioner Bert Bell said he'd get Sullivan a meeting. Then Bell died before the meeting could take place. Undeterred, Sullivan then requested a meeting with then-New York Giants owner Tim Mara. Then Mara died.
Admittedly, that's a great story, but there's no way it can be true. Bell died in October 1959; Mara had been dead since February that year. Every story I found repeated the same thing— Sullivan requested a meeting, Bell died, Sullivan requested another meeting, Mara died— but that obviously can't be true, at least not in that order (unless Sullivan was really dumb and didn't realize one of the most influential owners in the NFL had been dead for eight months).
What definitely happened was that the NFL decided to pass on Boston for an expansion team. In the prior 40 years, the NFL had put at least three teams in Boston at different points, and all of them either relocated or folded outright. So the owners of the late 50s weren't exactly keen on putting a team in a city which historically, they felt, couldn't sustain a team.
After the NFL's rejection and the death of anyone at all sympathetic to his cause, Sullivan went to the upstart AFL, which obviously accepted him. The name "Patriots" was chosen through a fan contest. And their original Pat the Patriot logo was drawn up in under an hour. Here it is if you're curious:
The Patriots had the distinction of playing in the very first AFL game ever. They were the first home team in an AFL game and lost to the Denver Broncos 13-10. The Patriots were obviously accepted into the NFL in time for the 1970 season, along with the other nine AFL teams, and were placed in the AFC East Division where they've been ever since.
One final note— In 1971, the team changed its name to the New England Patriots due to moving into Foxborough Stadium full time. Since they weren't playing in Boston proper anymore and were close to the Rhode Island boarder, the team decided to rebrand themselves as the entire New England region's team (after unsuccessfully trying to become the Bay State Patriots, which the NFL rejected, presumably, because Bay State Patriots is a really shitty name). To date, the Patriots are the only team in the four major sports that has a geographic region in its name and not a proper city (though the Hartford Whalers were the New England Whalers when they played in the WHA, but dropped it upon admission into the NHL in 1979).
Sullivan's road to pro-football ownership was similar to inaugural Broncos owner Bob Howsman's path, though Sullivan inadvertently left more bodies in his wake.
Sullivan tried to get a meeting with the NFL about putting a team in Boston. Then-commissioner Bert Bell said he'd get Sullivan a meeting. Then Bell died before the meeting could take place. Undeterred, Sullivan then requested a meeting with then-New York Giants owner Tim Mara. Then Mara died.
Admittedly, that's a great story, but there's no way it can be true. Bell died in October 1959; Mara had been dead since February that year. Every story I found repeated the same thing— Sullivan requested a meeting, Bell died, Sullivan requested another meeting, Mara died— but that obviously can't be true, at least not in that order (unless Sullivan was really dumb and didn't realize one of the most influential owners in the NFL had been dead for eight months).
What definitely happened was that the NFL decided to pass on Boston for an expansion team. In the prior 40 years, the NFL had put at least three teams in Boston at different points, and all of them either relocated or folded outright. So the owners of the late 50s weren't exactly keen on putting a team in a city which historically, they felt, couldn't sustain a team.
After the NFL's rejection and the death of anyone at all sympathetic to his cause, Sullivan went to the upstart AFL, which obviously accepted him. The name "Patriots" was chosen through a fan contest. And their original Pat the Patriot logo was drawn up in under an hour. Here it is if you're curious:
The Patriots had the distinction of playing in the very first AFL game ever. They were the first home team in an AFL game and lost to the Denver Broncos 13-10. The Patriots were obviously accepted into the NFL in time for the 1970 season, along with the other nine AFL teams, and were placed in the AFC East Division where they've been ever since.
One final note— In 1971, the team changed its name to the New England Patriots due to moving into Foxborough Stadium full time. Since they weren't playing in Boston proper anymore and were close to the Rhode Island boarder, the team decided to rebrand themselves as the entire New England region's team (after unsuccessfully trying to become the Bay State Patriots, which the NFL rejected, presumably, because Bay State Patriots is a really shitty name). To date, the Patriots are the only team in the four major sports that has a geographic region in its name and not a proper city (though the Hartford Whalers were the New England Whalers when they played in the WHA, but dropped it upon admission into the NHL in 1979).
Greatest Runs
One of the Better AFL Teams (1961-1966): After a rocky first season-and-a-half, the Patriots became a pretty good team under head coach Mike Holovak. After going 2-3 under Lou Saban in 1961, Holovak coached the Patriots to a 7-1-1 record the rest of the way, good for a 9-4-1 record and second place in the Eastern Division.
