The Bill Simmons Podcast - The 25 Greatest Patriots Wins of the Brady-Belichick Era (Ep. 245)

Episode Date: August 8, 2017

HBO and The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by fellow Boston diehard Kevin Hench to discuss the birth of the Brady-Belichick dynasty, the duo's best Super Bowl victory, the best team the Pats beat during their run together, the most important pass of Brady's career, the most improbable comebacks, and the most rewarding moments for Patriots fans since 2001. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One, two, three, four, five. Just counting Patriots Super Bowls. That's not actually testing. I hope you recorded that. Today's episode of the BS Podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek, our presenting sponsor, the easiest way to shop for the best tickets thanks to their revolutionary grading system. Buy and sell tickets and two taps on your phone, everything guaranteed.

My listeners get $10 off baseball tickets the first time they use SeatGeek, use promo code BSMLB. My son and my dad are going to, this is Kevin Hench here, by the way. My son and my dad are going to Yankees Red Sox Friday. It looks like Chris Sale's pitching August 18th. I asked SeatGeek for great tickets and they just hooked me up because they're our partner. Well done. They're the best. They're also getting sucked into this Red Sox playoff run. yeah so my son going to fenway first time chris sale yankees

that's that's a pretty good one that's solid my fear is that chris sale gets pushed a day and then pomerantz ends up which he you won't be telling your grandkids about pomerantz but maybe the chris sale 17 strikeout quietly the most important player on the red sox season uh download the c geek app today go right to c geek.com and we are pleased to announce the newly relaunched the ringer.com website this week very excited for everyone to see the new site uh a lot of time effort energy the chorus platform from vox thanks to medium and evilliams for a great run speed launching our site and now we've taken it to the next level check out the latest articles videos podcasts special thanks to miller light who've been with us since the beginning and have been fantastic

partners we are thrilled to have them as the relaunch sponsor for the site miller light the official beer of the ringer remember when we were growing up the celtics were in those those ads remember that all the old ones the good old days the good old days uh and lastly uh two podcasts that we're launching this week one is called ringer fc soccer podcast oh oh yeah right up my alley newcastle united back in the EPL Yeah you made it back It's my squad You felt like after the Red Sox Had won a World Series You needed a new form of torture in your life So you picked Newcastle A team that hasn't won anything since 1927

What do you think of that title Ringer FC Nice I love it We got a good logo so subscribe now I love your soccer transformation These emails we send each other About Pulisic Can you be complaining about Alex Morgan We got a good logo. So subscribe now. That first pod. I love your soccer transformation. Thank you. These emails we send each other. I know. About Pulisic every game.

You can be complaining about Alex Morgan. And then the Rewatchables, another podcast we're launching this week. So we have some old pods on that feed already. And then the first one is going to be A Few Good Men, which we broke down like it was a Supruder film. Where do you stand on A Few Good Men, Hedge? I loved it when I saw it in the movie theater. You're not a rewatchable. Me and Carolla versus you.

I move on. You move on to new movies. It's like my jiggly leg. It's too anxious to watch something twice. So yeah, check those out. Those are the two newest podcasts from The Ringer Podcast Network. And finally on TheRinger.com this week, Patriots Week. It's mid-August.

What the hell? People are mad we're doing Patriots Week. It's like, first of all, the Patriots are the team of the century. They won five Super Bowls. They have arguably the best coach of all time. Arguably the best quarterback of all time. I don't know who's arguing against that. I would say inarguably the best coach of all time.

Okay, but I'm just trying to leave the door open. And I would actually expand it to, of all sports, because obviously the hardest sport is sport to coach. Okay, we can talk about that during the pod. But Patriots week, a lot of good pieces up there. Kevin Clark put up a piece today about how the 07 Patriots changed football. If you don't want it to be Patriots week,

you should beat them occasionally. So we're coming up. We're going to break down the 25 greatest Patriots wins of the Brady Belichick era. Listen, you can either enjoy listening to this or you can hate listen to it. But either way, we're doing it. The Patriots have earned it.

We're doing it. You can turn it off now. We don't care. We're doing this. The Patriots have earned it. We're doing it. You can turn it off now. We don't care. We're doing this podcast. But first, Pearl Jam. All right. My buddy Kevin Hentges here. Fired up as I've ever been. You're the only person. That's the best homework assignment I've ever been sent in my life.

Watch hours of Patriot highlights. Yeah, I sent you the document, the list. There were clips and links attached to each game. And like Boston Globe articles. Yeah, I was like, I hesitate to send this to you, but this is a rabbit hole. the list there were clips and links attached to each game and like boston globe articles yeah i was like i hesitate to send this to you but this is a rabbit hole it might ruin your day and then like two hours later our fantasy baseball we have we own a fantasy baseball team together in the league of dorks and i'm emailing you trades and you just text it back i'm in the rabbit hole i just pictured you in front of a computer for hours i almost i feel like i almost watched the

entire 2001 afc championship game against the steelers because some of the links were the whole game right and you're like you find yourself like why am i watching this time out yeah you know it was so i went i really wanted to be prepared for this initially i was going to write it as a column and i it would have taken 10 days. The only way to do the column would have been to go all the way in. How is this not going to be 10 hours, by the way? Well, it might be two. It might be two.

You're the only person I could imagine doing it with because, first of all, you have an incredible recollection of obscure moments. You care the most of any friend I have. Pathological reaction to sporting events. You're the only only person i know and we're like we'll win one red sox world series world series and it'll never be the same a year later you're sending angry emails about egretaria you're just a lunatic the number one i'm working i brought in some of the best therapists in the world to work on my my various illnesses yeah so

what we're gonna do i narrowed the list down to 20 to 25 best Patriots wins. It's my list. You feel free to argue with me or get mad as we descend in order. If you disagree with any choices. Well, the one thing that just, just, you know,

don't give anything away. All right. I won't give it to you until we get there. Then I'll, then I'll laugh at how our cup runneth over. So this is 16 years of football games, and the Patriots have won a lot of games. I mean, Brady has, I think, by far the highest winning percentage of any quarterback. I think Belichick has the highest winning percentage of any modern coach.

So there's a lot of wins. You do 16 years, there's going to be two wins a year that we're like, wow, remember that game. And it's a sport with a hard cap where you can't, two buddies, it's not like basketball where two friends can call each other in July and say, hey, you want to win the NBA title right now? Right. You can't do that in football. It's like every guy in the roster has to contribute. And Belichick is the chess master who's you know proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he see he's watching a different sport than the rest of us he just sees things that's why Malcolm Butler was on the field I don't know if that game made it onto the list it made it it's coming up later you know yeah the Pats have gotten some breaks the AFC East

is an abomination we just watched a team in the afc's sign jay cutler trying to save their season that's how bad it's also a crazy montage to be made of opposing kickers missing oh shanking it's like nuts how many times that happens on this list well tate's a carolina fan the john casey kickoff out of bounds just talking about that with the carolina fan last night that game i don't know maybe it's on the list. It might be on the list. Honorable mention. Just going to rip through these pretty quick. In no particular order. September 2005, opening night. Pat Steelers.

Pat's coming off their third Super Bowl in four years. Steelers getting some buzz, is ready to take it over. Pat's laid the smack down. The Steelers are going to be a recurring thing in this. I mean, obviously, particularly delightful for us because we're pals with Dave Damoshek, the leading Steelers apologist. And the, I mean, coming off the 2004 AFC title game, which might make the list, I don't know, there's so many. But, you know, that was the game of all, I don't know,

it'd be interesting to ask Sheck of the two AFC title games that where we kicked them in the nuts in Nines Field, which hurt worse. But the 2004, they had beaten us to break the streak, and they definitely thought they were going to win. So by the time this game rolls around, they're just like, Steeler fans must hate us almost as much as anybody else. Jets fans, Dolphins fans, Bills fans.

There's a lot of people listening to this podcast who hate us. But that can't stop us from banging banging out the list uh quickly pats 2013 pats 30 saints 27 this was the uh tompkins kimbrough tompkins uh in the in the left corner of the end zone brady big comeback like 15 seconds left and what's interesting is he never caught another touchdown for the patriots well you know i say this email too it's like this this top five throws of tom brady's career you know, I say this email too. It's like this, this top five throws of Tom Brady's career, you know, a video has been going around Twitter, you know, people, you know, talking about in these, these are five, they're five typically great throws. I mean, I could name

another 50 that should be that, that are equally amazing, including a couple of those outs he threw during the Superbowl last year, but the five receivers on the Brady's five best throws of all time in order are Malcolm Mitchell, Brandon LaFell, Brandon LaFell again, Brian Timms, and then number one, Kembrell Tompkins. It's like he's not throwing to Marvin Harrison and Jerry Rice. OK, can we stop pretending there's any debate about this greatest of all time. He's, you know, 2007, he had an elite wide receiver and he showed what his every season would have been had he played with Jerry Rice. So, you know, that debate, I think people are giving up on that debate. Are you going to be this hot the whole podcast? Two hours, baby. Let's go. Rock and roll. Well, that leads us to another honorable mention game. Moss's first game, Pats 38, Jets 14, September 2007.

So there had been this couple years here. They don't sign Deion Branch heading into the 06 season. They end up trading him, and we all blame. That's the lost Super Bowl, basically, because they didn't sign Deion Branch, trading for a first-rounder. A logical trade on paper, but almost too logical, because we had a chance to win the Super Bowl. They end up losing in Indianapolis.

We're shake-all, though. And all of us are like, we have no idea how good Brady is because he's been throwing their Jermaine Wiggins and David Givens and David Patton and Rishay Caldwell and all these guys. Boy, it would be nice to see him with some weapons. They go out. They get Randy Moss. They trade

for Wes Welker, who killed us the previous season. Now all of a sudden we have weapons. First Jets game. Touchdown to Moss, but then about halfway through the game, third quarter, Brady goes back. He's got all this time. Then throws it. Moss was on the right side. You see it at the start of the play. And he's throwing it deep to the left side of the field in the end zone. It was like, boy, that's weird. And the camera cuts back and there's moss with three jets around him he's he had been down the right sideline now he's

curving across the field and catches this bomb and all of us are like oh my god good year oh my god well it's this might not be the exact right analogy but you know the story the legend has it that barry bonds watched mark mcguire and sammy sosa in 1998 and he's like i'm way better than these guys i'm better than these guys and everyone's like mcguire and sosa have saved baseball and bonds is like i'm i'm gonna show you how much better i am than these guys i'm the best after ever if i do if i do what they're allegedly doing watch what happens. 73 home runs. And Moss, to me, was Brady steroids.

It was like, I am not playing the same sport as you guys who have elite wide receivers. Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne are your receivers. Watch what happens when I have comparable weapons. And then it's 50 touchdowns and eight interceptions. I'm glad you think Randy Moss is Tom Brady's steroids. That's very important. I live my life believing that as well. But that Jets throw was one of the great

random football moments of my life. I will never forget watching Moss. First of all, I've never seen anybody on a bomb on the right sideline, catch the ball on the left side of the field, unless it's like a complete breakdown. It wasn't a breakdown. It was like, here's the play, Randy.

Run 50 yards as fast as you can, but halfway down, just curl across the field. Nobody does that. Jerry Rice, even Jerry Rice doesn't do that. You know, to use another sport analogy, it's like when you're feeding the post in basketball, it's so much easier to feed the post to Shaquille O'Neal, who's basically always open because he's got that guy pinned on his ass and he's way bigger than him.

