It really was the tale of two seasons.
The first season yielded absolute dominance, statistics of epic proportions, embarrassing scores. 38-7, 48-27, 52-7. Touchdowns galore. The games weren't close, and analysts (the pontificating open sores of the sports world) truly believed their own hype that we were witnessing an as-yet-unseen spectacle unravel before. "Pursuit of Perfection" spots began hitting ESPN around this time.
Week 9 was the big test. Super Bowl 41.5. Brady vs. Manning, the two top teams of the AFC, the first team deemed worthy of going after the "perfect" Patriots. It was a close game, but Brady and Co. pulled it out, and the predictions of perfection kicked into a higher, more-nauseating gear. And the first game after seemed to prove the analysts may have been on to something.
56-10. Moss scorched the Bills for 4 tds in the first half. Poured it on Buffalo.
This was the high water mark of the Pats season. Karma, my friends, is a bitch. The slaughter in Buffalo brought on the masturbatory media love on Brady's bunch, and they were not only undefeated but "on the street" of motormouth Mercury Morris and the 1972 Dolphins. Empty heads in suits on our tv's told us how we were witnessing history, glimpsing perfection, etc, yadda yadda.
To be fair, the numbers this team put up were impressive, but no records were "shattered". Brady beat Manning by one touchdown, and their respective receiving corps were about even (2007 Pats may have even been a little deeper). Moss did the same to Rice, one more TD, but Rice caught 22 in 12 games in 1987, and it took Moss 16 games to score 23, so I'll call that record misleading at best. They scored more points than any other team in history (589), and had a very good defense.
The "second season" was something else, however. The results:
vs. Philly 31-28
vs. Baltimore 27-24
Two close games, both of which were played tight, and may have turned out differently depending on a couple of calls that went the NE way. All of a sudden there were blueprints, plans to attack what two weeks earlier seemed unassailable. There was blood in the water. The next week, Pittsburgh was supposed to continue the trend, but they were banged up and didn't compete.
13-0.
The next two games came against the cellar inhabitants of the league, the Jets and Dolphins.
15-0.
Their last game was against the New York football Giants, with the 15-0 Patriots actually having more to play for. The Giants were in the playoffs, locked in their matchup, and aside from spoiling, they could understandably have played their backups for most of the game. After all, that is the conventional wisdom (for now anyway, the Giants may have changed this). But something strange happened. The Giants came to play. And you know what? They were winning for 40+ minutes. If you listened right, you could hear the cosmic shift that took place that night.
Karma.
With nothing more on the line than pride, and knowing you took your best shot, the Giants played with the "perfect" ones, and competed with them every step of the way. With a three point win, the Pats went into the playoffs coming off a scare, while the Giants went in with all the confidence in the world. Three road wins (including one over Favre, in January, in Lambeau) and the rematch was set.
The cocky vs. the confident
Perfection vs. desire
Douchebags vs. Blue collar
Boston vs. New York
More on the Super B(eatdown)owl later, but first, Tedy needs a golden shower,