The Patriots in this stretch only finished lower than second once (in 1965, their only losing season during this time). They even made the playoffs in 1963, defeating the Buffalo Bills in a tiebreaker game (they each finished with identical 7-6-1 records) to reach the AFL Championship game against the San Diego Chargers (the Patriots got smashed 51-10).
The Patriots' winning percentage of 61.8 in these five seasons was second-best in the Eastern Division behind the Buffalo Bills, and third-best in the AFL as a whole. They were a good team that pushed for the playoffs far more often than they didn't, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering most of the team's later struggles.
Sustained Success (1976-1988): Obviously the big moment in this chunk is that the Patriots improbably made it to Super Bowl XX after the 1985 season. They even beat their much more heavily favored division rival, the Miami Dolphins, in the AFC Championship Game. It was also the Patriots' first win in Miami since 1970. Of course, considering their 46-10 thrashing by the Bears was the most lopsided loss in the Super Bowl to that point, maybe they don't want to remember that.
In this 13 season span, the Patriots went to the playoffs five times, won two division titles and had just one losing season. Plus they won 113 games, as many as the Steelers in that stretch and behind only the Broncos, Dolphins and Raiders in the AFC.
The Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick Era (1994-Present): Even though these are non-consecutive coaching stints, I'm lumping them together since Belichick was on Parcells' staff in 1996.
The Patriots have been one of the most successful teams in the NFL over the last 20 years. They've gone to seven Super Bowls and won four. They were the first team to win three Super Bowls in three years by winning in 2002, 2004 and 2005. And it all started with the hiring of Parcells, whom actually developed a sense of accountability and stability in his four years on the job.
While Parcells developed that culture, Belichick expanded it and perfected it. Since Belichick took over as head coach, the Patriots have won 175 games, by far the most in the NFL since 2000 (by comparison, the Colts are second with 160 wins in that same span). Granted, there have been numerous accusations of cheating, but you don't win 175 games through skulduggery alone.
The Patriots in this stretch only finished lower than second once (in 1965, their only losing season during this time). They even made the playoffs in 1963, defeating the Buffalo Bills in a tiebreaker game (they each finished with identical 7-6-1 records) to reach the AFL Championship game against the San Diego Chargers (the Patriots got smashed 51-10).
The Patriots' winning percentage of 61.8 in these five seasons was second-best in the Eastern Division behind the Buffalo Bills, and third-best in the AFL as a whole. They were a good team that pushed for the playoffs far more often than they didn't, which is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering most of the team's later struggles.
Sustained Success (1976-1988): Obviously the big moment in this chunk is that the Patriots improbably made it to Super Bowl XX after the 1985 season. They even beat their much more heavily favored division rival, the Miami Dolphins, in the AFC Championship Game. It was also the Patriots' first win in Miami since 1970. Of course, considering their 46-10 thrashing by the Bears was the most lopsided loss in the Super Bowl to that point, maybe they don't want to remember that.
In this 13 season span, the Patriots went to the playoffs five times, won two division titles and had just one losing season. Plus they won 113 games, as many as the Steelers in that stretch and behind only the Broncos, Dolphins and Raiders in the AFC.
The Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick Era (1994-Present): Even though these are non-consecutive coaching stints, I'm lumping them together since Belichick was on Parcells' staff in 1996.
The Patriots have been one of the most successful teams in the NFL over the last 20 years. They've gone to seven Super Bowls and won four. They were the first team to win three Super Bowls in three years by winning in 2002, 2004 and 2005. And it all started with the hiring of Parcells, whom actually developed a sense of accountability and stability in his four years on the job.
While Parcells developed that culture, Belichick expanded it and perfected it. Since Belichick took over as head coach, the Patriots have won 175 games, by far the most in the NFL since 2000 (by comparison, the Colts are second with 160 wins in that same span). Granted, there have been numerous accusations of cheating, but you don't win 175 games through skulduggery alone.
Leanest Years
Kicked Around in Both Leagues (1967-1975): The final years in the AFL weren't pretty for the Patriots. The team had gotten older and lost its luster. Holovak was fired after the 1968 season and the Patriots could only muster 11 wins in their final three AFL seasons.
Things didn't improve upon going to the NFL. They finished with a 2-12 record in 1970, the worst record in the league and the worst mark in Patriots history to that point. The Pats drafted USC quarterback Jim Plunkett with the number one overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft. But after a somewhat-promising rookie year, Plunkett shit the bed hard, throwing 71 interceptions to just 43 touchdowns in his next four seasons.
