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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Well the NFL lockout will stay in place at least until June 6th, but I am here to keep my History of the Franchise series going. For today I am covering the most successful NFL franchise over the past decade, the New England Patriots.
The silent press confrences. The awkard handshakes with former friends after a game. The crazy trades on draft day. All of these describe Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. He is the first active coach that has made the "History of the Franchise" blog (trust me he won't be the last). Even if you love him or hate him, you can't argue that what Belichick does works. In ten years of coaching with the Patriots, he has won three Super Bowls, four Championship Games, and has won eight division titles. This is probably the craziest stat: he has only had one losing season as New England's head coach. That is unheard of in todays NFL. Many coaches I have covered during the past few days coached with emotion, well not Belichick. He will just out smart you. Oh and by the way, he has done it with a QB that was taken in the sixth round of the draft.
One of the greatest QBs of all time is the greatest New England Patriot of all time. Tom Brady is a three time Super Bowl champ, two time Super Bowl MVP, and two time NFL MVP. By the way, the only other QB with multiple MVP awards in both the regular season and the Super Bowl was Joe Montana. Brady has accomplished so much in his career and the best thing about it, he plays like he is just getting started. After the team drafted Ryan Mallet in the 2011 NFL Draft, Brady said he can play for another ten years. That is unlikely considering he is 33, but you can just tell that Brady loves the game of football. His never quit attitude and incredible leadership is like any other QB's in the league right now. During a MNF game against the Jets in 2010, the Patriots went three and out and had to punt. Brady was so upset that the cameras caught him yelling out his teammates. Thats the kind of passion and tenacity you want you're starting QB to play with. This guy is a future hall of famer and one of the best of all time. People hate this guy so much for one reason: he could of been on their team. Remember, Brady didn't get picked until the sixth round. Click here to look at Brady's stats.
I mentioned on my twitter account yesterday that we would see a lot of Tom Brady.Well here he is again as the Patriots greatest draft gem in history. Since I explained most of his major accomplishment in my last segment, I will be brief. Brady was the 199th pick out of Michigan. Reminder: the 199th selection was a compenstary pick from the NFL. One crazy fact was that the Patriots actually debated about picking Tim Rattay, who has not had a very good NFL career. A crazier fact is that six QB's went before Brady. Only two went on to become legit starters, Mark Bulger and Chad Pennington. Brady plays like he wants to prove all of those teams who passed on him wrong. Three Super Bowl's later, hes done just that.
Biggest Draft Bust: Tony Eason (1983-1989)
Time for the first bust on our list that has appeared in the Super Bowl, Tony Eason. Why all kinds of firsts today, I love it! Seriously though Eason was a horrible player. It doesn't go without saying though that Eason did have two pretty legit seasons, 1984 and 1986. In '84, Eason completed 60.1% of his passes for 3,228 yards and a passer rating of 93.4 which ranked third best in the NFL. During the '86 campaign, Eason completed 61.6% for 3,328 yards and a rating of 89.2 which ranked fourth best in the NFL. Oh and he broke an NFL record by getting sacked 59 times for a loss of 409 yards in 1984. Wait thats not a stat to be proud of, unless your an opposing defense. Eason did lead the Patriots to a Super Bowl in 1985 by winning three games on the road in the playoffs, the first team ever to accomplish that. Unfortanetly, the '85 Patriots will probably go down as the worst team to play in the Super Bowl. New England got blown out 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. Eason also got pulled in the second quarter, probably the only QB in NFL history ever to do so. Its supposed to be the biggest game of your life and instead of playing like a champion, Eason played like ESPN's worst ranked QB in Super Bowl history. The following year Eason did lead the Patriots to the AFC Championship Game, but lost to the Broncos. In 1989 Eason was traded to the Jets. In New York he appeared in 18 games, but only started two. What really hurts for the Patriots, Dan Marino was drafted 12 picks after Eason. Ouch. Click here to look at Eason's stats.
Defining Moment: Drew Bledsoe gets injured (September 23, 2001)I think almost every Patriots fan wants to give linebacker Mo Lewis a big hug for a hit on Drew Bledsoe. Lewis delivered a punishing hit during the fourth quarter of a week 2 matchup on Bledsoe, putting future hall of famer Tom Brady in the game. The Jets went on to win that game 10-3. Over the next two games Brady started and had passer ratings of 79.6 and 58.7, very uncharacteristic, and went 1-1. In week five against the Chargers, Brady hit his stride. He went 33-54 with 364 yards and two touchdowns in an overtime win against San Diego. The rest, as they say, is history. Brady went on to lead the Patriots to Super Bowl XXVI that season and despite being 14 point underdogs, won the game. Brady went on to win Super Bowl XXXIX and XXXVIII as the Patriots starting QB. It all comes back to Bledsoe's injury. If Lewis doesn't make that hit, who knows if Tom Brady ever starts a game in a Patriots uniform. Its crazy how just one play, one moment can affect not only a team but also the entire decade of sports.
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