So, I didn't want to get into this while I was recapping the Winter Classic, as that was a whole lot of fun, and the Patriots, were, well, not. After spending a week up in New Hampshire away from the city lights and stress, I came back just in time to watch the Baltimore Brow, er Ravens murder our season.
I can't say I was terribly surprised, either. Now, I want to try and strike a middle ground between "In Belichick we Trust, the Pats Can Do No Wrong", and "Oh My God the Dynasty Is Over, Everyone Off the Bandwagon". So, in fairness, I should admit the following things:
1. I, like so many other people in New England, did not follow the Patriots as closely as I do now until 2001. This is not to say that I'm a bandwagoner, necessarily, as I of course watched their games and rooted for the team prior to then. My memories of Bledsoe leading the team to Super Bowl XXXI, or the hope that Scott Zolak would bring the team to improbable glory nonwithstanding, football was just something to watch on Sunday and forget about during the week.
2. I still don't follow football as religiously as I do baseball or hockey. My brother once likened baseball to a Soap Opera; long-running, and airing every day (or nearly every day) so you get sucked into ever little storyline that involves your favorite characters. Hockey and basketball are similar, though you don't quite have to commit as much as baseball, you still have games every other day, and you get to know a small cast very well. Football, on the other hand, is that big spectacle drama that airs once a week, and the evening on which it does, you're parked in front of the TV. You rise and fall with every little happening during the show itself, and then can disect all of that some more once you get to work the next day. However, the cast is large, and you only get to know the main characters, really, with the others remaining blended together in your memory. Football dominates my sports life on Sunday from September to February, but during the week, I still have baseball, and then hockey, and even sometimes basketball to fall back on.
3. Not to sound petulant, but unless you're a Patriots fan, you don't know what it was like to lose Super Bowl XLII. Sure, the rest of the country danced on our grave, and I can understand completely why they did it. Boston did not take to its sports success in the 2000s gracefully. We became entitled, insufferable, and omnipresent. With the exception of the Red Sox, you can argue that we all just jumped on the bandwagon while the getting was good, and didn't care at all about the team prior to their rise to the top. In the case of the Celtics, I don't think most people would even have a good comeback to that. But that's as maybe.
Sure, every fanbase has lost a big game. Every fanbase has seen their dreams shattered, and it all come crashing down. But with the Patriots, they were on the very doorstep of history, so close to accomplishing something that hadn't really ever happened (1972 Dolphins excepted). Not only had this become the story of the season, but the Patriots alienated the entire country in the process, with Spygate, Running Up The Score, and their Douchebag Supreme of a coach. Only a select few fanbases know how it feels to be unilaterally loathed by the rest of the country. It's not pleasant. Wherever you go, even if you're just trying to support your local teams, the teams you were born with, people will assume you're Tawmee from Quinzee, a meathead who hates every other city and who couldn't be civil to save your life. This goes for Yankees fans, too, and while I still hate them, I understand how they feel, where they're coming from, and feel a connectiong (shudder) with them. 18-1 had a profound effect on me as a Patriots fan, and not just because they lost. But because of every other fanbase celebrating like it was their favorite team who beat us. Jets fans, Cowboys fans, Seahawks fans all came out of the woodwork. Schadenfreude is a powerful thing, but that loss truly turned me against them; and ever since, I've been waiting for the day when we could get revenge. 3 Super Bowls aside, I needed the Patriots to go for blood. It was Us against Them. I was perfectly willing to be gracious about it, but then came the hate. It became personal.
Now? It looks like I'll have to put that thought on hold, at least for the foreseeable future. Belichick is beatable, and out-coachable (new word?). Brady is almost Bledsoe-esque in his lack of mobility, and the pass attack is useless without Wes Welker. Who might be out for a year, by the way. The defense is one in transition, thanks to the retirement or trading of every single important vet expect Vince Wilfork. The Patriots are a pedestrian team, and Brady is only getting older.
Do I think I've seen the last Patriots Super Bowl victory? No, of course not. But perhaps the last for 5 or 10 or 15 years. I knew a lot of people who came into this season thinking that we could win the Super Bowl, and that having Brady back would assure us of a 14-2 season or something. I hate to be proven right here, but I remember in August saying I thought we were still 11-5 material. Or, as it turns out, 10-6. The mystique is gone, and so is the swagger. Belichick asked too much of a defense that I'll still certain will grow into itself, and too much of an offense that was the Brady and Welker show. This is probably going to get a little worse before it gets better, and I'm trying to brace myself for that.
This 2009 Pats team was a very flawed one, one that fooled a lot of people with their mini-run in October and November, before they were exposed against the Colts as a team that couldn't hold a lead to save their lives. At the time, I remember thinking that they weren't as bad as the Colts game made them look, but after the demolition that was the Saints game, I came to the conclusion that we were in fact looking that the team the Patriots had become. At the moment, they have holes all around the field, based on a passing game with no weapons except Welker, provided he's ever the same again after the ACL-MCL double whammy, and Moss, when Moss feels like it. The running game is reliable when healthy, but with Sammy Morris and Fred Taylor, that's not a given. The Maroney experiment needs to end, effective two months ago. The Defense is on its way, but certainly not there yet. And who knows how many of the free agents that the Patriots have will even find their way to Foxboro next year...
So, yeah. This might be it for the Dynasty, not to sound like every other person out there. You'll still find me parked in front of CBS every Sunday come fall, don't get me wrong. But I think we need to stop drinking the Belichick-Brady Cool-Aid, and realize that they've got some work to do. But in the meantime, I'll have no shortage of sports teams to follow. After all, there's a reason why I named the blog like I did.
-M
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