In the six seasons following the AFL-NFL merger, the Patriots mustered a pitiful 26-58 record. Only the Saints had a worse winning percentage. When a team is comparable in any way to the 70s Saints, that's no good.
A Complete Disaster (1989-1993): The Patriots fell hard in the late 80s, thanks to a series of poor investments on the part of the Sullivan family. Did you know that Michael Jackson greatly impacted the fortunes of Patriots? You do now!
Billy Sullivan's son Chuck was the heir apparent to the football team in the mid-80s, but in 1984 he also had a job as the promoter of Michael Jackson's Victory Tour. It was a big deal, because it was being promoted as the final tour Jackson would go on with his brothers, whom he had found initial success with as a child as part of the Jackson 5.
Well things didn't go well. Chuck Sullivan routinely made an ass out of himself and butted heads with Jackson non-stop. When Sullivan was finally fired by Jackson and replaced with boxing promoter Don King, Sullivan had somehow lost over $22 million, roughly the family's net worth at the time.
Not helped by this was that Sullivan used the stadium (named Sullivan Stadium at the time) as collateral during the promotion. So after the fuck up with the Jackson family, the Sullivan family was in a financial hole and so was the damn stadium.
Even with the Super Bowl berth in 1985, the Patriots' financial picture was grim. Billy Sullivan finally was forced to sell the team in 1988 to Remington Products CEO Victor Kiam for $84 million.
Oh yeah! What about the team? Well, thanks to the above mentioned financial difficulties, it wasn't doing too well. By Sullivan's last year as principal owner, he need a $4 million dollar loan from the NFL just so he could actually pay his players. By 1989, everything went to shit and the Patriots finished 5-11, their worst record since 1981.
But as bad as 1989 was, 1990 would be much, much worse. Amid a horrid season where they finished with the worst record in team history, 1-15, the team embroiled itself in a sexual harassment scandal. Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olsen was treated to naked players viciously demanding she eat their dicks, while also making lewd gestures in her face in the locker room. Kiam, ever the diplomat, dismissed these actions since Olsen was being, to use his words, a "classic bitch."
Naturally, this caused a shit storm. The league fined the team $50,000 and induvidually fined Zeke Mowatt, Michael Timpson and Robert Perryman various respective sums. But the team's biggest punishment was in the form of a lawsuit brought on by Olsen, which was eventually settled for $250,000.
A year later, Kiam himself was in financial difficulties and sold the team to St. Louis businessman James Orthwein, a relative of the massively-rich Busch family. Orthwein's most notable action in his two seasons owning the Patriots was trying and failing to move the team to St. Louis.
In all, with the team going through three embarrassing ownership groups in less than six years and being terrible on the field, the Patriots went a league worst 19-61 from 1989 to 1993.
Pete Carroll's Wild Ride (1997-1999): I know this is technically in the 1994-Present era I said is so awesome, but the three seasons between Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick were a progressive shift downward for the franchise after coming off their Super Bowl XXXI loss. Bill Parcells left the team after Robert Kraft refused to grant him any control over the roster's construction, and his leaving became a very public distraction before the team played in the Super Bowl that year.
To replace the controlling and surly Parcells, Kraft hired then-San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Pete Carroll. Carroll had been a head coach once before, a one-season stint with the New York Jets where they went 6-10. Carroll fared markedly better in Foxborough, but the Patriots slowly declined under his watch. They went 10-6 and won the AFC East in 1997 and went 1-1 in the playoffs, went 9-7 and one-and-done in the playoffs in 1998, and finally missed the playoffs entirely by going 8-8 and finishing last in the AFC East in 1999. Even worse, the team started 6-2 in 1999 and went 2-6 the rest of the way.
Carroll definitely deserves a bit of blame for how that all unfolded. But the front office also deserves scorn. And if Robert Kraft just let Bill Parcells have a say in the roster's construction, none of this may have happened in the first place. The result was a team slowly getting worse from both bad drafting and curious free agency moves (or non moves in the case of Curtis Martin) (and none of which were Carroll's decisions thanks to Kraft still not letting his head coach have a say in player personnel), and the existing roster getting old or not producing, or both.
Names You Should Know
Eisenhauer only played nine seasons, all for the Patriots and all in the AFL, but he is still one of only 23 players to have made at least four Pro Bowls (or their AFL equivalent) with the Patriots.
