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A Word from The Writer:

The Monday Analysis - 31 January 2005

February 6, 2005 Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, FLA

We're T-Minus one week and counting to the crowning of Super Bowl XXXIX! And the teams are headed to Jacksonville!

Patriots, Eagles Travel to Destiny

Thousands of Patriots Nation showed up at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro Sunday morning to bid the team good wishes as they departed to Jacksonville.

John Rooke, the voice of the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, led the charge and rally. He introduced former Patriots including QB Steve Grogan and Hall of Famer John Hannah who spoke for a few minutes, giving words of encouragement, but the under tone from both Grogan and Hannah was a little envy. Both played in Super Bowl XX, but neither got a ring.

Gil Santos, the voice of Patriots Radio led the charge from there, introducing the governors of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, as well as Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick, the Patriots. For pre-send out entertainment, the cheerleaders danced before thousands of well-wishers.

"This is the reason we've been undefeated at home for the last two years," QB Tom Brady said, pointing to the crowd. "We've got the best fans in the league, we've got the best stadium in the league, and you guys got the best team in the league."

In Philadelphia, the NFC Champion Eagles boarded their own transportation for Jacksonville, Fl. Both teams had scheduled press conferences late Sunday afternoon.

The Patriots and the Dynasty

The Word Dynasty has been thrown around the Patriots since Super Bowl XXXVI. Back then, folks tossed it at the St. Louis Rams, figuring that they would count as a dynasty with that Super Bowl win.  Everyone had them picked to win in New Orleans that year. The funny thing is they didn't. And they haven't been close to the big game since. Oh sure, they've made the playoffs, but no longer are they the Greatest Show on Turf, but a .500 ball club in a poor NFC West division, run by an owner people view as a lunatic and a head coach who is psychotic. Their MVP quarterback now backs up Manning No. 3 in New Jersey. He was replaced by a younger player who is good, but not that good. Their MVP running back has aged. There's no defense, and the Special Teams plays like they are in the Special Olympics.

When the Patriots went 9-7 in 2002 and missed the playoffs, people goffed at the Dynasty word, and thumbed their noses at the Patriots. Fools, fakes, whatever the adjective was for teams who come up short, the Patriots got them. The 2002 season, the hiccup year, was tough. They were targeted throughout the season, had difficulties adapting to the championship climate, and missed the playoffs on a tie-breaker, just as the team had regained their momentum and confidence. Head Coach Bill Belichick was said to have been depressed on not having an opportunity to defend the title.

The truth is that Belichick's master plan went faster than any of us imagined, and while losing is never good, the 2002 season came with great lessons, like how to live like a champion and fill up missing holes on the team. Anyone can learn how to win ball games, but there's no manual on how live with winning ball games. Odd concept, I know, but a rough year turned into the foundations of 2003.

In 2003, the Patriots were favorites in a few circles to play in Super Bowl XXXVIII. They finished 14-2. They had gone back to work in the offseason and Belichick and VP of Player Personnel Scot Pioli went at acquiring value players who wanted - no needed to win. The offseason was triumphant. Rodney Harrison was lured away from a courting Denver after he was dumped by San Diego. Roselvelt Colvin was signed away from Chicago. Later, his teammate Ted Washington would be sent to New England in a trade to fill up the middle on Defense. The draft saw dynamic and explosive defensive backs Asante Samuel and Eugene Wilson dawn Patriots helmets. Ty Warren was taken in the first round while the Drew Bledsoe pony was traded off for the 2004 Draft. Tom Brady got stronger, both mentally and physically, and looked sharper in the pocket.

Yet four days before the season opener, the head coach pulled a Belichick and released veteran safety Lawyer Milloy. Cap reasons, couldn't restructure his contract or come to an agreement were the said reasons. Release Milloy or release two other guys and live with a 51 man roster. In Michael Holley's insider "Patriot Reign" the Milloy episode revealed problems with Milloy's 2003 performance. Missed tackles, no sacks, no turnovers, leader in the locker room when we wants to be, divisionary too much, stirs up problems, not playing hard enough, not sensitive to the cap situation. Milloy later signed with the Patriots' Week 1 opponent, Buffalo. Buffalo won 31-0.

The next week they traveled to Philly for a late game. NFL Countdown on ESPN was on most of the Players' hotel TVs when Tom Jackson announced that the Patriots "hate their coach."

"How the hell does he know how we feel?" Asked Special Teams linebacker captain Larry Izzo. "I don't see him in this locker room."

