Quote:
Originally Posted by kislingbury
Bad luck on the loss, I thought you were going to three-peat like in Elways dreams. Cant wait to see the era of football that Im familiar with coming up (us poor English dont know nothing about this far back...)
Any chance of a quick view of the franchise history screen for the Patriots? they seem depressingly realistic
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Thanks
The loss still kind of stings this morning, to be honest. I hoped we were going to three-peat myself. Had we gone against the Panthers, I think we would've won pretty easily.
But those are the breaks of the game.
As far as the Patriots...
New England Patriots History Summary
The Patriots honestly aren't that bad a team from the historical record. Their overall mark is below .500 (214-217-1), but they've been to the playoffs 8 times, which is what a lot of other franchises have accomplished in terms of postseason appearances. They're not even that bad in the playoffs at 6-8 (.428).
Unfortunately, they've never made it to the Super Bowl and they're one of only two teams with 8 playoff appearances never to have done so (The Philadelphia Eagles being the other one.) They lost the 1982 AFC Championship 38-32 to the San Diego Chargers, which is the closest they've come and their only AFC Championship appearance.
Now, that being said, they've been a lot better in recent years. They were god-awful in the 1960s and pretty bad in the 1970s except for a few seasons here and there, so they're in relative prosperity, I'd say.
The problem is, they're in our division and we're the most successful franchise in league history by far.
No Hall of Famers, as you might expect, although that might change soonish.
QB Cliff Stoudt has been the Patriots' best QB in franchise history and he's currently in his 10th season, which explains the team's recent sort-of rise. The problem is, he's not that great a QB. His best season was the AFC Championship year of 1982, with 3,391 yards (Patriots record) and a 25 TD to 18 INT ratio. The real kicker? He was drafted with the 3rd overall pick in the 1977 draft and clearly hasn't lived up to that lofty status.
The one great high draft pick success New England has had and the biggest reason they're doing fairly well in recent years is
RB Earl Campbell, who, even in his 9th season just completed, rushed for 1,572 yards and a career-high 18 TDs, his 7th straight season of 1,000+ yards rushing 10+ rushing TDs. He was taken with the 1st overall pick in the 1978 draft and looks like a homerun for the Hall of Fame.
There's only been 3 seasons in Patriots history where they've had a 1,000 yard receiver, 1982, 1971 and 1985. The good news is that the 1985 1,000 yard WR is
FL Gary Clark, who just finished his 3rd year in the league and who looks like a pretty darn good young WR.
FS Charlie West holds the Patriots interception single season record with 10, set back in 1977, but it was a fluke season and the very next year, he got relegated to backup duty and never intercepted another pass after that.
Without question the best tackler New England's ever had is
MLB Bruce Elia, who played for the Patriots from 1975-1982 (taken at 1.12 in the 1975 draft) and had 4 seasons of 100+ tackles, with his career high 123.
SLB Paul Naumoff is the Patriots' best ever defensive player, however. New England's career leader in tackles and sacks, he played his entire career with the Patriots (1967-1978, a 1.12 pick in the 1967 draft) and made four All-Pro teams in the 1970s, 1st Team All-Pro in 1971, 1973 and 1976 and 2nd Team All-Pro in 1975.
C Walt Cudzik was New England's best offensive lineman. One of the original Patriots, he played just 6 seasons with the team (1960-1966), but still ranks 3rd all-time in New England career pancake blocks and run blocks. Despite his dominating play, however, he was never named to the All-Pro team, a criminal omission in my opinion. I mean, he had 3 seasons of 10+ pancake blocks and two seasons of 40+ run blocks.
Another reason for the Patriots' recent good form is
LCB Ronnie Lippett, a 4th year player who is quickly turning into one of the best and brightest young corners in the game. In four short seasons, he's already leapt up to 5th on the career Patriots passes defensed list and has rapidly improved his ballhawking instincts the last couple years. A real steal at 1.24 in the admittedly loaded 1983 draft.
No real standout special teams guys to point out that I can see, though
K Roman Russell leads in Patriots FGs and points scored by virtue of longevity, serving as the team's kicker from 1960-1971 before signing with the Rams for his last hurrah in 1972.