Five of his eight Pro Bowl/All Star selections and four of his five 1st Team All-Pro selections came during his time in Boston (and the four All-Pro selections were in a row from 1964 to 1967). While Buoniconti played before defensive stats were reliably kept, his durability shows up well. He played all but seven games as a Patriot, with the seven misses all coming in his last two seasons with the team.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.
Jim Nance: NOT the announcer. Nance was, for a brief time, one of the finest running backs in the AFL. He led the league in rushing in consecutive seasons in 1966 and 1967, and also ran in 11 touchdowns in 1966, also a league-high that season. Nance has the distinction of being the only running back in AFL history to post back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons. Nance is fourth all-time in rushing yards in AFL history with 4,338 yards, and still ranks second all-time in Patriots history with 5,323 yards.
John Hanah: One of the greatest guards in the history of the game. Hannah missed just eight games in his 13-year career. He went to ten Pro Bowls and was named 1st Team All-Pro seven times in a ten-year period from 1976 to his final season in 1985. He has the distinction of being one of the few modern-day guards to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility (in 1991, becoming the first Patriots player to be so honored). His number 73 was also retired by the team.
Steve Grogan: Despite never making the Pro Bowl, or frankly being very good, Grogan remains a favorite for Pats fans due to his grit, which many people in the northeast lose their shit over. Grogan was often injured, having numerous surgeries over his 16-year career. Yet he played a lot, specifically in his younger years. Notably, they tried to replace him numerous times, but he always seemed to wriggle his way back onto the field when his replacements couldn't cut it (he played in most of the Patriots' Super Bowl XX loss to the Bears, despite Tony Eason starting the game). So good for you, cagey, old Steve Grogan— you did good.
Mike Haynes: Haynes was one of the premier corners of his era. He started strong, intercepting eight passes in his first season. He won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1976 and also gained 608 yards on punt returns along with two touchdowns (Haynes was the first Patriots player to ever score a touchdown via punt return). Haynes recorded 28 interceptions and gained 1,159 yards on punt returns in his seven seasons with the Patriots, to go along with six Pro Bowl selections. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997 and his number 40 was retired by the team.
Andre Tippett: A tremendous and underrated linebacker. Tippett spent his entire 12-year career with the Patriots and earned five-straight Pro Bowl berths from 1984 to 1988 and two 1st Team All-Pro selections in 1985 and 1987. Tippett recorded a stunning 35 sacks in two seasons from 1984 to 1985, a record for linebackers in a two-season stretch. He recorded a clean 100 sacks for his career (a team record), one of only four linebackers to reach triple-digit sacks during the length of his career. And to top it all off, Tippett held a fourth-degree black belt in karate in his playing days (he's since earned a six-degree black belt). He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
Irving Fryar: The number one overall pick in the 1984 NFL Draft. While Fryar never quite lived up to the expectations foisted upon number one picks, he was a decent enough receiver, catching 363 passes for 38 touchdowns in his nine-year stay with the Patriots. Fryar had many off-field issues, namely drugs, but also infamously had his hand slashed by his pregnant wife during a domestic dispute (he had to miss the AFC Championship Game as a result of the injury). But then he found God and things were fine. Of course, he was recently convicted due to his involvement in a mortgage scam, of which he faces at least 10 years in prison.
Bruce Armstrong: Armstrong played for the Patriots from 1987 to 2000. Given what happened in those years, he must have seen some really fucked up shit in his day. He played his entire career with the Patriots, going to six Pro Bowls in eight years. Immensely durable, Armstrong played a full-16-game schedule in 12 of his 14 seasons, missing only 11 games of a possible 223. No offensive lineman in team history has started more games than Bruce Armstrong. His number 78 was retired by the team.
Ben Coates: A great tight end in his era. During his ten year career, no other tight end caught more touchdown passes (50) than Coates, and only Shannon Sharpe caught more passes and gained more receiving yards. Coates went to five-straight Pro Bowls from 1994 to 1998 and was the 1st Team All-Pro tight end in back-to-back years from 1994 to 1995. Coates is still one of the more prolific tight ends in Patriots history, though unless something goes terribly wrong, all his records will eventually broken by Rob Gronkowski (Gronk has already caught four more touchdown passes than Coates).