And like, you can make a bad throw to Randy Moss and it'll be a touchdown. Yeah. You know, when you're throwing, you know, into these tiny windows to Troy Brown and David Patton and David Givens, there's no margin there. Yeah. So two more 07 games made the list. to Troy Brown and David Patton and David Givens, there's no margin there. So two more 07 games made the list. We're going to talk about the 07 fuck you TD game that is in the top 25, but these were two others.

Back-to-back leads, Pat's 49, Dolphins 28, Pat's 52, Redskins 7. And this is when it turned into college football almost. It's like watching alabama play some where they couldn't jackass sec school couldn't set a spread and and and the pats were angry and just piling it on and and we were angry and everyone's saying the pats are cheaters and they were vindicated in some ways there was definitely there's definitely a a camera at that jets game that shouldn't have been there we all can see that everybody does it was where we ended up

that's our argument yeah well everybody does it you guys cheat too yeah that was tough boy I have a lot of thoughts about 2007 but we'll get to more on the list a couple other quick ones Pat's 45 Broncos 10 Januaryuary 2012 the death the death of

tim tebow well it was so funny because you know tebow throws the one spiral of his life in the previous week to beat pittsburgh in the playoffs and his pandemonium and i'm just sitting there going this is you know what you're in store for right like it's going to be that you know talk about relaxed there was no chance that there was going to be that, you know, talk about relaxed. There was no chance that there was going to be any result. But what happened? I wasn't 100% relaxed because I didn't know if Tebow, if this was becoming some sort of religious football phenomenon that even the Patriots couldn't stop. But remember the line was, I remember it was 13 and a half. And it was like, wow, this is going to be under two touchdowns, Tim Tebow and Foxborough.

Really? But then being also afraid to bet a lot of money on it because Tebow had been so out of his mind. A couple more. The Mo Lewis game, which was a loss. September 2001. Well, that's a good honorable mention. It's a good way to start the whole conversation, you know. Jets 10, Patriots 3.

Mo Lewis, arguably the most important player in Patriots history. So Robert Mays is doing a piece for us about the 16 most important Patriots during the Belichick-Brady era because it's Patriots week and it's going up later this week and he asked me for thoughts and I was like, I think Mo Lewis has to be on the list.

If Mo Lewis doesn't hit Brady... Bledsoe. I'm sorry, if he doesn't hit Bledsoe, which by the way was one of the worst hits a quarterback has taken. It almost collapsed his chest and he almost bled to death. Bledsoe quietly a crazily tough guy. He

came back from some huge hits. Remember in 93 and 94 how he would just get annihilated? He's the worst combination for a QB. If a guy's going to be that slow and unathletic, you want him to be a puss. But he was kind of like, I think I can turn the corner.

I think I can turn the corner. You're so slow. You're going to get killed. You and I didn't know each other at that point, but I spent basically from mid-97 through 01 just complaining about Bledsoe all the time. It started chuckling in my columns. I remember I did a Ewing Theory piece for ESPN.com the first year I had there.

He was the first guy I mentioned, like, if he ever gets hurt, watch what happens. But now I feel bad because Drew Bledsoe is a great Patriot. But interesting, and we'll get to Bledsoe's greatest contribution as a Patriot is coming up. Probably made the list. But Bledsoe, there is a weird thing about being the number one overall pick and having the game has come easily to your whole life. There's no chip on your shoulder. You've always been the biggest, best. I'm sure he hit third in baseball. Like he's just, you know, he's 6'6", super athlete. And so I just don't think that guy wants to go home after a big win and watch

game film. Like Brady is always going to be a sixth round draft pick, like in his mind. You know, so in high school, he was like in the garage trying to teach himself balance. You know, it's like I, you know, we benefit from the fact that Tom Brady is a cyborg who's like favorite hobby, his top 10 favorite hobbies are breaking down game film. I would say sleeping one, eating healthy two, game film three, working out four. Alex Guerrero might be on the top,

most important Patriots of all time. Yeah, that's true. We should have put him like ninth. Brady's 40 throwing 55 yard spirals to Brandon Cooks in practice uh so anyway mo lewis september 2001 right before september 11 actually or right after it was right it was right around that all and uh brady comes in the next week and we're gonna get to that in a second uh a couple more september 2011 opening night pats 38 dolphins 24's 24. Brady with like 517 passing yards and five TVs.

And this was fun from a fantasy standpoint because I think he had, it must've been like 48, 49 points week one and all of us were, that was when people started getting bored of taking Brady in fantasy league. So somebody got him for like 19 bucks and I was like, oh my God,

Brady just put up 49 points. It was his big fantasy league. So somebody got him for like 19 bucks. And I was like, Oh my God, Brady just put up 49 points. And it was his big fantasy game. When Brady, you know, early on when, like, for example, when he,

when he took Ty Law's Superbowl MVP award, it's like, he was a game manager. You know, it was like, he's not going to beat you. He's not going to hurt, you know,

he's smart. He's, you know, he's not. And then he just turned, turned into Warren Moon. Like I can put up whatever numbers you want me to put Warren Moon I can put up whatever numbers you want me to put up

I can put up and his end I mean you and I have watched it his arm got stronger and he got faster too the scramble he had in the Falcon Super Bowl was like the best scramble of his career

it's really hope for all us middle-aged dudes. Last, oh, two more honorable mentions. Pats 39, Steelers 26. This was October 2010. Sunday night in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's going to take a beating in this podcast. I'm sorry. Three touchdowns for Rob Gronkowski, a rookie.

That was the game where it was like, oh. I know. Oh, Gronk. Okay. Another guy, a Shaquille O'Neal guy who's always open by virtue of his size. Right. We're going to try not to mention the accused murder, double murder Aaron Hernandez in this podcast that much. But 2011, 2010 and 11, when they had Gronk and Hernandez at the same time, I think at some point all of us came to the realization,

wow, Belichick has figured out some sort of strategy with tight ends that is just five years ahead of everyone else. Yeah, what do you do? It was like the Warriors. When they started handing the ball off to the guy we will not mention, like now they're running sweeps with their other tight ends. What is going on? Yeah, he's guns falling out of his jersey.

Allegedly. The last one, honorable mention. This is a loss. November 2009, Colts 35, Pats 34. Belichick goes for it on fourth and two. And this basically launches the advanced metrics era in football. We did not get the fourth down. And then. Yeah, Kevin Falk, right? Yeah, and then the Colts end up scoring not get the fourth down oh no and then yeah kevin falk right yeah and then

the colts end up scoring forget the first down game he doesn't get the ball back we get my issue with the play was always that it was a shitty player remember i wrote like a 5500 one and a half yard pass route but also coming out of a timeout and um you know basically you should be running a two-point conversion play but you have 70 yards of the field to work with. You spread them out, use the field, and then you – but whatever they did, it was like this screen pass, Fox falling away from the line of scrimmage, and it was bad. Well, but Belichick – the thing that's so amazing about Belichick,

and this is as we get into the real games, you know, the real top 25. Belichick is, he's a cyborg, obviously, like he, you know, the economist, the advanced metrics, he understood, you know, he sees what's going on on the field. So he combines real, real time data, what he's seeing with like his own supercomputer of knowing Manning is either going to go 70 yards or 35 yards or however, you know, Manning's going to, we can't stop him. When he sees his defense and he knows we're not going to stop that guy. So he knows the best mathematical chance to win this game is to go for it on fourth and two. And, you know, all the old school guys, they don't know it. They're so far behind him.

They don't know. It just seems crazy to them. And, you know, he got annihilated for it. The flip side of that is all the advanced metrics in the Seattle Super Bowl, which we might or might not get to. We literally might. It's on the list. The world may end before we get through this 10-hour podcast.

But all the advanced metrics say, well, you call timeout to give your quarterback a chance to tie the game with a field goal. But what he saw in real time trumped his supercomputer. Like, he knows his supercomputer would say, call timeout to leave your quarterback time for a field goal. But what he saw, the lack of organization in the Seahawks, he was like, oh, I think calling timeout would help them. There's a good Super Bowl. There's good NFL films clip of him watching the Seattle sideline. You can actually see him kind of looking over there and they're like, timeout, timeout. I think the game's going a little fast for them. Yeah, no.

And he's just kind of looking over there going, no, let's ride this out. So if anybody has earned the right not to be second guessed, whether it's doing the advanced metric and going on fourth and two or not doing the advanced metric and not calling timeout, it's like, this guy is he's like a mystic.

Like he's just operating on a spiritual plane nobody else can understand. Well, we lost that game. I like the idea. Doesn't mean he was wrong. I think it was a shitty play. And I did second guess him for that because the other thing about that game, which turned out to be vindicated, was he's basically saying,

I don't believe in my defense. So if you're going to do that, you better have the greatest play ever and you better get the fourth down. So your defense doesn't go, wow, he thinks we sucks. And as it turned out, we got killed in the playoffs that year.

And the other thing about, the other thing about Belichick, that's, you know, it's a great point because I think on a lot of teams, there would have been a lot of strife in the locker room and that's such an FU to the defense. And then the defensive coordinator,

there would have been a schism and it's like,'s on board patriot way yeah no that's when you flash the rings uh all right we're gonna get to the top 25 first let's talk about quip the new company refreshing the way people brush their teeth having good oral health impacts your overall health sarah silverman once said that all death comes through the gums. I think that's a quote from her. Interesting. I don't know if it's true. Interesting quote. My wife's very on board the dental health.

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The 25 best Patriot wins since 2001. This list is going to be brought to you by Miller Lite, the presenting sponsor of our ring ring. It needs a sponsor. I don't know who's luckier, Miller Lite or us. I think both of us. Miller Lite is brewed to not only taste great, but also be less filling.

It only has 96 calories. It won't fill you up. It's brewed to be enjoyed from tip-off to final buzzer, or some cases on this list, OT. It's the original light beer and has been since we first showed up courtside in 1975 both miller light and me i think i showed up courtside in 1974 all right top 25 this first one was a forgettable game but has to be mentioned because

uh i think the aliens will look back someday and be like wow that happened on the same day, October 17th, 2004. Pats 30, Seahawks 20. I happened to be at the game. The streak was in motion. I think this was either the 19th or 20th straight win, dating back to the previous year, which is crazy for the Pats. It ended up at 21. Pittsburgh broke it. Later that day, Fenway Park also went to that game. The Steel, Dave Roberts.

Same day. The Pats extending the greatest football streak of all time. And then Dave Roberts changes the course of Red Sox and baseball history. There's anybody who hates Boston sports who's still listening. But the fact that you're weaving in the first of three Red Sox championships just casually. Oh, yeah. Then I went over to Fenway where, you know, we ruined Mariano Rivera's career and won that World Series. That game, I love that 2004 Patriots team so much because I believe, and there's so

many great Patriots teams, it's possible I'm wrong, but we had a crazy schedule that year and the Patriots went seven and oh against teams with 10 or more wins. I mean, I'll ask Elias, but like you never play seven games against someone with 10 wins. It's not possible. And we beat them all. And the thing it's like it's not quite Randy Moss in 2007, but Corey Dillon, that was the first time it's like, see what happens when we have an elite running back and he was spectacular he was great in that game and the Boston sports history was always take a chance on the troubled guy he'll tantalize you for a couple months and then he'll

let you down like Carl Everett is a great example but just going through every team we had there's always like oh the troubled guy but maybe he'll turn around here and be like no he didn't cory dillon we got one great year out of him then belichick made one of his rare mistakes signed him to another deal cory dillon showed up 20 pounds heavier it was immediately over but that one year he was he was a beast he was awesome um what i remember about that day it was a very kind of blah patriots day and And I remember my friends that I was with and we were like, wow, the Patriots, the fans, that expectations are just so high now. It's like almost like. But you know,

obviously when you are in that anywhere in the environs of Boston, morale was so low. Well, that's what I mean. After game three of the Red Sox. So the Red Sox get killed the night before, also which I went to. And then that Pats game, and it was like, wow. It's like the crowd was kind of in the dumps.