The Patriots destroyed the Eagles 31-10. Belichick wasn't concerned with Week 1. He wanted to see how his team reacted in Week 2.

They started 2-2, with the second loss in Week 4 against the Redskins in a game they should have won. They wouldn't lose again for another 56 weeks or so.

They had the best record in the league, and captured another title in one of the best Super Bowls with a 32-29 victory over Carolina. Only this championship team had more armor, more confidence, more flatness in their personality. The 53 players looked like one big Bill Belichick. When asked about wins, they said, "We made some errors, can't play like that next week. Game is done, on to the next opponent." They were cold, and when they did win with a 15 game winning streak tagging along, it was like a geyser of celebration.

"We're back!" Tom Brady announced at the victory rally at Boston City Hall.

"Bingo!" Troy Brown echoed. "We got bingo! We win again, baby!"

But it wasn't the season record, the great Super Bowl, or the 15-game win streak that would be astonishing. What was astonishing was that the Patriots had 48 different starters due to injury throughout the season. The last team to have 40 different starters was the Patriots in 2000, and they went 5-11.

The offseason was another exercise in success. Two first round draft picks garnered a nose tackle in Vince Wilfork and a Tight End in Ben Watson. Watson would be lost to injury early in the season, but showed signs of promise. Corey Dillon, the Pro Bowl yet disgruntle running back from Cincinnati was acquired for a second round pick. Dillon would go on to have his best year, and win the hearts of Patriots Nation, rushing a career and franchise record 1,635 yards, 61 yards off the league best. And he missed a game. That was in Week 8, a lost to Pittsburgh that ended their record breaking/setting win streak at 21 games, 18 in the regular season. The 2004 season was turning historic. They had lost Ty Law in Week 8. He would not return, facing surgery before the playoffs and placed on injured reserve. He is in a contract year, and expected to make $10 million in 2005, yet no one is concerned. As Bob Lobel of WBZ-TV put it on the 5th Quarter after the AFC Championship win in Pittsburgh, "Ty Law has seen his last days in a Patriots uniform, and so what? We don't need him." Fans understand the Belichick School of Economic Thought. Value for your money. Ten million reasons not to keep the best corner in the league. He's peaked, he's clouding the cap room. No restructure, no returning as a Patriots. Plain and simple. The proof is always in the number, anyway. Truth be told, that while Law is a dynamic playmaker, the secondary of the Patriots have performed just about on par without Law as they did earlier in the season with Law.

Lawyer Milloy, when asked about Law's contract restructure during an interview last week on WEEI, said, "You can't feed your family on Super Bowl rings." You don't get into Canton having the largest contract in the league, either, Lawyer. This is why Milloy is in Buffalo losing, in case anyone still wonders who Belichick tossed him out of town.

After the AFC Champion domination over the Steelers, 41-20, the players smiled, some wore hats and t-shirts, they hugged and congratulated one another, but it didn't last long. The locker room was quiet, cold. Tom Brady stood on the sidelines as the clock ticked down looking unfazed. This is his third Super Bowl in five years in the league, and he looks like it is the end of a preseason game. Cold, but I'm not talking about the air temperature. He stood on the stage with an AFC Champs shirt, hoisted the trophy, barely smiled. This isn't what I came here for, his face said, and he practically said out loud. "We still have another game in two weeks." Tom Belichick. Tedy Bruschi looked the same way. Tedy Belichick. Christian Fauria was blunt. "Ok, yeah we cleaned (the Steelers') clocks, but so what? We still have to play the Eagles." Christian Belichick.

The Belichicks, er, Patriots wanted to go home, not talk to the press, just hurry up and give me the damn game plan! Where's Philly? We need to get this over with! They looked the same way during the rally at Gillette Stadium Sunday morning to bid the team good luck in Jacksonville.

Taking into account all the past records of former champions, the Patriots may do what only the Cowboys of the 1990s have done, and that is win three of four Super Bowls. Still, Dallas went to the NFC championship game in their hiccup year. The Patriots missed the playoffs in theirs.

No one mentions 2005. It isn't here yet, according to All Things Belichick. Yet I can't help but wonder, with the coaching changes this offseason (Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has an office at Notre Dame already, while Defensive Coordinator Romeo Crennel is the favorite for Cleveland), what will happen? No one really seems to care that much. We've seen it coming for years, and it was inevitable. And Patriots Nation figures there will be some promotion within, and the transition will be seamless, otherwise go unnoticed. I mean, there are 17 coaches for the Patriots. Two biggies are leaving, but you have to assume the guys underneath have learned a thing or four or five while winning rings with the rest of them.

