How did the Patriots maintain a top team for 17 years?

[BillsFanNC]

By cheating.

[Ghost_002!]

So in the end, is this thread saying the Bills don't got next then?

 

 

 

 

[Wayne Arnold]

It was 19 years and when you give the greatest football coach of all-time the greatest competitor in the history of pro sports it's not hard to figure out how they did it.

[Success]

2 hours ago, Wayne Arnold said:

It was 19 years and when you give the greatest football coach of all-time the greatest competitor in the history of pro sports it's not hard to figure out how they did it.

 

1st SB win - 2002.  Last SB win - 2019.  17 years.

 

[Wayne Arnold]

14 minutes ago, Success said:

 

1st SB win - 2002.  Last SB win - 2019.  17 years.

 

 

By this logic they were only a "top team" for six years.

[Success]

2 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

By this logic they were only a "top team" for six years.

 

I'd disagree. They were still going to most of the AFCCG's and some of the SB's in the "off" years.

 

After 2019, they were done being a top team.  

 

[Wayne Arnold]

2 minutes ago, Success said:

 

I'd disagree. They were still going to most of the AFCCG's and some of the SB's in the "off" years.

 

After 2019, they were done being a top team.  

 

 

2001 - First season as with Tom Brady as starter, won Super Bowl

2019 - 12-4, Won AFC East

 

They were a "top team" during that entire stretch. Winning season every year, only missed playoffs twice.

 

That's 19 years aka seasons.

[SoMAn]

Not sure if it was already mentioned, but to expand in # 4, letting players walk (basically, before their pay to performance value is a detriment), has the added benefit of compensatory draft picks, which they used to increase their odds of getting contributing players or bundled and traded to improve draft position. 
Being a contender always has the advantage of being an attractive destination for free agents who may be willing to take less pay than they might for a bottom feeder team.

[ghostwriter]

• Tom Brady (Who also took less money so the Patriots could sign more players.)

 

• The Patriots were smart about which players they spent money on. 
 

• They had a tendency of finding role players in the draft. Guys who may not be superstars but could fit into what they were trying to do.

 

• Had a tendency of trading down in the draft and acquiring extra picks.

 

• They played the compensation pick game like a charm. Always seemed to have multiple picks because of it.

 

• Signed many very good if not elite players to modest contracts because Tom Brady was their QB and many FAs wanted to go to a contender.

 

• Almost and I say almost always had great coordinators and coaches around Brady and co.

 

• Extremely well disciplined and coached team because of Belichick. Less penalties and Belichick had every single one of his players very well coached up and aware of what they were expected to do and what their role was. 
 

• Extremely decisive game planning.

 

• Played to win rather than not to lose.

 

• Aggressive and creative play calling.

[GoBills808]

How did Lance Armstrong win so many bicycle races

 

How did Mike Postle win $250k playing $1/3

 

How did Mark McGwire hit so many home runs

[Boatdrinks]

On 2/6/2023 at 12:18 PM, B-Man said:

^^^^End thread 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Brady's headset didn't turn off with 15 seconds left on the play clock... It probably still doesn't.  

 

💥Boom💥

 

There... I said it! 😆 

 

 

Actually all joking aside... How do we really know what's going on with the technological shi... Do we just blindly trust that the game is on the square?

Get rid of the GreenDot.

[Buffalo Super Fan]

17 hours ago, BillsFanNC said:

By cheating.

You really believe that? The current Buffalo Bills could cheat and still fail to win a Super Bowl the Bills are what in professional wrestling is called a jobber that is what is so sad with this sorry excuse for a current Bills football team right now. The Buffalo Bills embarrassed itself in that Cincinnati Bengals playoff game. I don’t believe the Cincinnati Bengals were that good the Bills team choose the easiest way out for the golf course. The Bills need to figure out what went wrong and get rid of quitters on this Bills team in my opinion. Go Bills! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[BillsFanNC]

5 minutes ago, Buffalo Super Fan said:

You really believe that? The current Buffalo Bills could cheat and still fail to win a Super Bowl the Bills are what in professional wrestling is called a jobber that is what is so sad with this sorry excuse for a current Bills football team right now. The Buffalo Bills embarrassed itself in that Cincinnati Bengals playoff game. I don’t believe the Cincinnati Bengals were that good the Bills team choose the easiest way out for the golf course. The Bills need to figure out what went wrong and get rid of quitters on this Bills team in my opinion. Go Bills! Let’s Go Buffalo 

 

They had the GOAT at the most important position in the game.