Drew Bledsoe: Everyone forgets now, since Bledsoe is most famous today for being usurped by Tom Brady, but Bleadsoe was actually a really, really good quarterback in his prime. He was so good, in fact, that the normally quarterback-conservative Bill Parcells let Bledsoe throw the ball all over Christ creation. From 1994 to 1996, Bledsoe threw 1,950 passes and led the league in pass attempts those three seasons. From his rookie season in 1993 to his final Pro Bowl season with the Patriots (of three) in 1997, he threw 108 touchdowns and for over 18,000 yards.
Now granted, he did turn the ball over a lot— he threw 88 interceptions during that same five-year period, and threw more INTs than TDs three times as a Patriot (leading the league in 1994 with a whopping 27). But compared to the other mountains of wet cardboard passing for quarterbacks the Patriots had used to that point, he was freaking Brett Favre. He just happened to be replaced by Aaron Rodgers.
Ty Law: One of the finest defensive backs in Patriots history. Law went to four Pro Bowls and was twice named 1st Team All-Pro. He's tied with Raymond Clayborn for intercepting the most passes in team history with 36. He tacked on another 17 interceptions after the Patriots cut him before the 2005 season for 53 in his career, the most by a cornerback during the length of his career and second behind only Darren Sharper as far as all defensive backs were concerned. Unlike many cornerbacks, Law was a good tackler, racking up 539 in his Patriots career, the most by a defensive back in team history.
Now granted, he did turn the ball over a lot— he threw 88 interceptions during that same five-year period, and threw more INTs than TDs three times as a Patriot (leading the league in 1994 with a whopping 27). But compared to the other mountains of wet cardboard passing for quarterbacks the Patriots had used to that point, he was freaking Brett Favre. He just happened to be replaced by Aaron Rodgers.
Tedy Bruschi: A cornerstone at middle linebacker for the Patriots for over a decade. Bruschi only made one Pro Bowl in his career and his numbers don't pop off a stat sheet. But Bruschi had those valuable intangibles like leadership and accountability that made the defense into one of the best of the 2000s. Also, he came back from a potentially-debilitating stroke to play for another four seasons and in another Super Bowl, which is pretty damn awesome.
Adam Vinatieri: You could argue that Adam Vinatieri was the most important player for the Patriots when they won three Super Bowls in four years. The Patriots won all three of their Super Bowls in the 2000s by three points— obviously, the same number of points a team gets by making a field goal. Their victories in both Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII were effectively walk-offs— with Vinatieri kicking 40+ yard field goals in the final seconds of regulation (and kicking another key fourth-quarter field goal in Super Bowl XXXIX).
While he's obviously most well known for his Super Bowl heroics, Vinatieri was also a damn good kicker. He still is— he was named 1st Team All-Pro this past season, a full decade after his last such nomination (three in all). He's one of the most accurate kickers in pro football history with an 83.7 conversion rate in 571 attempts, trailing only Phil Dawson in highest field goal percentage with at least 400 field goal attempts.
Vince Wilfork: A mountain of a man and, arguably, the best defensive player the Patriots drafted in the last decade plus. Wilfork went to five Pro Bowls in six years and was named 1st Team All-Pro in 2012. His stay with the Patriots, which ended this offseason when he signed with the Houston Texans, was bookended by Super Bowl wins. He was a suffocating defensive presence that wreaked havoc on opposing run games and, occasionally, quarterbacks. If there is any post-2004 defensive player for the Patriots that is worthy of making it into the hall of fame one day, it's Wilfork.
Five Current Guys You Should Know
Bill Belichick: The greatest coach of his generation. Working under Bill Parcells for the better part of 20 years (coaching everything from linebackers, defensive backs and special teams, to being the defensive coordinator for the Giants when they won two Super Bowls in the late-80s and early-90s), Belichick had a mostly forgettable stint as head coach of the Cleveland Browns in the 90s, but completely remade himself as head coach of the Patriots.
Going into his 16th season with the team, the Belichick-coached Patriots have had only one losing season (his first in 2000) and missed the playoffs just three times. He was the first (and to date, only) coach in history to win three Super Bowls in four years.
In all, the Patriots have made it to nine AFC Championship Games, seven Super Bowls and won four under his watch. Including his stay with Cleveland, Belichick has won 211 games, sixth-most in history (and is one of only seven coaches to reach 200 wins). He also has won more playoff games than any other coach in history with 22 under his belt. And he's tied with Chuck Noll for the most Super Bowl wins by a coach in history.
