Team History: Patriots go from last AFL entry to a modern dynasty
Team History: Patriots go from last AFL entry to a modern dynasty
The New England Patriots, like many other American Football League original teams, were not their city’s first foray into professional football.
In the early days of the NFL, there was a team called the Pottsville Maroons, which moved and became the Boston Bulldogs for one season in 1929 before folding. Three years later, the Braves began to play, changing their name to the Redskins after one season. The team reached the NFL Championship Game in 1936, but poor attendance forced a move to Washington D.C. The Boston Yanks started to play in 1944 but lasted only five seasons before relocating to New York City.
Billy Sullivan, a printing and oil company executive, wanted to bring football back to Boston in 1959. After the NFL turned him down, Sullivan was awarded the eighth and final spot in the fledgling AFL. The Patriots called Boston home during the entire existence of the league (1960-70), splitting their home games between Fenway Park (home of baseball’s Red Sox) along with fields at Harvard, Boston University and Boston College.
Former Cleveland Browns player (and future Bills head coach) Lou Saban was tabbed to lead the Patriots, but he lasted just 19 games before being fired and replaced by Mike Holovak, who had been the coach at Boston College for nine seasons. Boston reached the AFL Championship Game in 1963 (a 51-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers), but that was the team’s only playoff appearance before the AFL-NFL merger.
After the 1970 season, the Patriots moved to Schaeffer Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., about halfway between Boston and Providence, R.I., and changed their name to New England. The team had endured a nine-year playoff drought when they hired former Oklahoma head coach Chuck Fairbanks. In 1976, the Pats made it back to the playoffs thanks to quarterback Steve Grogan, along with Pro Bowl tight end Russ Francis and ball-hawking defensive backs Mike Haynes and Prentice McCray, but they lost to the Oakland Raiders.
Two years later, New England was 11-4 when Fairbanks announced he would be leaving after the season to coach the University of Colorado. Sullivan suspended Fairbanks but reinstated him before the playoffs (a loss to the Houston Oilers). After two more winning (but non-playoff) seasons, the Patriots fell to 2-14 before rebounding to make the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 season.
The team had its greatest success in 1985. Raymond Berry, a future Hall of Fame wide receiver who won two titles with the Baltimore Colts, led New England to an 11-5 record. Not only did the Patriots win their first playoff game, but they also did something special by winning three playoff games on the road (against the Jets, Raiders, and Dolphins) to reach Super Bowl XX.
On the field, New England was led by Steve Grogan, along with Pro Bowl running back Craig James and wide receiver Irving Fryar. The defense was even better, with Pro Bowl defensive backs Fred Marion and Raymond Clayborn combining for 13 interceptions and All-Pro linebacker Andre Tippett recording 16½ sacks.
However, the Patriots ran into the team with one of the best defenses in NFL history. The Bears had allowed just under 13 points per game during their 15-1 regular season and then shut out the Giants and Rams in the playoffs. Despite an early field goal, New England was held to seven yards rushing in a 46-10 blowout, the largest loss in Super Bowl history to that point.
The Patriots returned to the playoffs the following season but then missed the next seven years. Part of the problem stemmed from the uncertainty of the ownership situation. The Sullivan family was losing money and nearing bankruptcy in 1988 when they sold the team to Victor Kiam, the owner of the Remington razor and hair care products company. Their field, now called Sullivan Stadium, had lapsed into bankruptcy when it was bought out by paper and packaging company magnate Robert Kraft.
Not long after, Kiam was facing financial ruin himself, so he sold the team to Annheiser-Busch executive James Orthwein in 1992. Orthwein had plans to move the team to St. Louis, but Kraft would not let him out of the stadium lease. With no desire to own a team he could not move, Orthwein sold the Patriots to Kraft two years later.
Things turned around once again with the hiring of Bill Parcells, who had led the Giants to two Super Bowl victories. The Patriots made it back to the playoffs in 1994 and defeated Pittsburgh and Jacksonville to win the AFC Championship two years later behind quarterback Drew Bledsoe and fellow Pro Bowl players Curtis Martin at running back and Ben Coates at tight end. Despite a strong showing, the Pats fell to Brett Favre and the Packers.
Parcells left to coach the Jets after he and Kraft fought over player personnel decisions, but the Patriots made the playoffs in two out of three seasons under his replacement, Pete Carroll.
After the 1999 season, Bill Belichick, a former assistant under Parcells with the Giants, Pats and Jets, took over as Jets head coach but abruptly resigned one day after taking the job in order to coach in New England. The NFL denied this motion, but after Belichick filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league, a deal was worked out that sent him to New England in exchange for several draft picks.
The 19 seasons since Belichick took over as the head coach can be described in one word: dynasty. New England went 5-11 in 2000, then reversed its record the next year, winning the first of 16 AFC East titles in that span. The Patriots did this after Bledsoe sustained a horrific injury in the second game of the year, shearing a blood vessel in his chest during a loss to the Jets. Tom Brady, a sixth-round pick the year before, went 11-3 in Bledsoe’s absence.
A snowstorm hit the northeast for a division-round game against the Raiders. Trailing 13-10 late in the fourth, Brady lost the ball and Oakland recovered. However, the play was reversed thanks to what is now known as the “tuck rule.” Brady’s arm was moving forward in a passing motion before the ball came out, making it an incomplete pass. After frantically clearing the snow from his path, New England kicker Adam Vinatieri tied the score with a field goal, then won it in overtime.
The Patriots upset the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh, then edged Kurt Warner and the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams on a Vinatieri field goal as time expired to win Super Bowl XXXVI. After missing the playoffs in 2002, Brady and New England won the next two Super Bowls (over the Panthers and Eagles).
Two more playoff seasons followed, but 2007 was even more magical. Before the season, New England traded a fourth-round pick to the Raiders for All-Pro wide receiver Randy Moss, and he and Brady set the NFL on fire. Brady threw a league-record 50 touchdown passes, with 23 going to Moss, as the Patriots went 16-0 and set a league record with 589 points (almost 37 per game).
The dominance continued with wins over Jacksonville and San Diego in the playoffs, sending New England to its fourth Super Bowl in seven years. However, a harassing defense, David Tyree’s fourth quarter “helmet catch,” and a late touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress gave the Giants a 17-14 win and spoiled the perfect season.
Brady missed the 2008 season with a knee injury. Matt Cassel led the Patriots to an 11-5 record, but they missed the playoffs. From 2009 onward, New England has won 10 straight division titles and has been to the AFC Championship Game the past eight seasons (with five victories).
The Patriots lost Super Bowl XLVI to the Giants, before edging the Seahawks in 2014. New England has reached the past three Super Bowls, beating the Falcons in Super Bowl LI in overtime after being down 28-3, losing to the Eagles the following year and beating the Rams in February in the lowest scoring game in Super Bowl history.
Brady will return for his 20th season, and whether he is throwing to superstars like Randy Moss or Rob Gronkowski or underdogs like Deion Branch, David Givens or Reche Caldwell, he will have the Patriots in the championship discussion once again.
-By: Kevin Rakas