I think we knew we were better than Seattle. That giant Gillette Stadium, everybody was still getting used to. And then it was like, oh, now the Red Sox are going to get swept. And then it just flipped that night. And actually it flipped after midnight. I like this thing.

You're kind of sort of giving the patriots credit for that too the the dave roberts that's why i brought it up i don't know how they don't get credit and within a week by the way the links you sent me if you click on the link to this game it goes to dave roberts steel i don't know what i did i started watching that whole ninth inning. And Mario Rivera is so traumatized by blowing the save that he stands in the middle of the infield and he cuts the throw. Bernie Williams' lollipop, predictable lollipop to home plate that obviously wasn't going to get Dave Roberts. But Mario Rivera is just out of position standing near the mound. He shouldn't be the cutoff man. He cuts it off and he's just demoralized.

Little did he know how much worse it was about to get. I was talking to my friend Hershey today, who's a diehard Dodger fan. I was saying how much I'm enjoying this Dodgers historic season. Unbelievable. Because Dave Roberts is the manager, and I was like... We love that guy in perpetuity. I was like, you got it.

First of all, it's the greatest steal of all time. Most important stolen base in World Series. What's the number two steal of all time i don't even know but baseball history i was saying him you should watch i said that to him when i met him at sunny mcclain i think he's heard it yeah yeah i think he's heard it no but i was drunk and i met it but he almost gets picked off right before that clip is incredible because rivera really almost gets never shortens his lead yeah like it's like you're within an eighth of an inch of getting picked off and you're like i got this measured and river was such a great athlete like his pickoff throw is like such oh he was precision and he was so great and pasada's throw is just a little to the wrong side of the bag or it's like but as fast of a catch and throw

as he's ever done um bad news tate just killed himself so the podcast this is too much boston handle it he's pushing buttons listen sometimes you have to have a podcast that people can hate listen to too so anyway that was number 25 number 24 um there's a lot of lost games from the 01 to 04 range because so much has happened since um this was one of the classics october 2003 pats 19 dolphins 13 overtime final troy brown with the 84 yarder for the win and two two things about this one is the patriots never won games like this for our entire lives we didn't not two it's in miami where they'd lost, I think, 13 straight games. And then three, overtime Monday night. This is just like, nobody even remembers this happened.

There's no videotape of it. I couldn't find it on YouTube. It's not on the internet. And yet Troy Brown, 84 for a Monday night win. And it's like, wow, we just won in Miami. This is going to be embarrassing. If Tate hadn't just killed himself, he could edit this out. But my recollection of this game is

in the heat of... It was hot. But it's not a Monday night game, right? Is this a Sunday game? I'm remembering a hot typical... Maybe it was Sunday. Typical Sunday loss in Miami where we're hot, we're dehydrated, we play like dog shit. It was definitely in Miami

though. And in typical... As we would grow to learn in typical Patriots fashion, Olindo Mahare, a key part, the fact that this game's even in over time, he shanks a 35-yarder. Like, think about it. Nobody misses 35-yarders anymore. I know, and there's seven of them on this list. And that, you know, as Belichick redefinedined as he systematically went through all our houses of horrors yeah and made

you know you know this is the biggest house that was the house of horrors and then and and then troy brown you know i he's got to be on that list of uh of of great that patriots i mean literally defensive back yeah we're to get to him. So, one other thing about this game, you know, you're talking about the Patriots and the Jets were dead even for depressed franchise fan bases, basically until 2000.

And the Jets even had their Super Bowl with Namath. We had nothing. We just had a couple losses and a drug scandal. We did beat them 56-3 when Harold Jackson scored three touchdowns. I remember watching that game in the late 70s. One of the best things we had was

we had the best left guard ever, John Hanna. He's the best left guard ever. Yeah, 2-14. He's got to block some more guys. We're getting killed. We had the Stanley Morgan was a Hall of Famer. He just had bad quarterbacks argument. I mean, this was dark. And it flipped.

So the Pats won the Super Bowl in 01, which we'll get to. 02, they go 9 and 7. And it feels like, wow, that was, listen, it's so great they won the Super Bowl, but that was a complete fluke, and now we're back to being the Patriots again. 03 comes, Miami, oh, we always lose here. We lose every time. And they win and i feel like that started this next double super bowl run it was like this game that was kind of the tipping point uh number 23 october 2007 this was really the launch of the of the fuck you era of that

2017 before sammy morris got hurt which hench and I might talk about once a month. What if Sammy Morris hadn't gotten hurt? Even Sammy Morris isn't talking about it anymore. We're still bringing it up. We know of the running backs. Lawrence Moroney is probably the worst running back in the history of football. But Patriots 59.

Tate, Patriots 59, Tennessee 0. 59 to 0. Well, it's, you know, 2007. I mean, some people would argue that Boston sports fans have always been sadists. But, like, we really, that was the peak sadism for Patriot fans. We were not, obviously not satisfied with winning. That winning was always determined in the first six minutes of all these games. The first 10 weeks, yeah. The Patriots are just going to

win, definitely. The game's over. It flipped week 11. And then it's like we, now it's about we became, as fans, like we were King Joffrey. We were like, we wanted it to be humiliating. It was so brutal, the level of sadism, and I was on

board. I was like, run it was like run it up run it up why are we running the ball we could we could score 60 we could score 60 you know like i was like it was so wrong and like we did get our king joffrey comeuppance with the helmet catch it was what are we watching why is this close we don't know what's going on but we did we did get what we deserved because we were we were wrong we were like you know what's going on but we did we did get what we deserved because we were we were wrong we were like you know what we we should humiliate grown men 59 to nothing that seems like a perfectly fun way to spend a sunday so for the hate listeners out there we fully admit we were out of control the fan base was out of control out of control we were

out of control king jeffrey's great I could have also gone with Cersei there yeah we were gonna just blow up hundreds of people in the in that little yes and then we were chained to the wall

Brady would just Brady Kerry Collins curse yeah Brady's stats in this game 29 for 34 386 touchdowns

pretty good the thing I the thing I love about, I mean, I love pretty much everything about Brady, but, you know, you and I both know people who had a mini boycott

or a major boycott of their beloved Patriots for political reasons last year. It definitely came up. And I was just thinking about, you know, it's funny that Brady is a fan of the president because they're the exact opposite. Brady goes 29 for 34 with 380 yards and six TDs and goes, you know, I got to work harder.

I missed a couple of throws. I didn't make all the plays. We just got to keep getting better. And we're like, it was 59-0. How much better do you have to get? And then trump is like you know has turns in like a ryan leaf two for 18 with six picks and he's like a lot of people were saying that's the most amazing performance ever like nobody is saying that what are you

talking about but every time brady goes to the podium he's like i gotta get better i gotta get better love that guy number 22 the only game brady is not involved in this top 25 september 2016 pats 23 cardinals 21 jimmy g pat says eight and a half point underdogs in arizona everybody going oh it's a super bowl team cardinals are a super bowl pick um no No Brady for four games because of the hideous DeFuette gate decision, suspension, that we're not going to talk about in this podcast. Let's just leave it over there. But Jimmy G wins. And yet again, another shanked field goal. Brings us some.

She and their cat in his arrow, whatever the hell his name is. Cat in his arrow. He shanks one. Shanks it. Yeah. It's funny, though, because this is the Belichick-'s Shanks. Shanks it. Yeah. It's funny though. It's a, you know, cause this is the, this is the Belichick Brady podcast.

This is like, but it's like this. So it's like, you know, haters will go like, well, it's, you know,

Belichick's a great coach cause he has Tom Brady or people say, you know, Brady is a benefit of Belichick's genius. And obviously there's, you can't parse it.

It's like, they both make each other better. It's like Len and McCartney. But the Garoppolo-Bressette era and the Matt Castle 11 and 5 era. Yeah, he went 11 and 5 with Matt Castle. Do or do. I mean, if you had to.

Yeah. You're like, I don't know. He's, you know, we'll never get to know, hopefully, desperately, I beg, we'll never get to see Brady end his career in a Lions uniform or any jarring Namath with the Rams moment. But Belichick, we have seen without Brady. And it's pretty impressive. So 11-5 with Castle, although week one against KC, I think Castle only played half the game.

But then 3-1 with Garoppolo and Brissett. And maybe this year they don't play brady till october would you play would you play in the first four games of course i wouldn't i'd tell him this it okay put him in a lawn chair give him a pina colada good luck keeping him off the field brady like by the way because you and i whenever we're emailing during games is every sunday but like there's invariably that moment where we're like, why is Brady still in the game? And it's like, I don't think he wants to come out. I just don't think he.

It's 30 to seven with a minute and a half left. Like there were a couple, he took a couple sacks last year with that kind of scoreline where it was like, yeah, he's in the game. We're passing and he's getting sacked. And he's getting wrecked. Number 21, Pats 29, Chargers 26 Overtime, October 2001 This is the first Brady comeback

Drive I was choosing between this one and when they beat the Colts I think two weeks before But that was like Brady's first start, they surprise beat the Colts It felt like, oh that was fun That was a fluke, they get killed in Miami the next week. Then this San Diego game, they're down late.

This is Brady's first comeback drive. They're going to go one and four if they lose this game. Yeah. And I remember watching it going, oh, this kid might have something. There might be something here. This is Lee Johnson, the punter, hands the Chargers a 10-point lead. And, you know, of course, we don't know what we're seeing. We don't know what we're seeing.

We're like, is this Hugh Millen? I don't know. Like, what's this guy going to be? And now we look back and we go, oh, we're seeing the future. He does this at home. And it's the first time. I was actually watching that game with Cousins out. Number 20.

Man, there's people out here that are listening to this podcast because they hate us or they hate themselves or maybe both. They're going to really hate this. Number 20 is Super Bowl 39. Oh, this is where I was like, when you have Super Bowl victories that barely crack your top 20 victories of all time. I stand by it. It's a Super Bowl victory. It probably needs to be a little bit higher.

But I love that team, though. I love that 2014. Love the team. It's just so balanced. Pass, run, Corey Dillon. He had a good Super Bowl. And then, of course, this Super Bowl, there's so many moments where Belichick versus Andy Reid, whoever, just separates as a coach. Like a lot of these victories, if it's not a kicker shanking, it's a coach shanking a 30-yarder.

Like it's a coach coaching poorly. And like the absolute absence of urgency from the Eagles. When, by the way, we couldn't cover Terrell Owens. Like, you need to be making as many possessions as possible in this game. And they were just walking, you know, huddling up. It was the 10-minute drive. It was crazy. He threw up in the huddle, which you know.

So the reason I put this 20, it was, you know, it's always great to win the Super Bowl, obviously. It is always great to win the Super bowl obviously it's always great to win the super bowl let's not lose sight of that but you know um we're coming off when we have to go a couple years without winning one and we remember all right now now you're now you're just trying to get tate to stab us um but so they come off they kill they kill Colts, they kill the Steelers in Pittsburgh. And now we're like, all right, when they kill the Eagles with Terrell Owens who has a broken leg, this is now the greatest football team of all time. Game unfolds. We can't cover Terrell Owens.

