"My Favorite Boston championships of the 2000's" continues...
5. The New England Patriots defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Superbowl XXXIX, 24-21 (February 2005)
This championship shares some similarities with the 2007 World Series in that the Patriots finally crossed over into "never-bet-against-them" territory with the win - many sports writers were even willing to use the word "dynasty" to describe their 3rd Superbowl win in 4 seasons. As a fan you literally wondered if it was possible for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick to lose a playoff game, if they would just keep winning Superbowl after Superbowl until Brady retired. With the Superbowl win, Brady & BB went to a ridiculous 9-0 record in the playoffs - that's right, Tom Brady won the same number of playoff games in 3 years that Peyton Manning has won in 13.
What made this championship special was the degree of difficulty that the Patriots had to endure to repeat as champs. They fought through the whole season with a target on their backs - they took every team's best shot and were left bloodied but standing when the fight was over. The resilience of this team really impressed me - they never backed down, not even in a "meaningless" season finale against the 49ers after they had already locked up a first-round bye. Ironically, heading into the playoffs they were NOT the #1 seed, even at 14-2.
The story of 2004 was the Pittsburgh Steelers. Golden boy and rookie sensation Ben "No means no" Roethlisberger led the Steel Curtain to a 15-1 record and the #1 seed, with regular season defeats of the Patriots and Eagles in back-to-back weeks. Somehow, the defending champs snuck into the playoffs as...wait for it...the underdogs.
Round 1 of the playoffs brought our old playground buddy, Peyton Manning to town. He had just had a season for the ages, broken all of Dan Marino's single season passing records, and led his team to a victory in wild-card weekend. But this trip to Foxboro would be the same as his last trip in 2003 when he got intercepted 4 times. The Patriots clamped down on the high-powered offense as the snow fell, and Brady led the team to a 20-3 victory.
On to the AFC championship game and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The night before the game, Brady had a 103 temperature and was briefly hospitalized. During the game, he seemed to show no ill effects, taking the Pats to a 24-3 halftime lead that they would not relinquish. My favorite play from the game came in the third quarter, when Deion Branch caught a pass down the seam for a wide open long touchdown. As he skips into the end zone, putting the game out of reach, he waves "bye-bye" to the closest Pittsburgh defender and to the Steeler dreams of Superbowl glory.
The Superbowl was good, but almost anti-climactic after the big win in Pittsburgh. Terrell Owens had made a CRAAAZY recovery from a broken leg to play in the big game and collect over 100 yards receiving (no touchdowns), but Donovan McNabb found a way to blow this game. He was careless with the ball, throwing interceptions and losing a fumble. Down by 10 points in the final quarter, he didn't seem to have enough gas left in the tank to run a no-huddle offense, and the Eagles fell a field goal short.
As it ended, the dominating word we all said was "wow," but we didn't mean that we didn't expect it to happen. We meant that we were witnessing history, and we weren't in the least bit surprised. We were shocked that we weren't surprised, if that makes any sense. We believed Tom Brady could do anything. He just didn't lose, ever, when the stakes were highest. We didn't realize it at that point, but this was the high-water mark of Patriots dominance. I just remember being in awe of their accomplishments as a team, and realizing, that after three Superbowl wins in four years, I actually expected it to happen. I don't think I was ever nervous during this game that the Pats would lose. The Colts, Steelers, and Eagles were all "supposed" to beat them, but it didn't happen - and we knew it wouldn't.
So, all in all, it was a successful season, and the degree of difficulty was very high, as the Pats had to beat the three best teams in the NFL to get the ring they coveted. Still, it wasn't as exhilirating or thrilling as their other two victories, so I had to drop this one down to #5. It's hard to remember this championship without also remembering the five seasons of disappointment that have happened since. Unless you realize how certain we were about the Patriots' invincibility in 2005, you can't understand the shock and dismay and crushing disappointments of losing first to Jake freaking Plummer, Peyton Manning, and Eli Manning in back-to-back-to-back seasons.
In a sense, this dominant season set us up for the disappointments of the next 5 years - and that kind of ruins this one for me a little bit.
...#4 is slated for Friday!
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