 

They also cheated.

 

 

[Saxum]

On 2/6/2023 at 11:00 AM, Success said:

I thought it might be interesting to put our loathing aside and really analyze how they pulled it off. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Cheating including spying is major factor.

[RevWarRifleman]

On 2/6/2023 at 11:38 AM, uticaclub said:

They didn't beat themselves and had 1 or 2 games during that entire stretch where they just didn’t show up. Also the Bills, Jets & Dolphins were all terrible. Brady went 33-3 against us, that's ridiculous against a division opponent. 

Amen to that!

[RevWarRifleman]

On 2/6/2023 at 11:45 AM, Nextmanup said:

One thing Bills fans like to overlook as well: over the years, NE almost always had a really good defense...

 

The names changed all the time, but the unit remains solid.

 

That's true even now.

 

 

"Roger that."

[HugeHeffner11]

On 2/7/2023 at 8:37 AM, Don Otreply said:

Coming from a pats fan roaming around on another teams board…, 

NFL is rigged.  They use the refs to rig the games they want.

[Don Otreply]

9 hours ago, HugeHeffner11 said:

NFL is rigged.  They use the refs to rig the games they want.

Well the NFL is a private club, so they can do whatever, however they want to, now that betting on games is a thing, the owners don’t want to get caught with a fix, tarnishing the shield and all, 😂

[Thurman#1]

On 2/7/2023 at 1:00 AM, Success said:

I thought it might be interesting to put our loathing aside and really analyze how they pulled it off.  What they did is what I want the Bills to do - dominate for many years, and as long as they have Allen at QB.

 

They didn't have the ebb & flow that a team normally has, even w/ a top QB.  Their window was wide open for most of those 17 years. They made 9 SB's, and probably should have made 1-2 more.  My own thoughts:

 

1) Obviously, Brady took less pay so the team could afford better players.  I still don't see that being as impactful as it's made out to be - he was still paid a lot.

2) Aging vet stars took pay cuts just to play w/ Brady. Will we see that w/ Allen?

3) The Patriots made very few investments in bigtime skill players.  Moss was the exception, not the rule.

4) One of the hallmarks of Belichick was letting players walk before they started to decline.  Almost exactly what we're looking at w/ Poyer.

5) Their biggest priority, year after year, was making sure the O-line was strong.  That's just what you do when you have a top QB.

 

Still, the run is somewhat mystifying.  Belichick was not a great drafter, which is usually needed once a QB gets past the rookie contract.  Superior coaching clearly played a part. I think BB got the best out of his players (which is something we aren't doing right now - we see players leave the Bills and perform better than they did here).

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Wasn't so much that they made a priority of OL. It was more that they had Scarnecchia who was an absolutely exceptional OL coach who did not want to go higher and Peter Principle himself.

 

Also, Belichick really was a very good drafter up till the last four years or so. He also had a smart system, acquiring more picks rather than trading up, generally. They were drafting late 20s most years and still drafted quite well. Belichick was brilliant with trading for more picks and getting more picks through the comp picks system. 

 

Belichick was ruthless with the cap, cutting guys early, You mentioned this but it was crucial. They built through the draft, filling in gaps with low- and mid-priced FAs.

 

They also did all the little tiny unimportant things well, including cheating and going right up to the edge. Who was that dark lord figure behind the scenes that Belichick relied on so much? I always forget his name but he had a lot to do with it.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Thurman#1