The crowd, it's in Jacksonville. It was a terrible week in Jacksonville. None of the Pats fans went for this game because they had been to the other two. So it's all Eagles fans. All of us are in Jacksonville. None of the Pats fans went for this game because they had been to the other two. So it's all Eagles fans. All of us are in Jacksonville in this weird stadium. And the Eagles fans turn on the team about I don't know, early in the second quarter.

They just get mad at the team. That doesn't sound like Philly. That does not sound like Philly fans. There's this weird energy in the stadium the whole time. The Pats don't play well. It felt in the stadium like the Eagles lost the Super Bowl, that we didn um it felt it felt in the stadium like the eagles lost the super bowl that we didn't totally win it we get to play at the end it was weird it was a classic brady throw by the way david givens i'm sure he won't make the list of the all-time

most important patriots but he did just score touchdowns in playoff games for a solid stretch. He became a big receiver of his size. It is that game where Brady does a left sideline to right sideline. He goes through his progressions where he literally goes ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. Like the Terminator, just like, no, no, no, no, no touchdown. Like it's a perfect Tom Brady. The game, you know, that's the thing that you can't do in a scouting combine. You just can't see inside the guy's brain. I lowered that one.

You're a little harsh on that one. I'm a little harsh on that one because I would never watch it again. To me, like the great games from that playoffs were the Colts game and the Steelers game, which I would watch a hundred times. I can't see myself being like, let's watch this Eagles game and I can watch how Andy Reid gave us the Super Bowl. Because I hadn't become King Joffrey yet with the sadism in 2007. There was, I did like the fact that we won those first three by a field goal.

Like we didn't waste it. We won, but we scored exactly enough. Well, that was the great thing about those 0-3, 0-4 teams is how many close games they won. They won so many close games that it stopped being an accident. At some point, it was like, oh, this game's close. Fourth quarter, we're going to win. This team knows how to close games, knows how to win. It's all setting us up for helmet catch.

Yeah. We never lose these games. Well, it's really all setting us up for Col catch. Yeah. We never lose these games. Well, it's really all setting us up for Colts 2006. Oh, my God. Which is the secret devastating Patriots loss of this boy, the 19-point lead. Rex Grossman waiting for us in the Cakewalk Super Bowl. Oh, my God. Third and three.

They botch it. I mean. Too many men in the huddle penalty. Okay. We're up to 19. We'll make this one quick. November 2013. Patsats 34 broncos 31 brady versus manning sunday night july at stadium pats down 24 nothing they roar back i think the

broncos did something dumb in this game to help us i can't remember they fumbled a punt i think that started it um good one that this was on the brady manning thing we were we were like getting nostalgic for when it was going to end even as as it was still going on. And then, after the four neck surgeries, you and I were laughing at this this Denver misadventure. And what he did in Denver is so shocking. What did they score? 600 plus points that one year? 55 touchdown passes. Like he put that one. He buried like the record.

That's just like darn enough games to break that record now, you know. So that one was particularly gratifying because the the scales had definitely turned in the manning direction that's a really fun game to to zoom through on youtube again uh number 18 pats 25 bills 24 september 2009 week one brady's return from the torn acl and of course it was a monday night comeback win and we we miss missed Brady so much that year to have him just pulled away for an entire year the only other

experience I've had with that I guess there's been two the when Bird when Bird's back went out and he missed the whole 88-9 season and then when Pedro got hurt in 01 where it was like ah I should have appreciated this comet that passed through our lives in 99.

Oh, now he's not going to pitch. But that game again, you know, in so many of these games, there is a level of complicity from the opponent that is shocking in retrospect. You know, the Patriots are down double digits late in that game. And then Brady hits Watson to make it 24-19. are down double digits late in that game. And then Brady hits Watson to make it 24-19. And then we're kicking off with a minute 56 left. Yeah, Bills are getting the ball back. And we're going to kick. They have their hands team on because they're expecting onside kick.

And so, again, this is Belichick. So it's like the metrics would say you probably supposed to onside kick he kicks it long to leotis mckelvin with basically no blockers to the hands teams out there and then mckelvin actually catches it in the end zone and could take a knee no nope you know what i got i got my hands team out there i'm gonna return it fumble brady Brady hits Watson again, 25-24. Bills, I believe, lost two Monday night games by the score of 25-24. I mean, if you get a five in the Super Bowl grid, you're like, oh, I can just throw this ticket out. Five, 25-24. So we're going to take a quick break to talk about zeal.com.

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And the thing went up in the air, and it was like Sully Sullenberger's plane. Yeah. Just kind of Sully Sullenberger. Sully Sullenberger? Sully Sullenberger. Sully Sullenberger. Chesley. He's like, Chesley Sullenberger's plane. Yeah. Just kind of Sully Sullenberger. Sully Sullenberger? Sully Sullenberger. Sully Sullenberger. Chesley. It's Chesley Sullenberger's plane.

He's just wobbling and somehow goes 48 yards. And then there was a big Drew Bennett drop as well. But this was, you know, you get to the playoffs and the Patriots were better than the Titans that year. But then you had these freezing weather games. The crowd's dead. Everyone's wearing clothes and mittens. And there's no energy. And all of a sudden, it's 14-14. You're going, wait a second.

Are we going to blow this? No. No. Great win. Steve McNair, always kind of scary against us. And Javon Kirsch on that team, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Number 16. Oh, man. I'm afraid to unleash you on this game. Pats 27 27 Ravens 24 December 2007 Monday night this is like Pats go to 12 and 0 on

probably a bogus pass interference call on Ben Watson on 4th and 5th we don't know that the Red Wedding is awaiting us so these games down the stretch like we are in full 19-0, 19-0. We're just like that. Nothing less. Nothing less.

And so in retrospect, I believe that if we had lost any of these games, even the 38-35 game that we're coming to against the Giants, the Moss record game, we would have won the Super Bowl. Like it just there's something gets let out. Like there's a there's a relaxation that occurs if you're not trying to stay perfect that lets you win the Super Bowl. I do think there was there was a lot of mental attrition as we got into it was late November, December, especially January. Like even remember the Chargers AFC title game, which did not make the list. Phil Rivers playing on the torn ACL

and still giving it to us. But the team just seemed so tired at the end of that game. I mean, I just think a loss followed by like, take the day off guys or not practicing in pads, whatever could have gone a long way. But this game is so crazy. Not just, and look,

I know why the guy threw the flag. Like, the guy had his hands on Watson the whole time. You know, like, he's not really holding him, but you've got to stop touching him at some point. You've been running with him for 10 yards. So I could understand the flag, but obviously going back to they stopped them on fourth and short. Yeah. But Rex Ryan had called timeout. You're not allowed to grant timeout to the coordinator.

They, you know, but if you're the side judge, you know, some guys yelling timeout and you look and, you know, it's Rex Ryan. It's like he's not the head coach, but they give him the timeout. Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are furious, demoralized. Then, so, okay, timeout time out time out come back out for fourth and one they're running the heath evans dive play that oh and oh for 2000 i mean even though the fullback dive on fourth and one yet to work in nfl history or video games it's the worst play in the world and and of course heath evans gets tackled two yards in the backfield. But Stephen Neal had flinched. He had started to go to pull.

He had already started to miss his block. Yeah. Nobody got blocked on the play. And so the false start gives them fourth and six to set up the Ben Watson call. But there was a multiple. Which the P.I. was somehow a fourth and five Hail Mary. Brady goes back. He's under pressure.

He just kind of lobs it in the end zone. Ben Watson gets racked. So then next play, I think Gaffney in the end zone. Yeah, Gaffney in the end zone on a catch that I, you know, as I rewatched it, was like, huh, everything video-wise has gotten better these days. And that ball is kind of wobbling on his palm a little bit as he goes out of bounds and i do feel like that could have been called back overturned but uh but anyway so we were thrilled to survive that one but we would have been better off losing that game and we but we would have been better off tony cornheiser on the announcing in that you

can hear mike terrico freaking freezing him out during the uh during the crunch time drive he kept using a phrase the uh the inevitability of tragedy or something. Something that did not belong in a football boot. Tragic inevitability. Number 15. Now we're getting to, this is now, we're now getting to the elite ones. This is the AFC title game, January 2012. Pats 23, Ravens 20, which I had always remembered as the Sterling Moore strips Lee Evans.

Lee Evans. Lee Evans seemed like he caught the touchdown for seven seconds and got stripped. Lee Evans is like, this would be a great time to relax. I've been playing all day. I could keep clutching this ball for another second, but I want to get my relaxation on right now. He definitely seemed like he caught it. I'm going to call zeal.com. Get my massage.

I'm going to pick my massage table. So he didn't catch it. How much time was left? That's third down. Like 30 seconds left? And then Billy Cundiff. And Billy Cundiff shanked. He joins the Linda Mari, Kat Anizaro long list of field goal kickers who have been complicit

in this top 25. So I actually forgot that Cundiff missed a field goal. I just remembered it as Sterling Moore and that I'm old and the games mixed together. And I was like, Sterling Moore stripped Lee Evans and we won the game. And I forgot the part where Billy Cundiff came in and missed a 32 yarder. A 32 yarder. That's funny ways is you talk about like you're getting older and obviously, you know, in our our defense there's so many

great victories um but there were moments where i was like tully banta kane really kind of forgot all about like like making plays you know like they're guys that are just like patriots who are like that guy contributed well another thing to watch and a lot of these are on youtube one thing i forgot was at some point it's like second down and that's just like they're really picking on edelman now and then the ravens have them on i'm like they're picking on edelman oh shit edelman was our nickelback that year i forgot yeah it's like jillian edelman was our nickelback yeah probably the third best receiver in patriot history playing nickelback in the afc title game uh this was the game that gronk got hurt and

i can't remember if he got hurt in this game or before but he was hurt in this game and then it's the reason we didn't win that super bowl this year is basically gronk on one leg but gronk being out of this game and the ravens having a lot of confidence playing a foxborough and there was all of a sudden during the game you're like oh, Oh fuck, we're going to lose this. Ravens. This is the Ravens were the big, they're the number one nemesis we had during this run, right? Yeah.

I mean, Ray Rice game. Yeah. They killed us a couple of times. The Welker drop game. That was a classic, a narrow escape. There's a lot of narrow escapes.

That was one of the more narrow ones. Number 14, AFC title game, January, 2005 in Pittsburgh, Pat's 41, Steelers 27. I titled this one a very Brady ass kicking. We watched this with Damoshek

at I would have. I would have. Damoshek stormed out in the second quarter, which was my favorite part of the game. Brady had the flu. We didn't know if he was going to play. I probably have this one higher. This game was unbelievable. They were supposed to beat us. It's just like, well, we didn't think they were going to beat us.

