Pressure on the Patriots
A 300-yard drive down the middle of the fairway is meaningless
if you chunk the second shot
– just as the New England Patriots record-breaking 16-0 regular
season will be meaningless if they don’t go all the way and win
Super Bowl XLII.
Pressure on the Patriots
A 300-yard drive down the middle of the fairway is meaningless if you chunk the second shot – just as the New England Patriots record-breaking 16-0 regular season will be meaningless if they don’t go all the way and win Super Bowl XLII.
Sure, the Patriots achievement was great, but win the Bowl or their 2007 season will amount to nothing more than a trivia question on a board game. After setting the bar as high as it can be set, people won’t accept anything less. Think about it, this is one record that will never be broken, only tied, unless the NFL decides to extend the playing season one more time.
Sure, there were a number of milestones that were set in the 38-35 win over the Giants: Quarterback Tom Brady set an NFL single-season record for touchdown passes with 49. Randy Moss broke the single-season mark for touchdown receptions held by Jerry Rice with his 23rd of the season. As a 49er fan, however, I should point out that this record should have an asterisk next to it. After all, Rice got his 22 TDs in just 12 games, during the strike-shortened season of 1987.
In the season finale over the Giants, the Patriots also set the NFL’s single-season record for points scored (589). That came on Brady’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Moss in the second quarter, breaking the 1998 Minnesota Vikings’ mark of 556.
These are all, no doubt, impressive feats. And there’s no doubt that the 1972 Miami Dolphins team would get blown out by these “Foxboro Freaks.”
For starters, I don’t think the ’72 Dolphins played a team with a winning record in the regular season that year while the Patriots of ’07 have proved that they can roll over anyone.
If the Pats get knocked off in the first round or in the AFC title game, however, the entire season goes for naught. And the same was the case for the ’72 Dolphins. But if that team didn’t win the Bowl do you think we’d be talking about them for 35 years? Had Miami not ousted the Washington Redskins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII no one would have batted an eyelash.
Instead, discussion of the all-time greatest team would have shifted focus to the 1984 49ers the team that went 15-1 during the regular season before crushing Don Shula’s Dan Marino-led Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium.
By the way, I think the 1989 49ers team that beat Denver 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV would have beaten all three of these teams with ease, but I guess that’s another column for another time.
And since the 49ers don’t appear to be in any rush to get back to the playoffs any time soon, I’m now forced to root for Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers for the next month. You just got to love watching Brett Favre and all that he has meant to this sport…
If Favre and the “cheese heads” get go down well then I’ll have to go with the “Foxboro Freaks.” (If that name suddenly starts being used, remember where you heard it first.) After all, I grew up about a 20-minute car ride from Gillette Stadium and if they win my wardrobe will increase. Yes, just a few days after that fourth Super Bowl win to cap off this historic season, my dad will overnight ship official championship jersey and I’ll have to admit that this was the best team in NFL history, minus, of course the 1989 Niners…
