Respect
You know what’s gonna turn me into an honest-to-god Patriots fan?
Nope, not Super Bowl victories. Those are awesome and exciting and fun to watch. But they haven’t made me a true Pats fan yet. Nor is it win streaks. It’s amazing to see a team win 18 in a row and all — and, hell, I hope they win 18 more (though it’ll be no less stunning if their streak stops on Sunday) — but that hasn’t done the trick. And it won’t. It’s not the idea of a dynasty either. The Pats may well be in the midst of a dynastic era, they may be a team that I’ll be proud to tell my grandkids I watched play, and the very idea of that is incredible. But, nope, that’s not it.
It isn’t even the fact that this Patriots organization is the finest top-to-bottom organization I have seen in my more than three decades as a football fan. The Patriots do what it takes to put winning teams on the field. They put the game first. They put the team first. And they know the way to craft winning teams isn’t necessarily with the biggest names, but with talented players who can execute a well-crafted system. They also seem to realize that you have to change with the times, adjust as you go, which tells me they could keep on winning for a long time to come. It’s inspiring is what it is. And, as I followed this team through the 2002 season (yes, even a rough season like that) while reporting This Pats Year, I became convinced that the Pats represent the model of what a professional sports organization ought to be. It brought me closer than I’ve ever been to becoming a true Pats fan. But it didn’t quite get me there.
So what’s edging me up toward the line now? Indignation. Pure and simple. The football experts of this world are pissing me off and making me feel like I need to rally ’round the Pat Patriot banner (or, shit, the damned Flying Elvis if that’s what it takes).
Have you caught this week’s installment of HBO’s Inside the NFL? I have. And let me tell you, Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Dan Marino and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Cris Carter, the hosts of that show, had me foaming at the goddamned mouth. They talked about the Patriots’ ongoing winning streak, which is now 18 games and more than a year old, and the fact that the Pats have the opportunity Sunday against the Miami Dolphins to set a new NFL record for consecutive wins. Right now, the Pats are one of five teams in NFL history to win 18 straight. The Chicago Bears did it in 1933-34. The Miami Dolphins did it in 1972-73 (a run that includes their perfect 1972 season). The San Francisco 49ers did it in 1989-90. And the Denver Broncos did it in 1997-98.
No team has ever made it to 19 straight. And the Pats may not yet. Sure, Miami is heading into Foxborough on Sunday with an 0-4 record, no offense and no ability to stop the run on D. And the Pats are off to a 3-0 start (though it’s worth noting that they’ve really only beaten one good team so far this season). So it’s looking pretty good. But you know what they way about any given Sunday.
Whether the Pats break the record is immaterial, though. What’s important right now is that the Pats have tied the record. They did it by winning their last 12 regular season games in 2003, three playoff games, including Super Bowl XXXVIII, and their first three this season. That’s damned impressive and it ought to get the Pats some much overdue respect. And in some circles it has. But not with the guys on Inside the NFL
Collinsworth think the Pats are just lucky. His evidence? They drafted Tom Brady in the sixth round and he’s turned out to be maybe the best quarterback in the league. Ex-Dolphin Marino, who didn’t join the team until a decade after the undefeated season and doesn’t have a single ring to show for all his talent and all his years in the league (classic choke quarterback; he’d be on fire all season long, but when it got to the playoffs he never could close the deal), figures you haven’t really done anything that impressive until you’ve gone all or most of a season without losing. All four think the Pats’ average margin of victory, nine points, isn’t as powerful as the ’97-’98 Broncos’ average margin of victory, 13. And none of them believes what the Pats have accomplished is anywhere near as impressive as what the ’72 Dolphins did.
Mike Schlereth and Joe Theismann feel much the same way, as expressed in this week’s ESPN.com Fact or Fiction. Theismann says, “The Pats have achieved what five other teams have done and I don’t see how that’s as impressive as what just one team did.” So, Joe, if the Pats beat Miami Sunday and extend their streak to 19, something only one team will have done, is that as impressive as what just one team did? Schlereth figures the Pats haven’t really been tested like his Broncos were when they got to 13-0 in the ’98 season. That’s real pressure, he says. Yeah, Mike, there was really no pressure at all when the Pats went into Super Bowl XXXVIII riding a 14-game win streak, baby. That was a fucking cakewalk.
Look, only one team has ever gone an entire season without losing. That’s an amazing accomplishment, certainly one of the most impressive team accomplishments in NFL history (if not the most impressive), but 18 straight wins in the era of the salary cap and parity is unreal. And it the Pats go 19 in a row, it’ll be another one of the most impressive team accomplishments in league history. Better than the ’33-’34 Bears. Better than the ’89-’90 Niners. Better than the damned ’97-’98 Broncos. And we can debate all day about whether it’s as good as the ’72-’73 Fins (though if the Pats manage to avoid the trap game against Seattle in week six and get to 20 or beyond — hell, you know, you can’t not beat the Jets — the arguments that this team isn’t more impressive than that one are gonna start to look pretty damned weak, too).
What I don’t understand, though, is why can’t this team get the respect it has earned? What is so difficult about acknowledging that this is one amazing football team? You don’t think it’s a dynasty in the making? Fine. That’s OK. Maybe you’re right. You don’t think these Pats are as good as those Fins or those Broncos or those Niners. OK. You’re mostly wrong, but OK. That’s your opinion. But at least stand back and give this team props for what it’s done and what it’s doing. They’ve earned that much. Haven’t they?