They thought they were going to beat us. But that's a good example of they broke the streak earlier that season. Right. And you don't, you know, it helps you somehow to lose, helps you. That loss helped us win this game. But the throw to Deionion branch which was the best throw of the first half of brady's career oh my god it's such an unbelievable throw the other thing like it's funny because you know vinitary goszkowski are like the the montana young

farve rogers like we just have had right an elite kicker for so long let's talk about how crazy that is because our whole lives we had the worst kickers ever hey man snowplow game john smith with english soccer player john smith who just would shank 28 yarders um but so then vinitary sets the record at the time for in that game longest field goal it's brutally cold like how is this the longest yeah you no one made a longer field goal in september when it was 84 degrees like he and that field goal like oh yeah your guy's been kicking here he can't make a field goal from here our guy can you know even the fact they sent him out there again he's kicking a brick doesn't matter he could kick a literal brick and that that field goal coupled with the Brady throw to Branch and then –

Who was the Steelers quarterback in this game? Roethlisberger. He's a rookie. And so – Oh, yeah, you're right. So Rodney Harrison just reads that out. He just reads it, like reads Roethlisberger and he picks the pass off to the flat. And then, you know, Rodney Harrison holds the ball just like the loaf of bread for 50 yards

he's just and roethlisberger who we didn't really know how athletic he would become like he's actually a guy who could tackle you but harrison was like i know you're not gonna tackle me and he just taunts him the whole way and it was just like kind of the nail in the coffin i mean that game was actually not as close as 41 2727. That game was over early. I don't have the good recollection of that game because I remember drinking happily as soon as Brady. I was like, oh, we got this. Brady made that pass. It was like.

But then the stewards kind of came back near the end there. But it wasn't close. It wasn't close. Number 13. Now we're really getting to the OG games. October 2003. Pats 38, Colts 34. In Indy.

Goal line stand. Oh, Willie. We all loved Willie McGinnis. I think the non-Patriot fans, looking from afar, they would just throw him into the tie law, that whole group. Willie was the guy. Willie replaced Andre Tippett,ett basically as the coolest defensive player we had he had a great name cool number a lot of jerseys started trickling the thing

and this was his defining play um set up by the fact that he faked the injury to get off the field stop the clock before they made the rule to change that then miraculously came back in i feel good i feel good made the fourth down stop and then ran 55 yards in a full sprint with a typically exhausted patriots defense at the end of every indie game like just gassed this was this game was like wow we own the colts yeah because we had beaten them a couple times but then winning in their house setting the tone it's like we own these guys. And then the playoffs the next two. And I really wanted to live the rest of my life thinking we own the Colts. And then Manny just flipped it in like 05.

In the last half of that decade, they beat us way more than we beat them. The 21 to 3 lead in Indy. The 06. It's funny. I was actually thinking, I guess if you could just change one Patriot result in your lifetime, it would have to be 19-0. You know, you'd have to take that Super Bowl. But we were going to smoke the Bears. It's like that game was so frustrating because the Giants did outplay us.

That game, you know, in wrestling when they have the championship belt, the money in the bank where it hangs over the ring. Rex Grossman was hanging over the roof of that game. It was like, you get to play that guy if you win this game. That was- That was devastating. Excruciating. Well, nobody wants to hear us complain about a Patriots loss. But that fourth down-

Wait till I start complaining about Tom Brady's terrible throws. It's coming up. The four down stop in Indy. It's great. It's a great YouTube. It's stop in Indy. It's great. It's a great YouTube. It's fun to rewatch. Willie's greatest. I love it.

Number 12, Pat's 30, Bronco's 26. This was November 2003. More advanced metrics. Monday in Denver, Belichick takes the safety. Down 24. Down by a point. 24-23. Down a point.

He can either punt from his end zone down one, which means the field goal still wins it. But they were on like the one yard line. One yard line. Or he can punt, you know, from the 20. Credit to Al Michaels for calling it out before they did it.

It's like, Hey, we might take the safety here. They do it. And, and all of us are like, what the, what the fuck just happened?

Because you're still kind of like, you're still like, well, now you need a touchdown. Like you're, you know, a field goal ties it. But then, of course. Well, we're giving them the ball back, which was the worst part. Now we got to get the ball back. I mean, you couldn't go for it, obviously, in that situation. But Belichick vindicated, as always. Get the ball back somehow.

Brady rolls down. 30-26 final. And that was like when we were all like, wow, Belichick. Belichick. I will follow you into the depths of hell. I feel like there are a lot of guys who have their philosophy, you know, whatever it is. You know, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes. But like Belichick does not have an ideology.

It's what does this moment call for? And same thing with his football system. It's like, oh, well, we're better throwing this year. All right, let's throw the ball this year. We don't have enough linebackers this year. All right, let's run a 4-2-5. He's just constantly evolving. Yeah.

Just constantly evolving. That's my favorite thing about him. Whereas you look at like Phil Jackson's like triangle guys. This worked for me 28 years ago. We're doing it. So that was a classic. And should mention david gibbons who's one of the big winners of this podcast left corner of the end zone like a 20 yarder um hauls it in he had some big catches all right last one before we get to the top 10 january 2007 round two p Pats are, I think, five or six point underdogs in San Diego.

LT's doing a lot of talking. That Chargers Super Bowl thing. That defense was physical. LT's coming off the greatest fantasy year anyone's ever had in their lives. Remember that? LT single-handedly won 20 million fantasy titles that year. And the Patriots have nobody. This might be the ultimate.

This is the ultimate other coach conspires to let you win the game marty schottenheimer it's the first quarter it's fourth and 11 nate keating is the all-pro kicker it's sunny in san diego it's a 49 yarder. It's a chip shot for that guy. Right. And he goes for it on fourth and 11. Like whose chart in the bright sunshine of San Diego? Like this is not a tough decision. I remember us talking about this game going, all right, Rasheed Caldwell is our number one receiver.

We're in San Diego. Tomlinson's having the greatest year of all time. But we have Belichick going against Marty Schottenheimer. We got this. We can do this. And of course, the game is over. There are a couple of the games on this list where it's like the game is essentially over. This game was over for, this was like the Lee Evans.

For a second and a half, the game's over. You know, Marlon McCree, I believe, picks Brady off. Brady didn't play great in this game. No, Brady was not good. But in his defense, where Shea Caldwell was and Lawrence Maroney were his skill guys. Not a lot of separation. Ben Watson. This is not the...

There are a lot of highlights as you go to YouTube on this list where it's like, Brady under center, Maroney in the eye. Oh, my God. Patrick Pest split out wide. Oh, my God. Patrick Pest split out wide. Oh, my God. But so Brady throws the game-ending pick to Marlon McCree. Yeah. And the game's over.

And again, Leotis McKelvin, Marlon McCree, just take a knee. Game's over. Just take a knee. And, you know, great Patriot, all-time great Patriot, receiver, punt returner, DB, Troy Brown puts his defensive hat on and strips McCree. And it's actually, it reminded me- Not on YouTube.

That there is a, we used to do this when we were kids, which is like, if you're playing touch football and it's fourth down and you have no chance of getting a first, or it's like you got to score basically, you have four plays to score. You could actually throw the ball directly to the other team's worst player in the hopes that he would catch it and then just take it away from him to get a new set of downs. That's basically what Troy Brown did at Marlon McCree. Although, Marlon McCree, not the Chargers' worst player on that day, Marty Schottenheimer. So you still, you thank Marty Schottenheimer first for that game? Yes.

Okay. I mean, you know, you just, they, I mean, obviously not, not a crazy decision. They did give it to Ladanian, like just, just over and over. But that's a good example of Schottenheimer, I don't think, possesses the Belichick supercomputer to go, you know what? You know what might work today? Play action. You know, he's like, this guy's carried us. We're just going to pound him, pound it, pound it.

I think they ran like 90% first and 10. They just handed the ball to him. I feel like we kind of own Tomlinson. A lot of guys have owned the Patriots over the years. Tomlinson was one of those where I just felt like, and the stats don't back it up, he had really good games against bats, but just 10 years later, I'm like,

I've always felt like we could beat those Tomlinson teams. A couple of times, a couple of runs, I was at one of those games. Hey, our friends at Squarespace make it easy to build beautiful websites, whether you're planning to start a business, change careers, launch a creative project. Now that 2017 is more than halfway through,

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You should have a Squarespace website where you just put your crazy Boston complaints that guy's still complaining how is it possible ever the best ever was when you're complaining about Brady's deep balls for like three years this is this is the worst duck boat parade yet this duck boat parade is so slow um you should have you got another live read I'm almost done with this one squarespace is award-winning 24 7 customer support will help you no matter how hard or easy your problem may be start a free trial at squarespace.com use offer code bs you get 10 off your first purchase plus a free domain you could have hench boston complaints.com you just grab that again

squarespace.com offer code bs squarespace make your next move make your next website you should offer uh you could maybe tack this onto the top of this podcast if somebody can establish that they're a jets fan or a dolphins fan or you know basically any other team's fan who made it all the way through this podcast, they should get something from Miller Lite or Squarespace or Zeal. That's a good idea. Well, none of them will make it. I can't imagine.

Why would they? I think the Jets fans are all listening to this with deep, deep, deep hate. This podcast for a non-Patriots fan would be like Bubba saying, hey, Hillary, let's watch the election returns again. Top 10. Top 10 time. Woo! December 2007, week 17.

Pats 38, Giants 35. 16-0. The best thing about this game, for me, the Giants are giving us a great fight. It's in Giants Stadium. There's a lot of Giants. They really want to stop the streak. There's big stakes. I think it was a Sunday night?

It was a night game for sure. Or Saturday night? Saturday night. And Brady hits Moss. Unbelievable. Brady hits Moss and Moss drops it. Remember that? Yeah, yeah.

Deep pass. We're going to take the lead. Moss is going to get the record for touchdowns of the season. All of it's going to happen. And he drops it. Next play. Same fucking play. But Moss is running somehow five miles an hour faster. He's open by 10 yards.

Brady hits him in stride. Breaks the record. Pats win the game. That was my favorite moment of that season. Well, I mean, again, we're... If we had... I feel like if we had won... If we'd lost that game or the Ravens game and gone 15 and one and won the Super Bowl, we'd have been like, ah, that was okay. It was an okay season.

Like, that's how crazy we were at that point. We were like, we have to run the table. But a lot of that was driven by Spygate and the patriots no we had never really felt the dagger of uh of of anti patriots really anti-boston stuff since the the mid-80s with the bird teams where the entire country was like we hate you we want you to lose it was like wow this podcast okay we'll fuck you but uh there's there's some great youtube stuff of people in the stands filming that Moss thing. And there's one,

there's one, somebody deep in the, on the high up in whatever the stadium was called back then. And you just see Moss, who's like a gazelle. I've never seen in person.

I'm there. I mean, I'm sure there's been other receivers kind of like that. I'm sure Rice was like that a lot. He's built like Usain Bolt. Like those strides are so long. There was nobody like Moss was nobody like just separating tate you're unbiased was there anyone like moss no okay all right number nine afc title game january 2004 pats 24 colts 14 my notes for this were a foxborough

bad weather physical fuck you manning game we watched that one together we watched both those games together the colts uh in the in the bad weather the best defense that year that was like heidabruski well that game from that game is uh ty law and marvin harrison both caught three balls wow that's just like he shut him down. He had three picks. Harrison had three catches. And that game, I'd never heard of it. I mean, whatever.

Maybe this happens all the time. This is that level of three-dimensional chess. Rodney Harrison and Ty Law were like so elite at what they did. And a big part of Manning's game, I guess any quarterback's name, is you come up to the line of scrimmage and you see what they're showing you. And then, you know, where you're going, basically based on matchups. You're like, OK, that guy can't cover that guy or that guy's doubled or they're in a zone or whatever. The quarterback who can read in real time what's happening on the field, much like the way Tracy Porter read what the Colts were doing in the Saints Colts Super Bowl and picked off Manning.

