Dr. Giganto

Well, I think a lot of people will say the Patriots were a failure this year, and they shouldn't be considered among the greatest teams of all-time.

I disagree whole-heartedly

Too many people focus on WHEN a team loses, instead of looking at their overall body of work.

You can put all the bells and whistles you want on the Super Bowl, but when it comes down to it, it's just two teams playing football, no different from opening weekend or a random mid-November game. Things aren't "different" because its the Super Bowl. It is, and always will be, a match-up of two good teams. Sometimes the better team wins, sometimes the better team loses. In this case, the better team lost, and I'm not afraid or ashamed to say it, even as a Giants fan.

Let's say, hypothetically, the Patriots had lost that Monday Night game in Baltimore and then went on to win the Super Bowl...would they be considered "greater" than the team that won that Baltimore game then lost in the Super Bowl? People would probably say that. But why? Because one game happened to have been played in November and the other was played in February? Because one game had Tom Petty playing at halftime and the other didnt? What about the fact that the Ravens were a worse team than the Giants this year, so losing to them is much worse, from a big picture perspective, than losing to a 14-6 Giants team?

When you look at the overall body of work the Patriots accomplished this year, I think they should be considered right up there with the '72 Dolphins, '85 Bears, and that 49ers team (I forget which year) that went 18-1.

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Twist of lEMOn

To me, flat out 43rd best team in Post Superbowl History, next year 44rd, after that 45th etc etc. You can try to remove the super bowl from the picture but its really what you base a season on and almost impossible to say you can't rank them on that.

Lets say they do lose to Baltimore and beat the Giants though if everything played out like it did in the post season it would still be to me.

1972 Dolphins > 1985 Bears > 1984 49ers > 2007 Patriots

The only reason I say that is because of when you look at the play off runs that the Bears and 49ers had they dominated each team they faced in the playoffs. Patriots didn't dominate the Jaguars or the Giants and faced a gimpy San Diego team (probably wouldn't have won anyways but Injurys were a factor in the game). Thats what it really comes down to anyways is how well you preform in the playoffs.

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Lynch

The only reason I say that is because of when you look at the play off runs that the Bears and 49ers had they dominated each team they faced in the playoffs. Patriots didn't dominate the Jaguars or the Giants and faced a gimpy San Diego team (probably wouldn't have won anyways but Injurys were a factor in the game). Thats what it really comes down to anyways is how well you preform in the playoffs.[/QUOTE]


What? SD scored how many TDs? oh rite, zero. The Jags did what after halftime? Nothing. A team shut down seems pretty dominated to me.

The Pats still went 18-1 which is insanely impressive, ppl bring it up to tease, but its not really an insult. They have almost every record, and they will be in the playoffs this year. They lost the 07 AFC championship then the 08 Superbowl and won the rest. Thats a pretty good run. They should be pretty high on the all time list even without the SB trophy, stupid ball on the head catch.

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"What the hell is an aluminum falcon??!!"

Brandon

I have to disagree. The Super Bowl is not just another game because there's added pressure there while a game in Sept. people don't care about quite as much. When someone makes a big mistake like a FG kicker blowing a game in mid-October, nobody cares.. When he does it with the entire season on the line, people are pissed and will remember that fact. That's why I've always put the most stock in playoff performances, because you have one shot to be great.. In the regular season, you have 16 shots to play a great game..

I think the Pats are the better team, but they didn't play better, and that pressure of going undefeated, will still have been there if they played again, or 20 more times.. That's what makes the Dolphins so much better because they didn't lose for an entire year. Not once.

Griff0rd

I'll say they could be mentioned in the same breath as those teams, but I won't say that they are as good as them. The Bowl is the clincher and if your one loss is in the biggest game of the year, you just coupldn't get it done. That's why I'd put the 72 fins, and the 84 Niners above them as a single team. If you look at the overall scope over the past few seasons I would say they are the dynasty of this decade, but still wouldn't rank them above the 70's Steelers, 80's 49ers, or even the 90's Cowboys

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Brandon

or the 60's Packers

Twist of lEMOn

Look nobodys knocking 18-1, but look what they did in the playoffs and the road they had to it. They shut down a Jaguars team with to be honest no true number one reciever to account for only after halftime and I wont even mention how bad David Gerrard made there linebackers looked everytime he shook them and hit a reciever in the hands to have it dropped by Denise Northcutt.

I find it hard to believe that any New England fan believes that if San Diego had a healthy team that would have been a shut out. Try taking out Tom Bradys ACL, Break Randy Mosses Toe, Break Gostkowskis plant leg,sprain Maroneys ACL 2 carries in to the game and for the hell of it lets take out Jabar Gaffenys ankle mid way through the game. Im sure there offense would be just clicking to and add to the fact that they threw 3 picks in the game, its not nearly as impressive as it should have been for the Patriots.

No doubt New England had the most impressive season in recent football history, but look what the other teams I mentioned did. The Bears shut down Eric Dickerson to 46 yards, left the rams with only 160 yards total offense and followed that up by shutting out the Giants who had a very respectable offense and defense. I dont have to mention the udder domination of the superbowl either.

The 49ers, had a good win over the Giants (not impressive but they won, like the Patriots) followed by holding Walter Payton to no touchdowns and scoring 23 points on with out a doubt the best defense in the leauge. Again they dominated the superbowl by only allowing the best offense that year 16 points and throwing up 38 of there own. I dont think its so far fetched to say there playoff runs were far more dominate then the Patriots of 07 when they not only dominated teams before the superbowl but crushed the team they faced in the superbowl as well.

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