If the Patriots do win Super Bowl XXXIX, I imagine we'll see Tom Brady snort, barely smile, dip his head, and state, "Yeah, well, I have a game in nine months. Excuse me, I need to talk to the coach about that game plan." We now know that Brady was sick with the flu during the AFC Championship game, as were many of the Patriots players, with 103 temperature. He slept with an IV in his arm the night before. And as John Dennis of WEEI pointed out last week, maybe it was just as well most of the Patriots were sick. The score might have been 71-20 instead of 41-20.

Has winning become everyday business? Yes, actually it has. This could be Boston's fourth title in four years with the Red Sox win in October. The Super Bowl rings get bigger every time these guys play. People outside New England are already talking about renaming the Lombardi Trophy the Belichick trophy. Craziness, yet we all subscribe to these kinds of thoughts. Bill Belichick has the same postseason record as Lombardi this week: 9-1. In two weeks it will change, possibly being the first coach in NFL history with double digit wins and a single loss in the post season, a loss that is over 10 years old, when he coached Cleveland. The next topic of discussion will be who will get into Canton first, Belichick or his former boss Bill Parcells, once referred to as a mastermind, but now just old school in an old NFL world. Amazing, isn't?

Dynasty. Time will certainly tell, but right now, the Patriots are the best in football. And for those interested in stats, those numbers don't lie.

Eagles Finally Soar to the Top Spot

It took four tries for the Philadelphia Eagles to win an NFC Championship, but the city of Philly has an appearance in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1981, their first trip. The Eagles have consistently been the best team in the NFC, but only to come up short in 2001 on the road in St. Louis, and at home against Tampa in 2002 and Carolina in 2003. No one discounts the abilities of quarterback Donovan McNabb and head coach Andy Reid (except maybe talk radio hosts with drug problems). Both are popular and well liked. Reid is a former assistant under Mike Holmgren, and has a ring from Super Bowl XXXI when his Packers beat New England. Both are fine gentlemen, and the Philadelphia team is one of the best for the ages. Maybe this is the game for the ages.

I am one of those fans who have waited for this matchup for four years. Rightfully, these are the two teams who should have played one another in each of the last four Super Bowls, the past four teams who entered the championship arena are a combined 15-87 since 2002. St Louis is 23-46 since losing Super Bowl XXXVI with one playoff year in 2004, going 1-1. The Buccaneers are 12-20 since 2002, missing both the 2003 and 2004 playoff seasons. Oakland is 10-22 since Super Bowl XXXVII, and had a coaching change. Carolina missed the playoffs this year with a 7-9 record. Philadelphia is 33-4 in the past two seasons. Philadelphia has made the playoffs in each of the past four years, of course, getting all the way to the championship game. The Patriots only missed the playoffs in 2002, but made it to the Super Bowl in 2001, 2003, and now 2004. They've won the game the two previous times.

It is incredible to think that these two teams finally meet in the big game. Give the edge to New England. they were at least at the Super Bowl, and won it. Now Philly has a shot at the time.

The Patriots are riding the glory years, and lest anyone has completely forgotten or ignored NFL history, what we are seeing in New England is a peak performance, not just of this franchise (though that might be an understatement), but of all sports franchises. Philadelphia is also at their peak, dominating the NFC, regardless of their failed attempts at the Super Bowl.

In 1994, Bostonian Jeff Lurie bought the team, hired Andy Reid in 1999, who drafted Donovan McNabb amidst boos, and the team has been competitive ever since. Maybe it is something in the Boston water, where two businessmen, Lurie and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, can buy NFL teams and turn them into the golden envy of the world.

"In this business, you're always going to be scrutinized, and that's great," Lurie told phillyBurbs.com. "When I hired Andy Reid as head coach when he'd never been a coordinator, why shouldn't they wonder what I was doing? When we drafted a quarterback with the second pick when a great running back was available? Why shouldn't they wonder?"

Still, with all the back lash both Lurie and Kraft have taken over their early years as an NFL owner, the Eagles and the Patriots remain the model franchises in the league. Lurie secured $512 million for a new stadium to replaced the ailing Veterans Memorial.

Whether the Eagles beat the favored Patriots or not, little will deter from the fact that Philadelphia's trip to the big game is long overdue, and no one would favor another NFC team in 2005 over them.

31 January 2005