I just wanted to get that in, you know, in case any Colts fans are still listening. Pick six. But Rodney Harrison and Ty Law did this game in that, in that where, where Rodney Harrison and Ty, Harrison would play corner and Ty Law would play safety. They would flop. It's just called flopping. So that when you come up, you're like, well, I know Rodney Harrison's a safety, but he's what's he doing?

You know, it's just like to F with the quarterback's mind. And it worked, you know, and I mean, and that this those bad weather, that was sort of the dawn of the Manning face, right? He was just so overwhelmed by the defense. What was the year that the fans were chanting, cut that meat at him. I don't remember. He did that commercial with the cut that meat and then the fans were chanting it at the end of the game.

I think that one might be coming up. Those games were really... It's a great defense. The skill position guys were not there yet. I don't even... Who was the running back in that second Super Bowl season? Antoine Smith. I think he was like 83 yards rushing against I think there was a lot of Kevin

Falk that year Kevin Falk is all over these highlights like you forget how incredible that guy was because he was never the number one back that was the thing like Troy Brown invented what that slot receiver position would look like with brady kevin falk invented the third down back and then you go all the way through to that falcon super bowl and it's like edelman's in the troy brown spot james white james white's in the fox spot it's basically the same model yeah um all right number eight 2002 january afc title game pats 24 steelers 17. Pats were huge underdogs. Double digits.

Pittsburgh had planned their Super Bowl trip already. Cordell Stewart. I picked the Pats to win. I was not sold on Cordell Stewart. I felt like the Pats team was special. I was probably being a homer too. But this is either the Bledsoe game or the Troy Brown game. What would you say it's first?

Well, I mean, one in 1A. game or the troy brown game what would you say it's first well ah i mean one and one a but troy brown has the punt return for a touchdown which i don't know if you've heard dave damashek has some opinions about this play about uh oh because they yeah they they move the ball to the other hash mark yeah it's like we would have kicked it away from him. Right. But it's a really weird punt return too. It's like he catches it at like midfield and just kind of dances. He never gets up to speed. Nobody touches him. But so he has the punt return for a touchdown.

And then he also has the crazy lateral. Blocks a field goal. He laterals to Antoine Harris. He blocked the field goal too. And it's like, I mean, it's so spur of the moment. So he basically counted for two special teams touchdowns. So even though that's another game where the offense mustered one touchdown and special teams mustered two touchdowns. So Brady gets hurt in a low hit.

Yeah. Bledsoe comes in. An incredibly vicious low hit. I don't know if Steelers fans are familiar with this, but sometimes a Steeler will go in low on a quarterback and obliterate them in a playoff game. And so Larry Flowers, I think, was the guy's name who hit Brady somewhere between his knee and his ankle. Not as bad as Kimo Vanohoff. And I mean, you know, whatever, you know, I'll let Dan Mhek decide. But so Brady is trying to walk it off, trying to stay in the game. Obviously, sixth round draft pick.

I'm never coming out, but he can't. He literally can't play. Bledsoe comes in on David Patton and not caught a pass in that game. He hits Patton three in a row. They're all unbelievable throws. They literally might be the best three throws of his career. Comes in cold. Cold.

Runs out there. Bang, bang, bang. Hold on. One thing about this. We all feel guilty during this Pats run because Bledsoe, who got hurt, almost dies, basically. Almost bleeds to death. Brady comes in, takes his job. October, November, turn into Brady or Bledsoe, Brady or Bledsoe.

I'm living in Boston that year. It was all anyone talked about. Brady or Bledsoe. All of us who were that year. It was all anyone talked about. Brady or Bledsoe. All of us who were smart were in the, we can't take out Brady. He's winning. We can't take this guy out. Feel bad about Bledsoe. He's this guy they just gave him this $100 million contract to.

Number one pick in 93. And pretty good. And a good football player. No reason for us to be mad at him. And we're basically like, thanks for everything, Drew. We have our new guy now. The fact that he was able to come in and save this game was a great wrinkle to this season. Absolutely. It really was.

I was so happy for him. And by the way, he wasn't that great after that first drive. If you watch, that game's a heart attack after he throws. I think they drop or touch like five passes of his. Oh, but Chris Brown, again, Steelers kicker, the blocked field goal is like a 34-yarder. It's like, again, another kicker on the Cundiff, Olindo-Mari, Catanazzaro list of like,

you can't get that thing up. How is that getting blocked? Can't ship that. Number seven, round two, January 2005. Pats 20, Colts three three i wrote down three point dogs we're three point dogs at home which was just incredible uh bad weather so their point total matched they they only scored as much as they were favored by bad weather and manning felt like manning got broken in this game. Turns out we were all wrong.

He did not get broken. But just an ass kicking. And there was a lot of like, we don't have a lot of respect. Nobody believes in us with this Pats team, which is crazy because it was the third Super Bowl season. But it was effective. It was great for this team. Really? Manning's favorite?

Oh, and that was perfect. I'm so glad that the Colts were favorite in that game. We probably should have a Richard Seymour mention, just how much we loved watching that guy play. Just caving in. Yeah. However many guys they blocked him with, that portion of the line just got caved in on every play. He was a beast that season. That was a great defense. Belichick had to time it with every guy. Every guy he let go.

Seymour was pretty good on the raiders like he wasn't great but like you know of the list of guys you know the titan signed givens i mean branch in seattle like it's it's a shocking laura malloy in atlanta like it's a shocking list of no one ever did anything but seymour was still good it was a defensible trade because the raiders were so incompetent at the time. And we were like, whoa, we traded Richard Seymour. And then it was like, we get the Raiders first pick? We're not going to see them, yeah. Whoa. Okay.

Yeah. And that was one of those two games was the cut that me came. All right, top six. I probably put this one too high, but it is my second favorite home game on this list. And I don't know. January 2015, round two. Pats 35, Ravens 31. Ugh.

Huge home comeback. Edelman. That is not too high, by the way. Okay, good. Edelman. I could see the look in your eye. You were really worried that you'd put it too high. I remember.

You got me psyched out after i put the super bowl 20 super bowl 39 number 20 it's only 14 spots higher than the super bowl win um i remember we having this discussion with you because we're both psychotic edelman was a college quarterback they would always mention it and they never ran a pass for edelman. And you'd run out of things to complain about at this point. We're like, they always talk about how Edelman's a college quarterback. Belichick's such a stubborn asshole.

He'll never run a pass for him. And he's just saving it. He's like, this isn't my fire extinguisher case. I'm going to break this in case of emergency. And this was the emergency. Well, in the Do Your Job documentary. It's a perfect pass. Do Your Job, which is the godfather too of sports highly recommend shocking recommendation um i believe it was david gibbons like the patriots had run a wide receiver pass back in like oh three yeah

and it got picked off and then belichick like broke a clipboard and said as long as i'm the coach of this team tom brady's the only guy who's ever gonna throw a pad like it was like a it was a rare like moment of belichick where the staff went uh okay guys i don't want to hear anybody don't pitch any of these ideas and then it was literally that year 12 years later whatever uh josh mcdaniels kind of tiptoes up to Belichick in training camp and says, I watched Edelman fucking around. He can throw the ball. Can we put this play in?

And then Belichick gives him permission. And they have it in that Kansas City Chiefs crucifixion where that started the is Brady done week for it was it was in the package and they were going to run it. And there's great video in that documentary of Amendola waving it off because they must have been in a zone because then the misdirection won't work. And so actually Brady throws a touchdown on the play anyway, I believe to Brandon LaFell. But so the play is still available. No one's seen it. Now, this game is the ultimate Belichick game in terms of the Ravens were better drawing the psyche of the other coach. It would have been more fun if it was Jim Harbaugh, obviously. But John Harbaugh breaks in this game

when when Belichick goes to the unbalanced line, Vereen as an ineligible receiver, tackles lined up in the slot. Like, it's just this crazy Picasso painting. Like, there's no – and Harbaugh's just running on the field, screaming, getting a 15-yard penalty during it, which was very helpful. It helped us overcome the second of the two 14-point deficits. The big obstacles in this game were the Ravens, for whatever reason, helped us overcome the second of the two 14-point deficits. The big obstacles in this game were the Ravens, for whatever reason,

our nemesis during this run, just were like, oh, we're playing in Foxborough. It's like a home game for us. Flacco turned into a combination of 1969 Joe Namath, Peyton Manning in 2000. He was just always good against the Pats. And this Pats team had it. It wasn't that great of a Pats team.

Terrell Soggs is going to love this podcast, by the way. This Pats team fell behind 14 in round two and 10 in the Super Bowl in the fourth quarter. I mean, it wasn't a dominant team. But one thing that I wanted to mention from this game that I love that I remember writing about and is online and it's great. I don't remember when it started, but the Pats would sing that your love song by the outfield, the fans at these key moments of the game. And it became a thing.

And in this game, there's a fourth and three Ravens for the season timeout. And the entire, the entire state, it was rocking your love by the outfit. It's on YouTube. It's incredible. It's awesome.

And they're doing the whole song. And then it leads right up to the fourth and three and incomplete. Game over. There's another great moment because McDaniels knows it's a kitchen sink game. We're probably going to throw everything we have at this team. I don't think they thought they were better. And so he goes up to Edelman and says, hey, do I have to give you a heads up for the double pass? Do you need time to mentally prepare for it?

And Edelman just has a classic, like, I'm Julian fucking Edelman. What do you think? Just call the play, coach. He's like, no, I don't need a heads up. I know the play. We practiced it. He's so prepared. And so he just throws it out there.

And then it was a perfect play. I mean, everybody doing their job. Amendola. Edmund's like, I'm on 14 painkillers right now. I've been concussed five times. I don't even know your name. Who are you? Stop talking to me.

Just did the throwing motion at me. What a game. My second favorite home game. And one of two games on this list where I watched the first half and second half at different locations. To mix it up. The first half was at our fantasy football banquet at Shakey's. And then I escaped and had to get into an isolated zone of silence for the second half comeback. Top five.

Number five. Super Bowl 38. Pats 32. Panthers 29, February 2004. A horrible game for 28 minutes and then became like one of the most exciting football games of all time. And now it's just remembered as the Janet Jackson nipple game.

And nobody even, these games never discussed. This is such an insane football game. It's insane. It's so insane. And Rodney, our entire secondary ends the game in slings. Like we wouldn't have been able to play in overtime. We had no, everyone got hurt. Like Harrison got hurt.

I think Eugene Wilson got hurt. Harrison's arm's broken. He's celebrating in a sling. I went to this game and I'm like, I don't, I remember there was one guy out there in D-back and I was like, I'm top percentile at Pats fans. I don't know who number whatever it is. I might have just signed him. But the... So this

is a game... The great thing about being Patriot fans is we all have 10 indefensible Brady throws at the tip of our tongue. We're like... This, I think, is the number one worst throw of his career. This throw, like, they're up 21-16 and driving.

With, like, seven minutes left. And it's like, you know, obviously touchdown kind of puts it away. Field goal makes it eight. And it's, I mean, sadly, he did it again in another game that we're about to get to. If you're in the red zone and you, of your first reads are open you either need to whip that ball through the goalposts or throw it hard somewhere there are no floaters you can't throw a floater in the end zone how do you feel about this tom brady complaining part of the podcast come on brady come on 12 get your shit together 12 i think think Brady has said this is the worst throw of his career.