Tom Brady: Let's start off with what every Tom Brady profile starts on— that he was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, 199th overall. You can look at his career and wonder how that was possible, but it's very clear he fell that far because he looked like this:
Rob Gronkowski: Gronk! A delightful, exuberant, and occasionally drunken force, Gronkowski has made his presence known quite frequently in NFL games. As discussed earlier, he has already passed Ben Coates' team marks for touchdowns by a tight end with 54, and is on the precipice of shattering Coates' other records as well. Since coming into the league in 2010, only Jimmy Graham has scored more touchdowns or gained more yards than Gronk, and he is fourth in receptions behind Graham, Jason Witten and Greg Olsen. And with three Pro Bowls and two 1st Team All-Pro selections to his name already, Gronk's not going away any time soon. Good. Anyone who does not love Rob Gronkowski is someone I'd rather not know.
Chandler Jones: A fine pass rusher, Jones has recorded 23.5 sacks in his first three seasons, recording 11.5 in 2013. While he hasn't made a Pro Bowl yet, he has been, unquestionably, one of the best defensive players for the Patriots since his arrival in 2012. Sports run in Jones' family— his brother Arthur is a defensive lineman for the Colts, and his other brother is former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Jon "Bones" Jones. And he went to Syracuse.
LeGarrette Blount: A fine running back, Blount perfectly represents the Patriots' game plan when it comes to RBs— take a running back that is either mercurial (Blount, Corey Dillon) or undervalued (Stevan Ridley, Kevin Faulk) and put them in a platoon until they stop playing well, then switch them out for another. Blount has been put in such a platoon and can't really be said to be the Patriots' starting running back. But when he is put in the right situation, he has flourished. He's been the Colts' personal kryptonite in the playoffs, rushing for 166 yards and 4 touchdowns against them in the 2013 playoffs, and going for 148 yards and three touchdowns in this past year's AFC Championship Game. So if the Patriots happen to play the Colts in the playoffs, you can bet Blount will get heavy touches in that game.
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That's it.
While he's obviously most well known for his Super Bowl heroics, Vinatieri was also a damn good kicker. He still is— he was named 1st Team All-Pro this past season, a full decade after his last such nomination (three in all). He's one of the most accurate kickers in pro football history with an 83.7 conversion rate in 571 attempts, trailing only Phil Dawson in highest field goal percentage with at least 400 field goal attempts.
Five Current Guys You Should Know
Going into his 16th season with the team, the Belichick-coached Patriots have had only one losing season (his first in 2000) and missed the playoffs just three times. He was the first (and to date, only) coach in history to win three Super Bowls in four years.
In all, the Patriots have made it to nine AFC Championship Games, seven Super Bowls and won four under his watch. Including his stay with Cleveland, Belichick has won 211 games, sixth-most in history (and is one of only seven coaches to reach 200 wins). He also has won more playoff games than any other coach in history with 22 under his belt. And he's tied with Chuck Noll for the most Super Bowl wins by a coach in history.
Now not to be rude, but on that day in the summer of 2000, young Tom Brady looked like you. Yes, you reading this right now. Certainly not an NFL-caliber quarterback. But to his credit, Brady eventually put what can only be described as muscle on his body and everything worked out when Mo Lewis nearly killed Drew Bleadsoe.
It can be argued that Brady benefited a great deal from the Patriots being a genuinely good team in his first few seasons, and to a degree you'd be right. But since 2007, he has unambiguously been one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.
Since he entered a season as the unquestioned starter, Brady has thrown at least twice as many touchdowns as interceptions (the ratio was often far greater than two to one). He's led the league in touchdowns three times and thrown 30+ five times. He has thrown for over 50,000 yards, thrown nearly 400 touchdowns, and has a career completion percentage of 63.5. Factor in his ten Pro Bowls and two 1st Team All-Pro selections and his four Super Bowl wins, and Brady is in the upper echelon of quarterbacks, and Canton bound to boot.
It can be argued that Brady benefited a great deal from the Patriots being a genuinely good team in his first few seasons, and to a degree you'd be right. But since 2007, he has unambiguously been one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.
Since he entered a season as the unquestioned starter, Brady has thrown at least twice as many touchdowns as interceptions (the ratio was often far greater than two to one). He's led the league in touchdowns three times and thrown 30+ five times. He has thrown for over 50,000 yards, thrown nearly 400 touchdowns, and has a career completion percentage of 63.5. Factor in his ten Pro Bowls and two 1st Team All-Pro selections and his four Super Bowl wins, and Brady is in the upper echelon of quarterbacks, and Canton bound to boot.
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That's it.
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