Oh my God. It is a floater to Reggie Howard. It could have cost us the Super Bowl. And then, I don't know if it was the first play or the second play, the Moussa Mohamed 85-yard touchdown. And suddenly we're losing. We're like, we were just about to go up by 12. We're losing.

That was actually more traumatic to me than seeing a woman's nipple. I'd recovered. We didn't know at the game. We didn't, we didn't have Twitter at that point. We, I don't, we barely had texting.

We didn't know like this whole, this whole calamity had happened with her nipple. We were just like, Hey, is this game going to get better? Yeah. We didn't know that television would be changed, that you'd have to sign a release to do any interview.

A couple of crazy things happened in that game. Vinatieri misses two short field goals. One's blocked, but he shanks like a 31 yarder. So the winner was by no means a given. Arguably terrible offensive pass interference call on the last on the winning drive on Troy Brown to make it first and 20. And you think, how many first and 20s do you convert? Like, that game's looking like overtime, and we have no secondary.

You've got to mention the John Casey kick. So the reason they start the drive at the 40 is the John Casey shank. 29-29, Panthers tie it. John Casey shanks the kickoff. That week at the Super Bowl week in Houston, Cousin Sal did a bit with John Casey and pretended to be John Casey shanks the kickoff. That week at the Super Bowl week in Houston, Cousin Sal did a bit with John Casey. He pretended to be John Casey. And these foreign journalists were interviewing him.

John Casey got mad, shut it down. It was the curse of Cousin Sal. Do you know that story? Casey kicks the ball out of bounds. Suddenly we have it at the 40. It wasn't like we had good kick returners either. We would have started at the 18. Brady brings him down.

Vinatieri read through the uprights. And we have now won. 33, Deion Branch for 17 yards. I'm pretty sure at this point, nobody had won the Super Bowl with like at the buzzer, basically. And then the Pats did it twice in three years, right? Vinatieri was the first one. By the way, they gave us like an extra two seconds because the ball's through and the Rams got it. I don't know.

Tate will check this. But was Jim O'Brien Super Bowl V at the buzzer? We'll find out in a second. All right. Anyway, that was number four. That was number five. Number four, January 2002. Pat's 16, Raiders 13.

A lot of the country, for some reason, I don't understand why I call it the tuck rule game. I always called it the snow game. One of my big regrets in life as a sports fan is I had tickets to this game with my friend Sully, and the snow was so bad that we decided not to go.

Watched it at home with my fiance and my dad at my dad's house. It was a game the patriots have lost my entire life leading to that point and somehow they won it and it was crazy brady was incredible in this game incredible numbers you know incredible 80 yards of the second half an ot jermaine he's throwing to jermaine wiggins david patton uh kevin f. By the way, on the play, on the fumble, incomplete pass, tuck rule, whatever. Charles Woodson does hit Brady in the helmet. Like, he slaps him in the head.

Like, it's like, that would definitely get called today. It's like, so obvious. Like, he hits him in the head, and like, that's never mentioned. I will say, all right. But that kick, like, again, not physically possible. The first kick, which is on, there's a great YouTube clip of it. Somebody took in the stands. It's a blizzard.

There's no footing at all. He kicks it. It doesn't get higher than three feet, even though it's going over guys who are six feet. Somehow it almost like navigates through helmets and arms. And I don't know how he made it. I still can't believe he made it 15, 16 years later. No, I mean, it literally would be like, it was like holing out a 230-yard three iron. Like, it was like, it was insane.

It was like there was no physical way. Like, he had to calculate, if it goes above this trajectory at any point, it'll be short. Like, it has to be as low. It has to just skim over. So it'd be our second Sully Sullenberger reference. Like it has to, the physics of it were so impossible. It has to be done exactly this way for it to reach basically. Two other factors in play here.

Last game ever for, for Foxborough stadium. Again, it's a blizzard. We are coming off a 16-year run, starting with Len Bias overdosing on cocaine in the summer of 86, where just one terrible thing after another happening in Boston sports. By the late 90s, people are calling Boston Losertown. Bird's back goes out. Cam Neely's knee. The 86 World Series. It just goes on and on and the self-loathing and the lack of belief in our teams was at the

all-time all-time all-time all-time low and then this tuck roll thing happens which i don't feel bad about it because we remember Sugar Bear Hamilton in 76. You don't look like you feel bad. You don't look like you feel bad. Yeah. And here's why. Ruff and the Pass. The Ruff and the Pass or Sugar Bear Hamilton, third and 17 in Oakland, 1976.

We're about to win, incomplete. And they call this bogus pass interference. It leads to the Raiders beating- Ruff and the Pass or Sugar Bear Hamilton. The first Patriots team that I truly loved. Legitimate Patriots team. And this was God saying, you know what? I still feel bad about that call. I'm going to do this this bonus it's been the universe on its axis i don't feel good

about the way i i never liked the rule and i think they got rid of it what's in clearly you know that it was a fumble well no one ever took advantage my loophole that no one ever took advantage of was you could you nobody ever brought it up once you brought it up until you, you tucked it, it would, if you fumbled, it was considered a forward pass. Yeah. No one ever just ran around with it. Like I'm passing, I am passing, technically passing. Right.

If I fumble, it's an inkably pass. Brady, Brady was awesome in this game. This is a great rewatch. It's, it's one of the best no playoff games just in general. And then it has this crazy ending. And we should mention, because the Raider fans complain about this all the time, they had a second and two. This second and two, two more yards, the game's over.

They had the ball. They had the lead in regulation. Charlie Garner runs for eight. They gave it to him two more times. He gets stuffed both times. Two yards, the game's over. They didn't close it. That was another fortuitous break for the Pats.

But just in a few short years after this game, Jamarcus Russell will be there to save the franchise and change Raiders history forever. The Pats fans are throwing snowballs and glee at each other. It was just the best home game in the history of the franchise. And the day that it was the Roberts deal of Pats games, basically. All right. Top three.

I can't believe this is number three. Super Bowl 49. Pats 28. Seahawks 24. The Flakegate's going on. We feel like the 2007 Giants have flipped the script that the Patriots can't win another one. It's now been 11 years since the last one.

The helmet catch is reenacted by Jermaine Curse. Jermaine Curse. The helmet catch is reenacted. Malcolm Butler makes an incredible tackle on it to save the game. After covering the play perfectly. Somehow he's the only one who realizes Curse is still alive, knocks him out of bounds. And it all happened so fast.

And we're watching on, oh my God, the helmet catch is happening. And the announcers are talking about it. They're frantically finding the helmet catch footage. Somehow Dante Hightower stops Marshawn Lynch with like one hand. The greatest. From behind. The most underrated tackle of all time. He's running into the end zone.

Physically impossible. They stop him. To keep the beast out of the end zone. We're watching. We're not together, but I'm sure both of us are screaming, call timeout, call timeout. Why aren't we calling timeout? Call timeout. What's happening?

Please call timeout. Does Belichick know we have timeouts left? Oh, man. And then all of a sudden, Malcolm Butler is picking off a high-speed pass from like four yards away. It's so crazy. And he's dropped 40 interceptions since. And he's, you know,

we've joked in subsequent years about like, he had literally the only catch of his career. Like he can't catch the ball. And he gets hit pretty hard by Lockett. It was a terrible play play it was a terrible pass i'm so glad they passed i can't believe we won that game no i mean you could have you could even knowing the result you could give yourself a nightmare right now thinking about russell wilson rolling out what what would you do like there's no way they don't score if he rolls right he at

least throws it at him he's so fast like he would just do the vince there's no way they don't score if he rolls right. He at least throws it at a bounce. He's so fast. Like, he would just do the Vince Young against USC. Like, he'd be like, either that guy's open or I'm going to run to the pylon. Like, they came up with a play that we might actually be able to defend. And Brandon Browner jamming the line. Like, just jamming. Brandon Browner somehow not getting a pass interference in this game, which is one of the biggest upsets in Pat's history. Just jamming.

I remember the end of the first half. End of the first half, we played great. And then they gave up this garbage fast food microwave touchdown drive to Wilson at the tail end of the first half. Was it Chris Matthews? Yeah, we were like, what just happened? How did we just give up seven points? And it looked like by the end of the third quarter, it was like, we're kind of screwed.

Oh, we're going to get killed. I mean, the thing about that Seattle defense was like, the Seattle defense is unbeatable. They just humiliated Peyton Manning the year before. Yeah. And this is going to be, this could potentially be bad. And then it's like, we outplayed them. And then they got the touchdown at the end of the half. Then the wheels came off.

And it's like Brady's throwing bad picks. Wasn't playing well. And we're down double digits. And it felt like when we were down 10 in the fourth, it felt a lot more likely that we were going to lose by 20 than that we were going to win. Like it definitely. Brady had the two straight really great old school classic Brady drives.

13 for 15. That really started with the Edelman pass where there's like, we're 99% sure Edelman got concussed. It's like third and 17 and he just gets racked and afterwards he's crying. And it's like, he clearly had a concussion. And we didn't realize that at the time. I love that guy so much the same play twice the little in out in the end of the jerk route you're a jerk incredible game i

still can't believe they won that game that that game i mean and then also the way at the very end like you know seattle lost it guys getting ejected bruce oh yeah michael bennett freaking out gronk of course throwing punches because he's gronk chris collinsworth going what are you throwing putt you're gonna win the super bowl right gronk's like i'm gronk you know what am i gonna do and we should just to gloss over very quickly this was about two three weeks after the flake gate this is collinsworth during the game going with nine minutes left as we're trying to win the super bowl he's like i looked in Tom's eyes.

I told him, Tom, did you do this? Like, people are like, these guys are crooks. These are the worst people on the earth. And meanwhile, the Flake 8 turned out to be complete garbage. 17-7 at the half against the Colts with the cheating balls, 28-0 the rest of the game with the real balls. We're not going to talk about the Flake 8. All right.

Second on the list. Super Bowl 36, February 2002. Pats 20. Rams 17. The first one. I still remember Ty Law running down the side. Was it to Bucky Jones or Ty Law? Ty Law with the pick six.

But it was to Bucky Jones who had the pass interference? To Bucky Jones. I mean. Who was the guy who tackled Marshall Falk? It was Willie who tackled Marshall Falk. Yeah. So Rams are, Rams, first of all, we go into halftime, we're up 14 to three. And hitting, to Bucky Jones was hitting so hard.

Otis Smith, like those guys played out of their minds. This whole week, the Rams are playing in their Super Bowl. They're 14 point favorites. 14 point favorites. Greatest show on turf. We have no offense. Brady's hurt. It's a mismatch.

It's a coronation. We throw a couple haymakers. We're up 14-3, going into halftime. U2 comes out, sings Beautiful Day. And I was like, wow, this is a moment. I'm in the end zone. And comes out. We're doing really well in the second half.

Get the big pick. Ty Law running down the sidelines. We're doing really well in the second half. Get the big pick. Ty Law running down the sidelines. We're going to win the Super Bowl. Everyone's celebrating. Oh, flag on the play. Rams score. Rams score again. Now it's going to overtime.

And it's actually, there's a moment there where it's like, why are we throwing? I think Madden says on the telecast, like, they're making a mistake. Right. This is crazy. They should be taking this to overtime. J.R. Redman not getting out of bounds. Yeah. So we get the greatest spot ever on the J.R. Redman, who gets tackled inbounds, but they stay out of bounds.

And then Troy Brown, for some reason, the only guy who could hurt them is wide open over the middle of the field to basically set up the field goal. Vinatieri kicked it on my end zone. And Snow Angels. Probably the happiest sports moment. Lonnie Paxton. My happiest in-person sports moment of my life. That was, and it's so funny, like this speaks to my disease, but I had to watch that game completely alone, completely by myself.

We had a terrible history. At a friend's house who was going to a Super Bowl party. He's you can just watch my house will be empty you can watch uh and that was the greatest sporting event of my life at up until that point like that was i the the scope of the upset the way it ended and i mean you know the of Patriot losses and ways we had lost. And it was just, I couldn't, I was like, even thinking back, like I was, I was like in a daze. I couldn't believe that we had won the Super Bowl. We were the black sheep. The Pats were the black sheep of the Boston.

But also like the way people regard the Browns now, those kind of the Patriots in the 80s and 90s. The team almost moved twice. Rod Ross, Dick McPherson. We had cocaine scandals. The best player in the history was the left guard. And it's like, you know, I mean, it's funny because I love football. It was not a fun franchise to root for. You know, I loved football so much.

Like, so it's like, of course, like, when you look at your four teams, like, Bird makes you love basketball. Like, your love of individual sports is kind of based on, like, do you have a chance to win? Are you good? Is there somebody you can root for? And it's like, the Patriots were like, God, I love football so much. If we were ever good at this sport, it would be so awesome. I remember when I discovered gambling and fantasy football. Gambling, 89, when we were 1 and 15.

Fantasy football the following year, I think. And it was like, wow, this is great. I love football. I'm so glad I have a way to enjoy that love that doesn't involve watching the Patriots lose in Miami twice and go 3 and 13. Amazing. And there'd be no way to top that. No way.

Or so we thought. I can't believe that's number two. Oh, my God. But number one, Pat's 34, Falcon's 28, February, 2017,

the fifth Superbowl, Brady's vindication, the greatest football comeback of all time, 28 to three. I watched the game. I've watched it a couple of times this year. I've watched it more than I care to admit. 17 plays that if the play goes the other way, we lose the game.

It's almost like watching somebody win 17 straight blackjack hands and just keep pushing the chips into the middle. And the Julio Jones catch is still the greatest, I think the greatest in-game clutch catch I've ever seen in my life. And Eric Rowe, who I i just been screaming about all year he just never did anything right in my mind played it perfectly just played it perfectly like okay there's no physical way for a human being to make this catch and you talk about covered right and he still made it and you talked about how much luck we had with the other teams during this 16 and then that right after that catch is the is yet another coach on the belichick out coached list um dan quinn yeah uh you know and it's funny because

you know so much has been made of the the second and 11 so you lose the yard on first down and then it's like okay second and 11 and then for some reason kyle shanahan gets he just gets the brunt of it like the offensive coordinator just like they just decide someone's gonna get crushed and it's like okay the play you know now i always make the case the plays go through the head coach's headset like p Pete Carroll could go, are you kidding? Yeah. Hand it off. You know, that, he's the head coach. You know,

the coordinator can't go, no, we are going to go for it on fourth. Like there are, ultimately it lies with the head coach. So while his offensive coordinator was getting crushed

for the second and 11 call, it might've been nice if the head coach had taken a little heat off of him. But so I say there's like, there's shared negligence among four people. Matt Ryan. Obviously, you can't take a sack. Like, does that not have to be said?

Well, not just the sack part, but I watched that game and he gave us an extra minute just by not hiking the ball with two seconds left. He hiked the ball a couple of times with like 17 seconds on the clock. And he locks on that second 11. Like, he locks locks on to his guy he's not going through his progressions like the moment maybe gets a little too big for maddie ice i think it got a little too big and so understandable so it's like okay the coordinator called the play uh the head coach said okay that's cool we've been aggressive all year fine i'm not i'm not going to choose now and i get it choose you know this is what we do. Quarterback obviously can't take a sack.

Obviously can't take a sack. And the center who was playing on a bum ankle, he just gets whipped on the play. Like he just gets whipped. Like he did not. Bum ankle is broken. Yeah. Is that what you're calling a bum ankle now? It's broken.

All right. Well, get out there, buddy. And is it Flower who who's that who gets the sack flowers i hear it's all one of the 47 to watch it 47 linebackers that played great for us in the season tower made made the hit on matt ryan which was the the russianist cup moment of that game yeah that that that was one of the previous drives. That turned it around. Brady had, I mean, Brady, the Ravens game in 2015, the Seahawks game in the Super Bowl,

and this game were the three greatest performances of his career, all happening in his late 30s. And the throws. He was unbelievable in the Seahawks game. The throws he starts making, like, they're so casual by the end. Like he's throwing the ball, like those outs to Hogan and Amendola, like it's just precise precision. And then, I mean, in terms of the ultimate exorcism of all the demons, greatest of all time, there's nothing left for us to have a helmet catch, a curse catch.

Like we had our own version of what just happened. The Edelman catch, like it's not, it's almost more ridiculous than the helmet catch. The amount, like the, and so it's just kind of, and then there's, you know, it goes, by the way, the fact that you have to get both two point conversions, there's so many moments in that comeback.

We got three in all, right? Were there three two-point conversions? I just remember the last two. It's a blur of James White, 14 receptions. And then you have poor Martellus Bennett who almost catches the touchdown and gets PI'd. He would have been like the all-time hero, the overtime touchdown catch to win the Super Bowl.

The foul gets melted down well and then there's this great moment when you know you see we've all been on the every sports fan has been on that side of it where it's like you're like oh we're not going to see their punter again in this game like there just is a there's a rolling brady's in a rhythm they're going score. There's just nothing we can do. And at the overtime coin toss, the Patriots win the toss. And Matt Ryan, it was like he almost took his jersey off. Like it was like his body language was like, well, that's it for me. Should I just go do my post game? Like I'm done.

Like there was no sense of like, we got this. You guys just get a stop, three and out, and then I'll take over. It there was no sense of like, we got this. You guys just get a stop three and out and we'll, and then I'll take over. It was kind of like, Oh, we lost the toss. Well, it's just be a few minutes from now.

I think they were like, you watch the NFL film stuff of it. And the coach is like, keep attacking, keep attacking. That's who we are. And you know, 99% of the time that works,

but in this game, we really couldn't stop their run game at all. And I, it's amazing. I have no idea how they win this game. I works, but in this game, we really couldn't stop their run game at all. It's amazing. I have no idea how they won this game. Again, mathematically, the 99% win. Yeah, this is if you played 1,000 times, I think the Falcons win like 997 versions of it when they're up 28-3.

It's impossible. I will say, though, I never gave up. I talked about this before. This is the second game on the list that I watched at two different locations at halftime. I had to leave the Super Bowl party I was at. 28-9, I remember I was watching with my dad and my nephew and my kids, actually, and my wife. And we changed all the seats at halftime.

And then 28-9, I remember doing the math. I was like, all right, it's 19 points. That's two touchdowns and two two points and a field goal. We got this. So I sent you that, you know, that this would be a good capper to this ridiculous top 25. But somebody at WEI was like, Russell Westbrook won MVP shooting 43%. Yeah. Tom Brady's career, he has a higher percentage chance of going to the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season.

Right. It's like, wow. Wow. He goes to the Super Bowl. So obviously, greatest coach of all time in any sport. I mean, John luau cinder and and bill walton like you know if there was a if there was a salary cap in college basketball like the what would those guys what if salaries have been in in college basketball right he had the best team like of course of course he's winning championships what belichick has done in a hard cap league

um for this sustained amount of time when everyone else is burning out right you hear about every other coach it's a three year four year burnout burnout burnout and this guy is just so good at his job you never hear about burnout and by the way that ravens game number six i think on the list you know in the do your job documentary he saw um he saw two he watched two games because that's what he does when he goes home he watches football yeah he saw he saw titans jets game where the titans instead of doing the normal like hey we're gonna lateral it a million times but we're gonna just kind of send our first team offense out to do that he they went with like 11 skill guys because once you start lateraling it,

you no one has to be eligible or ineligible. And that's why it always ends when number 77 catches it and he can't run. He saw that and he's like, oh, that's interesting. And then he saw an Alabama, I think Alabama LSU game where they did the crazy unbalanced line and LSU was confused, you know. And so he just filed it. He filed it away. And then it's like, Hey, we, we should do that. We should put Vereen. Shane Vereen's an ineligible receiver. The Ravens cover him. Yeah. Because how do you not cover number 34 when he's flanked out to the slot? You can't just go leave that guy alone. He's ineligible. Like the defense can't, someone's going to get yelled at if they don't cover him anyway. So to me, Belichick, the greatest, not just the greatest football coach of all time, the

greatest coach of all time, because he's the greatest coach at the hardest sport to coach. You really came off the top rope and made this even more insufferable for another non-Boston fans ever. I will say though, I'm glad this podcast exists because you and I are both very, very aware of the world we're about to enter into. Because Brady's going to retire and Belichick is going to retire. And this team will suck for the next 20 years. And we're going to look back at that and be like, wow, how the hell did we pull off 16 years?

The Patriots might be the first team to not be able to fill their coaching vacancy when Belichick retires. Everyone will just go, no, that's cool no thanks unless they already agreed with McDaniels but man I mean we know what's coming this is this was we had two different runs with this team and it's a complete fluke and I I know I'm super appreciative but it's not I know you are too I mean it's I have so much gratitude for these two guys but but it's not a fluke. I mean, obviously a lot of nice missed field goals. No, it's a fluke to have these two guys in the same team. That they met each other.

They both have huge chips on their shoulder. At the perfect time in their careers. And it's like that relationship, both like psychotically competitive, both like nerds, basically, who like football, like watching football, like talking about football. Yeah, it is. That's why I refuse to answer the Belichick or Brady, who is more important question, because it's like you can't.

Both of them were both of them were equally important and they needed each other. And the only reason this was dynasty was incredible was because. I was going to say Lennon and McCartney, but I'm sure people will get mad at that. Why? Thanks to Miller Lite. They've been with us, but I'm sure people will get mad at that. Why? Thanks to Miller Lite. They've been with us since the beginning. They've been fantastic partners to us. Lennon is so much better.

We're thrilled to have them as the relaunch sponsor for TheRinger.com, Miller Lite, the official beer of The Ringer. Don't forget to subscribe to The Rewatchables and Ringer FC, our two newest podcasts. Hench, you're on twitter kind of sort of yeah it's funny i uh you know i go on i love consuming it i just love you know like free jokes from what's your twitter handle at kevin hench okay there you go um and i and every once in a while i'll screw up the courage to say something, you know, I almost weighed in aggressively on this David Price-ec thing. I'm glad you didn't. Because I was so upset. Don't mess

with Dennis Eckersley! Until you won a playoff game! Good idea. Usually, this is my process on Twitter. I go like, oh my God, I'm so upset about this or I'm so pissed. I should say something. And then I'm like, ah, Patton Oswalt said it way better. That's cool.

I don't need to weigh in. Good model. All right. Thank you for this. Thank you, brother. I'm glad we did this. Oh, my God. I think it's the longest podcast I've ever recorded.

I don't really care. Oh, it was a delight. The BS Podcast coming back later this week. Look, we had to do this podcast. If you want to get mad about it, I don't know what to tell you. The Pats. Patriots Week on TheRinger.com. Check it out.

Thanks, Tate Frazier. Oh, wait. Tate Frazier's dead. He's covered in gasoline and flames. Talk to you later in the week. Thanks, Edge. I don't have feelings within On the wayside I'm a person never wanted

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